I felt the impact of my back hitting the wall, my chest heaving as I struggled to take in air. I clawed at the ground trying to get up as my feet fought to gain traction as they slid on the blood and vomit that came from my body. Daniel screamed out my name: Lizzie! But his voice came out desperate and hoarse. The attacker just looked over at his frail sickly body and then back to me as he snorted knowing he was free to do as he pleased.
My assailant was brutal in his attack, he would wait just long enough for me to start pulling my body from the ground and every time I came close to standing, another blow would come. I heard him say: Wow, you just don't give up do you? Kicking me again as he laughed. I could feel my body getting weaker with every blow and knew that I needed to escape, but I couldn't leave Daniel here to die. Laying on the ground trying to catch my breath I watched the mans feet, unable to look up at him, I watched as they started to make their way towards me. I hugged my stomach to protect the innocent life inside of me from yet another blow but he just stopped and leaned down. I could smell his foul breath on my face as he looked me over before saying: That should do it!
He grabbed my feet and started to drag me out of the room as I screamed breathlessly: Daniel! I'm sorry… I love you! I could hear Daniel weakly screaming my name between as my attacker drug me out of the room, down the stairs and into the garage where he lifted my broken body and stuffed me into a trunk.
I awoke in a field somewhere, I didn't know where I was, or how long I had been there, I just knew that I needed to survive, I needed to stay awake until someone could find me. I laid there wondering how I ended up in this field with my body broken and covered in blood as I waited to either live or die.
I think the beginning to my possible end was two years ago, I was on spring break from college and was babysitting my 6 month old sister Olivia when I heard a knock at the door. The police were there to tell me my parents had died in a car accident on their way home. My sister was taken from me and since we didn't have any relatives that could take her in she was placed into Foster care. Although the Denny family name was well known in the Georgetown community, for being one of the oldest families in Seattle we weren't a wealthy family, our old money had run out a generation or two ago and I was left with an insurance policy just big enough to pay for my parents funerals and pay for a two bedroom apartment for a few months until I could get a job and prove to the state that I was capable of having custody of my sister. It took about 6 months but I was finally able to do it.
Just when things started to normalize Olivia started acting different, she was sick all the time and grumpy, the Dr.'s, daycare workers and even neighbors tried telling me that she was just teething or that she was going into the terrible two's early. At first I believed them but after raising her for the past year I knew something wasn't right.
I finally took her to a specialist for a second opinion and that is when my world was shaken for a second time. My chest tightened and I could feel the tears cooling my heated cheeks as they rolled down my face.
"I'm so sorry to give you this news Miss Denny. We have a couple treatments available, Chemotherapy, which is the most common treatment for Leukemia, it is also more affordable then some treatments but it is a bit harder on the body and it has a 60%-70% success rate which is still fairly high. This treatment is roughly $60,000. We also have a new treatment available for Leukemia in your sisters age range called the Chance Program and it is a bit easier on the body, although to be 100% clear, any treatment is going to have some negative effects when you are killing an aggressive disease like this. Now the Chance Program has had a glowing success rate of 90% and although Olivia does fall into all of the perimeters to qualify for a spot, it isn't a guarantee that she will get into the program. There's also the matter of cost, this program costs roughly $112,000. Like I said there are programs that can help with the cost so for now I am going to set up a referral to our finance department and they will give you a call in a day or two to schedule a meeting to go over your options." His voice was calm and caring as he spoke.
I felt my breathing become labored as I started to feel dizzy, trying with all my might to keep it together. I managed to swallow the lump in my throat just in time to get out: Thank you Dr. Harris. I lifted Olivia as she laid sleepily in my arms and shook his hand to walk out.
I dropped Olivia off at daycare and told a few of the workers what was going on so that they would take special care of her. All I wanted to do was go home and hold her till she went to sleep and then cry in my bed. I wanted to shrivel up in a dark whole and die but that was not an option.
I went to work and kept myself busy for the next few days, waiting for the finance department to call and schedule our meeting. I was on my lunch break when my phone rang, I looked at the caller ID but didn't recognize the number and answered just in case it was the finance department: Hello?