Consumed, Chapter 2.

Weeks had gone by. The whole situation had managed to make the newspaper. Joy, miraculously enough, had managed to survive. Crazy, right? Even though I let her go, I was still seen as the heroin that at least tried to save her. The city adores me. She probably wishes she were dead though. The poor thing’s paralyzed from the neck down.

The newspaper put me and my profession on blast, of course. With a little help from google, here you are, in my cozy little office. You scheduled an appointment with me, you just had to meet me. I introduced myself, “Dr. Lauren Grace, how can I help you today.” I giggled in my head, look how professional I was being with you. I couldn’t help but stare at you but I definitely wasn’t listening. You were going on and on about Joy and it was sickening, Jason. 

 

“She’s having a hard time adjusting, you know,” he paused, “getting used to the idea of being confined to that hospital bed has been weighing heavily on her.”

I was silent. Preparing for what he was about to ask me.

“I want you to talk with her, Dr. Grace. Talk her through this, help her.”

My energy was different. He wasn’t here to thank me like I had wanted him to. He wasn’t here to tell me that my act of heroism had caused him to fall madly in love with me, like I had wanted him to. He wanted me to help this bitch. The audacity. The nerve. I wanted to scream. I needed to scream at him. You fucking moron, Jason. At this point, I was smiling and I didn’t even know it. He was waiting on my answer. I was waiting on my answer. He saw my smile as a sign of confirmation and immediately began thanking me.

“When can you come by the hospital? I hate to inconvenience you like this, I know you’re pretty bus...” I interrupted him, “Mr. Finch, this is of no inconvenience to me. I will consider this priority, after all, I have a personal connection to Joy.”

He stood. I stood. He hugged me. “Call me Jason,” he said with utmost gratitude. My heart melted. I could have drowned in that moment.

Joy hasn’t spoken a word sense the incident. The doctors confirmed that it wasn’t a medical concern, she wasn’t talking at her own free will. I was intrigued. My first visit with her was weird. I tried to get her to talk but she wouldn’t. She just smiled at me. I asked her was she pleased to see me and it got even weirder when she smiled even harder. The next few visits were pretty much the same.

On this visit, I caught her texting. She wasn’t intending on me seeing that, so I acted as If I didn’t. Doctor-patient confidentiality. “Care to share words with me?” I asked with slight impatience. I already hated every moment I spent having to pretend that I cared for her. “You were the last person I saw before I thought I died,” she blurted. She spoke. I was stunned. “Excuse me?” I was shaken.

“I thought you were an angel,” said Joy, “I thought those were my last moments and you were my personal angel.” I was speechless. “For so long, I was convinced that you were just a figment of my imagination,” she continued, “but you’re not. You’re real. What were you doing there anyway?” She had a look of confusion on her face. What was I doing there? I couldn’t possibly explain the real reason I was there. What was I doing here? Someone should explain that one to me.

 

“Right place, at the right time I guess.” I really was guessing. “Exactly,” she uttered with a smile. I thought for a brief second that she had me figured out, I thought she knew that I had done this to her. From the conversation that followed, I gained the understanding that she really had no idea. She was completely oblivious. She thought of me as a saint, her real-life angel. I became her new-found confidant.

“I don’t love Jason anymore,” she proclaimed. This was like music to my ears.

“You don’t?” I had to verify.

“I don’t.” Verification. “If I must be completely honest with you, Dr. Grace, I’ve been cheating on him for the longest.”

It took everything in me not to blurt out that I already knew. I was noting all of this in my ipad (this is how I take notes during discussions with patients) so Joy continued talking.

“I hadn’t planned on leaving him just yet, but this was the last straw. This shit is his fault.” She’s angry.

“What is his fault?” I was genuinely curious.

“The fact that I’m in this bed, the fact that I’m fucking paralyzed.” I must have struck a nerve.

She rationalized, “The night I got hit by the train, well you were there, I was out with the guy I’d been cheating on Jason with.”

I knew. “So how is this Jason’s fault?” I think I was starting to sound a bit defensive.

“The only reason I was catching the train was to get back to Jason. I was supposed to go home with David, but I had soft spot for Jason,” she rolled her eyes and continued, “I had to get back to him so he wouldn’t be suspicious. I should have left with David. This was like a sign.”

“A sign?” I needed her to elaborate, “And this David guy, he is the one you cheated with?” I already knew this though.

She talked until she got tired about how Jason could never be half the man David is etc., etc. How dare she Jason? How fucking dare she? This ungrateful little whore. She deserves to be paralyzed, to be stuck here. You shouldn’t be concerned about her Jason. You’re losing sleep over her and all she has done for you so far is slander your name. Joy is pure filth Jason, when will you see that?

Joy fell asleep at some point. She was heavily sedated as usual so this is where I would usually end my sessions with her. But something strange happened. Her phone buzzed. I was drawn to it. I picked it up ever so gently and to my surprise it was still unlocked. There was a message from David. I read as many of the messages between the two of them that I could but I was scared that at any minute she’d open her eyes. I had to do something quick. I needed to know more about David, but my time with her phone was so limited. Think. Think. What to do? I got it. I scramble back to my ipad and began entering her icloud information. All I needed was her password, let me guess, lastname and last two numbers of her birth year. Bingo, I was correct.

 I put her phone back and left the room in a hurry. Uploading her icloud info to my ipad allows me to receive all of her text messages without her even knowing. Fucking genius, I know. I instantly dove into learning more about Joy’s relationship with David. Days went by, there conversation was always deep and passionate but it soon took a sinister turn. David was plotting to kill Jason.

Holy shit.

Google was more than helpful with finding David’s address. Yet, no sooner than I arrived, I noticed David getting into his car in full rage with shot gun in tow. My heart was racing. My blood was pumping at an unbelievable rate. What the fuck was I going to do? I jumped into a cab. My panic rubbed off on the driver and we sped away.

David’s car was already parked outside of Jason’s brownstone when I pulled up in the cab. I got out and faded into the background. It’s pretty dark out so he wouldn’t have noticed me anyway.  I wasn’t sure how to approach David. He was standing in front of the steps that led to the front door with his shot gun in hand. He was talking to himself and dripping in sweat. I couldn’t make out what he was saying but he was clearly in some state of psychosis and I was not prepared to interrupt just yet. I watched him closely as I crept up on his car. I didn’t want my presence to send him into a further panic. He was raising his voice, slightly yelling but to himself. “Kill that fucker David, you can do it.” I damn near pissed myself when I heard him say that. I’m too late. He rushes up the steps. I hop in the backseat of his car and lay flat against the seat in fear of my own safety. David pauses at the door.  I started crying and praying for Jason. David cocked the shotgun. I dry heaved. Snot and tears poured from my face. There was another pause, a longer one. I couldn’t breathe while waiting for the worst to happen.

The driver side door to David’s car flew open. I almost had a heart attack. He sat the shot gun on the passenger seat and grabbed a smaller pistol with a silencer attached out of the glove compartment.  Who the fuck is this guy? I sat back in his seat and closed his eyes as the lights in the car went dim again. He set the pistol on the console and took a few more breaths with his eyes closed. I felt comfortable enough to sit up. I stared at his eyes through the rearview mirror to make sure he hadn’t opened them yet. Then I looked down at the pistol on the console. Back up at the rearview mirror. Back down to the console. This motherfucker tried to take Jason from me. At the moment I completely lost it. My head started spinning and I no longer had control of myself. I took another look at the pistol. He’s about to finish the job with this one. He doesn’t have a silencer for no reason. I sprang into action.

I grabbed the gun and place it at David’s temple. I saw his flash open. He saw me. We made eye contact via the rearview mirror. I was in complete shock and absolutely frozen. He grabbed my hand with the gun in it and I felt him try to pull me away. I wasn’t having it. Squeeze the trigger, Lauren. Anything to protect Jason. Anything.