Never Again- Part II

Eva sat beside her cousin's bed at the hospital. A nurse came in to check on Janelle and eyed her curiously. "You should see the other guy," Eve told her, when she saw her staring at the now black and purple bruise on her cheek. She wasn't smiling. Janelle had been in a coma for a week and the doctor's didn't know if she'd come out of it or not. She spent every moment she could at the hospital after work.

Ed made bail, but he was not allowed to go near Janelle or he would be revoked. He was charged with attempted murder of Janelle and assault and battery on Eva. The district attorney was waiting to see if Janelle pulled through. If not; the charges would be upgraded. Ed had also been put on administrative leave from his job due to the incident. The two conditions made Eva wary of going home as Ed just sat glaring at her through his living room window and drinking himself into a stupor. He made a gun-shooting gesture at her once and the deadly serious look in his eye made her shiver and run for her house. He had just smiled an evil, self-satisfied smile. Eva was told by the deputy that he couldn't do anything about Ed since he hadn't pointed an actual gun at her.

Eva often wished Ed would go on and move since he only rented his house. She was buying hers and it would be more difficult for her to move. It was just a small and modest home, but it was all hers and she'd be damned if he was going to run her out of it, the miserable, drunken son-of-a-bitch.

Janelle stirred and it made Eva jump. She had nodded off holding onto her cousin's still, cool hand as she hadn't gotten much sleep lately. "Janelle? Can you hear me, honey? It's Eva," she said. She pressed the call button on the bedrail that went to the nurses' station.

"Is there a problem?" a nurse asked a few minutes later answering the call.

"I think she's waking up," Eva called out. "She's moving around a lot all of the sudden."

"I'll be right there," was the reply.

A minute later the nurse came in followed by an intern who checked Janelle's eyes with a small pen light as the nurse checked her vital signs. He nodded at the nurse.

"Well, is she waking up?" Eva finally asked.

"Yes, she is trying to come out of it," the intern answered. "We'll have to wait a bit longer for her to become fully awake before we can check for any brain damage. She may have some rehab to go through; learn to do things over again."

"What things?"

"I don't know. It depends on how much damage was done. She might be just fine or she might have to learn just a few things. She also might have to learn to talk and walk and use her motor skills all over."

"Oh, God," Eva said. "I should have used the cast iron."

"Excuse me?" the doctor said.

"I stopped her husband with an aluminum skillet; I should have used the cast iron one," she replied.

The doctor raised an eye brow. "How did he turn out?"

"I guess he's fine." She indicated the bruise on her face and her cousin lying in the bed. "I'm not giving him the chance to do this again. I hope they put him away for years," she added with a shake of her head. She wiped away a tear.

The doctor cleared his throat and nodded. "You should go home and get some rest yourself. You look tired. We'll call if there are any more changes."