Chapter 30: Amri

Almost eighteen hours after my ex-fiancé left my room in a huff, on the phone with lawyers about how he was assaulted, it's time for me to be released.

Even though I was informed by the nurse, and an older guard, that Damion would not be allowed back in, a part of me hoped he would find a way to see me. The older guard looked apologetic as he told me that Damion wanted him to pass along a message, and his cheeks blushed a deep red when he told me what Damion said. It was beyond adorable.

I rub the sleep from my eyes and reach to the table next to me, grabbing my water and taking a small sip. For some reason, every time I've gone to sleep the past few days, I never visit Vincent's room. It's not even possible for me to mirror travel in my dreams anymore. It gives me a bad feeling.

I look over as the door opens and see my nurse walking in with a smile on her face.

"Hey there, Amri. How are you feeling?"

I smile back. "Not bad, Janet. Better than yesterday. "

She nods. "Good, good. Are you sure you want to leave so soon? You know it's not recommended to leave yet with your head injury."

I wave my hand, "It's fine, really. I feel good and honestly, I'd rather not have to worry about paying a big ass hospital bill."

She nods but doesn't say another word to me. I watch from my bed as she moves around the room, slowly cleaning things up and taking my vitals one last time. When she's done, she walks over and puts a hand on my knee.

"The doctor will be in shortly to go over a few things with you. Take care of yourself, okay?"

I nod and wave her goodbye. Careful not to hurt myself even more, I slowly get out of bed and walk over to the bathroom to relieve myself and get dressed in the extra pair of scrubs Damion brought for me.

I use the brush the hospital provided, and a hairband to throw my hair up in a bun before washing my face. The soap burns my cuts a little, but I savor the feeling. At least it's pain I can control. After letting the soap sit for a moment, I rinse it off.

There. Now I feel like a human again.

When I exit the bathroom, my doctor is there waiting for me. She's an older woman, her natural blonde hair almost white and glasses that sit perched on her nose.

"Hello, Amri. How are you feeling?" She stands with a clipboard in her hand and motions over toward the bed for me to sit down.

"I'm feeling good. Ready to get out of here."

She nods, giving me a disapproving look that immediately makes me not like her anymore. I'm pretty sure I can tell when my body is fine or not .

"Well, before you leave, there are some things I wanted to go over with you, things about your injuries and how to manage them, warning signs and some other concerns I have."

I wave her on.

She looks down at her clipboard, "It looks like you have a concussion. The swelling has gone down significantly since yesterday, which makes me think either you have a guardian angel, or the concussion wasn't as bad as we thought it was. Still, I want you to watch out for any dizziness, nausea, or spots in your vision. If you have any of that, go to the Melford clinic immediately.

You have a few open wounds that need to be sterilized and re-wrapped daily. I have passed along instructions to the Melford head nurse, so she will come to collect you every day to ensure things are healing properly."

I nod, getting up from the bed. "Well, thank you for everything you've done Dr. Hart."

She stops me, "There is one more thing, Amri."

I turn back toward her, my eyebrow raised in question.

"Are you aware of how scarred your uterus is?"

I take a step back, her forwardness mixed with the question throwing me completely off balance. "What?"

"Your uterus, Amri. We weren't sure how far that man went before you…stopped him, so we had to do a rape kit and imaging. Your uterus is extremely scarred. Did he rape you? If he did, we have to let the staff at Melford know so they can add that to your trauma therapy."

I shake my head, "No, he didn't."

Dr. Hart's face falls as she processes what that means for me. "I'm assuming it was repeated trauma. The scarring looks old. "

My throat clogs with emotion, and I swallow to try and clear it away; but it doesn't work. "My father…"

I try to get it out, but my voice doesn't seem to work. Dr. Hart nods.

"You don't have to explain anything else. I just wanted to let you know, due to the scarring…you will likely never be able to have children. Even if you happen to get pregnant, the chances of you carrying to full term is low."

I nod, tears filling my eyes. Ever since the miscarriage I had with Timothy, I never put a lot of thought about being a mother, my childhood to fucked up for me to even think that I would be a good parent; but for the choice to be taken away from me completely…it hurts. More than I thought it would.

"Okay, thank you, for telling me."

Dr. Hart nods, her gaze sympathetic as she watches me wipe some tears away.

"Am I free to go?"

"You are. There are two nurses outside ready to take you back to Melford. Just be sure to stop by the front desk on the way out to sign your discharge paperwork."

I don't say another word, walking out of the room and seeing two nurses that look semi-familiar. "This way, boys."

They put me in a different room. Apparently, mine hadn't been completely cleaned yet, and honestly, I'll be happy if I never have to step foot in that room again.

I'm walking down the hall toward the clinic to have my bandages changed again. I haven't been out of my room since arriving, and I wear Melford feels different now. I'm still not able to visit Vincent's room in my dreams. Damion didn't come visit me last night, which means he probably isn't here, and Zain still has a few days in solitary.

I can't fix what's going on with my dreams, or with Zain, but I can figure out where Damion is.

As soon as I enter the clinic, Nurse Patty is there waiting on me. My new nurse, Simon, stands right outside the door, his eyes finding me occasionally, but never lingering. He looks like he could be my brother, red hair almost the same shade as mine with freckles lining his face. The thing that sets him apart from me this most is his clear Boston accent.

"Amri, how are you feeling today? Any dizziness or nausea?"

I shake my head no. "I do have a question for you, though."

"What is it dear?"

"Where is Damion?"

I see Simon look back at me as Nurse Patty's face goes blank. "Honey, I'm not allowed to say."

"Where. Is. He?"

Patty shakes her head. "Amri, sweetheart, I need to change your bandages."

She reaches her hands toward me, and I shove them away, hopping off the table and walking over to Simon.

"Take me to Marissa."

"What?"

"Take me to Marissa. I know she's the main manager here. I want to speak to her." I've heard Damion mention her name more than once when he was ranting about how administration treated patients and the workers, so I know she's the one to talk to.

"Miss Glass – "

"No! Take me there, now!"

Simon sighs, turning around and waving me along with him. I turn around to Patty, waving goodbye to her. The table by the door catches my eye, specifically a pen sitting on the table.

I don't know what compels me to grab it, but I do, quickly pocketing it and walking out the door before Patty can even say anything. If she saw it to begin with.

Simon leads me down a few hallways until things start to look unfamiliar.

"This isn't going to be a good idea."

"I don't care."

"Your funeral."

We continue to walk until I see a set of double doors at the end of the hall. Simon stops, knocking on the door and waiting until we hear a ‘come in' from inside.

Simon opens the door, letting me in before closing it quickly behind me. "Pussy."

Marissa sits behind her desk, hand clasped in her lap as she stares at me. I don't think I've ever seen her in person, but she looks different than what I expected. Short brown hair chopped off to her shoulders, bright green eyes that seem to bore straight into my soul. She looks like a viper in a pencil skirt.

"Amri Glass. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're showing up in my office."

I walk over to her desk, slamming my hand down in front of her and staring at her just as hard as she's staring at me. "Where is Damion? "

"Mr. Blide has been fired. We did suspend him but has actions at the hospital yesterday pushed that into him being let go."

My eyes widen. I can't be here without Damion. He's my rock. "But he didn't do anything wrong!"

"He did, though, Miss Glass. Not only did he attack a man in the hospital yesterday, a very rich man who claims to be your ex-fiancé, but his actions here at Melford with you and Mr. Vaviri were inexcusable."

I scoff. "His actions? It was all three of us! It was consensual!"

Marissa shakes her head at me. "It doesn't matter if it was consensual or not, it's against Melford policy, and quite frankly, Miss Glass, it's illegal. Furthermore, Mr. Blide supported your delusions. A nurse's position here at Melford is to help its patients get better, not worse. Because of that, Mr. Blide will be facing criminal charges."

"What?"

She's making no fucking sense. Criminal charges? She's got to be kidding. And delusions? What delusions?

"We have video of you, Amri, talking to people who aren't there. Attacking people who aren't there. We have video of you fighting in the courtyard with Mr. Vaviri, with Damion standing by watching."

"First of all, bitch, I don't have delusions. I wasn't fighting someone who wasn't there. And I wasn't fighting with Zain, we were training."

She sighs, reaching over to her computer and pressing a few buttons before flipping the screen around to face me.

"We couldn't access your bedroom cameras, or I'm sure we would have seen even more of this behavior, but the outside cameras caught plenty. "

She presses play on the screen, and video after video plays of me talking to no one, fighting no one. The first day I saw Vincent here in Melford and attacked him, it shows nothing. I'm running after nothing. I'm punching nothing.

"We have hours of video like this, Amri. There's no one there. I don't know who you thought you saw, but there's no one there."

I shake my head, not wanting to believe anything she's saying. There's no way I imagined it all. Damion saw Vincent in my dreams. Zain saw Vincent in person, at the same time as me. It couldn't have been some kind of mass hallucination.

Could it…?

"I have the same kind of videos showing Mr. Vaviri speaking to someone who isn't there, even in his bedroom. We think when you shared your experiences with him it made him join in your delusions."

I scream, throwing my head back at the pain that slams into my head. "THEY AREN'T DELUIONS!"

Just then, a blaring alarm starts to sound, causing me to throw my hands up over my ears and cringe at the noise. My screaming combined with this alarm is making my head feel like it's about to explode.

Marissa's face goes sheet white as she jumps up from her desk, grabbing her radio and walking over to the door. She opens it to find Simon on the other side, his hands up over his ears like mine are.

"Simon, take Miss Glass back to her room." She picks up her radio, "All available personnel, code red in solitary. I repeat, code red in solitary."

Solitary, that's where Zain is.

"What happened? "

Marissa ignores me as she begins to walk the opposite way down the hallway. Simon grabs my arm as soon as I start to walk toward her, but I rip it from his grasp and run after her.

I grab her wrist, so tight I hope it bruises. "What happened to Zain!"