One Thousand Miles

Chapter  |  Just One Last Decision

Part  |  Two

When my eyes snapped open, I was face to face with a white ceiling. At first I was lost and I didn't know where I was, but then I remembered John's face, car horns blaring, and my screams, my screams of terror. I remember the pain I felt when it was all over and John screaming at me to keep my eyes open. I remember hearing sirens in the background and crying, crying from a child. It was Cameron.

I gasp. 

"Cameron!" I scream as I quickly sit up in the bed I was laying on. My eyes frantically search around the room for the little guy, but I don't see him anywhere. As my eyes continue to look around, they land on a woman wearing teal colored scrubs. She's holding a clipboard in her hand and she has a stethoscope around her neck. She was obviously a doctor and someone who could help me find my son.

She smiled over at me before coming over and standing next to the bed I was on. "Oh good you're up. Stephanie my name is Doctor Cynthia Waters and I---"

"I don't care who you are! Just tell me where my son is, please!" I scream. I'm sure she can hear the strain in my voice. I didn't want to cry, but any second now I was going to...

She just stared at me with her mouth in a tight line and sat her clipboard down the table beside the bed. "Stephanie, just let me check you out first okay, then I'll tell you where your son is okay?"

I feel a few tears slide down my cheeks and I quickly lick them away when they reach my mouth. "But I want to know where he is now," I say quietly. I sounded like a child who just got told it was nap time but wanted to continue playing with their toys. I'm sure she thought the same exact thing.

"Stephanie could you take in a few deep breaths for me," she asks as she places the stethoscope over my heart and listens to my heart beat. When she's finished she says, good, and records something on her clipboard. After she scribbles a few more things down on her clipboard she takes off the stethoscope and places the clipboard back on the table. She seats down on the bed by my feet and looks back at me with a sad look in her eye.

My lip trembles and more tears slip from my eyes. "W-Where is h-he?"

She takes in a deep breath and slowly lets it back out before looking me dead in the eye and saying, "I still haven't heard anything yet, but I did hear that he should be okay. I can understand that they still want to check him out since he is just a baby, but there should be nothing to worry about."

After those words leave her mouth, I break down into tears. I always knew that Cameron was a miracle baby for him to be as young as he was and to survive a car accident...

That was something.

After Doctor Waters told me about the few scratches I had she left the room, but not before asking if I needed anything. I asked if she could fetch me a cup of water and she nodded her head before leaving the room. As I sat there waiting for her to return, I wiped away a few tears with my shirt sleeve before lying on my back and staring at the ceiling. 

At the sound of the door creaking open I sat up in the bed and smiled. "Thank you so much for---"

I gasp at the sight of the person entering the room. I felt multiple emotions at the sight of this person. Anger, fear, annoyance, and sadness all at once. He was still wearing the clothes I last saw him in, but they were wrinkled as if he had fallen asleep in them.

"Stephanie," he says. His face was blank of emotion so I couldn't tell what he was thinking or what his next move was. My eyes widened when he came over and stood on the side of the bed. He cupped my face in his hand and slowly moved his thumb back and forth. I notice when his eyes slightly narrow and he opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted when the door opens.

Doctor Waters walks in with a smile on her while holding a cup filled with water in her hand. Her eyes widen in surprise before her smile grows. "Oh Mr. Schmidt."

He nods his head slightly and looks around the room for something. "Doctor Waters."

I watch as John continues to look around the room and take the water from Doctor Waters as she hands it over to me. I say a quiet thank you and continue to look at John. I too look around the room wondering what exactly he was looking for...

"Doctor Waters, do you mind if I have a word with my wife? It'll only be ten minutes," he says as he looks at her for the first time since she entered the room.

She smiles and nods her head. "Okay, I'll just go check and see if there's any news about your son."

After she leaves the room, John paces back and forth on the side of the bed while I watch with furrowed eyebrows. I turn around so my legs are dangling off the side and watch him with a confused look. After a while he just stops and stands there for a few seconds before turning and facing me. He slowly walks over to me and reaches his hand out for the cup of water in my hands before taking it away from me and sitting it down on the table beside the bed. He looks me in the eyes after sitting the cup down and doesn't break contact for even a second.

I sigh and blink. "John, what---"

Before I could finish my sentence, he does something that shocks me.

He backhands me.

I didn't even make a sound, I just let my head turn and fall flat on the bed. My mouth is wide open but no sound is coming out. I feel the tears in my eyes building out, but before they fall I feel John's hand tangle itself in my hair and yank my head up. My wide eyes stare back at John's angry ones and all I can do is try to swallow down my fear.

"Don't you fucking cry Stephanie. You did this to yourself, you hear me?" he growls out at me. I whimper and he pulls my head back making pain shoot through my head. "You thought you could leave me, huh? You thought you could leave me for that redneck, is that what you thought?"

"John..." I moan in pain.

"Answer me!" he yells. A sob leaves my mouth which just makes him pull harder on my hair. Slowly I shake my head no. "Stephanie, you're in a whole lot of trouble when we get home. I already have your whole punishment planned out, but why don't we just start some of it now?"

Before I could even ask what he meant by that, he had yanked me off the bed by my hair and turned us around before he took a seat on the bed. He pulls my hair making me fall in his lap. He tugs down my pants and underwear before suddenly I feel a stinging pain in my backside. I cry out in pain and he just pushes my head down into the mattress.

After what seems like forever, he finally pulls me off of his lap by my hair and makes me stand in between his legs. He pulls my pants and underwear back up and slaps my backside one last time. I cry out in pain as he grabs both my hands and squeezes them. "Don't cry now Stephanie, your punishment has barely even started," he says. "You know, you're lucky I didn't take off my belt. Stephanie, you're in for a rude awakening when we get back home. I'm going beat the hell out of you before I take you in the ass. You think that sounds like an okay punishment to you?"

I shut my eyes tight and frantically nod my head. "Yes John, just please let go of my hands!"

And with that he let me go. A loud gut-wrenching sob leaves my mouth and before I fall to the floor, John places his hand on my hip and pulls me closer to him. I feel him lift my left hand up and place a long kiss on top of it. "Does it hurt?" he asks after he pulls away. I continue to sob and don't even bother to answer his question which he doesn't seem to care. Suddenly I feel him raise up my ring finger and place something cool and metal on it. I open my tear filled eyes and eye the wedding ring I had ditched months ago.

"You belong to me Stephanie. I own all of you, you know that? As soon as you put this ring on for the first time you became mine. As soon as your last name became Schmidt, you became mine. Stephanie, I want you to tell me what your name is."

I swallowed down my sobs and looked down at the floor. "My name is Stephanie Schmidt."

His lips curl up into a smirk and he nods his head in approval. "Now tell me who you belong to, but look at me when you do it."

I bite my lip and lift my head up so I can look him straight in the eye. "I belong to you."

"Good, now tell me that you're mine and you'll always be mine," he says as he pulls me closer. I feel him poking me, but I try my best to ignore it.

My lip trembles. "I'm yours and I'll always be yours."

"Now tell me that I own you," he says with a huge grin now on his face.

My eyes are the size of saucers and my heart beats faster in my chest. "You're crazy," I mumble.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. What did you say Stephanie?" he asks as he squeezes my hip.

I close my eyes tight, but a tear still slips from my eye and falls down my cheek. "I said that you own me."

He has this proud look on his face and he nods. "Good now I want you to repeat everything you just said to me. I want you to say it in the same exact order."

I couldn't believe he was actually making me do this, but if I didn't want to get slapped for a second time I knew that I needed to everything he told me to. "My name is Stephanie Schmidt and I belong to you, I'm yours and I'll always be yours. You...you own me."

His grin widens. "That a girl."

Here I was, sitting on the bed staring down at my ring just wondering why I had let things get like this. I couldn't stop asking myself how did things get like this. How could I get things to go back to normal? How could I break free from John's hold on me and escape his abusive ways for sure? As I sat there staring at my ring, I knew there was a way, but the love I felt for John still lingered inside my heart and was keeping me from doing what I knew was the right choice. I didn't want to do it, but for both mine and Cameron's sake it was the only choice.

"Stephanie?"

I look up and find Doctor Waters standing in front of me with a huge smile on her face. I hadn't even heard her come into the room. "Yes?"

"Well I have some good news for you," she says. I instantly sit up and look her right in the eye to let her know I was paying close attention. "Your son is okay. No major injuries, we found nothing. The two of you may go home tonight unless you'd like to stay here for the night?"

I suck in my bottom lip to keep from crying out. I've done so much crying today I was surprised I still could. I just nod my head and shut my eyes tight before opening them back up. "Thank God he's okay. And yes I'd like to stay here for the night if you don't mind. I have nowhere else to go other than...home," I say, but whisper the last part.

"Okay well I'll leave you to get some rest. Do you need anything before I leave?" she asks with a kind smile on her face.

This was my chance. It broke my heart to do it, but this was the only way. Slowly I opened my mouth and said the words I needed to say to be free. "Can you...can you get me a phone so I can call my lawyer. I..."

I take in a deep breath before saying, "I want to divorce my husband."

---

I'm sure about 99.9% are happy that Stephanie is divorcing John.  I feel like crying myself :(

ANYWHO! There are two chapters left (Noooo), but fear not I will be writing a sequel! But before I write the sequel I will be writing my other story Good At Being Bad. I might be slow posting chapters for GABB, but that's because I'm publishing a book and I need to finish writing it, SO I'll be more focused on that.