Healed behind bars

It was a cool day in Charlton County of February of 2013. I was headed for the jail there to work with the EMS. However due to my Aunt's recent incarceration, I was distracted. She was sitting in our local jail for all I knew. I was worried.

"Hey Janie, when we scheduled this I wanted you to take care of a certain patient. Is that ok?" Mrs. Janice asked.

"That ok but who?" I asked.

"You'll see." She added leading me into the cell. That's when I saw Melanie seated on her bed. She rubbed her bulbous belly before she lifted her head. In doing so she revealed her eyes which where now blurry husks that were hidden by contacts that looked like her natural eye color due to the fact that they were stricken by blindness. Suddenly she stood and walked towards me with her hands outstretched searching for me. Then she found me.

"Aunt Mel is that really you?" I asked.

"Angel I can't believe you're here." She said as she felt my face; as she was feeling I noticed she was looking like she was staring past me, but this was normal for someone who was blind.

"Aunt Mel I missed you." I said and I hugged her.

"I missed you too Angel." She said and hugged me back. After a lengthy hug, I began to check her over. While doing so I noticed an astonishing number of bruises. Her face and arms were covered in black and blue marks. It was worse around her ribs and belly which looked as if it had been taken most of the damaged. Seeing this made me realized something, these where fresh bruises.

"Aunt Mel when did you get the bruises on your belly?" I asked concerned.

"I've had those Angel." She replied hesitantly wrinkling her nose.

"Aunt Mel you're lying." I said.

"I'm scared to tell you Angel." She sobbed. With that the flood gates of her heart broke down and she told me what was happening. Apparently after she was imprisoned her current Boyfriend Robbie had paid the guards so that he could "visit" her after lights out. During these visits her would beat her senseless. I was shocked. All I could do was hug her.

"Angel you can't tell anyone what I told you. If I tell anyone he'll kill me." She sobbed.

"I won't, I promise." I said. Once the initial shock passed things became somewhat normal. We talked about how things where. I even managed to show her some pictures I have taken of Scarlet. That's when our time was near its close. However as I was about to say goodbye, Mrs. Janice stopped at the door.

"Janie where are you going?" She asked.

"Isn't time to switch?" I asked

"Yeah but you don't have too, she's your special patient for the rest of the trip." She replied.

"Thank you." I said happily.

"Yeah thanks Janice. I have one question though." Melanie said.

"Shoot." Mrs. Janice said.

"You guys aren't just here to bring Angel to visit are you?" She asked.

"No we're actually here for a few weeks to train." Mrs. Janice said.

"In a prison Janice? Really?" Melanie snapped.

"Well we needed a place to train and Janie missed you." Mrs. Janice added.

"Thanks Janice. You brought Angel back to me." Melanie said sadly.

"Now you won't be alone." I said hugging her gently.

The Next Day

The next day dawned with a strange feeling of hope. Mrs. Janice woke me up early that morning and told me to go visit her before we started training. Wanting some extra time with Aunt Mel, I went to the visitor's center. To my surprise we were already scheduled which meant she was waiting on me. Thankful for the extra time, we sat down and began talking.

"So Aunt Mel how are you today?" I asked.

"Angel it happened again." She sobbed resting her hands on her belly. As she sobbed, she appeared to look past me with a short of longing apparent in her expression. That's when an idea hit me. With that I pulled out my laptop and started Skype. After a call to her mother Joan, we were all set. She brought Mel's daughter Scarlet on. Upon hearing her daughter's voice, she smiled slightly.

"Mummy is that you? I wove you." Scarlet said.

"I love you too sweetie" Melanie said.

"Awe that's so sweet." I said

"It wouldn't have been possible without you Angel. Thank you so much." She said pulling me into a hug.