Chantelle slowly became more aware of the things around her, looking down to her arms she realised how exposed she was. Her bruises were all on show, obvious finger marks up and down her arms. She began to panic, gasping for air, not noticing Dixie and the doctor coming back into the room.
"Woah sweetheart, you need to calm down" Dixie moved herself quickly, allowing the Doctor to look over Chantelle. Chantelle blacked herself out while the doctor checked her over, she stared at the wall ignoring everything the doctor was saying.
Once the doctor was finished, Chantelle felt Dixie put her hand on her own.
"How you feeling love?"
"Tired… Dix, I need to go, I need to discharge myself" Chantelle whispered, her voice was still croaky.
"Sweetheart that isn't happening" Dixie shook her head, Chantelle wasn't going anywhere.
"Why? I can discharge myself. Right?" Chantelle tried to sit herself up, but her body wasn't doing what she was telling it to, she remained put lying on the bed.
"Wrong, you're not going anywhere any time soon. You're still too weak and need monitoring. I know it's hard, but you are in the best place"
"What happened to me? Why am I here?" Chantelle looked around, trying to figure out what had happened to her, last thing she remembered was lying on the kitchen floor, now she was lying in a hospital bed with Dixie sat next to her.
"You called an ambulance, the phone was found in your hand" Dixie started, looking at the floor, she felt so helpless, she wasn't able to protect Chantelle.
"What happened after that" Chantelle turned her head, the room was gently spinning, she ignored this looking at Dixie next to her.
"Basics of it was, you were bleeding in your brain, had a punctured lung and a ruptured spleen" Dixie took a deep breath, she couldn't say anything about the miscarriage, not without Jeff there supporting her.
"They operated on me?" Chantelle narrowed her eyes looking at Dixie.
"There was no other way around it sweetheart, they had to remove your spleen, repair your lung then drain the internal bleeding. You've been in a coma the past month" Dixie looked up from the floor to Chantelle.
"Oh" Chantelle whispered, she tried to lift up her hand but her body was too weak to move. Dixie shook her head, taking hold of the hand that Chantelle was trying to move. "Don't rush yourself sweetheart" Dixie heard Chantelle sigh, resting her head back into the pillows.
Dixie wiped her eyes, trying to smile at Chantelle. Dixie wiped the blonde hair away from Chantelles eyes, she wasn't sure if to say anything about David, the fact she knew David was the one who did this.
Chantelle gagged, feeling a burning feeling at the back of her throat. Dixie grabbed the cardboard bowl from the side, holding it under Chantelles mouth. Dixie held back her hair as she was violently sick, when she stopped Dixie took away the bowl taking a tissue to wipe her mouth. Once Dixie was satisfied she wasn't going to be sick anymore she sat back down, taking hold of Chantelle's hand.
Dixie didn't take her eyes off Chantelle, the young woman was looking at the wall. She seemed so lost, looked so defeated with herself.
"Thank you Dixie… For staying, I was so scared…" Chantelle admitted,
"You could hear me?" Dixie felt a small smile creep across her face, knowing her staying there with Chantelle had all been worthwhile.
"Bits and pieces, I heard every time you read to me"
"Jeff thought I was a right nana, reading to a person who might not be able to hear" Dixie amused herself by playing with Chantelles fingers.
"I did, I couldn't feel, but I could hear" Chantelle looked at Dixie raising a weak smile, Dixie smiled back.
Jeff looked into the room, he was still wearing his paramedic uniform. He couldn't help but smile, seeing Chantelle awake talking to Dixie. Washing his hands he went into the room.
"Hey Princess, god it's glad to see you awake" Jeff cupped Chantelles cheek, feeling his eyes water. He looked at Dixie, he could tell she hadn't told Chantelle about the miscarriage, they had agreed that they should do it together.
"Dixie…." Jeff started,
"I know Jeff" Dixie buried her head in her hands, she knew what Jeff was getting at, they needed to tell Chantelle what had happened.
"What?" Chantelle looked between them, she knew something was going on.
"Sweetheart, there's something you need to know" Dixie took hold of her hand, gripping it firmly.
"What?" Chantelle asked, Dixie took a deep breath, feeling her eyes water. "Dix do you want me to…" Jeff interrupted he could see how hard this must be for her, Dixie shook her head before continuing to speak.
"No… Chantelle I'm really not sure how to say this" Dixie knew she was crying, she couldn't quite get the words out of her mouth.
"Say what? Please just tell me" Chantelle pleaded, she felt Dixie grip hold of her hand a little tighter. Lifting her head to look into her eyes,
"Darling… When…When you were beaten, you were hit in the stomach with quite some force… you were pregnant" Dixie stopped there, swallowing the lump that was forming in the back of her throat, before continuing, "The trauma to your stomach lead to you miscarrying…. Sweetheart I'm so sorry" Dixie felt tears running down her face falling onto the bed sheets, Chantelle stared at her, somehow she managed to nod weakly, trying to accept the fact she had lost her baby. That had caught her completely off guard, she was expecting Dixie to say she had been left with some sort of deformity, not that she miscarried.
Chantelle took a deep breath, feeling her eyes water, she forgotten to take the morning after pill, then David had found them and binned them. She had no idea she was pregnant, but this had meant David had killed his own baby.
"Love, I know this is hard, but we also know about David" Dixie didn't know if she should have said this, but there was no taking it back now.
"What about him?" Chantelle snapped quickly, staring at Dixie feeling her blood run cold.
"He was the one who did this, you don't get these type of injuries from falling over" Dixie ran her fingers across the bruising on Chantelles wrists, then moving up to the ones further up her arm.
"You don't know what you are saying"
"I think I do, I just want you safe sweetheart, we came so close to losing you. Why are you staying with him?" Dixie questioned, this was a question that puzzled her.
"He didn't do it" She said quickly, Jeff looked at Dixie, it was pointless in Chantelle lying both knew David had been the one who hurt her.
"Don't lie to me Chantelle" Dixie put her hand under Chantelles chin, tilting her head so she was looking into her eyes.
"What do you care?" Chantelle felt her eyes water, she blinked rapidly to try and stop them from falling.
"Of course I care, you're my friend" Dixie tried to explain, Chantelle shook her head, feeling tears run down her face.
"Princess we are worried about you that's all" Jeff tried to help Dixie out, both of them cared deeply about Chantelle.
"I think you should both go…." Chantelle managed to whisper, looking at the wall opposite.
"Sweetheart…" Dixie started, but Chantelle cut her off.
"Don't come back…" Chantelle lifted her head looking at Dixie in the eye, she knew Dixie looked hurt and upset from her asking her to leave.
"Please Dixie, please go" Chantelle repeated, still looking at Dixie in her eyes. Dixie nodded her head weakly, getting her bag then leaving the room being followed by Jeff.
Once they were gone and out of sight, Chantelle allowed herself to cry more, breaking down into tears. They knew, she immediately hated herself, feeling so humiliated and embarrassed. Never in her life had she felt so alone and broken. Putting her hands on her stomach, she felt more tears slip from her eyes, an innocent baby had been growing inside her, her baby who she was unable to protect.
She didn't want to have David's baby, but that didn't mean she wanted this. Feeling completely worthless, she looked at the empty seat next to her, the one that Dixie had been sat in. She took so much comfort in having Dixie next to her when she was in the coma, now she found out Dixie knew about David. Things had changed. She didn't want to appear the battered girlfriend, she remembered how worn out and tired Dixie was looking sat next to her.
That was her fault Dixie had gotten like that, she had lost so much weight from starving herself to be at her bedside. What did Chantelle do to deserve that? She felt completely worthless, maybe it would have been better for everyone if David hadn't called the ambulance, he was right she was a worthless cow who deserved nobody. Who was she kidding? She was nothing special at all, she was lucky to have David, nobody else was going to want her. Chantelle let more tears slip from her eyes, she was ignoring the pain that was radiating through her body.
She didn't know how David was going to react, she had been away from him for almost a month. Would he be angry at her for that? Was he going to throw her out? She didn't know what she would do if he did, she relied on him for everything, he even put her money in a joint bank account, she didn't even know the pin number to the account. She continued to cry alone, rubbing at her eyes furiously in efforts to keep the tears away.
A nurse, Hayley had noticed she was now alone, she had never seen Chantelle on her own since she had been brought in, someone was always with her. Going over to her Hayley smiled at her.
"Alright honey, where has your friends gone?" Hayley asked, wiping the tears away from Chantelles face as she was unable to do his herself.
"They're gone… I told them not to come back" She whispered,
"Why did you say that? Did you want me to go and get them for you?" Hayley offered, setting up some more pain relief for Chantelle.
"No… I can't have them being hurt, it's better if I leave them" Chantelle admitted, choking back on her tears. She didn't want to involve Dixie and Jeff in her life anymore, she didn't want to put either of them at risk.
"I don't want the pain relief…" Chantelle added, looking at the nurse who was about to inject her.
"Honey you are going to be in a lot of pain without them. Please let me give you a little bit" Hayley begged, after a few moments Chantelle gave in, allowing the nurse to inject her.
"If you want Mrs Collier to come back, I can call her for you" Hayley offered, Chantelle shook her head.
The nurse then left her alone in peace, Chantelle looked at the ceiling, trying to stop herself from crying. Her whole body was cold and shaking, right now all she wanted was to be held, but somehow if she was held or shown any affection she would feel extremely guilty, she knew deep down she was worthless and didn't deserve to be loved, which is another reason why she couldn't see Dixie or Jeff anymore.