Jazmine's POV
And another one bites the dust
Oh why can I not conquer love?
And I might have thought that we were one
Wanted to fight this war without weapons
And I wanted it, I wanted it bad
But there were so many red flags
Now another one bites the dust
Yeah, let's be clear, I'll trust no one
You did not break me
I'm still fighting for peace
She slowly opened her eyes to see a fan hanging above the ceiling.
She watched as the blades of the fan rotate swiftly and felt goosebumps running down her spine, she felt cold. She tried to lift her body up, but she struggled and moved her head, and examined her surroundings. She noticed she was in a small white room with no windows. She panicked when she realized that she was restrained to a bed with leather cuffs on her wrist and ankles.
"Aaaaaaaaaah! SOMEBODY PLEASE!, HELP ME!" She screamed as she moved her body violently.
She had tears dripping down her face and she wrestled to emancipate herself from the cuffs. She felt like she was being pulled down by the devil, she was in hell. She must have alerted someone because four nurses had quickly entered the room.
"LET GO OF ME!, STOP IT!" she pleaded, as they held her down.
"Why are you doing this to me?" She asked as she felt a sharp pinch on her arm. The feeling was intoxicating and she felt extremely drowsy.
"Huey?" She whispered and smiled as she dozed off to sleep.
" I've got thick skin and an elastic heart,
But your blade - it might be too sharp I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard,
Yeah, I may snap and I move fast But you won't see me fall apart "
It's been 14 days and 336 hours since Jazmine DuBois was admitted to a mental institution. After spending three horrible days restrained in a room, she finally gave up. Every day was the same routine; in the morning, she woke up to the same room and took her medications. In the afternoon, she was allowed in the cafeteria to have lunch, and in the evening, she was sent to talk to her counselor. Finally at night, she was sent back to her room to sleep.
"Hola! strawberry shortcake" the dark haired latina said, sitting next to Jazmine, who was playing with her food.
"Hi" she responded quietly, staring at her food in disgust.
During her stay at the institution, she met a woman named Mariana, who had long wavy hair and deep brown eyes. Mariana was gorgeous and her state of mind seemed normal to Jazmine. She didn't seem like she was a crazy person, but then again, Jazmine wasn't crazy either. Why were they in this hell hole?
"So you're just gonna stare at your food all day, huh?" Mariana said in her deep Spanish accent.
"Muchacha, come su comida, prisa!" Jazmine gave her an irritated look, then bawled in her hands.
"I..c-can't..do this anymore!" She sobbed.
"Oh mami, Lo siento" Mariana said softly, rubbing Jazmine's back. "Shh, you have to stop crying, they will hear you" She warned, referring to the nurses that were suspiciously staring at them.
Mariana knew that if they catch Jazmine crying, they would assume that she was having an anxiety breakdown. She didn't know why but she cared deeply for the strawberry haired chica.
"You remind me of someone" she added, running her fingers through Jazmine's frizzy hair.
"Is there a problem?" The suspicious heavy-set nurse asked.
"Nooo, you see, I was telling her a funny joke, and she started laughing so hard, that her face was rolling with tears!" Mariana said, hoping her horrible excuse will convince the annoying lady . She heard a little giggle come from Jazmine's mouth.
The nurse gave them a look that said "yeah right" and place her hands on her hips
"Mrs. Lorenzo, I said, is there a problem?" She repeated as she walked closer to Jazmine.
"There isn't a problem at all. Jazmine said"Mariana was just telling me about the time she tripped on her own shoe laces" Jazmine responded and laughed awkwardly.
The nurse gave them another disapproving look before walking away.
"Phew! Ay Dios Miós!" Mariana said loudly" I didn't know which lie was bad, mine or yours". she joked.
"Well, we must be pretty good liars if we got her to believe in us," Jazmine replied, wiping away her remaining tears.
"We're loco idiotas, forreal!" Mariana yelled as she did a circular motion near her ear, with her index finger. They laughed and the same nurse walked in front of them.
"Is there a problem nurse?" Mariana said, mocking the nurse's previous question. The nurse rolled her eyes and looked at Jazmine.
"You have a visitor, Mrs. Lorenzo". The nurse stated, waving her head to tell Jazmine to follow her.
"Visitor?" Jazmine said with a puzzled look on her face. She stood up and waved bye to Mariana, as she followed the nurse to the visiting room.
Jazmine almost fainted, when she saw the man in a fitted suit, staring at her up and down.
"You look terrible" The man with the silky hair and deep dimples said, as he hugged Jazmine's fragile body.
"Nice to see you too, bastard!"Jazmine said angrily "how dare you show your face here, after what you have done!"she shouted.
He laughed at her and sat her down gently and she flinched slightly. "Darling, I know you're upset, but don't blame your issues on me". He pointed at her chest.
"You put yourself here." He stated firmly. " I just came to see my "not so beautiful today" wife. Manuel had some nerve to insult her appearance, it was his fault she was too depressed to look good. How could he blame her, when he was the one that was telling the world she was some crazy person, beating herself up.
He put those scars on her body and caused her to overdose but, of course, people will believe a rich and powerful man over a suicidal sex symbol. He was never like this in the beginning, he was sweet and passionate and she believed every word he said. She met his wonderful family, who thought he was this angel, but he wasn't at all. Behind closed doors, he was satan.
He had always wanted her to be perfect, too perfect. He forced her to waist-train so she could have the smallest waist. He forced her to get a Labiaplasty, and even forced her to have sex with directors just to get the best movie roles. When she got pregnant, he dropped a 20-pound weight on her stomach, while she was asleep. She remembered bleeding in pain and he stood there as she almost died and told her that it was for the best, to keep up with her figure.
"Leave me alone Manuel" she warned. "I don't ever want to see your face again and when I get out of this shit hole, I will be happy to press charges against you and get a divorce" Jazmine said viciously, slamming her fist on the table.
Manuel laughed hysterically then gave her a serious imitating glare. "You really think it's that easy, huh?" he said, poking her forehead roughly, "No one will believe you, I'm a very powerful man and I could destroy you" he threatened.
"I could move mountains if I wanted to and don't forget"he leaned over and whispered in her ear. "I own you bitch and when you get out of this place, you will get your ass back to work, you understand?" He said as he squeezed her wrist with force.
"Y-yes" she nodded in pain.
"Good girl," he said with a wide grin on his face. He pulled out a magazine and smiled. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot,'' he said, sliding the magazine towards her.
" What the hell is this?"she questioned with a confused expression.
"It's the answer you've been desperately waiting for," he responded." I know you want to know how he feels about you, and if he's still in love with you," He teased.
"You know, the love of your life" he challenged. She blinked at him a few times and lowered her eyes to look down at the front page, which appeared to have a picture of Huey Freeman.
She stared at the picture for a few minutes then looked at the bold letters that read,
'HUEY FREEMAN REVEALS HIS TRUE FEELINGS TOWARDS HIS CHILDHOOD NEIGHBOR, JAZMINE DUBOIS!
Neighbor? Is that all she was to him? Wait, He has feelings for me? She smiled at the thought. Her heart raced as she anxiously turned the page to the article about Huey. It was based on an interview he did recently. She read carefully and scanned through the questions until she saw her name.
"So what are your thoughts regarding Jazmine DuBois?" her eyes widened as she read his response.
"I think that Jazmine DuBois is a disrespectful, disgraceful, spoiled, careless, artificial, disgusting, Trashy, attention seeking WHORE!"
Tears rushed down her face as she continued to read.
"It's a shame that little girls idolize her and she thinks that it's cute, that every man wants to screw her, but I most certainly would never in my life, lay down with a woman that makes me want to vomit!"
"How could he?" She whispered. Her heart broke a thousand pieces. She couldn't believe her eyes, he thinks I'm disgusting? Her lips trembled excessively and her fingers gripped the page roughly.
Manuel stared at her with amusement. He loved to see her in so much pain, especially when he came to Huey Freeman, he despised that man for stealing his woman's heart.
" You see, he hates you" he said. " he doesn't love you anymore, he knows you're a dirty whore" he said with an evil smirk on his face.
She never knew she could produce so many tears at once. She stared at Huey's response and shook her head violently. "No, it's not true". She knew it was the truth, but the truth hurts.
Manuel held her hand and kissed it tenderly."Jazmine, I'm all you have left".
"NO! IT'S NOT TRUE! HE LOVES ME!" She shouted, yanking her hand away.
"He doesn't love you, he never did, and he never will!" Manuel shouted.
"LIAR!I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! YOU RUINED MY LIFE" she screamed as she repeatedly punched his chest.
"YOU MONSTER!, I'll KILL YOU!" She screamed. The security guards lifted her up by her arms and legs, and she swung her arms and kicked her legs violently as she continued to chant "HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME!".
She was so out of control that they couldn't keep her still to inject her, so they wrapped her in a straitjacket and gave her an extra dose of medication.
She was placed in a padded room, still strapped in the strait jacket with her head leaning against the padded wall. Her face was flushed with tears and her nose was puffy, and her head was pounding.
'Hiccup'
'Hiccup'
'Hiccup'
"He's supposed to always love me, he promised" she said softly, her voice cracked.
" He promised.. He promised... He promised" she repeated as her eyes closed.
And I will stay up through the night
And let's be clear, won't close my eyes
And I know that I can survive
I'll walk through fire to save my life
And I want it, I want my life so bad
I'm doing everything I can
Then another one bites the dust
It's hard to lose a chosen one
You did not break me (You did not break me, no)
I'm still fighting for peace
Well, I've got thick skin and an elastic heart,
But your blade - it might be too sharp
I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard,
Yeah, I may snap and I move fast
But you won't see me fall apart
'Cause I've got an elastic heart
Manuel Lorenzo stood angrily as he waited for the person on the other line of his phone call to answer.
"Hello, Dr. Steven speaking, how may I help you?" The psychiatrist said.
"Enough with the fuckery!You figlio di puttana, don't fuck around with me!" he threatened using his strong Italian accent.
"I want her fixed! She needs to be in the right state of mind" he shouted "Remember I paid you big loads of money!" he reminded him.
"Alright, Alright, I'll have them give her the shock treatments immediately!" The psychiatrist responded.
"I WANT THAT PUTTANA TO GET HER HEAD WASHED" Manuel said, screaming through the phone.
"It's done. She won't remember a thing, not even her love for Freeman, don't worry, I'll fix her." the psychiatrist said.
"Perfetto" Manuel said, as he smiled wildly.
Jazmine belongs to him, she was his property, and he needed her to be his forever.
"Finché morte non ci separi'(till death do us part.)
he mumbled as he hopped in his black Bentley Continental GT and drove away.
Sia- Elastic Heart
