For a few seconds everything was black and when I opened my eyes again, Malcolm was bending over me. My ears were ringing so loud, I could barely hear anything, everything was spinning, and my vision was blurry. My throat was dry and couldn’t even scream.

“I- I- You made me do this. This is your fault.”, he said, before turning around and leaving me behind on the floor.

I couldn’t even breathe. Everything seemed to hurt.

I closed my eyes, and everything turned black again until I heard a familiar voice, but it wasn’t Malcolm’s. Whose was it? A man, of that I was sure. His voice was deep and a little bit rough. Why couldn’t I remember?

Finally, the pressure on my chest started to ease off and I began to breathe again but every breath hurt worse than the last. I opened my eyes slightly and I saw a face, Damien’s face, but everything was still blurry and the only thing I saw were two, bright blue eyes.

“Damien”, I choked and tried to move.

“Oh God, Ally, what happened?” I winced. My mind was clouded with pain and all I could remember was Malcolm’s face.

“I don’t know.”, I answered, my voice croaky and barely a whisper.

“Don’t move, I am going to call an ambulance.”, he ordered, and I flinched.

“No, I don’t need an ambulance. I am fine.”, I said and finally I was able to fully open my eyes. Everything was still spinning and breathing hurt so bad that I couldn’t stop crying. My ears were still ringing, and Damien’s voice barely got through to me.

“You are not fine.”, he said and grabbed his phone, but I stopped him. “I don’t need an ambulance. Please, just give me a second.”, I insisted, and he sighed.

“Fine. But we are still going to the hospital.” He brushed over my cheek lightly while I closed my eyes again, hoping the world would stop spinning.

He slowly sat me up. “Who was that? I saw the guy leaving and getting into his car. You knew he was here, why didn’t you say anything?”, he asked, and I heard the reproach in his voice.

“I guess I thought I could handle him.”, I said vaguely but even my memories were blurry. I couldn’t remember everything that happened.

Just Malcolm’s face and the disturbed look on his face.

“It doesn’t matter now. You need to see a doctor.”

He slowly helped me stand up and wrapped his arm around my waist, half dragging and half carrying me towards the door. I bit my lip until I tasted blood but a moan of pain still escaped my lips when Damien opened the passenger door and heaved me inside.

Maybe I had blacked out again after that because the next time I opened my eyes Damien was sitting beside me and we were already moving. I turned my head but just looking outside and seeing everything move so fast made me feel sick so I closed them again.

“Ally?”, Damien asked, worried and it took me a while to answer because I was so confused that I didn’t even know where left and right was, but then it got a little better.

“I am sorry I keep messing up everything.”, I croaked, and he grabbed my hand again. “That doesn’t matter now, and this isn’t your fault. But who was that guy?”

Talking seemed to make everything worse but I still answered.

“His name is Malcolm Cooper. We dated for a while and he helped out a lot with Carlie but then he was starting to act out like … this, and I told him that if he were to ever come back I would call the police on him but apparently that didn’t stop him.” Tears were still streaming down my face and I felt my hands trembling.

Damien growled a little. “Okay. We’ll take care of that bastard later. Try not to move or talk anymore. We are almost there.”

I was going to follow his advice but suddenly I felt a weird warm liquid running down my neck. Without having noticed it, my hand had made its way to the spot on the back of my head, where it had collided with the marble kitchen island.

The slightest touch made it burn up and I couldn’t stop myself from wincing a little. When I looked at my finger it was covered in blood and I started seeing everything double. I had never been a big fan of blood. Damien who had heard me yelping in pain looked at me, and then at my hand. He gritted his teeth.

“I am going to kill that guy.”, he said, and I couldn’t help but smile a little and I felt the skin of the corners of my mouth tear, because my lips were so dry.

During the rest of the drive, I kept quiet because I was too busy trying not to cry out in pain whenever Damien accidentally drove over a bump or braked a little too harshly. He probably didn’t even notice it, but I did.

We reached the hospital within less than 10 minutes which wasn’t surprising considering the fact that Damien ran at least 5 red lights and always drove at least 10 miles over the speed limit.

“You know I really don’t need a doctor.”, I said finally, when we drove into the parking garage of the hospital.

“Last time it was worse, believe me.”, I told him, not even really realizing what I was actually saying. It was like I had no control over my body anymore.

Damien stared at me in disbelief. “That only makes it worse. And I am not going to argue with you; you need a doctor.”

I wanted to open the door, but Damien had been faster, and he opened my door before I had even realized he had even gotten out of the car. Ignoring my protest, he helped me out of the car. “Damien, I am fine.”, I tried to convince him.

Was I slurring?

My head felt like it was about to explode, and the dizziness intensified again. He didn’t answer and instead pulled me towards the entrance. His hand was wrapped around my waist and if he hadn’t held me I would have collapsed. His grip around my waist let pain explode in my chest again and it became hard to breath, but I tried to ignore it because his grip was already careful and as light as possible.

My legs didn’t seem to want to go where I did and on top of all of that, the world started spinning again so fast that I couldn’t even tell what direction we were going until we had almost reached the reception desk.

That was when I suddenly remembered something Malcolm had said earlier. He said he had been to the hospital and that he had talked to Charlie. I stopped.

“Wait.”, I said, and Damien looked at me worried. “What is it?”

“We have to go see Charlie first.”, I said, and Damien raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Malcolm said he talked to him earlier, I just want to make sure he is okay.”

“But there is no way he could have talked to him after we left.”, he argued.

“I know but Charlie didn’t say anything. Maybe he was too scared. Please. Just let me talk to him for a second.”, I begged, and tears dwelled in my eyes when I even thought about how Malcolm could have threatened Charlie.

Okay, but maybe you should let me talk to him.”, he gave in.

“Why?”, I asked hoarsely but then I realized why. I must have looked like a wreck. I just nodded a little which made the pain in my head even worse.

We made our way to the elevator and even though I knew people were probably staring at us, I just looked on the floor, trying not to trip over my own feet. Everything was still spinning and when the elevator started moving my ears started ringing louder again and my legs gave out for a few seconds, but Damien pulled me back up and I leaned against his chest.

“This was a really bad idea; I should have just gone alone. You need help, Ally. By a doctor.”

I was too numb to notice anything but the pain in my chest and my head anymore and I hadn’t even noticed that we had exited the elevator again until I heard Doctor Thomas’ voice. I looked up and saw him heading our direction.

“Miss Jacobs, I was looking for you there are some new-” He froze for a second, when he saw my face, then his steps sped up until he was standing in front of us.

“What happened?”, he asked, looking worried. I must have looked worse than I thought. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

“Okay, let’s get her into one of the treatment rooms, he said and finally I was able to speak: “But Charlie-”, I choked but Damien interrupted me.

“I’ll look after him. Just- Just let him help you okay. I will be right back.” Damien and I entered an empty treatment room, following Doctor Thomas.

“Get her on here.”, he ordered and without warning Damien picked me up like I weighed nothing and carefully laid me on the benchlike bed close to the wall. “I’ll be right back.”, Damien said again, then he left and closed the door behind him.

My body felt so weak and I barely had the will to look at Doctor Thomas.

“Did you fall down the stairs again?”, he asked ironically, while he started to take a look at the wound on the back of my head, after he had washed and disinfected them.

The throbbing pain when he touched my head it elicited me a groan.

The last time Malcolm had beaten me up I had told everyone that I had accidentally tripped and had fallen down the stairs. Nobody except Celia knew the truth.

I knew that Doctor Thomas hadn’t really believed that story, but I hadn’t given in because I hadn’t wanted to involve the police yet. But that was back then. Now I wanted to kick his ass for even daring to talk to Charlie after everything he did. I wanted him as far away from him as possible.

“No.”, I said between clenched teeth.

“Was it that guy you were with?”, he asked, and I looked at him, confused, before I realized that he meant Damien. I couldn’t blame him for suspecting him. He had looked as if he were ready to kill someone.

“No, no. He wouldn’t hurt me. He just got me here.”

“Then who? Because this might not be my area of expertise but I think I can still tell that this,” he pointed to my face, “looks like something a fist would do and that,” now he pointed to my cheek, “looks like a handprint.”

“It was Malcolm.”, I finally said, and Doctor Thomas took a surprised breath. Then he gave me a sad smile. “I am sorry, Alison. I know that won’t make it better, but I never really liked that guy anyway.”

Everyone seemed to have known something was off about except me. I laughed dryly but my chest hurt so bad and the pressure on my head increased, that I started choking and my vision turned black for a few seconds.

Doctor Thomas lifted my shirt and I didn’t even need to look down to know that they were probably already blue and swollen.

At that moment, the door opened, and Damien came back in, but he froze when he saw my ribcage. Slowly his gaze wandered upwards until his eyes met mine. I saw anger in them. And pity. And I also saw that he was worried.

All those emotions made me even dizzier.

“What- what about Charlie?”, I asked while Doctor Thomas backed off.

“He is fine. He said he just didn’t want to upset you.”

That alone could have made me cry again. Charlie shouldn’t be the one worrying about others, least of all his own mother. He was too young.

“And who are you again?”, Doctor Thomas said with a raised eyebrow.

“He is Charlie’s father.”, I answered in a hoarse whisper and that seemed to leave him speechless for a couple of seconds, but he seemed to get over it pretty quickly. I had to admit, Doctor Thomas was pretty unshakable.

He turned back to me.

“We should really do a couple of CT scans to make sure there is no internal bleeding and that wound on your head needs stitches. Also, you probably have a concussion. We need to run a couple of tests to figure out how bad it is. Have you been feeling very dizzy? Nausea? Pressure on your head?”

I had all of those and more, but I shook my head and forced myself to sit up, even though it made breathing even harder and the whole room was starting to spin again.

I waited a couple of seconds, then I said: “I am fine.”

Damien shook his head. “You are not fine, Ally. How many times do I have to tell you? You were unconscious and when you can still barely walk. Just let them do the scans.”, Damien argued and much to my regret the world started to blur again.

The pressure in my head increased until I felt like my head was about to burst and my ears started ringing again while my headwound was throbbing in pain. It was unbearable. I pressed my hands against my temples as if that were going to help.

“I don’t need any more hospital bills to pay, Damien. Not all of us are as rich-” Suddenly I forgot what I had wanted to say. The pain clouded my mind again and I couldn’t think straight. Confusion took over while the ringing got so loud that I wanted to press my hands against my ears to make it stop. I couldn’t hear anything else anymore. It was like my brain was empty, except for the pain and the loud ringing.

What was I doing here? What was happening to me? Where even was I?

Damien and Doctor Thomas both realized what was going to happen and rushed in my direction, but my eyes had already rolled back, and I fell forwards from the bed. The last thing I felt was 2 sets of arms trying to keep me from hitting the floor while I fell forwards off the bed.