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“You better learn to be respectful to me if you want to continue living in this house”, were the words Sophie heard before she closed the door and went off to the Emergency Room. She was in immense pain. Her arm was hurting so much, she knew it must be broken. In tears, cradling her right arm, she quickly got into a cab and left. This wasn’t her first time at the ER in the last two months. What happened today was nothing new, it had happened before and Sophie was used to it, but today things had surely escalated.
While in the cab, she quickly wiped away her tears when she noticed the cab driver looking at her in the rearview mirror. She then began thinking what story she should use as a cover for her injuries. The last time she went in with a busted lip, she said she had tripped and had accidentally cut her lip at the edge of a table while falling. She was thankful that people actually believed her story, but what could she say this time, she wondered. “I could say I tripped over something and fell down the stairs”, she thought. Nurse Mindy at the ER knew Sophie’s situation and always covered for her, but would she this time as well?
After a lot of thought, she was unable to come up with any other story and decided to go with the one about falling down the stairs. Once she thought of that, all she could think of now was if her life would ever change. Her life has never been easy, right from being a child to this very moment. First, going through immense emotional abuse by her parents, treating her with utmost disrespect, constantly putting her down and making young Sophie Cook feel terrible about herself. She never understood why her parents were so mean to her, and till this day, she hasn’t still figured out the reason. Growing up, all she wanted was love.
She thought she had found that when she started dating her first boyfriend ever- Matthew Simmons- in high school, only to find out that she was only being used by him to get to her best friend at the time. As one would assume, she was extremely heartbroken and lost all sense of self over the years. Sophie was and still is a very kind and loving woman who deserves to be loved, but people in her life like her parents and Matthew, simply broke her.
By the time she was in college, she had become a shell of herself. No longer having any self- esteem, but still in the hope that she would find someone to love who would love her back. In her final year of college, she met Andrew Cook. Andrew- a popular guy in college, attractive and friends with nearly everyone, took an interest in shy and quiet Sophie Cook.
Sophie was immediately smitten with Andrew, I mean, who wouldn’t be? They started dating a few months after they first met and soon, Andrew told Sophie he loves her. She was glad that she finally found someone who loves her and told Andrew that she loves him too. Andrew was the perfect boyfriend- sweet words, texts, surprise dates now and then, romantic trips and a whole lot of romantic gestures which made Sophie fall more in love with him.
On the day of their college graduation, Andrew surprised Sophie with a black velvet box while they were sitting on the grass and sipping glasses of champagne to celebrate the end of their college journey. She was the happiest she had ever been and without hesitation, said “Yes!“, a huge smile on her face. They were now engaged.
Sophie awoke to the sound of the cab driver calling her- they had reached the hospital. She paid the driver, thanked him and walked into the hospital. After filling in a few forms, she finally got to see the doctor. Just as she thought, her arm was broken. It had to be put in a cast and would take a few weeks to heal. While she was waiting for the doctor to return, Nurse Mindy came in and greeted Sophie. She asked her how she was and when Sophie told her that her arm was broken and had to be put in a cast, Mindy immediately asked how it happened. Since she had already thought of a cover story, she told her that she had tripped over a pair of shoes and stumbled down the stairs. Mindy stared at Sophie for a few seconds and then nodded. “Guess she bought it”, Sophie thought to herself, “Even if she didn’t, at least she isn’t asking any more questions.”
Mindy gave her a sympathetic smile, told Sophie to, “Take care”, and went away to attend to another patient. The doctor returned, put Sophie’s arm in a cast, prescribed her a few medicines, and they were done. Sophie bought the medicines from the hospital pharmacy, went and stood on the sidewalk to hail a cab.
While trying to flag down a cab with her other arm outstretched, all of a sudden she looked up to find a pair of eyes watching her intently. The pair of eyes belonged to a young man, around Sophie’s age, dressed in a pair of black jeans, a plain white tee and a black leather jacket on his shoulders. They looked at each other for a few seconds before a cab rolled to a stop in front of Sophie, and she looked down to get into the cab.
She completely forgot about the man she saw across the road as she gave the driver her address and the cab drove off to take her back to the place she calls “home”.
