“A fool. I am such a fool,” Eve said to herself, shaking her head vigorously as she stared down at J.C.’s immobile body on the hospital bed. An array of tubes protruded from every crevice of his body. The only sign of life was in the movement of his chest made possible by the ventilator pumping air through his throat. Today marked the third week since the he had entered the coma—the third week since the incident.
Eve made her way across the room to the chair planted next to the bed. Darkness enveloped the hospital room, interrupted only by the flickering blue-white light of the television and the green and red illuminated digits on the machines connected to his ailing body. The silence would have been deafening save for the perpetual beeping of the machines that remind her that J.C. was still alive. How she wished she could go back in time and erase all her mistakes! J.C. was lying here courting death because of her foolishness, her ingratitude, her unfaithfulness. She didn’t deserve a miracle. She didn’t deserve him, but she prayed desperately for both anyways.
“I’m so sorry J.C.,” she whispered to his inert body as tears clogged her throat. “Please wake up. I won’t survive it if you die.”
As she gazed at him, she remembered the first time she saw him three years ago. She had been impressed with his stature, his chiseled physique and his vibrancy. He wasn’t her type, too clean cut and too proper for her tastes, yet he emanated an alluring aura that caused people, her included to gravitate towards him. He stood out in the dilapidated neighborhood with its run down convenience stores, trashy sidewalks and the homeless digging through garbage cans. His kind, with their black sleek BMWs and their expensive brand name clothing did not belong on this side of Tucker City. As she waited for her ride across the street from the Tucker City Youth Center, she watched as he walked around passing out sandwiches among the homeless, smiling that enigmatic smile. His eyes looked at her as he caught her staring at him. She quickly averted her gaze, but he was already making his way across the street.
“Hey!” he said with a grin once he reached her.
“Hi.” She politely responded, craning her neck hoping her ride would immediately make its appearance.
“My name is J.C.”
“Okay.” She said.
“What’s yours?” he prodded.
“Eve.”
“Okay…Eve, like in the Bible. That’s a pretty name.”
“Sure. Okay.” She said rolling her eyes.
“It's almost as pretty as you.”
“I’m not available.”
“Who asked if you were?”
“My boyfriend won’t be happy to see you talking to me.”
“Really?” J.C. said with a mixture of incredulity and curiosity. “Is he so easily threatened? We’re just having a conversation.”
“Yeah, right.” she said sarcastically. Then putting her hands on hips she questioned, “Why are you talking to me? What do you want?”
“Okay. I’m going to be honest with you,” he replied. “ I’ve seen you with Louis and I don’t understand why you’re with him.”
“Uhhh maybe because we love each other!” She said, her voice rising in indignation.
“Yeah, well he obviously loves you---and the other four women he has leaving his apartment every morning. He gives you gifts too, doesn’t he? Like that black bruise on your arm?” He reached out and touched her shoulder. “You deserve better, Eve.”
“Mind your own business,” She said through clenched teeth as blood pounded through her head.
Suddenly her boyfriend’s fist appeared out of nowhere, contacting with J.C.’s jaw, sending him sprawling on the concrete.
“Stay away from her, rich boy!” he growled. “She’s mine.” He then turned to her, and jerked his head toward his 1984 rusty brown Cadillac. “Get in,” he said. They sped away in his car, headed towards the hypest party of the week, as J.C. struggled to get up through the cloud of exhaust fume.
“I hate that punk, ya hear? If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from him.” Louis said menacingly, blowing his cigarette smoke in her face.
Eve loved to party. She loved the ambience—the loud, core-gripping music, the masses of bodies melded together, each moving with their own cadence creating a symphony of dance. She even loved the intermingling smell of cheap perfume, cigarettes, sweat and beer that permeated the air at party scenes. But what she loved most of all about parties was Louis.
At these parties, Louis would inhale his favorite narcotic which would turn him into the most debonair individual who created blissful, passionate unforgettable experiences. What she loved about Louis was his need for action, and the adrenaline rush that she got when she was in his presence. He and his gang of friends were always on the go, constantly trying to commit their next greatest feat that would expand their often illegitimately gained wealth.
Tonight was no different. Tonight the plan involved J.C. and his BMW. They wanted to teach him a lesson.
“Just run your hands over it. Yeah, that’s right. Isn’t she a beaut?” Louis murmured in her ear as they walked around the stationed vehicle, an avaricious gleam in his eye.
“More beautiful than me?” She whispered back with a smirk, flirtatiously.
His dark eyes flickered as they roamed down her tank-topped, miniskirt clad body.
“Yes.” He said, and turned away.
She blinked her eyes in shock. Surely he didn’t mean that. Although lately, his speech had been laced with similar barbs aimed at her. Trembling, she went back to the party on a quest to get high, high enough that no words that Louis uttered would hurt her.
Little did she know that the barbs were just one step in his betrayal, and that she as well was the recipient of a lesson.
Louis and his gang stole the car that night—and drove it straight into a tree. They got out before the cops arrived at the scene of the accident, each of them conveniently having worn gloves. The only prints the officers found on the abandoned stolen vehicle were J.C.’s ---and hers. The cops already had her fingerprints from a drug bust six months ago, and the next morning they arrested her for the theft of the black BMW. Though she protested in innocence, she had no alibi to support her claim. At the compound, Eve made her one permitted phone call to Louis and got his answering machine. Crestfallen, she walked back to her jail cell.
To her surprised, she was released later that afternoon.
As the pudgy, balding officer handed her back her things, he said, “The owner dropped all charges. I guess you got lucky this time.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” she quietly replied as she exited the police compound.
The wind rustled through her hair as she walked down the cracked sidewalk to her wretched apartment building.
“Hey!” a voice behind her said, as a finger tapped her shoulder.
She turned around to see J.C.’s smiling radiantly as he stood there in his designer jeans and shirt and Jordans adorning his feet.
She narrowed her eyes as she gazed at him. “You covered for me,” she accused. “After the way I talked to you, you should have let me rot in jail.”
J.C. shrugged his shoulders, and responded ruefully, “If I let you rot in jail, then I wouldn’t have been able to ask you to go to dinner with me Saturday night.”
She looked at him sharply as his warm brown eyes watched her, pleading.
“Okay,” she responded with a hint of a smile on her face.
This started their whirl-wind romance. For two years, she had a relationship with a type of man she never knew existed. A man who helped her heal from past pains. A man who loved her sacrificially and yearned to make her happy. A man who was tendered hearted, compassionate, and unfettered by the need to dominate and control her. She was free to be herself, which freed her to love him back whole heartedly. He made her a better person, pushing them to honor each other and God in their relationship. He bought her a glistening 8-karat diamond ring to place on her finger as a sign to the world of their promise to one another.
One day, he came to her with the devastating announcement that God was sending him on a mission trip to the villages in Asia.
“For how long?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” He responded.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Wait. Promise me you’ll wait,” he replied.
The first three months, they talked every day. The next four months they talked every week.” The next five months they talked once month.
After that first year, she despaired of ever seeing him again. And like a dog returns to his vomit, so she returned to her familiar hangouts pre-J.C. in an effort to assuage her loneliness. She loved parties, and the one thing she loved about parties was Louis---Louis, who could create blissful, passionate, unforgettable experiences.
Only this time, Louis was more vicious and violent than he was before. He gave her gifts this time too-- Gifts around her neck, her eyes, and legs that were bluer and blacker than in the past.
One night, he stormed into her apartment brandishing a gun in his hands.
“I thought I told you not to talk to other men!” he yelled wildly.
“What other men?” She screamed back as he started kicking over chairs and throwing glass against the wall.
“Stopped it!” She shrieked terrified, as he approached her with a wicked, murderous glitter in his eyes.
A tall, towering shadow suddenly appeared in the door way, capturing Louis’ attention.
“Get out of here Louis.” the shadow said.
A shot fired from Louis' gunand the shadow immediately crumpled to the ground. Louis then made his escape and frantically sprinted out the door.
“Help!” Eve screamed as she stumbled towards the crumpled figure. She staggered back, sickened by the gory sight before her. Crimson blood oozed from a gaping hole in the middle of his chest. She looked to her savior’s face---the face of J.C.,
“Nooooo! Please, no!” she wailed, tears pouring down her face.
*****
Tears streamed down her face as she sat her vigil in the hospital over J.C. comatose body.
“Just one more chance, God. Please! I won’t mess up this second chance with him. Please,” she prayed her voice going hoarse from the incessant prayers said for the past three weeks. Her body ached from having sat in the same position for the entire night. She stood up and looked through window where the sun had already begun to rise, shining brilliantly on the grassy field of flowers below it.
“Eve…..,” she heard a voice rasp behind her. With a gasp, she whirled around to find a pair of warm, loving, brown eyes staring up at her.
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