Don't You Threaten Me With A Good Time

I felt myself wake up from what seemed like an eternity of sleep. My entire body was on fire. I didn't open my eyes. They felt so heavy, it was like concrete was holding them down. I could hear beeping, like a monitor at a hospital. Oh God, I'm in the hospital. Why am I in the hospital? I'm supposed to be dead. I wanted Jason to kill me. I could hear someone crying and saying my name over and over again. I felt someone latch onto my hand and kiss it ever so gently, as if worried that it would break if they were too hard. I forced myself to open my eyes and I saw Tony crying, holding onto my hand.

"Tony?" I managed to get out. My throat was on fire. It felt like something tore inside of it. His eyes flew open and he looked me in the eyes.

"Oh, Victoria." He cried out. He grabbed me gently and put me in his arms. I started to cry into his chest. He just rubbed my back and make calming noises. He pulled away after 10 minutes and grabbed his phone. He called someone up. "Hey Mike, she's awake if you guys want to come see her."

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked him, my throat still on fire. He got up and grabbed a cup of water for me.

"For a week now. The doctors weren't sure if you were going to wake up this time." He looked at me through bloodshot eyes. "I begged anyone who would listen to just let you wake up. I'm so sorry that I let this happen to you. I should've never left. I should've called the police and made Jason go to jail. Or I should've killed him when I had the chance."

"Killing him wouldn't have done any good."

"You wouldn't be laying in this hospital bed, fighting for your life, if I had just been man enough to kill him when I had the chance! Mike, Jaime and Vic all agree that if they could do things over, they would've killed him as well."

"Where is he now?"

"Rotting in prison. The police raided his apartment and found drugs. They know he's a pimp. They know that he was forcing you to work for him. They found evidence of abuse in the apartment. He never even cleaned up the blood on the table when he carved into your stomach and raped you. They found your blood and DNA everywhere. And they saw you in the hospital. You don't know this, but I took pictures of what he did last time, for just in case he did this shit again. Baby, he's going away for a long time." I felt so relieved. Like the weight of the world got lifted off my chest.

"Tone, you need to know something." I told him. He looked me dead in the eyes. "I wanted him to kill me. I told him to kill me."

"I know. Jason told the police that. He was hoping that he would get out of the Attempted Murder charge by saying you wanted it. It didn't work. And I'm so fucking happy that him trying to kill you didn't work. I don't know what I would've done if I lost you. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Tony."

Notes