Naleighna Kai's Literary Cafe Magazine NK Literary Cafe 2018 Mother's Day Issue | Page 50

Anita Roseboro
Show Me No Mercy
Excerpt from
Casey left the bedroom and was out the door without
anything more than a white comforter wrapped around
her body to ward off the freezing temperatures. She didn’t
feel the snow on her bare feet and soon managed to
coordinate her limbs enough to get the car to the nearest
hospital.
It’s not rape if you’re my wife ...
“Ma’am, what’s the nature of your emergency,” a stone-
faced intake nurse asked a few minutes aft er she arrived.
Casey chewed the inside of her jaw, tamping down on
an instant reply as she pulled the comforter tighter around
her trembling form and ignored the curious onlookers in
the emergency room. With a muted blonde and fl amboyantly dressed
woman standing off to the side but eyeing her closely, and a couple
holding a toddler who was squirming to get away; it didn’t surprise
Casey when all of them inched back to give her ample space.
You’re supposed to submit to anything I want …
He body, torn in a place where she warned her husband that she
would never receive him, now had stabbing pains so bad that every
step was pure agony. Blood had pooled on the bottom half of the soft
material. Since she didn’t have any clothes or shoes to speak of, the
reason should ha ve been slightly obvious. Unfortunately, the nurse
hadn’t looked up to gauge the scenario with her own eyes. She had
kept those blue orbs focused on the computer, but managed to slide a
clipboard over the counter. Th is practice was so routine that she was
jaded to the fact of being the fi rst person most would speak to aft er
experiencing any number of traumas.
“Please fi ll out this paperwork front and back,” she said drily. “Return
it to me when you fi nish.”
Feeling dismissed, Casey slid the clipboard from the ledge, and
maneuvered past those who tried to avert their gazes. Aft er a few
minutes of not fi nding any stable position where pain was not a
constant friend or without the memories of how she arrived in this