Shadow Lover

Suddenly Ivan loathed what he had just done, the horror that he had allowed himself to commit upon his wife. He hurried to the bathroom and wet a towel with cold water then returned to where Angelica was laying. Gingerly, he began wiping until he had removed all traces of his ugly act. He had not intended on injuring his wife and truly did not desire hurting her. He had just become so blindly enraged by his boss; needing to vent out his encased anger. It just happened.

As always, the memory of the violent episode becoming vague. He never really remembered ever doing any of it, in conclusion he just knew that he had indeed committed each violently abusive act unwarranted against his beautiful wife. At each time of the beatings occurred being as though someone or something had taken over his body as caused him to commit such an ugly act. Guilt ridden and as mostly a thought, he called her name. "Angelica, Angelica. Come on honey, I' m sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, I promise never to hurt you again."

Angelica lips remained unmoved, not showing the slightest sign of acknowledging his further wishes. Ivan was now very concerned, eager to awaken his fallen wife. He raised her swollen eye lid and she starred up at him, passed him with a blank unknowing stare. He placed his hand under her nose to see if she was breathing, a very faint wisp of air was felt as it escaped her nostril. Ivan was now suddenly fear stricken.

"No, he cried, snatching her up from the bed to hurry her off to the hospital. In the emergency room, Dr. Painkin, after being summoned, hurried to see the incoming patient.

"What happened here?" he questioned noticing the woman's right eye swollen shut and blue from bruises. He also immediately became aware of the broken bridge of this unconscious patient's nose which had appeared to have been twisted irreparably face. There was a slow trickle of blood escaping from her nostril. The doctor pulling his penlight from his pocket, shined a small beam into the unresponsive woman's eyes. Immediately he noticed the imbalance pupils. A secretion oozed from her right ear which didn't appear to be blood but when he carefully moped it up and under much more careful observation, a pink halo immediately seen having formed around the cloudy emission. "Shit, Cerebrospinal fluid. His angry eyes looked up at her husband who stood there biting his nails wondering if he had struck her once too many. "Did you do this?"

Before Ivan could give his reply, the doctor issued an order that the patient be immediately rushed to radiology for x-rays. "We don't want any time wasted. Two nurses at the doctor's side hurried the unresponsive patient down the corridor, while another of the nurses summoned radiology to the operating room. A battery of scans performed revealed a formation of an acute sub dural hematoma caused by a remote fracture which shattered under the surface of the cranium causing multiple brain lacerations and arterial tears.

"This is going to be a tough one. I want my team summoned right now." Dr. Frank looked at the results. "She must have received a very hard blow for this type of injury to have occurred." "Take her to Trauma One and make certain she' s prepped for the procedure. I want her ready five minutes ago!"

Angelica was hastily rushed to a trauma unit; in preparation of surgery her hair had been removed from the surgical area by the nurse prior to arriving to the surgical ward.