Chapter 2 - “SHE’S UNSTABLE”
Officer Danielle Ruiz opened the bathroom door only after the dispatcher confirmed her name.
I was sitting on the floor with Noah wrapped in a towel.
My lip was bleeding.
My cheek had swollen.
My pants were still improperly fastened.
My hair was loose where Marcus had grabbed it.
Officer Ruiz looked at me once.
Then looked toward Marcus.
He immediately started talking.
“She hasn’t slept.”
Ruiz said nothing.
“She’s been paranoid ever since the baby came.”
Still nothing.
“My mother was trying to help.”
Evelyn interrupted:
“She won’t let anybody hold the baby.”
Ruiz looked at Noah.
Then at me.
“Ma’am, do you want medical help?”
“Yes.”
One word.
No explanation.
Marcus stepped forward.
“I need to go with her.”
Ruiz raised one hand.
“No.”
“I’m her husband.”
“No.”
That single word did something to me.
Marcus was not automatically entitled to follow.
Evelyn was not automatically entitled to Noah.
Marriage was not a security badge.
Family was not a warrant.
The paramedics examined Noah first because I begged them to.
No obvious injury.
Then me.
My shoulder.
Thigh.
Face.
Scalp.
Wrists.
Every bruise became a photograph.
Every photograph became something harder to rewrite.
Marcus watched from across the room.
May you like
For the first time, his version of me was losing ground to my actual body.
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