Broken and Powerful

Chapter 3

JEDA

The room was just like Jeda thought.

A full-blown infirmary.

All the beds were empty and she was the only one there. Well except for Richard and a few people walking around with papers in their hands.

She wondered if any of these people were real medical staff or if they were just backstreet providers that worked in dark alleyways for criminals.

Maybe they were here against their will too.

She looked over at Richard who was sitting in a chair by the curtain of the room on his phone. She was sitting on the edge of the medical bed glaring at the gown they wanted her to put on. Richard tried to convince her to put it on but she gave him a nasty glare and he gave up.

The sound of footsteps coming towards the room made her look up as an older male walked in while rubbing sanitizer over his hands and smiled at her. She ran her eyes over him quickly for weapons as if she could see through the white lab coat and tightly fitted button-up shirt. He was older looking, maybe late fifties with graying hair in the front.

"Hello there, Mrs...." He says, expecting her to fill in the blank. She kept her eyes on his shirt, not making eye contact while keeping her mouth shut.

"Colle. Her name is Jeda Colle," A deep voice says coming around the corner. Jeda looks up to see Stefano walking into the room with his hands in his pockets. When Richard sees him, he gets up and walks towards the door.

"Thank God, I have to pee," He remarks nearly running out of the room. Jeda almost laughs at that comment but keeps a straight face as she looks at Stefano. Her eyes meet his for a moment and he stares her down before looking over at the gown on the bed behind her.

"Do you need her to have the gown on?" Stefano asks, putting his gaze back on her until her eyes dropped to the floor.

"It would be preferred," The doctor says. Stefano tilts his head at her as if to question if she would put it on but she stayed still. "Well, I am Dr. Johnson and I will be doing your checkup today. Let's get started, shall we?"

"Please," Stefano says while gesturing to her as if offering her up to the mercy of the doctor.

"Would you be willing to put the gown on for a brief period? The sooner it's on, the faster we can get started and have you on your way." He asks in a kind voice and she just lightly nods her head just wanting to get it over with.

"Alrighty then. We will give you some privacy to get changed. Everything can come off but your undergarments." He tells her and she nods while they walk towards the door and close the curtain.

She hesitantly got to her feet and pulls her sweater off slowly. She grunts out when she pulls her tank top over her head.

"You okay?" Stefano asks with concern in his voice from behind the curtain. Her eyes shoot over to where his voice came from to make sure he wasn't coming in.

"Fine," She says loud enough for them to hear before quickly pulling her pants down and throwing the gown on. Once it was tied in the back and she sat back on the bed she told them they could come back in.

She watched as the curtain whipped open and they walked in before pausing slightly as they looked at her.

Jeda looked up at Stefano to see his eyes open wide as he looked from her arms to her legs, his hands clenching in anger. A shiver ran up her spine as she pictured it connecting with her jaw.

She looked down at herself to try and see what they saw since it had been forever since she looked in a mirror.  Her arms were covered in handprint-sized bruises and deep cuts, some healed and others still healing. Her shoulder was swollen from it being pulled out of the socket earlier that weak and bruised pretty badly.