Broken and Powerful

Chapter 12

JEDA POV

Stefano pulls at my hand until my feet move with him towards the mirror. I keep my eyes down on the floor until I see the bottom of the mirror in front of me.

"Look up," Stefano says gently but I keep my head down.

"It's okay, Jeda," Richard says, rubbing circles on my hand with his thumb. "We are here to help you in any way we can. Our mission is to get you back to the physical and mental capacity you were at before you ever met that bastard."

"And the first step to do that, is to look at yourself. Look and see the strong women that still has fight left in her, even if she wants to give up," Stefano says putting a finger under my chin and moving my head up until I see myself in the mirror.

My body goes stiff at my reflection and my eyes widen.

My hazel hair was a mess from just waking up, my brown eyes puffy and red from crying. My face was paler than I have ever seen it.

Even with the baggy clothes on, I could tell I was thinner than before from how thin my face and neck were. The two men in the mirror next to me were watching me closely but I didn't make eye contact and dropped their hands.

I grabbed the edge of my sweater and pulled it over my head, watching it drop to the floor. Hesitating for a moment, I forced myself to look back up in the mirror.

The bruises on my ribs were a harsh yellow color as they were healing. My stomach was flat and skinnier than it had been in my whole life. I hardly even recognized myself. There were the faint lines of a six-pack that had started to disappear.

My eyes moved to my arms to see a decent amount of muscle still on them. Looking at my left bicep I saw the deep scar and shuddered as I remembered my dream.

"Are you okay?" Stefano asks, turning toward me as I ran a finger over the scar.

"This was one of the first scars he gave me," I mutter under my breath as I look away from the mirror and just look at my skin.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Richard asks, his voice soft and caring.

"It was a year ago, around our third anniversary," I say, my voice shaking as I think of the memory. "Jerad got mad about something then came home to beat me to release his anger. Afterward, he sent me to the grocery store down the street for some beer because we ran out from his friends being over the night before.

"So I went to the store and saw the same sales clerk that always was working around that time. He was a nice man in his thirties who always asked about my wellbeing. I always tried to hide my bruises but he could see the pain I was in. That day, I had a bruised eye that was swollen shut and he was in shock when he saw me. Jerad never hit me in the face because he didn't want the neighbors to see and have to deal with the police coming over.

"Anyways, he came up with a plan to get me out and I agreed. So that night when I thought Jerad was asleep, I went to the bathroom and checked the bathroom window to make sure it opened wide enough for me to get out of. The plan was the next night he was going to wait outside of the house for me and after I crawled out of the window on the second floor, he would help me down then drive me out of town." I paused and swallowed hard as I remembered his kind smile.

"Do you want to sit down?" Stefano asks, his hand still on my shoulder. I shake my head but he leads me over to the bed anyways and sits me down. They sit on either side of me and stare at me as I take a deep breath.

"So the night we were planning to escape, I went to the bathroom and locked the door. As I tried to open the window, Jerad started to bang on the door yelling at me to come out. So I pulled harder on the window but he had nailed it shut. Somehow he knew I was planning on escaping. I don't know how, but he did. Eventually, he got in the bathroom and cut me with a knife on my arm.