I opened my eyes in a hospital bed, disoriented, only to see my best friend, Floyd, and my husband, Ricky, holding hands together. As Floyd leaned closer, she accidentally knocked a cup off a nearby cupboard. I gasped in disbelief.
"Oh," I murmured, trying to process the scene before me.
"Tomorrow we're getting married, so my ex-best friend, I assume you give us your blessing?" Floyd sneered.
"What a blessing?" my breath caught in my throat as I watched them together, their intimacy a painful reminder of the betrayal.
"It's just a treatment. Take me to a doctor,". I murmured.
"Shannon, when did you become so shameless? Did you really expect to live off Ricky for your whole life?" She said in some self acclaimed righteousness that made me want to puke.
Unbelievable!
"Before I trusted you with my family fortune, you were just the son of my father's chauffeur." I said, as I slowly turned my head towards Ricky.
Suddenly,Ricky jumped onto the bed, his hands tightening around my throat, trying to strangle me.
"How could you say something like that?" he growled, his face twisted with rage as I gasped for air. "Your father has been dead for years. Before me, you were nothing but a loser about to drop out of college. You're just the daughter of a filthy rich dead man." My weak hands travel to stop him.
With that, he threw my head back against the bed, leaving me gasping and coughing.
"You promised you would marry me if I gave you the business, not her. Please," I begged.
I gave everything to this man, everything!
"It's just my dream. I saved the Clark family business from you, you disgusting spoiled infected rat," he spat, leaning close to my face. "Didn't even bother to tell me before the wedding." He gestured to my sick body on the hospital bed.
"I didn't know…" my eyes watered more.
"How many people did you sleep with? How many more excuses can you make?"
His accusations stung.
"Ricky," I said, "did you ever love me?"
"Love?" He smirked, as he leaned close, standing and laughing with her. "How insulting. How could I love someone who is such a nightmare every day of my life? How could I love someone who can make me sick?"
He hugged Floyd and kissed her as my throat burned from increasing coughs. Is this what dying feels like?
She walked forward to me, while Ricky left the hospital room living the two of us behind.
She sneered "And then there, at the end, all you care about is the freak you love too. What you should really be wondering about is how a drug-free virgin like you ended up like this..."
"You know." I winced in pain.
"Since you're dying, I figured I'd let you in on a little secret," her smile increased. The same smile that made me trust her in the past.
"Someone was hired to inject you with this disease." My eyes shut open. "Surprised? You didn't figure it out yourself and jump off a building to save the world from your disgrace?"
"You didn't do that." I couldn't believe it. "Wait, why?" I blurted, betrayal washing all over me.
"Oh, it was Ricky. The love of your life didn't want to marry you. Twenty bucks to a druggie, and he's free while you're the dirty little slut suffers. Well, that was my idea. I couldn't let you suspect a thing until it was done."
"Please, no," I cried. "It can't be true." The pain worsened as I struggled to get up from the bed. "Please, no." I fought so hard not to believe what I just heard…was I such an oblivious fool?
"It is true," she said, pushing me back down. "Get some rest." She said as she strutted out of the hospital room proudly leaving me to cough as blood spilt out of my mouth.
Suddenly, someone spotted them outside my ward and rushed in immediately…Johnny.
My eyes lit up…Johnny.
"Hey, you need a doctor okay? Let me call nine-one-one," he said as he held me, concerned written all over his face trying to call nine-one-one.
"Johnny, Johnny," I called. "Is that really you?" I hadn't seen him for years. We both smiled and he nodded, and tried to place the call.
"Just wait," he said.
"It's too late," I said. I had accepted my fate, I felt it coming…death.
"No, don't say that. I am so sorry, I should have been there. I thought all these years that you were happily married, but if I had known it was really like this, I would have done something, I would have stopped the wedding, Shannon. I could have taken you for rookie tracks. I'm so sorry, I should have done more, I should have done something," he cried, holding me tightly as he cried.
"I could have never imagined even my father to be so kind to me. I'm such a fool to fall in love with a heartless man. I'm a fool, I'm a fool" regret washed over me as I weeped "In my next life, I will choose differently." I swore.
"In your next life, I will make you the happiest woman in the world." Holding me gently and tightly he promised. My left hand crawled to his face as we both smiled and laughed together, and I nodded as my eyes slowly closed and accepted its fate.
"Shannon, Shannon, Shannon," he called out as he gently placed me on the bed back crying bitterly.