Chapter 28 Traumatized and Suffering From Severe Depression
Skylar undid Elaine’s blue and white petient gown, which was already the smallest size available. Even so, It hung sa loosely that it looked like she had a punny sack over her.
He undressed her slowly, only to discover that she did not only have scars on her arms, calves, and neck. Her entire body was covered in wounds and
His fingers trembled as he reached out slowly to touch those wounds of hers.
With every spot his fingers came in contact with, he would imagine what Elaine must’ve
‘ve gone through at the time. How forceful that attack had to be or how sharp the weapon must have been in order to leave such deep and wide scars on her body.
She was the w woman who would once make a fuss over the slightest scratch on her finger. How was it that she was now able to withstand all these injuries over her entire body and not make a peep to the wardens?
All of a sudden, he felt terrified, knowing that the version of Elaine he once knew had become the person she was today.
He had just brushed his finger against her body when she started shaking violently. Looking pale, she mumbled her pleas, “I didn’t run away. I didn’t misbehave… I didn’t. Please don’t hurt Eric.”
Skylar felt like he might have misheard. That sounded like something important that was related to him. He leaned in so that he could listen closely. However, she stopped speaking
Now that he was closer to her, he noticed a long scar leading from the left side of her neck all the way to the back of her head and out of his sight. Suddenly, he couldn’t breathe. Despite trying his best to inhale, he still felt like he was about to suffocate. He pushed her head to the side slightly so that the scar was fully visible.
His palms were big. This was something Elaine said to him personally on the night of their first wedding anniversary
On their first wedding anniversary, his legs had just recovered and their relationship had just stabilized.
He remembered that night to be the first time they made love to one another. Even with all the lights in the bedroom switched off, she had been so nervous that she didn’t dare to open her eyes.
At the time, he had pinned her hands down on the pillow. His palms happened to be able to cover both her hands,
As he lay on top of her, she had remarked with her cheeks flushed red, “Your palms are much bigger than mine ”
She liked his hands, probably because she felt like hands like his could give her a sense of security. With his hands, he could hold her and wrap both her hands in his.
But now,
v, he realized that his palm wasn’t big enough to cover the scar that was on her neck. The scar was so long that even if he put his fingers together in an attempt to cover it, he couldn’t cover the scar fully.
If he tried to relax his hand, he would be able to see the scar in the gaps between his fingers,
He found that he wasn’t able to cover the scar with his hand no matter how he tried. It was just like everything that he had done to her. He had sent her to prison and threatened her to her face to behave.
These had all become marks in their relationship that could never be wiped away. From here on out, the version of Flaine who would place her hands in his would no longer exist.
He tried his best to guess how this massive scar came about.
Someone bad probably pinned her to the floor and pressed her head to the side. Then, they took a sharp weapon like a knite and started cutting her flesh from the front of her neck all the way to the back. She had probably screamed before passing out from the pain while Beth had probably stood before her and smiled while holding the knife in her hand.
When Elalise was screaming, those two prison wardens had probably come over. While she had looked at them with despair and begged for help with her eyes, those prison wardens had most likely just stood outside and watched them.
And what about him?
Had he been loolding at Thea in the beautiful and sexy new nightgown that she changed into? Or had he been clinkding glasses and chatting at a networking event?
At this moment, Skylar felt like he could see fresh, bright red blood triclding from the bed and flowing to his feet. The unpleasant sight of fresh blood was like a python that wrapped itself around his teck without warning
Ha released his grasp over Elaine immediately, spun around, and darted out of her hospital ward
He didn’t even notice Thea calling out to him from behind. He walked straight to the dimly lit stairwell and sat down on the steps.
With his shaky hands, he lit a cigarette. He hung his head low, hiding his face in the shadows as he took deep breaths, inhaling the smoke into his lungs.
In the go years of his life, he had never seen anyone with such a long scar on their neck. A scar like that looked more like something that would be left on
| animal that was dragged into a slaughterhouse to get killed.
Skylar lifted his hand and took a glance at his palm. For some reason, he felt like it was stained with blood. He wiped his hand on himself repeatedly, but 1so matter how hard he tried to clean his hand, he felt like it was still covered in blood.
Elaine only regained consciousness the next day. She was diagnosed with severe depression. Not only that, but she was afraid of people and the light. Other than Marcus, no one was able to approach her..
As for Eric, Marcus was worried about something bad happening to him if he saw Elaine like this. He might become overly agitated. As such, Marcus transferred him to a different hospital temporarily and enlisted the help of the doctors there to treat hum
Nevertheless, Skylar couldn’t bear to look at the trust Elaine had for Marcus, especially when she looked at him. Two days after Elaine’s hospitalization he insisted on taking her away.
Now that Elaine had been diagnosed with a psychological disorder, as her husband, Skylar had become her sole guardian. With that, he had the power to make many decisions on her behalf.
Marcus had no right to stop him. Despite being unwilling, he had no choice but to allow them to leave.
Skylar first brought Elaine back to Birchwood Estate. However, she became unexpectedly emotional the moment she stepped through the doors. Skylar realized that she had too many bad memories in this place. So, he could only take her away and bring her back to Stonebrook Estate
This was so ironic. Elaine had known him for ten whole years, two of which they were married. Even so, he had never brought her to Stonebrook Estate Skylar had always thought of Elaine as just a substitute whom he would never truly love. Therefore, he didn’t think that she deserved to go to Stonebrook Estate
After they got married, he purchased Birchwood Estate as their marital home and only allowed Elaine to live here.
The massive Stonebrook Estate was brightly lit when Skylar brought Elaine into the place. Although she was still very much wary of this unfamiliar place, she was not as emotional as when she was back in Birchwood Estate earlier.
He brought her to the bedroom, where he had specifically instructed the maids beforehand to draw the curtains and leave only a dim light on
Elaine was afraid of the sound of flowing water and showerheads. As such, Skylar filled the bathtub with water before letting her in for her bath.
Nonetheless, less than two minutes after she entered the bathroom, a scream of terror came from within.
Skylar’s face fell. He got to his feet and rushed in immediately. When he pushed the bathroom door open, Elaine was smashing the wall mirror in the bathroom in terror with the showerhead in her hands.
All color had drained from her lace. It seemed like she didn’t even recognize her own reflection. It was as if she had seen a ghost.
With the mirror being smashed, splinters of glass fell to the floor. Even so, she continued smashing it with all her might.
A tense expression came across Skylar’s face. He grabbed a bath towel in haste and covered the mirror tightly. Then, he rushed up to her and held her in his arms to stop her from smashing the mirror further.
“It’s a mirror, EL That’s a mirror. It’s your own reflection, not someone else’s.”
Elaine struggled and freed herself from his hold. She stumbled backward before shrinking back into the bathtub and sitting down. There, she put her arms around herself and trembled involuntarily.
Skylar walked toward her, only to hear her utter in a shaky voice out of the blue, “I want to go home.”
He explained to her, “This is your home. This will be our home moving forward. You don’t have to be afraid. There are no bad people here.”
Looking distracted and anxious, Elaine asked, “Where’s Eric? Why isn’t Eric In my home?”
Skylar breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she still remembered Eric even when she was losing it like this.
He attempted to comfort her, saying, “Eric is fine. He’s at the hospital. El, I’ll contact the person from before and get him to donate his heart to Eric as planned, okay?”
Elaine stared at him skeptically. After finally calming down a little a short while later, she nodded cautiously.
Seeing that her emotions had stabilized, Skylar brought her out of the bathroom and had her Be down in bed. Thereafter, he went over to the floor–to- ceiling windows to make a call.
ally ill for a year. He passed away
From the other end of the call, the director of the hospital informed him with regret, “Mr. Frey, Mr. Atkinson was critically after his condition suddenly flared up last weekend…”
