Secrets Beneath

The Escape:

How much time has passed by, she didn’t know. The next thing, she was waking up in a white room. Nothing but a bed inside, the door closed and a window with a curtain that snugged tightly closed from the outside.

Jenny starts to panic, “Where am I now, how long have I been out?” She bangs at the door until a nurse walks in.

“ Is everything alright dear? Would you like to go sit with the other gals? Make some new friends, might as well you’ll be in here for awhile.” The nurse smiles, walks up to Jenny grabs her hand then rudely says, “That’s all up to you and if you’re willing to work with us to get better. Later today your Doctor will come in and go over your schedule. Follow me now.”

Confused to what is happening Jenny follows the nurse. I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy, John has manipulated everyone once again, she thinks to herself.

The nurse takes her into a lobby. There are tables set out with game boards, a painting area and guards on every door. Nurses walking around assisting patients. Some patients rocking back and forth on the floor. Some painting , and some staring out the window. She passed one talking to herself in an aggressive manner. Another trying to pull her hair out, strand by strand.

Her head starts to spin as reality slowly creeps in. She locates the nearest chair and melts into it. Her arms hanging to her sides, panic rises. She sits up straight, looks around again, feeling sorry for these poor unfortunate souls. Then tells herself in a whisper, “ I’m in a fucking crazy home, this mother-fucker put me in a crazy home! How the fuck could he convince them I needed to be here? I didn’t consent to this!” She gets up walks around looking for anyway out.

With a guard on every escape it’s going to be a challenge. Jenny wants to get out now but she knows she has to play this smart. So she observes, learns every nurses, doctors, guards routine.

She has given herself three days to come up with a plan. She plays her part, plays nice. She doesn’t bring up children during her session, thinks maybe if she just acts like she was just under a lot of stress and said things she didn’t mean that the Doctors will see she is sane and it was all a misunderstanding.

When it came time for her to take her medication, she would take it. According to the doctors, they thought she took it. She was clever, knowing that this medication just might make her crazy so she would put it in her mouth and pretend to swallow it. When the nurses would check if she swallowed it, she would hide it under her tongue. After they had left, then she would go to the bathroom and flush it down the toilet.

It’s day three and Jenny already has her escape planned out. She knows which nurse carries a key for the back door. She has learned when nobody guards the back door, and when the halls are pretty empty.

Jenny has none of her belongings and no shoes just pair of flimsy slippers. She isn’t worried. She knows exactly what she’s going to do. It’s 10 PM and it's time, she calls for her nurse. The only pills Jenny did not flush down the toilet were her sleeping pills.

She saved those just for this night, crushed them up into a powder. When the nurse came in, Jenny waited for her to close the door and analyzed her to make sure she had the keys.

The nurse approaches Jenny and asks her what she needed. Jenny lied and said that she had wet her bed and she needed new sheets. The nurse heads to her bed to check the sheets, as she pulls the blanket Jenny sneaks behind her and once the nurse noticed there was no sheets, Jenny wraps the sheet around the nurses neck.

They struggled a little until Jenny was able to pin her to the floor, grabs her sleeping powdered out of her pocket and dumps it into the nurses mouth. Closes the nurse's mouth until she hears the nurse gag and swallow a few times.

The sleeping pills worked pretty fast on Jenny , so she figured doubling it up would work extra fast on the nurse. Yes, she took one to test how well they worked.

Once the nurse was out she undressed the nurse and put her clothes on. Then took her shoes and cell phone. Grabbed the keys and snuck out locking the door behind her. They were both around the same height, body weight and hair color, lucky for Jenny. She just kept her head down and walked to the back door.

Everyone was either busy or on their phones to notice. It really wasn’t that unusual for a nurse to head out the back door around this time. Most nurses smoked and by late night a lot of them were stressed out and needed that cigarette.

Again, lucky for Jenny. There was nobody outside at this time. She embraced that luck with a sigh of relief as she smelled the fresh cold breeze hit her. She knew she couldn’t waste time. Eventually, the nurse will be called upon and they would notice she isn’t around.

For that Jenny didn’t waste much more time and headed for her house. Knowing it would take her forever to get there on foot she set out to hitchhike. An elderly lady seen her and pulled over asking her where she was headed.

Jenny gave her a story that she had gotten out of work and her husband and her got into an argument, so he told her she had to walk her ass home. She didn’t have any money on her to call for a ride. The old lady felt bad so she told her , “ Hop in dear, I’m sorry you have to go through this. I’m sure work was hard enough on you. Being a nurse takes a toll on a person.” Jenny looks at her scrubs and nods.

Almost an hour later Jenny thanks the elderly lady and apologizes over and over , “ I’m so sorry I don’t have any money to pay you and that it was such a far distance for you to have to drive. If you leave me your number when I get into a better situation I’ll pay you back, I promise!” Almost in tears Jenny takes out the nurses phone. The elderly lady looks at Jenny and tells her, “ Oh don’t worry about it dear, I’m happy to help! You actually gave this ole' gal something to do. If you really want to pay me back you could look into leaving that husband of yours. At least think about it, what you told me , you deserve so much more dear!”

Tears kiss Jenny’s cheeks , she waves to her new friend and nods. Knowing her husband wouldn’t be home right now she heads to get her spare key that she hid just in case of an emergency. She never told her husband about this key, because simply she forgot to. Maybe somebody was just looking out for her. Knowing that a day like this was coming.

She unlocks her door, walks into a chilly house. She wasn’t sure if she was going to get this far so she really didn’t plan. Knowing eventually someone’s gonna come looking for her here she had to think fast.

They had a big beautiful open living room space that she knew if anything was going to go down, she had to keep it in this room.

Looking around for a place she could put the phone to record. She has to play it smart, nobody believes her. She would need proof and tonight she was going to get it! Jenny figured John would get a call of her escape and come looking for her here.

John would not ask for the police to come she was sure of that. No, he would like to see her first get what he wants to say out of the way she figures. Because that’s what she would do if she was a psychopath. One thing she has learned so far is if you’re gonna beat a psycho you had to think like a psycho.

As she predicted John storms in the door about an hour later. No cops with him just an angry man. He looks at her peacefully sitting on the couch just waiting for his arrival. He slams the door behind him. Infuriated he approaches her and says, “ I just can’t get rid of you can I? As you can see, nobody came looking for you, they called me. Told me you drugged a nurse, stole her clothes and escaped.” He claps his hands and walks past her and towards the back of the couch.

Laughs a little but not a laugh of delight. No this was an evil laugh. One you hear from a person who is ready to commit a crime.

Jenny doesn’t feel scared. In fact she can’t wait for what is about to happen. She knows that the only way to become a free woman is to go through a little more pain.

“ I told the clinic I’ll bring you back myself. That I’m the only person you will listen to. How sorry I am about their nurse, and I’ll pay for any damages. If you haven’t noticed by now I’m very good at convincing people. I am capable of getting anything I want and it’s about time you fucking learn that. You- stupid- little bitch. Before me, you were nothing, I made you who you are and this is how you repay me?” He says aggressively.

Already behind Jenny, he strokes her hair. Jenny decides it’s time for her to get up. Her intuition kicks in and knows she needs proof but she needs to stay alive or this all wouldn’t have been worth it.

As she gets up she walks backwards away from him. “ What are you going to do with me? I know you don’t plan on taking me back.” She stops so her back is up against a wall.

Clenching his hand into a fist, you could see his rage popping. A vein on his forehead looks like it wants to burst. He looks like a rabid wolf looking to pounce on his prey.

He slowly walks to her, takes his time. Looking around while he talks, " I think you have been spoiled just enough. I protected you, I shielded you from this cruel world. That is about to end now, because while I did all this for you, you've only kept me from so much. It was never supposed to get this far", he reaches to were Jenny is and grabs her by the arms.

She tries to pull back but by now John's rage has over powered him. Nothing could stop him now. He leads her to the coffee table to sit. She just stands next to it so he pushes her down to take a seat. Jenny closes her eyes and takes a few deep breathes. By her third one she felt John's fist ram into her face. She flies backwards hiting her head on the table.

John grabs her feet and drags her off and onto the floor, climbs on top of her and takes her hands and wraps them in duct tape. She struggles to get him off of her. He is so much heavier than he looks, than again he is 100 pounds heavier than she is.

He pulls out a butterfly knife he had in his pocket and plays with it trying to intimidate Jenny. He than lifts her shirt up and looks her dead straight in her eyes. By now Jenny's eyes are shot red not just from being sucker punched but by regret and sorrow. She still can't swallow the reailty that the man she fell in love with would go this far as to " get rid of her ", why not just opt for a divorce?

He takes the knife and carves a line across her abdomen. Jenny squirms and tries to scream out in agony. " By the time anyone finds you, you'll be dead. You escaped a looney house they will see it as suicide and i'll be off scotch free. Off to finally live MY life, with MY family! You wanted a baby so bad, everyone knows it. You have only said it a handful of times. You were on one of your episodes, you thought you were about to have a baby. You must have thought this because then you took this knife and cut yourself so you could take the baby out yourself. That way nobody can take it from you. And then you could run away with your baby." He takes the knife and puts it in Jenny's hands so her prints are on it.

Then as Jenny continues to bleed he confesses to her. " You know you were right about one thing. You were pregnant, that pregnancy was ruining my plans so I got rid of it. I made it so you miscarried, and you wouldn't remember this because I made it so you lost track of parts of your life. Time went on and things were fine up till you got pregnant again and again."

By then he started to untie her hands knowing she was slowly fading she wouldn't move anywhere. " You know, -gives a smug laugh, actually you wouldn't know. Two of those children live with my wife and our other three kids."

Jenny's eyes widen and the tears stop flowing, she is suddenly filled with anguish, with just pure anger. In shock but deep down she already knew she had kids. She knew she wasn't crazy and now she has her proof. Coming straight from the horse's mouth. Everytime she was pregnant, she felt it, she remembered them. He went out of his way to try and erase those memories. A mother just knows. Though she never remember giving birth, and this is because John would drug her when it was time to give birth and give her a C-Section himself. Those scars left behind he convinced her she had passed out from pain. The pain came from her appendix , and she had it removed. She wouldn't remember because she was pretty out of it for weeks. It was so bad that it damaged her uterus and they had to also perform a hysterectomy. He fed her so much bullshit, and like always she beieved him. What do you expect, she trusted him with her life.

John lived a double life, here with Jenny he was married to her. In another State he lived as a single man. That at least was for awhile until he had met his second wife. Before he married this other woman he raised these two babies on his own. Well not completely alone, he did hire a live in nanny who would care for these kids while he was at work and with Jenny.

Jenny thinks back now, how much time John was away from home. She knew he had his own bussiness. Well at least that is what he told her, and anything he says is just so convincing.

A couple of months after Jenny had gave birth t0 their second child, John had met someone and fell in love. They got married , his family knows nothing of Jenny. The story he gives is when he was away for work he met a young lady. He moved in with her and had two kids. She was a jealous person and she kept him from his family. That is why he lost contact with everyone until she died giving birth to their second child. That is when he went back home.

Nobody really questions much, you already know how convincing he is. He is very cunning. Poor Jenny was just a victim to a sick man who loves power and control and wanted a toy to abuse. Unfortunately she was that toy.

Now he did love her at first, but he got bored of her rather quick. By that time they were already married and didn't want to just divorce her. For the simple fact is she would walk away with half of his money, his things. For a man who craves power he would not let that happen. He was a fool and forgot to have her sign a prenup.

He figured to just make her go crazy, that way he can lock her up in a mental home. Once she was locked up she would eventually go crazier with all the influences around her. Than mishaps happen along the way, like knocking her up a handful of times.

Every little dinner he made for her, every nice gesture had an ulterior motive behind it. There has been plenty of times he would come home from his second life and put drugs in her food. He messed with her head so much, she literally thought she was going crazy.

Because this was going on for so long she ended up quiting her job, stopped talking to family and friends. She felt her world was just coliding and it depressed her.

After finding out about her children still being alive and well, a part of Jenny perks up. She has to think quick if she wants to survive another night and be reunited with her kids. She learned some where that the mind is very powerful and if you truly believe and want to live it will happen.

She slowly closes her eyes and lets her body go. In her mind she tells herself, you are alive and you will stay that way, just stay as still as possible and feel him around you. John checks for a pulse , listens for life.

Nothing, she is gone! He gets up and fixes the house up to make it look convincing to the police. He has to make this look like a suicide so anything that was broken or moved around needed to be cleaned up. He is to occupied to notice Jenny starts to breathe a little. He isn't the only one who can be convincing.

Once he is done cleaning he walks and kneels next to Jenny. He leans over and gives her a kiss on the forehead, then tells her as if he was the victim in all this, " For what it's worth I did love you, but you were just to crazy for me. Our kids are better off with out you." He then heads out of their mediocre duplex, gets into his vehicle and goes to work like nothing ever happened.

She waits a minute to hear for his car pulling out before she gasps for air and tries to get up. She looks for anything she can to wrap around her waist and apply pressure. She feels cold, she knows she doesn't have that much time left. Grabs the cell phone and calls 911, while on the phone she grabs the camera she had set out to record. Jenny rewinds it and plays it to see if everything was caught on camera and if you can hear it clearly.

Laying on the floor half dead one arm trying to apply pressure and the other holding the camera. The sounds of police cars and the ambulance get closer. Her eyes start to fade shut with every minute that passes by. She feels herself being lifted up onto a stretcher. Police officers talking to one another. "This is the lady that escaped and drugged a nurse on her way out. Looks like she tried to commit suicide. Get her out of here and make sure her door is guarded and she is handcuffed once they are done with her. She isn't going anywhere!" One officer said to the others.

They take Jenny to the hospital. The officer in charge of her case looks on the floor where they had found her. Picks up the camera and plays it, she rewinds it to watch the whole thing. In shock of what she just witnessed she gets on her phone and heads to the hospital to see Jenny.

The officer waited for her to get out of surgery, the Doctor that was working on Jenny told the officer to come back in the morning. She had lost a lot of blood and she is lucky to still be alive. She is going to need a lot of rest. Any questions they have can wait for now.

A day passes and Jenny finally wakes up. She was so exhausted from all these years of trauma and then from recent events. Her body was telling her she is safe now and she needs to restore her energy. There is no rush to wake up. In reality though she knew she needed to face this head on, clear her name, her reputation. John needed to be locked up behind those medal bars and make sure he never sees the light of day.

Officer Slate walks into her room, Jenny sits up worried they didn't find her camera. Before she could get a word out Officer Slate lifts her hand onto Jenny's bed and says, " I found your tape, we got a warrent to search your apartment and found a lot of evidence that we can use to lock up your husband. We spoke to the nurse you drugged and explained your case to her. Your a lucky woman to be alive and luckier she has decided to not press any charges." Jenny begins to cry with reliefe that her nightmare can finally be over.

The only thing she wanted to do now was to find her kids and bring them home. " And my kids?" Jenny asks. "I know your anxious to finally meet your children you were robbed of, but there are a few other details I want to tell you first. Did you know your husband was a Doctor?"

Jenny shakes her head, "No but one time he did tell another Doctor he was when I had a heart attack. I just thought he was playing some scheme because he told me; well actually all I know is he owned his own business."

" Well i'm sorry to be the one to inform you he is an OBGYN in another state, not only that he goes by another name as well. We did find him working in an ER and we did arrest him. So please rest easy , he isn't going to hurt you anymore! For being a genius Doctor, he sure is a sucky criminal."

With her hands over her mouth trying to absorb all this in. Learning what a twisted man he was these past few days. She still can't believe it all. He goes by another name, he is married with children and his wife has been raising her children. And he is an OBGYN, and this explains it all. How he knew how to handle everything with such care.

" Thank you for being the first person to believe me! If you need me for anything else let me know. But do you think I can be alone right now. I just need to process this all in, if you don't mind?"

Officer Slate nods, " Of course, I totally understand." She hands her , her bussiness card. " Call me if you need anthing at all, and I do mean anything! You gone through a lot and of my understanding you are alone. Your not alone anymore." Officer Slate then walks out the door and shuts it behind her.

Jenny lays back down looks to the ceiling breathes through her mouth, smiles a little knowing any time soon she will be able to finally hold her babies in her arms!

Two weeks pass by, Jenny set out to heal as fast as she can and make her home kid friendly. Got rid of anything that belonged to John. A total makeover. Eventually she will find a new place but since she has no income coming in of her own she just needs to have patience.

Reports of a Doctor living a double life aired all over. When Jenny's parents heard about the tragedy they flew in to take care of her. The moment they seen their daughter they embraced her and it took awhile for them to want to let go. Appologies flooded the room, everyone blaming themselves for not being more vigilant. Jenny forgiving them for she felt it was more her fault for pushing them away. They spent hours talking, catching up. Lot of the time was Jenny explaining her life with John, and why she lost contact with her parents and her friends.

Her father pulls out a letter, it was typed. Jenny takes the letter and reads it. " Mom and Dad, I feel it is in my best interest that you forget about me. We have had our ups and downs and I believe that you guys don't want me to be happy. My husband is the only family I need and if you love me like you say you do then you won't try contacting me anymore until I feel like it is time. Until then , your daugher Jen."

Jenny crumbles the paper, throws it on the floor. " I never wrote that, why would I. How could you guys actually believe that could been me. It was him!" she says furiously.

Her mother tries to comfort her, wraps her in her arms like if she was 2 again. " I am sorry hunny, You did go long periods of times not speaking to us and we did have our differences about you moving so far away and in with a man you barely knew. We just were hurt and weren't thinking straight. We look back and from everything we learned we are beating ourselves up for allowing this to get this far. Your our daugher and we love you so much, I do hope you forgive us!"

"There is nothing to forgive that was then, this is now. I am free and I have a life to look forward to now. I am just glad you guys are here now! And soon we get to meet my babies!" Jenny says ecstatically.

Night and day couldn't pass any quicker. Jenny was so anxious for Saturday to arrive. It will be the day she finally gets to look into her son and daughter's eyes. The day she finally gets to meet them.

Days before the reunion Jenny was contacted by John's other wife Caroline. With the help of Officer Slate who located her son and daughter. They both agreed to let the kids warm up to everything before they meet their real mother. When the kids were ready they had set a date. That date came rather quick.

Saturday arrived and a mini van pulls into the driveway. Caroline steps out first and then opens the door for the little ones. First a petite girl with long curly dark brown hair and a beautiful yellow dress steps out. Followed by a handsome fellow not much taller then his sister.

Jenny and her parents agree they don't want to overwhelm the kids so she goes alone to greet them. She felt on cloud 9, couldn't believe this was happening but she sure took it all in slowly. Not wanting to waist anymore precious time.

She leans down and introduces herself, " Hi, my name is Jenny. I think your mom has told you a little about me." She looks to Caroline for reassurance not wanting to overstep. " I am your biological mother. Do you know what that is?"

They look at her and smile then at each other , then back to her and nod. The little girl stick her hand out to shake Jenny's , " My name is Stephany and this is my brother Ryan. I am 9 and he is 8. My mom said that you are our real mother. She said you both will explain more later." Stephany then grabs her brothers hand and they both look to the ground in shyness.

Jenny's eyes were filled with tears of joyment. When she learned the name of her kids it took her back to her dream. She was definitely convinced that she was being helped by some guardian angel. After She was released from the hospital she learned she had a total of 3 miscarriages. The three other children in her dream she feels in her soul were those babies she lost. Guiding her to the truth. She also learned that John's real name is Christopher Styles. Dr. Styles from 105!

"Would you guys like to go to the park and get some ice cream?" She asks as she stands up and looks to Caroline again. She knows Caroline has been the only mother they know. She wasn't going to do anything that would traumatize them. Caroline promised to do everything in her power to make this transit go as smooth as possible. The moment she heard what her husband had done and that he was already married, she has been sick to her stomach. All she wants to do is make things right.

In days prior the the reunion she has tried her best to prepare Stephany and Ryan. The best of her abilities.

Everyone agreed to go for ice cream but not to the park. So they went to a local ice cream shop and sat and talked for awhile. Before they decided to head back home they went and met their grandparents. The kids warmed up to them fast. While Jenny's parents enjoyed being grandma and grandpa, Jenny and Caroline chated.

They knew it was to soon for them to come live with Jenny, they did instantlly form a bond. They became great friends , learned they had a lot in common. Caroline and Jenny agreed to wait until the summer and see how weekends looked to the kids. Just until they really start to bond themselves.

Until then they would have just every other weekend visits, then go to weekly visits. Until summer came around. The day came to an end and they said their farwells. Jenny promising them everything will get better and then she told them she loved them. She didn't expect to hear it back.

She was suprised that they both gave her a big hug. That hug meant the world to Jenny. Then off they went.

Everynight Jenny holds onto her stomach and apologizes to the ones she lost for not knowing about them and not doing better to save them, for letting them down. She is in therapy with a real therapist that actually wants to help her heal. Heal from the verbal abuse, the mental abuse, all her losses. From all the trauma she endured. Slowly coming to peace with the life she was handed.

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Part 1 if you haven’t already read it yet.

Part 2 if you haven’t already read it.