The Fallen Queen of Eden Ch. 13

"It was to keep his arm immobile, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," he commented offhandedly. "I remember when it happened. It should have been a small news piece, but the news went insane. Apparently he had been mugged and stabbed in the shoulder. Social media couldn't stop talking about it neither could every news channel on the planet. The only thing about it that was interesting was just how many ways they could spin it. They painted him as the great saint and couldn't stop talking about how the Preacher-man had forgiven the guilty party because he just knew they were in need and that he would pray for their soul," Elijah answered. It had seemed pretty innocuous to him at the time. In fact, he had completely forgotten about it until now.

The conversation died as the doctor came in and administered a local anesthetic then began stitching Lilith's hand up. When he was done he then took out a velcro splint and wrapped it around her broken extremity so that it would heal properly. He instructed her on taking either ibuprofen or acetaminophen every four hours for pain then with a smile assured her and Eli that a nurse would be in with the paperwork shortly. With his departure the conversation once more resumed where it left off.

"So that's the official story," Lilith laughed then gave a quick moan as she accidentally flexed her broken hand slightly.

"Official story?"

"He wasn't stabbed by a mugger," she answered, laughing again. "He was stabbed by me."

"You?" On the one hand, he wasn't surprised that Lilith would readily defend herself, but he was taken aback to see her handiwork. "Was it one of those evenings when he was trying to cop a feel at the bar?" He couldn't help being curious as to what the blaggard had done to make Lilith strike out at him.

"No, that's not what happened." Lili was no longer laughing as she recalled the incident. Everything about that night brought back a lot of negative emotions, particularly anger. She really didn't want Eli to see what she was feeling and was doing her best to maintain a calm appearance. Inwardly, all of her rage towards the Preacher-man was beginning to simmer.

"It couldn't have been because he murdered Millie. If that had been the case, then you wouldn't have stopped with a minor injury." Elijah was correct in his assertion. The reason he felt confident in this was because that was exactly what he would do and something about her told him that she had a similar attitude.

"I would like to tell you that I planned it, but his shoulder was simply a place of opportunity," she explained.

"What exactly happened?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter," Lilith responded, trying to dodge the question. There were still things about that night she couldn't talk about... things she simply wanted to forget. Unfortunately, her perfect memory wouldn't allow it.

"What are you afraid of?" Eli challenged, rummaging through the exam room drawers. "I should think by now you know you can trust me."

"Please, I just..." confidence in Eli was hardly Lili's problem. Quite the opposite, actually, but there were some humiliations that were simply too painful to say out loud.

"You know we have ways of getting you to open your mouth," He said in a mock evil voice then spun around brandishing a large speculum. At the sight, Lilith couldn't help laughing then quickly told him to put the tool back. "Well if that doesn't intimidate you, let's see what other devices we can find to torture the truth out of you."

"Don't."

"Come on, what's wrong with shedding a little light on the subject?" he countered, turning on the extra bright lamp used for sutures and shining it momentarily in her face.

"Stop that," she chided, starting to get just a bit annoyed at his antics. "I... I can't..."

"Ooo, I wonder how sharp these are?" he commented, pulling out a pair of medical scissors from the drawer and looking them over. "I bet they use these to cut clothing off. Maybe thats a way I can torture you?" Elijah was only playing. He had no idea the depth of the wound Lilith was carrying and only wanted to make her smile and laugh. Unfortunately she could find no joke in his teasing and her paranoia was rising with each needle.

"No."

"Come on, you're always telling me how desirable and adventurous you are. Maybe you want to add this to your luggage and save it for when you meet a guy who wants to play a little doctor with you." Playfully he grabbed at her arm, but instead seeing the joke she jerked away and leapt to her feet. Eli was stunned at her reaction. Realizing she had overreacted to his touch Lilith found herself unable to hold back the truth any longer.

"He tried to rape me. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Lilith said, backing up against the door. Shocked at this, Eli dropped the scissors.

"My God," he said softly.

"No one touches me without my consent, not Adam, not the Preacher-man... not even the devil himself!" Humiliated and embarrassed at the entire thing, Lilith decided to forgo the paperwork for checking out and quickly bolted from the room. She ran down the hall, stopping just long enough to hand a nurse her bracelet and a generous amount of cash..

"That son of a bitch," Eli growled before taking off after her.