Chapter 9: From hell to hell

Clarisse's eyes flickered, moving slowly on the bed, her eyes opened to see the white ceiling, and the smell around was familiar, she looked around to see the drip being passed to her.

" You're in the hospital", she heard a feminine voice say, " Fainting around on the street like a homeless cat, I don't know what rumor you're trying to spread, that we're maltreating you?", Bree said irritatedly.

Clarisse turned to look at her, she was the only one present with her in the dimly lit hospital room.

Bree wanted to say something when the doctor came in.

" How are you feeling? Mrs Arthur?".

Mrs Arthur? That sounds odd and a reminder she's married to the Arthur's family which she doesn't like.

" Can..you...just call me... Clarisse?", Her weak voice said,

" Oh, okay, how are you feeling? Clarisse?",

" Weak, I feel so weak",

" That's understandable, you've shown all symptoms of Malnutrition and that's not good considering the position you were in?",

" Position? What position?", Bree asked moving closer to them,

" Umm, guess Miss Clarisse did not tell you", the doctor looked from her to Clarisse and gave her a gesture asking if he should tell her which Clarisse nodded slightly.

" Okay...Miss Clarisse was pregnant?",

" Pregnant?",

" Yeah, four weeks pregnant".

Bree scoffed and eyed her feeling disgust, " I'm not sure if I'm to believe whatever you're saying or if I should assume my suspicion was right, you were seeing someone while married to my brother, then seeing you outside is probably him throwing you out of the house, no wonder he gave me the divorce papers for you to sign, you're such a shameless whore",

" Umm, calm down, this should be discussed some other time cause that's not what she needs right now",

" Who cares about what she needs right now", Bree scoffed.

Clarisse swallowed hard, she blinked back the tears that threatened to fall and turned to the doctor weakly, " Doctor, how's my baby?",

" Bastard baby", Bree mumbled,

" Well... that's what I was about to inform you, I'm sorry to say but due to the undernutrition and some trauma, you lost the baby",

" What?",

" I'm sorry",

" I didn't...get what you say",

" I'm so sorry, but.. you lost the baby",

" Are...are you sure? You should check again.... probably the scanning machine had some error",

" I'm sorry".

Clarisse fell back to the bed, breathing hard with her mouth while the doctor left to give her some space.

" Here are the divorce papers, Victor asked me to give you cause he doesn't want to ever see your disgusting face and you need to sign them now cause I'm leaving", she said but everything she said was inaudible to Clarisse's ears. She was no longer in the world, her body and soul felt heavy with grief. The loss of her baby was like a black hole in her heart, an emptiness that seemed to consume her from the inside out.

She stared blankly at the ceiling, feeling the silence that was like a shroud, wrapping itself around her and cutting her off from the world. She wanted to scream and rage, to let loose the anger and sorrow that was eating away at her soul. But she was too exhausted, too defeated, and too broken to do anything but lay and suffer in the darkness of her grief. She was a ghost of her former self, a shadow of the woman she once was.

Getting impatient and irritated for waiting any longer, she dragged her to sign the papers before leaving, on her way out, she called Victor and informed him that she had gotten the task done. Victor told Alice and also informed her to go get Clarisse who was still in the hospital. They took her away even though the doctor was against it saying she needed more rest but Alice could not wait to get everything over with, she hated to keep thinking there might still be a probability that she'd marry a disabled man.

Clarisse's heart skipped hard the moment she stepped her foot back into the house she had desperately gotten away from, but it was from hell to hell, she couldn't lift her head till she got to the living room, staring blankly with no expression on her face, standing in the presence of Ferdinand and his wife.

The maids had begun to gather around in the corner, surprised to see Clarisse and curious at what was going on.

" Clarisse? What's she doing here?", Maid 1 said,

" Beat me, but I have a bad feeling about this", Maid 2 said,

" I thought you'd have some manners now that you're married, but you still don't know how to greet your elders",

" She's divorced, Mum", Alice said not looking away from her phone,

" I wonder what your mother spent her days doing while she was alive that you lack all morals and discipline, you couldn't even keep your marriage? You're such a failure",

" Your incompetency is for the best, you're getting married in a few days".

And once again, the maids gasped in shock. Clarisse finally looked up, her eyes were red and swollen, lost all the lives in them.

" Married?",

" Yes you're getting married, you should start teaching her the ethics of marriage that she lacks, she can't mess up this opportunity for me", Ferdinand said,

" Of course, Honey, I'll teach her some lessons that'll be useful for her", Patricia said sweetly rubbing her husband's chest, " and you, get back to work and wait for my call", she dismissed her.

Clarisse walked away to the backyard where she collapsed on the floor, the feeling of being an outcast didn't hurt her, but the feeling of being a failure, she failed to protect her baby, she failed to protect her mother's name, and it hurts so bad that it was suffocating. Her pain was compounded by their callousness, and she wondered if she would ever be able to heal the wounds that ran so deep, she wept silent tears of despair, longing for the baby she had lost and the life she had dreamed of having, her mind drifting between the past and the present, reliving the pain of her miscarriage over and over again.

" Clarisse", she heard Abby's voice and looked up to see Abby and the oldest maid in the house. They were also crying, they squatted beside her, embracing her and crying with her.

" I'm sorry, we're sorry".

Why are they apologizing, they didn't do anything wrong, it's not them who should be apologizing.

" We should have told you", Abby said amidst tears,

" That?",

" That he was a monster, I'm sorry",

" What do you mean?".

Abby broke the hug and sniffled, " Didn't you divorce him because you found out he once raped someone?",

" Huh? Ho", Clarisse's mouth hunged open, unable to laugh or cry or just keep staring,

" You all knew but me?",

" I'm sorry", the oldest maid said feeling ashamed of herself.

" You didn't do anything wrong, I didn't even know I'm not his first",

" What?!", They exclaimed and she nodded. Abby covered her mouth weeping profusely while Clarisse just kept looking blank.

" But that's not what hurt", she said with tears finding their way out of her eyes freely, " I thought I finally had a companion, someone that I would love and will love me, but they took her away also", she looked at her belly finding it hard that she's no longer there.

" You were pregnant?", The oldest maid whispered, she felt pity for her, she once lost a child so she could relate to the pain but there were no amount of words that could console her. They drew her into their arms, smoothened her hair with their hands, patted her back, and told her that, she was going to be fine.

But she doubted it.