The Girl Next Door

Veronica’s eyes fluttered open, seeing the ceiling to her room. The doctors had sent her home after keeping her for a month and she had been home for a few weeks. Her job informed her that they would hold her position for her until she recovered and both her mother and Mrs. Hampton had practically nursed her back to health.

She was well enough now to stay by herself but that didn’t stop either mother from stopping by on her periodically throughout the day. She inched herself onto her elbows and then slowly pushed herself off of her bed. It took her a minute to get to the bathroom and run a bath before sitting on the toilet. She was done bathing by the time her mother had gotten there and was pampered for the few hours her mother stayed.

Everything was slowly coming together except one thing. The thought made her get up and go over to the phone on the wall. She moved a little better now that the hot bath had eased her tense muscles. She dialed the long distance number quickly, knowing it by heart. She just couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t called her, unless he knew about the pregnancy and the miscarriage.

“Hello?” came a gruff voice at the other end of the line.
“Jason! Hi baby!” Veronica squealed.
“Why did you call me?” he asked roughly. A little taken back she replied in a matter-of-factly tone.
“Because I missed you and wanted to talk to you.”
“We don’t have anything to talk about.”

“What do you mean?” Veronica was surprised by his rudeness. “I found out what happened.” he snapped. ‘I knew it!’ she thought to herself. “Listen honey. I know you might be a little upset . . . ”
“Damn right I’m upset!” Jason interrupted her. “You would be too if you found out your fiancé went ahead and got rid of your baby without even asking you.”
“What!?” Veronica screamed into the phone, not believing what she was hearing.

“Come off it, Veronica. I know about everything.” Jason’s voice was bitter. “Alex told me you went off and had an abortion.”
“Alex? How could you believe him? And that’s not what happened!”

“Oh really? Well, were you pregnant?”
“Yes, but . . . ” Veronica was cut short.
“And are you pregnant now?”
“Well . . . ” she hesitated, knowing how he was going to interpret her answer. “No, but . . . ” “Exactly!” Jason exclaimed. “You got rid of it. He was right!”

“He was wrong! He came over here and I thought he was going to attack me and I fell down the stairs trying to get away from him! That’s how I . . . ” Veronica paused. She had never said it out loud before now. “That’s how I....lost the baby.” Her voice trembled a little on the last part. Jason heard the slight change in her tone, but refused to acknowledge it.

“Why would I believe that?” he asked, a little less heated.
“Why would you believe him?” she answered his question with another, aggravating him and sending his temper back up.

“Because that’s my brother!”
“That never mattered before!” her anger coming back to her again. “Remember, you’ve always loved me, Jason.”
“Yeah, and you’ve always snubbed me for him. I’m just sloppy seconds to you.”
“Why would you even say that? I love you.”
“Well if you loved me, you wouldn’t have killed our baby!” Jason screamed at her.

“But I didn’t . . . ” Veronica felt herself cracking.
“Whatever.” he cut into her sentence. “I’m through with it.”
“What are you saying?”
“Use that pretty little brain of yours Veronica. It’s over. The whole engagement, the wedding, everything. It’s off!”
“You can’t!”
“Watch me!”

A loud click was heard on the other end and Veronica slowly hung the phone up, letting herself slide down the wall. A huge blockage in her chest was keeping her breathing restricted. The words kept echoing in her head. It’s over.

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Jason could hardly believe he had done that. He had just called off and engagement that he had waited his whole life for. ‘But she betrayed you!’ came the rational thought from the back of his mind. “Right!” he announced to no one in particular. Alex had called him weeks ago, talking about ‘burying the hatchet’ and ‘brothers need to stick together’.

“I’m just telling you this because I hate the thought of what she’s doing. You’re the only brother I’ve got and we’ve been fighting for too long over her.”

It all sounded sincere and the thought of having a real brother-to-brother relationship was something Jason wanted with Alex when they were both younger. Jason looked down at a picture on his desk of him and Veronica. It had a seasonal background because of the upcoming holiday before Jason was schedule to leave.

While Veronica wore a solid white, off the shoulder sweater with faux fur around the edges, he had opted for the plain black button down shirt, with a white tie so that they could at least match a little. They were faced forward, but their heads were turned toward each other. Veronica had his tie in her grip and had pulled him close to her face. He remembered saying something that made Veronica laugh. He laughed, seeing her so happy, and the photographer snapped the picture, saying it was perfect.

When it was developed, they looked at it and also decided it perfectly captured the way they felt when they were together. He smiled sadly down at the picture and the memories. He picked it up and turned away from his desk, his government issued swivel chair squeaking a little.

“Lieutenant Hampton?” the little box on his desk squawked. “Your meeting with Colonel Williams is in five minutes.”

“Thank you Nancy.” Jason said into the box after pressing one of the buttons on it. He grabbed his hat and stood from his desk. He looked at the picture once more before dropping it into the trash can and heading out of his office.