Take Me To Church (A John Lennon Story)

Chapter Nine: Don't Let Go Of Me

John got off the bed and held his hands in the air as if someone was arresting him.  The nurse ran in.  "Mr. Lennon, perhaps you should go."  

As soon as my senses cleared, I said, "No, please...don't take him away!  It wasn't his fault!"  But the nurse had John by the arm and out the door.  I was crying hard and kicked off all of the blankets in my bed.  Another woman tried to calm me down, but I wasn't able to.  "Please..."

"He's all I have left."

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They wanted John to talk to the police about what happened.  He went, but they made his aunt wait in the lobby without him.  

He didn't realize that Mr. Elisen would be in the next room over, hearing everything John had to say. 

"Can you describe what that day was like before you went to the Elisen residence?" the officer said.  The room was ungodly cold.  John always joked that he would end up in jail sometime...but not for this reason.  "Well, Ariel and I were...are together, and she ran away from her house to mine because her father had gotten drunk and touched her in a very...un-father and daughter-like way.  She was frightened...and I love her.  So there was no way that I could let her go home.  She got angry with me one of the days and tried to leave for home, but I stopped her.  She was terrifed to go home.  She spoke as though her father owned her.  I kept telling her that she was her own person, and that there was no way he could control all of her.  And don't get me wrong, we had our own disagreements...but I could never hurt her.  Not the way her father did."  There was a pencil on the table and John was holding onto it so tight his knuckles were white.  

The officer told him to please relax, and continue.  "She wanted to go home, and possibly lie to her father about where she had been.  But I convinced her to tell her the truth and that I would go along to make sure he...didn't hurt her."  He knew he had to go on.  He had to bring justice to Ariel.  

"As soon as we were in the house, I found that he had been drinking.  He grabbed Ariel by the neck, threatening to strangle her if I didn't do as he said."  As much as John wanted to talk about what he felt when that happened he knew he had to stick to the facts.  If he strayed from what really happened Mr. Elisen could possibly walk free.  John could never allow that to happen.  "I fought with him...but he tied my hands.  I pleaded with him, saying that it was my fault that she ran away, and that I had kissed her and touched her.  He should be angry with me not her.  But I never forced her to kiss me or touch me.  I never intentionally tried to hurt her.  But then...he forced us down to his basement.  He had a knife.  He bound my legs so I couldn't move.  He tied Ariel to a chair and cut her shirt open.  He cut her all over the place.  He took off pieces of her clothing.  He ravaged her.  He violated her...trying to make it so that she would never want to be touched by a man again.  And he succeeded, because I visited her today and when I tried to wipe away her tears she screamed and cried."  John had tears in his own eyes.  "I fought so hard to free her...and now I cannot even hold her hand."  

The officer said that he was dismissed.  "Thank you, Mr. Lennon.  You are free to go now.  We will be contacting you soon."  He got up, looking down at the ground so they wouldn't see how upset he was.  

But as soon as he left the room, he was face to face with Mr. Elisen.

"Good day, John." 

Before he could tackle him to the ground, two guards restrained him.  "YOU SON OF A BITCH!  DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO HER!  YOUR OWN DAUGHTER!  YOU DESTROYED HER!  YOU RUINED HER INNOCENCE!  BURN IN HELL!"  He was dragged away before he could say anything more.  He could hear Mr. Elisen laughing hysterically.  The man had no soul.   

John ran into Mimi's arms in the lobby.  To the people waiting he looked as though he had just been sprung from jail.  He knew that shouting at the man did not help matters any, but sometimes his emotions couldn't controlled.  "Let's go home, John.  You must rest."  

"No...I want to stay at the hospital with Ariel."  

"But you should get cleaned up and eat-"

"I'll do anything you want later but please let me stay with her.  Please.  I know you're afraid I'm going to scare her.  I'll keep my distance if she wants it but I need to be there.  Please."  The young man pleaded.  "She needs me and I need her."  

Reluctantly, his aunt agreed.  Ariel was asleep when he got there.  He wanted to crawl into the cot right next to her and hold her frail, trembling body...but that would wake her.  She would be terrified.  

So he took her hand.