Her Story Read Free Page B

the floor in a heap that looked as tattered and torn as she felt. Afraid her legs wouldn’t support her on the slippery surface of the shower, she pulled the shower curtain back and sat down immediately in the back of the bathtub. The water stung her skin as it slowly began to attack the outer layer of grime she felt encased in. She watched the water race toward the drain in brown swirls, and again pulled her knees in to her chest.
     
    As steam quickly began to fill the tiny bathroom, she finally allowed herself to ponder the most disturbing, yet most obvious question; how the hell had this happened?

 
    Chapter 4
     
    The next thing she knew, she opened her eyes to see strangers standing above her, poking and prodding. And she was moving. Or, well, being moved. The generic fluorescent overhead lights beamed down on her as a sea of white coats and blue scrubs ebbed and flowed over the railings on either side of her. She slowly began to realize more and more about her surroundings. She couldn’t move her neck. Or her head. Or her arms. At first this made her panic, and that’s when those around her realized she was awake and started to ask her questions. Did she know where she was? Could she feel various pokes and prods? Follow the light that was pointed directly at her pupils. Squeeze this hand or that hand. They wheeled her in between two blue curtains and started hooking her up to all kinds of machines.
     
    She closed her eyes again. This time when she opened them she was by herself. There were all sorts of conversations and movement and beeps and buzzing outside of the curtains. She was no longer strapped down. She slowly turned her head from side to side. She felt sore all over. She looked down at her hands, expecting to see the mangled mess they had been before, but instead saw clean, neatly wrapped, bandaged hands. All of a sudden the curtain was ripped back by a phantom hand.
     
    “There you are! I’ve been looking for you all over! They wouldn’t tell me anything!”
     
    “Rebecca? What the… What’s going on?” she stammered. Her head started swimming again as she struggled to take everything in.
    “I found you passed out in the shower! There was blood everywhere – I had no idea what to do so I called 911!”
     
    “Oh good – you’re awake!” said an uninvited nurse as she entered through the gaping hole Rebecca had left in her blue curtained fortress. “Now, we just have a few more tests to run and a few questions to ask you.” The next thing she knew this unwelcome woman was bombarding her with questions. All the questions Rebecca must have been unable to answer; things about her medical history, what medications she was on, and the most important question of all – what had happened to her tonight – were thrown at her at rapid fire speed, while Rebecca just stood by and watched on, likely curious about the answers to some of those same questions herself.
     
    “I think you should call the police,” was all she said.

 
    Chapter 5
     
    It felt like it took them forever to arrive. The whole time she was waiting Rebecca just kept standing there, staring at her. Rebecca had wanted to call her parents, but she had somehow managed to talk her out of it.
     
    Two male uniformed cops eventually showed up. And by the time they had she almost wished she hadn’t asked to see them. Rather than letting her tell her story, they simply shot rapid fire questions at her. Did she know her attacker? Why was she walking home by herself so late? What had she been wearing? What were her exact movements that night? Had she had anything to drink? What exactly did she remember?
     
    He had beaten her pretty severely. As she had suspected, her cheekbone was broken, as were two of her fingers. She had suffered a concussion and had needed some stitches in her scalp where he had slammed her head against a tree when she had ceased to fight back. It had seemed almost as if that was something he hadn’t expected