AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re fine. Ready?”
He nodded and walked toward me. I could see the worry in his eyes.
“It’ll be okay. I promise.”
“I trust you.”
On the way to the hospital, Patrick’s knee bounced nervously. He was too nervous to talk or say much. When we arrived at the emergency room and checked in, thankfully my parents did the talking. Patrick had his wallet and gave the people at the check-in desk his ID and insurance card.
Though the emergency room was full of people, we didn’t have to wait. A few male nurses came over and had us follow them. I was grateful for Patrick’s sake that we didn’t have to wait.
The nurses were really nice, and they seemed to take their time with Patrick. They explained a doctor would be right over and wanted to get him into a hospital gown. My mom stepped out of the bay and my dad and I stepped back so he could change with the help of the nurses. He leaned against the bed while he pulled his t-shirt off. His face was beet red as his protective layers were stripped away. The nurses did a quick visual scan of his torso and arms. One spoke as he tended to a few scratches by swiping a medicated pad over the area while the other one wrote on a clipboard. I kept waiting to see the spot where he was bleeding at and kept my eyes out for a bandage.
Patrick stepped out of his sweatpants, balled up his hands into fists, and pressed the back of his hands on the bed. The nurse with the clipboard continued to ask questions while the other nurse continued to examine Patrick’s back.
Then I saw the blood, and my body went numb. As I stared at a deep red area on the back of Patrick’s underwear, I tried to process what the blood was from. There were faint lines of blood, though not solid, around where his ass cheeks were, but then there was a darker blotchy mess toward the center.
The nurse that stood behind Patrick stared upward for a few moments and looked angry. He even looked at my dad and shook his head. Dad wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. I pried my eyes off Patrick and looked at my dad. His hand covered his mouth, and he shook his head slightly. The nurse stood beside Patrick, and the next question I heard made my stomach drop.
“Were you forced into sex?” he asked quietly.
What? My mind began racing. Patrick had a girlfriend, and she wouldn’t force him into anything. There was no way she could overpower him anyhow.
Patrick kept his head lowered, but he clearly nodded. What? Why are you nodding?
“Do you know if it was protected?” the nurse gently asked.
Patrick shrugged slightly and then mumbled that he didn’t know. As the realization of what had happened settled in, so did the feeling of rage. Absolute rage that was almost scary. I felt as though I could kill his father.
The doctor came in along with a trauma counselor and spoke briefly to the nurse with the clipboard. I felt sick as I stood beside my dad and stared at Patrick’s body while they tended to him.
“If you want, you can step outside with your mom, son,” Dad whispered in my ear.
I shook him off. I had pushed Patrick to tell what had happened. I wasn’t going to abandon him now and make him deal with this on his own. Granted, he’d gotten to know my dad pretty well over the past few months, but still.
The trauma counselor had some chairs brought in for my parents and me and told us the police would be by soon. My parents spoke with the counselor while the doctor and nurses checked Patrick out from head to toe.
Patrick was on his side as the medical staff put him through a humiliating exam. His hands were close to his face and clasped together, resting against his forehead. His eyes were tightly closed, and the medical staff kept telling him to try to relax. He kept trying to lean away from them or his body would suddenly jerk at their touch. He was barely keeping it together, and I felt so helpless.
Since the doctor and nurses were behind him, I stood and slowly walked to him. I kept looking at the doctor because I thought if he didn’t want me near Patrick right now, he’d tell me. One of the nurses nodded to me, letting me know it was okay. I started to stretch my hand toward him but retracted it quickly as I remembered how he didn’t like to be touched much. But maybe it was because he either hurt all the time or because of what his dad and stepbrother had done.
“I’m right here, Patrick,” I murmured.
I reached out and set my hand on top of his hands. The moment he felt me, his fingers unclenched and clutched my hand. I sat on the small section of the bed where there was barely enough room for part of my ass and leg. But it didn’t matter; Patrick needed me. He leaned his forehead against my shirt and held my hand.
Patrick’s façade was completely gone, and in its place was the scared sixteen-year-old who had hidden behind the tough-guy image.
“Will you stay?” he asked. “Please, Hollis.”
“I promise. I’m not going anywhere.”
