Distance

Silent

The ambulance had arrived fairly quickly to med, Bella was in ambo 61 and the two younger children were in another. As Bella was being wheeled into the ER, jay and hailey took a seat in the waiting room. There was nothing visibly wrong with any of the children other than them being extremely pale and thin, but they wanted to be safe rather than sorry. The two younger children were examined and released into the paediatric ward but Bella was still being looked at. She had been in the ER for about half an hour before Will came out to look for jay and hailey, "hey guys..." he said while waving them over to him. "Anything wrong?" Jay said with concern. Will smiled at them both, "no she's all good, we've got her on a quick drip since she's got a lack of vitamin D. She doesn't look like she's seen the sun for a while..." he cleared up the confusion. Hailey and jay nodded, they had suspected that. "Can we talk to her?" Hailey said eagerly. "That's if she'll talk, she hasn't opened her mouth once" Will said doubtfully. The partners understood but follow Will anyways.
"Hey Bella, you remember us?" Jay said while entering her room. He didn't walk over to her beside since she seemed weary around males, hailey on the other hand walked to a chair next to her bed and sat down. Bella didn't look at them, instead she just gave them a vague nod, hailey and jay smiled weakly at each other. "We just want you to know you're safe now, you can tell us as much or as little as you want" jay said in a softer tone trying to gain her trust. Bella didn't say anything or move, "is there anything you want to tell us? It may help us catch the bad guys" hailey said while perking up in her chair. Bella looked up slightly, she looked at jay then to hailey and nodded. The partners looked at each other with hope. Silently, Bella pulled down the blanket she was hiding under and lifted up her t-shirt slightly, she revealed a small heat brand imprinted on to her lower abdomen. Hailey took a look first while jay kept his distance, "is it okay if Jay looks too?" She asked Bella who looked sad, Bella didn't say anything she just nodded. Jay carefully made his way next to hailey and looked at the scar, "did they do this?" He said soothingly. Once again Bella just nodded.
Jay and Hailey had recognised the mark on her stomach, "you've done really well Bella, we'll be back in a few minutes" hailey said while excusing them both. The heat brand was a skull face with some Chinese writing curved under it, it also had the number '12' on top. The unit had been working multiple cases that involved these markers, they had appeared on social media, victims bodies, post, letters, literally anything. "I'll call Voight, let him know there's another one" hailey said while leaving jay outside of bellas room, he turned to watch her as she cuddled up into the blanket staring off into the distance. Even though they had seen the brand plastered everywhere, they haven't been able to crack what it means since the victims who also have it are now dead, and the social media influencers that post it are anonymous, they were in the dark. But Bella, she was their only hope.
After around 5 minutes of waiting hailey reappeared to shed some light to the situation, "I talked to Voight, the teams working on it. I also talked to nat, she said that the two other kids don't have it. She's all we have..." hailey said sombrely while looking through the glass at Bella. Jay understood and they stopped and watched Bella through the glass doors before re entering. "Hey Bella, you helped us out a lot there. Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?" Hailey said as the partners both stood by her bed side. Bella looked slightly hesitant and went to answer but she stopped herself and remained silent, jay looked over at hailey and spoke out, "that's okay, you don't have to talk if you're not ready" he said reassuringly. They needed answers but they also knew they had to make her feel safe and secure before questioning her again, they both left and walked over to Will. "Hey do you think dr charles could maybe talk to her? She won't speak and we kinda need to question her some time pretty soon..." jay said sadly. Will nodded and paged dr Charles.
After a few minutes of silence, dr Charles appeared in front of the detectives, "hey guys, what can I do for you?" He said cheerily. Jay smiled and explained, "we have Bella in there, she's a victim and a possible witness to our ongoing investigation. Could you try get her to feel a bit safer, maybe get her to talk?" Jay said with doubt. Dr Charles nodded, "I can try, but at a time like this it could be a while before she opens up" he said making sure they understand. Both of them nodded and they left dr Charles to do his work.
"Hey Bella, I'm dr Charles. I'm here to make sure you're okay inside as well as on the outside, how are you feeling?" He started off simply. Bella hesitated to speak but she answered quietly, "okay I guess". Dr Charles signalled his hand to a chair and gave her a questioning look, she nodded in approval and he took a seat. "Is there anything you want to tell me, why you're scared? You can tell me anything, even your favourite color!" He said trying to make her feel welcome. It must've worked because Bella looked at him warmly and flashed a little smile, "purple" she said now smiling fully. Dr Charles smiled back at her, "no way, that's mine too" he replied happily. She let out a small giggle while looking at the floor, dr Charles got serious again and asked her another question; "Anything you say in here will be completely private, why're you so scared Bella?" She lost her smile but still answer.
"The men, all of them..." she said with a frown. "Why do they scare you Bella?" He questioned softly, she let tears form in her eyes and answered again. "The guns, the shouting, the faces..." she listed while looking off into the distance. Dr Charles picked up on her panicked posture and soothed her down, "breathe okay? In for 4 seconds, out for 2..." he said while moving his hands to the time. When she finally calmed down she looked at him, "they want me to tell them don't they?" She said while motioning towards jay and hailey. Dr Charles let out a sigh and a smile, "yeah they do kiddo, are you ready to talk?" He said making sure she was fine with it. She nodded and looked at him with a brave but fearful smile.