We Each Have Our Reasons

Chapter Thirteen: Are You Okay? You're Bleeding

•TW: Mentions of Sexual Assault

I wake up in a bed with the guy I went home with. I got out of bed and got dressed. I have a headache but it's minor. I grab all my things, including $1500 out of his wallet, and saunter out of his apartment.

When we got there, we didn't have sex. We had a drink and just sat here talking about his life and work and blah blah. But I'm not leaving with nothing.

It's 22:47pm. It's times like these when I wish I had brought Khulna with me. Because the thing about letting people drive you places, they drop you off and you have to figure your own shit out when you need to go home.

I am so dizzy, I'm struggling to walk; I have a major headache and I feel like throwing up. But I know I have to get home.

I take out my phone and call Ty. “Riv, hey!” she says.

“I'm not okay... my head hurts and I can't even walk properly.” I say and sit down on the sidewalk. Everything is starting to blur now.

“Wait where are you? Are you drunk?”

“Ty, I only had one...two drinks” I reply. I did not drink more than that and I shouldn't be drunk. Like this.

“Where are you?” she says.

I squint my eyes and try to look around but everything is becoming harder to see. I don't recognise this area.

“I don't know...” I whisper.

“What the fuck you mean you don't know? You know what, turn on your phone's location I'm coming right now!” she hangs up.

I turn the location on and lie down against the building on the side of the road. My stomach hurts, my head hurts and I'm sure I'm going to throw up anytime now.

I close my eyes for what felt like two minutes and I woke up to a girl shaking me and telling me to wake up. My vision has cleared up a little bit and I can see it's not Ty.

I say girl because she's shorter than me. But if I had to take a guess at her age I'd say it's probably between 19 and 21.

“Who're you...?” I say, slower than a snail crawling. My whole abdomen hurts, I still have a migraine and I'm still dizzy.

“That's not important. Why are you laying here are you okay? This is not the safest neighborhood you know. Look, you even have a bruise on your forehead.” she pulls me up.

“My phone...where's my phone?” I ask. She picks it up on the ground behind me.

“Are you okay? You're bleeding.” she says. My eyes shoot open.

“Let's go to my house, it's just around the corner I can get you pants to change and maybe accompany you home.” she says.

I immediately get what she's hinting and look down at my legs and that's when I saw a trail of blood going down my thigh. I look at her with wide eyes.

“What's wrong?” she says.

“I-” I look down at the blood again. “I'm not- I'm not on my period...” I say. I'm getting worried for myself, and everything still hurts I can't even stand up.

“Oh shit. Girl we need to get you an ambulance.” she says and starts looking around for help I guess.

And at that moment I see Ty's car pull up on the other side of the road. She runs over to us and I can see anger in her eyes.

“What the fuck River? You didn't tell me you were going out. Now imagine if something had happened to- wait who are you?” she lowers her voice when she sees the girl.

“I'm Maya. We really need to get your friend to a hospital.” the girl replies.

They both look at me and their faces fill with horror. “River your nose is bleeding. What the fuck happened?” Ty kneels down and cups my face. Her face is now even more terrified when she looks at my legs.

“We need to get you to the hospital. Can you help me get her in the car?” Ty says. Maya nods and they both held me on each shoulder and carry me to the back seat of her car.

I wanted to scream ‘I can walk!’ but I was too weak to say it. And in all honesty, I'd be lying.

“Can you please come with? If you don't mind. Blood and I aren't really friends.” I hear Ty say and my eyes shut closed.

•
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•

My eyes open and the amount of light in this room is insane, so I shut my eyes again.

“Close the curtains please.” I say. I don't even recall where I am, or who I'm with, but I hear someone jogging across the room and the curtains close.

I open my eyes to a now reasonably lighted room, and I see Ty standing beside the bed and another girl asleep on the chair just below the bed. Ty gave me a worried expression.

I look around and notice I'm in a hospital bed.

“What the fuck happened to me?” I ask, recalling none of the events leading me here.

“Did you have sex yesterday?” she asked so emotionless.

“Why are you asking me that?” I look at her.

“Just please answer the question.” she says. I can see she's not joking.

I think back to all the events I remember about yesterday. Up until I fell asleep in that guy's apartment.

“No, I didn't.” I answer her.

“Oh my god.” she sheds a tear but quickly wipes it away with the palm of her hand. She turns away from me and starts walking slowly up and down the room.

I beg her to tell me what's wrong and why she was crying, but she said nothing. Instead, she kept apologizing. “I'm so sorry.” she kept saying after every while.

Soon after, a doctor comes in with a nurse behind her.

“Miss Smith. You're finally awake.” she smiles at me. “Is it fine if I call you that?”

“Just River please. What's going on?” I ask.

“Well River is there anything you remember about last night?”

“I went to a pub last night and had a glass of vodka. Or gin, I can't remember. I then met a friend and we went back to his house. When we got there he got both of us drinks and we spoke about life and got to know each other. Then we fell asleep, and I don't know what happened afterwards. I remember leaving the apartment with a migraine but that's about it.”

“And you didn't engage in any sexual activities?” she asked me.

I shook my head.

“Are you sure?” she asked and looked at the papers in her hand.

“Yes I'm fricken sure now can someone tell me what the hell is going on?” I raise my voice a little.

“Miss Smith, I'm afraid you were sexually molested. We have informed the police and they'll be here shortly, your mother is also on her way.” she says.

I feel my eyes tear up. Ty walks to me and holds my hand, resting her head on my stomach. The other girl also walked up to me and held my other hand. “I'm so sorry River. I'm sorry.” Ty starts crying. I feel my face steam up and tears running down my cheeks. The world is trembling.