Journey to Love

Chapter 20

It didn't take long for the ambulance to make it to Riverview hospital. Anita had been stroking her thumb against the back of Layla's hand the entire ride, trying to reassure herself or the unconscious girl in front of her, she was unsure.

It didn't take a genius to know that Layla was injured. How bad it was, was not yet known. Though by the bruising on her wrist and other places, she would have been in some sort of pain when she was conscious. Anita was glad that the girl was currently unconscious. 

How long had she been with those assholes? 

And how long had she been trying to hide the pain, the bruises?

How had no one noticed it before? Heck how did she not notice it before. God she should have reported it the moment something was off. 

The back doors suddenly opened catching her attention. She kept her inner turmoil to herself as she followed the medics and Layla out of the ambulance and into the hospital.

They walked through many hallways and corridors before going into a private room. Though before Anita could enter she was stopped, by a nurse. 

"Um, ma'am, I'm sorry to inform you, but Miss Layla will need to be examined alone. If you would kindly follow me, I can escort you to the waiting area just around the corner." Mrs Williams nodded her head, clutching her bag a little bit more as she followed the nurse down the hall. "Once Layla has been checked and has no life threatening injuries, or doesn't need any surgery, you will be allowed to go into her room. The doctors just need to make sure she is on the right road of recovery before we allow visitors." The nurse smiled warmly at Mrs Williams.

"Thank you", Mrs Williams returned the smile, before she sat down on the plastic chair allowing her mind to wander. 

Anita mostly went through scenarios. With Layla being in foster care, where would she go? Would she go back into the system? Anita did not want that for Layla. So she began to look into what she needed to do to adopt Layla. She even went through little thoughts of what living with Layla would be like. 

It took the nurses and doctors 6 hours to look over Layla before Mrs Williams was allowed into the room. Layla had been unconscious the entire time. They did a full body analysis, analysing her bones, muscles, brain damage and nutrition levels, the doctor had said. 

Anita followed the doctor through the halls until they stopped at a door that read 23. The doctor opened the door and walked in, Anita following in after her. The first thing she noticed was the cast on Layla's right arm. 

Anita slowly walked over to Layla's left side and sat down in the seat beside Layla's unconscious form. She took the girl's cold limp hand and rubbed small circles on it, being careful of the IV. The doctor was already reading the machines, checking Layla's levels. 

The doctor then turned toward Anita, "So as I said before, we did a full body check, just making sure of all her levels. I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Doctor Lawrence, and I have been in charge of Layla's recovery. So after we went over Layla's body, and did a bunch of scans, Layla has a broken right wrist. Both her radius and ulna bones were messily broken, in the sense that her bone fragments have not been cleanly broken apart. This type of result is usually the cause of blunt force trauma. Her ligaments in her right knee have been torn off, and the ACL, medial and lateral meniscus all need surgery. We have her scheduled in for surgery tomorrow" 

Mrs Williams was on the verge of tears. She was gripping the girl's hand a little more firmly, her other one coming up to cup her mouth as a small sob escaped her lips. She continued to listen to the doctor, who too was trying to hide her emotions about Layla's condition. 

"She is also highly malnourished for her age, her blood glucose levels and blood pressures are quite low. This can easily be fixed with the right diet. Her vitamin levels and iron levels are also extremely low. We have already given her an iron diffusion because they were that low, which could be a reason as to why she is currently unconscious. 

The bruises across her body will heal, however, the physical scars will take between a couple of months to decades until they disappear, however some are so deep that they will probably be with her for the rest of her life. But I will give her some ointment to rub onto her scars."

Mrs Williams nodded her head half hazardly, a question burned its way from deep inside until she spoke out, "what's going to happen custody-wise with her?"

The doctor looked a bit guilty as she replied, "whilst doing a blood test, Tyler asked for us to check for family members. The blood test came back positive for a match. She has a father and we spoke to him 30 minutes ago. He seemed like he was interested in taking her this time"

"This time?" She asked as her heart fell.

"Well when Layla's mother died 5 years ago, he couldn't take her in at that time"

"oh," Mrs Williams forced a smile onto her lips, "I'm glad she has other family"

Mrs Williams made sure to keep the smile on her face, even when her dreams quickly turned to ash. She wanted to adopt Layla, and show her what it means to be loved. Though the thought fell into the pit of unfulfilled desires. How could she of been so stupid to think that she could have adopted Layla?

"You can stay with her for as long as you want. Her father won't be here for a couple of days due to work. When she wakes the police and Child protective services want to have a talk with her about what happened." 

Mrs Williams nodded her head mumbling out a small thank you. The doctor nodded her head, "A nurse will come in later to give her some food and medications. I'll see you later," The doctor smiled slightly, spun on her heels, and left the room. 

Mrs Williams took in a deep breath preparing herself for what was to come. She would be there to support Layla and Layla's decisions. If she wanted her father, so be it, she won't let her own wants cloud her emotions. This was about Layla, her well-being, and what she wants.

A stark image of Layla curled up in the corner of her room, bruised and bloody flashed before her. She would fight tooth and nail for Layla's happiness. 

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Words: 1161

Published: 6/6/2022