In Sunshine or In Shadow ✔ [Completed]

Chapter 2.2 - Aftermath

Riddhima couldn't remember anything more humiliating than being examined by the Forensic Nurse. She knew about the exam, she'd read about it when she'd worked cases in San Francisco. It had just been another part of the case, a way to collect evidence; she never had to watch someone go through it…certainly never thought she would have to live through one herself.

First she'd had to give a detailed account of the attack, especially where she'd been assaulted. Riddhima hadn't been able to look the woman in the eye as she recited what had happened. Punched in the stomach and across the face. Head slammed into the wall and concrete. Bitten on her shoulder, licked on her face. Vaginally raped. No, he didn't had a condom.

She'd lain there and let them take the photographs, zooming in on the cuts on her arm, face and head, her swollen eye and broken wrist. It was just like when they photographed the body at a crime scene, except she was a living breathing person. She endured having her fingernails clipped and scraped for DNA, her cuts swabbed for blood and skin samples.

The worst part was having to lie back and open her legs for the pelvic exam. She hadn't been able to stop herself from shaking and tears had escaped her eyes. The Forensic Nurse had been as quiet and discreet as she could be, even as she'd swabbed for semen and combed for pubic hairs.

Then had come a long talk about the STI's, HIV, and the risk of pregnancy. She'd been given a cocktail of pills, prophylaxis and other pills to help prevent her from contracting an STD. But she would have to take a blood test later to be sure. And of course there was the morning-after pill.

Wendy had written a detailed record of the examination and then smiled reassuringly at Riddhima before finally leaving her alone. The whole exam had taken a long time. Somehow Riddhima felt even more exposed now though, she felt like she had been violated all over again.

She closed her eyes and kept them shut. She wasn't sleeping; there was no way she would be able to sleep, maybe never again. Keeping her eyes shut meant she could pretend that she wasn't lying in the hospital, that she wasn't just given a sexual assault exam, that she hadn't been raped. This was all just a horrible nightmare, she would wake up soon and everything would be better.

A lie sounded so much better than the truth.

Her eyes were still closed when she heard footsteps coming to her doorway. She didn't want to see anyone, especially not her team. They would know what happened, they would find out, if not from Vansh then from the hospital. Maybe if she kept her eyes closed, then they would go away. She wanted to keep pretending that this wasn't real.

"Is this her?" She heard an unfamiliar woman whisper.

"Yes, we need to bring her down to get an MRI," another woman replied. "So should we wake her up?"

"And have her walk down to get an MRI? Look at her, go get her a wheelchair."

Now she heard one set of footsteps hurrying away, the other woman was staying, she must have been the superior nurse or something like that. "Poor little dear," she whispered and picked up the chart. "Well, Lavinia, I certainly hope they find him soon."

"Who is Lavinia?" Riddhima couldn't help but ask. She opened her eyes to see an older blonde woman looking shocked.

"Oh I'm sorry, I thought you were asleep," The nurse said, her nametag read Helen. "We need to take you to the MRI, dear."

"My name is Riddhima Mehra," Riddhima told her, "Who is Lavinia?"

Helen blushed a little, clearly embarrassed that she had been caught talking. "My husband is an English professor, sometimes our worlds collide a little." Riddhima wanted to say more but was stopped when a much younger woman in scrubs came up with a wheelchair. "Riddhima, this is Amy. She's going to be the one that will take you down to get an MRI."