Better Off Alone (Adopted by Brendon and Sarah Urie)

27. Brendon

Something made me go back to the park by the library. I pulled Zack with me and we sped off.

Police cruisers followed us, in case my intuition was right.

We saw four boys surrounding a smaller figure on the ground. They were kicking the figure. If nothing else, we could save someone else's kid tonight.

I saw one of the boys kneel down and start undoing his pants. I went into a blind rage, but a figure sped past me first and pulled the boy off the smaller figure.

"What the fuck are you doing?" He screamed at the kid.

"Just having a little fun," the kid snarled. "She wouldn't have felt anything anyway. She's out cold."

I looked down at the body and gasped.

The police had caught up to us and took in what they saw.

"Attempted rape of a minor? Assault of a minor? Those are just the obvious charges," one of the cops said, taking custody of the boys. While they were doing that, I called 911 to get an ambulance for this poor kid. Looked like a girl, too. I moved hair away from her face and gasped, falling over.

Zack was at my side immediately.

"It's Callie," I said, lunging at her unconscious form and lifting her in my arms, hugging her to me.

"Bren, don't move her," Zack said. But it was already too late.  I was holding Callie's limp body and crying and rocking her, imploring her to wake up.

I heard sirens in the distance and Zack on the phone. I wasn't sure who he was talking to.

The paramedics came and took Callie from my arms so they could look her over. They put a collar on her, and got her onto the stretcher. I followed them. Zack called out that he would get Sarah and meet us at the hospital.

I got into the ambulance and held Callie's hand as we sped off into the night.

As we pulled into the ambulance bay, I saw Callie's eyes were open. I got into her line of sight and signed "hello Callie, you're okay".

She looked around as much as the collar would allow. She was a little panicked. I put my hand on her shoulder and signed "you're okay" again.

They took her back to a treatment area and told me where I could find her once they'd gotten her changed and started treating her wounds. I waited for Sarah in the waiting room.

She came running in about 10 minutes after I'd gotten there.

"Bren! Is she?" Sarah asked but didn't finish her sentence.

"She's okay," I said to Sarah, grabbing her in a hug. "She opened her eyes when we got here. She's going to be okay. The doctors are just looking after her now."

I saw the police go in as well.

"Sarah, go in. They might want you. Callie might want you."

"Why me?"

"There were four boys. One was trying to..." I couldn't finish. "Zack pulled him off."

Sarah's hand flew to her mouth and tears sprang to her eyes. I didn't need to elaborate.

Sarah went back where Callie was and I stayed outside with Zack.

Sarah came out about an hour later and told me we could both come back there now. I followed Sarah and found Callie asleep on the stretcher, bandages on her head and arms.

"They gave her a sedative after they examined her.  The boys didn't do anything. You guys got there in time. She's okay, from that perspective." Sarah said. I nodded.

I sat down and took Callie's hand. We were supposed to protect her. But how are we supposed to protect her when we can't convince her that she's staying with us forever? That she's safe with us. I put my head down on her blanket and sobbed. Sarah rubbed my back. Zack was on the phone with Kala, I assumed. They'd relay the message that we found Callie.

"Sarah. How do we convince her she's in her forever home?  How do we protect her? How?" I asked through my tears.

"We just keep telling her," Sarah said.

A little while later they came to take Callie to a room. They wanted to keep her for observation and rule out a concussion.  They moved her stretcher and when we got to her room, the porters lifted my daughter's limp body and placed it gently on the bed. The nurse pulled the covers up and tucked our sleeping daughter in for the night. Everyone was so gentle and kind.

I sat by Callie's side the rest of the night.  Between fitful sleep moments, I just stared at this beautiful, albeit currently bruised, girl that Sarah and I were lucky to call our daughter. We just hoped she'd finally realize she's ours forever. We want her. We'll move earth and sky for her. We'll do our best to protect her from the cruel world but show her how much beauty there really is in the world.

At some point when I must have fallen asleep, I heard an odd moaning. I looked up and saw Callie grimacing and thrashing a bit in bed. I put my hand on her arm. Her eyes flew open. She looked around the room before settling on me, and then flickering over to Sarah.

I smiled at her and waved.

"Hi," I said. "Good morning."

She looked around and asked where she was.

"You're in the hospital," I signed.

Tears filled her beautiful eyes.

"Boys," she signed. "They touched me."

Tears came to her eyes.

"You're okay. They didn't do anything," I said.

"They hit me. Then they touched me," she said.

"I know. I know," I said. "But they didn't get further than touching. They didn't..."

I couldn't finish that. Besides not knowing the sign, it was something I didn't want to think about. If I hadn't had the feeling to check the park again. If Zack hadn't been there with me.

Callie was crying. I sat on her bed and pulled her into my arms. I so desperately wanted her to know how much we love her and how much she's wanted. That nothing in her past is going to make us send her away.