Helpless

The Death and Resurrection Show

I didn't know if the voices I had heard were real or if I was beginning to hallucinate. For what seemed like an eternity later, I felt my eyes get heavier. I could no longer breathe. I heard someone scream out, "Put your hands above your head," before everything went black.

When I woke up, I was inside what seemed like an ambulance. At this point, I didn't trust anyone or anything. What if I was being transported somewhere else to be killed? I began to panic.

"Stop touching me," I panicked. Trying hard to get them to stop touching me.

"Miss," one of them said pleaded in Spanish. "We are only trying to help. We are taking you to the nearest hospital where they will treat you."

"Am I really going to the hospital?"

"Yes," he responded calmly. "Now, please. We need to prepare you for when you get there."

The only thing I could do was nod. They wouldn't lie to me. I had to be on my way to the hospital. Was my family gonna be there? When would I see them again?

My nerves were briefly calmed when we finally arrived at the hospital. They wheeled me in towards the back. I wasn't sure why, but I knew that I was going to be safe in there.

I was wheeled into a private room as nurses began to check my vital signs. "Where is my family?" I asked.

"They will be here shortly," one of the nurses responded.

I kept looking around the room. My family must have arranged for me to get my own room so that our family could have privacy. I was thankful for that. I didn't want anyone intruding on my privacy.

"Ms. Hernandez," I saw two strange men walking in. "How are you feeling?"

"Who are you?" I asked.

"We are private investigators," one of them smiled. "Your family hired us to find you."

That's how they found me. Had it not been for these investigators, I probably wouldn't made it out alive from that hellhole I had been in.

"I don't know how I am," I answered honestly. I felt tears streaming down my face. I just wanted to see my family.

"That's understandable," the other one responded. "We called your family. They should be here shortly. You'll see them soon."

"Thank you," I nodded.

"While we wait," he continued. "We need to ask you a couple of questions." I nodded. "Do you remember the person responsible for being abducted?"

"Yes," I swallowed hard. I gave him Alex's name. They asked me a couple of questions and they wrote everything down on their notepad. They said they would turn everything over to the police.

"Did he do anything other than beat you and torture you?" he asked looking up to meet my eyes.

I felt myself choke up at the question. I looked down at my hands and began to cry. I nodded yes but no words were able to come out.

"Were you sexually assaulted?" he asked.

I let out a sob and continued to nod my head. "Yes," I cried. "He raped me." I am not sure if what I had said even made sense to him. I was full on sobbing at that point. I tried to calm myself down, but I couldn't. One of the nurses came in and gave me a relaxer. Then I saw one of our family doctor's walk in.

"Jennifer," he calmly said. "We are going to have to perform a rape kit on you."

Never in my life did I ever think this would happen to me. I sat there and cried and just nodded. There was nothing else for me to say. I had been raped. I had been humiliated. And after he had raped me, he left me laying there completely naked. As if I were trash. And now I had to be tested to turn it over to the police. It was degrading.