As we left Rachel's room for the night, Sam looked at me.
"So what happened yesterday?"
"It was my mistake. There were two bowls sitting on the counter when I picked up her soup, and I got the wrong one. That one was intended for a patient in the psychosis ward. It was laced with antipsychotic medications, which, if given to a non-psychotic patient, can drive them into psychosis. By all medical terms, she went psycho. The patient in the psychosis ward never received their medication, which they reported to the kitchen staff, who then said that someone had picked it up. That's how we found out I had grabbed the wrong bowl. I'm sorry."
"It's fine. At least you found out what happened."
"Yes, that's a good thing."
"So what have you guys been doing to help the entire speech problem?"
"Did you see Emma in there with her? Or Belinda yesterday?"
"Right. I remember now. So they're helping her learn words?"
"They are. I think that now they're trying to get her to learn sentence structures and present and past tense."
"That's great. Are there any words that she's struggling with?"
"Yes. 'Cuddle' seems to be a hard one."
"Why 'cuddle?'"
"From what I've been able to understand, the guy who kept you guys in the cellar used to rape her, hence the miscarried baby. Point being, he called the sex 'cuddles.' Now she thinks of such a lovely and innocent word as the one thing that she's terrified at the thought of."
"Wow. That's awful."
"Yep. If you say it, even by mistake, she tries to get away from you and starts crying. It really stinks. He ruined that one for her. The main problem is pronunciation. She can read and write, though. I don't know if her spelling is good, because Emma and Belinda work on her penmanship. She hasn't been told to spell anything in particular, from what I know. I may be wrong."
"Wow. Has Mom or anyone else from the family seen her?"
"No. Not yet, at least. They could certainly start, though. I'd maybe like to talk to Belinda and Emma about it, but I think you guys could certainly help with her recovery."
Throughout the next week, Rachel met the rest of her family. She eventually moved into the Housing Happiness home with them, while still receiving her help from Belinda and Emma.
YOU ARE READING
Wasting in the Rain
General FictionThis is all she's known. This is the shack she's been chained in for twelve years, since she was four years old. She's now sixteen. She's only known Mister, the man who has threatened her with guns, violence, rapes, and beatings every day for twelve...
