What goes on behind the words (is there pity for the plain girl)

Worst Moment

TW: This one is dark. Violence, abuse and overall trauma. Again, I'm sorry about this. 

"I believe it's the same memory for both of us but for very different reasons. For Reece, it was the most traumatic memory of his life, and for me, well, I think it'll become fairly obvious why." Taking in a deep breath, she continued, avoiding eye contact with everyone. "It was my fault, in hindsight. Yes, it was, Reece, don't look at me like that. I failed my maths test and only got 80% so my father was, naturally, extremely angry. He hit me, which was nothing new, but we were standing at the top of the staircase. I lost my balance when he hit me and fell down the stairs." A pained expression crossed her face and the room collectively drew in a breath. Reece shut his eyes, reliving the horrifying moment. "Reece saw what happened, punched my father and ran down the stairs to see if I was ok because this was the main staircase which was made out of marble. Reece, I think you should continue."

"Umm right ok. So I punched Dad and ran down the stairs. Aut hit her head pretty badly on one of the steps so I had to try and avoid the blood. When I got to her, she had blood all over her face, and her arms and legs were in awkward positions." He paused and gulped some air before whispering the next part. "She wasn't breathing." Everyone in the room cried out and gasped, tears welling in Marjorie's eyes. 

Reece rubbed his eyes before continuing in a monotone voice, as though he was reciting it. "I called the ambulance and told them that she fell because father threatened to kill me as well if I incriminated him and they instructed me how to do CPR over the phone while they were on their way. When they got to us, they took over and used a defib before taking us to the hospital. Father said that he was leaving and to say that he'd been out all day. Aut didn't wake up for four days - I went to visit her in the hospital every single day after school." he turned to Autumn, whose normally impassive face had softened ever so slightly. "You were so tiny, and you had so many tubes and wires coming out of you because of all your old injuries and malnourishment. In the beginning, they weren't sure you'd make it because your body was so weak. Anyway, after Aut woke up, she was kept for another few weeks. Father never came to visit her and used to get mad at me for spending so long at the hospital. Aut, you want to finish off?"

"The worst part was after I woke up. I wasn't allowed any proper pain medication because I was so young so I had to deal with numerous broken bones healing at the same time. I just remember being sick a lot because of the pain."

"It got to a point where I started praying that she was asleep because she was in so much pain and it killed me every time I entered the room and she couldn't even talk because of how much it hurt. Mia started messaging me to ask if Aut was awake before coming in to visit because she struggled so much seeing Aut hurting."

Autumn looked up suddenly, eyebrow raised. "Mia came to visit?"

"Of course I did, darling," a new voice sounded from the door. Everyone swivelled around to see Mia, casually leaning against the doorframe, twirling her hair around her finger.

A/N: Hope everyone's ok after this read, it's not pleasant. Also, if anyone's had to perform CPR, I have the greatest respect for you. If you can, please do try and get yourself First-aid trained, it can be expensive but you don't know when you may need to use it. I've had to perform basic first aid in the past and am always so glad I have these skills- it makes me feel safer as well. Anyway, we're almost done with the dark angst and they will get better soon, I promise. Thanks for reading, see you next Friday!