Blood Tears

Chapter 22

Not a word was said as we entered Caius' office. All of us sat on couches and chairs, some, including myself, remained standing. I was leaning against the back wall facing the center desk, bracing all of my weight on it. I looked as Caius tried to pull himself together enough to get through this conversation. It broke my heart to see him like this, to see them all like this, but I need to know. I need to know if la mia piccola farfalla is alive. I walked over to where my son was hunched over, sobbing on his desk chair, and hugged him tight. He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his head on my chest. Sobs racked his frame, and tears stained my shirt as my son clung to me for dear life.

" I.. I am just waiting for her to come." Caius choked out through his sobs. I have no idea who she is, but she better get here fast because the suspense was killing me. I held onto my son tighter as his sobs died down to sniffles, a light knock on Caius' office door breaking through. "Come in." Caius called as leaned back from my embrace. I wiped his tears with my thumb and held him for a little longer before letting go and taking back up my previous residence.

The doctor that walked in was a young, petite blonde. Her face glum and her blue eyes hazy with tears. She walked over to Caius and stood by his side, face downcast to her clipboard. "This is Dr. Chase, I asked her for her expertise with Ardian." Caius whispered as he turned his computer screen to face us. "Please. Please don't ask any questions until we finish run through everything. If, if we don't get it out in one go we won't be to get it all out." Caius pleaded through tears. With nods of confirmation from everyone, Caius took a deep breath and said the worst thing a father could ever hear.

"We...we managed to stabilize him for now, but the next 24 hours are critical. He lost a lot of blood, and we had to do a blood transfusion. He is being strictly monitored to see if he shows any signs of rejected the new blood. He also has sepsis. The infection spread throughout his blood stream, so we have him on a lot of antibiotics to counteract the bacteria and to hopefully break his fever. In..in regards to his injuries ..." Caius took another deep breath and turned on the computer screen to show us a truly horrifying sight.

 " As..as you all could see, Ardian .... He has about 50% of his body covered by third degree burns, scars, cuts, bruises, whip marks, belt marks and carvings. Some scars as old as from when Ardian first disappeared. The belt and whip marks cover his entire back as... as you can see here. He has bruises covering his entire body excluding his face and neck. His ribs were fractured in three places on his left and 3 ribs were broken on his right. One of his broken ribs punctured his lung and another punctured his heart. We were able to fix them but....but he ....he went into cardiac rest twice during it. We also had to put him on a ventilator to help him breathe. He has multiple bones that were broken and healed incorrectly so we had to rebreak some of them and place them back to heal properly. The worst break was to his ankles. They were severely deformed. The incorrectly healed bone was pinching the nerves in his foot. We rebroke and aligned his bone back, but the nerves in his foot were severely damaged. If he ever wants to walk again, he will have to undergo major physiotherapy, not only for his feet, but for his back. The force from the whip and belt damaged some of the nerves there as well. He also has a fourth degree burn covering his entire stomach here. It burned through his muscle and tissue and there was also heat damage to his intestines. The burn, as well as all of his other injuries were seriously infected leading to the sepsis. We cleaned them up as best as we can but he will have very limited motion because of it. He will also have to go on a strict diet to help heal his intestines better. From the shape of the burn, it...it looks like someone held a hot frying pan to his stomach. His other burn looked like they were made from cigarettes, heated pipes, and him being held over a direct flame. The cuts were most likely made from knifes, scissors basically anything sharp. There .. there are also words that carved into his skin. " Caius croaked out as he showed picture after picture. Each displaying a new word.

SLUT

WHORE

FAG

BITCH

USELESS

WORTHLESS

WASTE OF SPACE

MY BITCH

MY TOY

The last two sent dread flooding through my body. No it can't be. It can't be what I think it is.

"There ... there were also scars on his wrist, thighs and stomach that were not made by another person. They... they were self-inflicted, most likely by a razor." Caius sobbed out, unable to keep going as sobs forced their way out. The sound joining that of the symphony of sobs echoing through the office. Cutting through the sobs, Dr. Chase's voice gravely spoke.

"Dr. Lasota brought me in as I work in gynecology with trauma patients, specifically rape victims. I examined Ardian and found that he was severely raped several times. His anus was ripped in several places, indicating that he was forced multiple times. I stitched him up but antibiotic cream as well as soothing lotion will have to be periodically rubbed on for the next few months to prevent further infection and damage. There was also old scarring around his anus as well, indicating that the rape was taking place for years, with the latest incident being a day ago. He had bruises in his throat and mouth showing that another male penis or penises were forcefully shoved into his mouth. The antibiotics as well as warm teas will help with the healing process. There was also severe bruising to his genitals. According to his toxicology report, as well as these puncture marks on his arm that have bruising around them, it looks like someone repeated injected him with an aphrodisiac and raped him." Dr. Chase whispered out, tears streaming down her face.

"Ardian's physical injuries will take a long time to heal but his mental ones, those will take even longer. Mental trauma as bad as his sometime never truly heal. If... my baby brother wakes up, I have a friend who is a psychologist who specializes in trauma. He will evaluate Ardian and let us know how to proceed in his mental health recovery." Caius said around sobs.

" If. What do you mean if Caius?" Adrian asked. His face paling even further behind his tears. After a short, agonizing second Caius spoke. His voice just above a whisper, but it was enough. It was enough to stop my heart. "He is in a medically induced coma right now, but even when we bring him out of it, his body his very weak. It is up to .... It is up to our baby brother if he wants to wake up." Caius whispered, his voice going softer and softer with each word.

My mind went blank. No thoughts. Just the sound of my family's sobs echoing around in my mind. Each sob magnifying by the passing second. This can't be happening. My baby boy might not wake up.  That's when I collapsed.

How was the new chapter guys!! Let me know in the comments!!

Find out what happens on the next chapter of Blood Tears!

See you guys in the next chapter!!