Misprinted Lies (Alice in Chains/Bruno Mars)

Fear

The doctors fixed her up the best they could. They had to give her re-constructive surgery, five rounds of it. After those long couple of weeks, I thought it was over for a while. Courtney would disappear for a while. We all figured there was no way she'd show her face again. She'd find ways to cover everything up like nothing ever happened. Even away from Courtney, it was still painful and real for Lily. 

She lived nightmares, day and night. We played video games for hours to keep her mind off things, and it usually worked. Even though she was a bit young and didn't know how to play most of the games, but she liked spending time with me, and I liked spending time with her. Every little moment with Lily meant everything to me.

"Wanna watch a movie?" I asked, putting down my controller to look at her.

Lily's lips quivered. Her breathing was harsh and forced.

"Whoa...hey, hey what's wrong?"

"I can't..." she sighed.

"Does your tummy hurt? What's wrong?" I asked, about to place my hand on her stomach. She slapped my hand away.

"Don't..."

"Lily I've never seen you like this. Are you afraid right now?"

She nodded and blinked some tears off her face.

"Do you need a hug?"

"No touch me!" she whined.

I tried waiting it out for another half-hour, but she couldn't settle down.

"Well...I don't know what else to do, sweetie. Let's go to the hospital," I said, standing up and holding out my hand.

Lily hesitated for a minute, before taking it. When we got to the hospital, we waited in a room before the right kind of doctor was able to see us. Lily never let go of my hand; she hated hospitals, as you could imagine. When a therapist came in, he gave Lily a psychological assessment. He listened to her heart beat first. Then, he checked her blood pressure. It was off the charts.

"You're having some trouble with your breathing...aren't you?"

Lily nodded shyly. "Help me...please..."

The doctor taught us some breathing exercises she could do to calm herself down. Jerry stayed with her in the room while I spoke privately with the doctor to hear the results of the assessments.

"Lily's having a panic attack right now."

"Kids get panic attacks?"

The doctor nodded and proceeded to explain the causes for it. Everyone in the hospital knew about what Courtney had done. She lost custody but that was all the Seattle police did, at the moment. Bitch should have been locked up for what she did, should have been tortured in the ways that Lily was; I would've done that myself. Word spread throughout our small city, but unfortunately any reports to the police department went nowhere. Every person in administration had no answers for me. I called them every single day, for weeks, for months, for years. I knew the court system was out of whack, but the fact that Lily got so horribly assaulted and no action was taken just blew my mind.

"Lily's anxiety is very severe, for numerous reasons. She's too young for any kind of medication, and if she's still dealing with this as a teenager, then we might start her on medication, but for now there are other options for her. What would really help her now is if she had a "safety" person, someone who will always be around. Now, I know what's going on...and how she's never settled at one house for long periods, but she's going to need you to be very close."

I wasn't sure what that meant. When she was with me, she followed me around like a lost puppy, even before she got hurt, which I didn't mind. I loved having her around. I loved her company. She was one of few who still enjoyed being around me.