After I left

X

No one told me that fainting left you so fatigued.

"Honey, I am so, so sorry. I didn't mean to make you so upset," Mom said, holding my hand in hers.

"Good morning to you too, Mom," I mumbled, trying to sit up.

I guess I momentarily forgot my ribs were fractured because I was kind of shocked to find myself screaming in pain as I fell back onto the bed.

"What's wrong? Honey?" Mom yelled, freaking out.

Nathan stepped into the room, my father following him.

I rolled over on my un-fractured side, hoping the pain would ease a bit.

"Dang it, Callie the doctor told you to take it easy," Nathan mumbled, shaking his head at me.

He reached for the hem of the sweatshirt I was still wearing. I haven't changed since yesterday when I fainted.

Before he touched the sweatshirt, he looked at me, as if asking for permission. I nodded my head at him, praying my parents don't freak out about my ribs. They really don't know how much I was hurt, they just know that Colton beat and raped me.

"You guys might want to sit down," Nathan said, slowly lifting the sweatshirt up.

Once he had my shirt lifted up to above my ribs, I rolled back over to my back, allowing my parents to see all of the bruisings around my torso. I had bruises on my hips, ribs, even a few bruises I hadn't seen before on my stomach.

"Oh, Callie..." My mom said, her hand trembling as it traced one of the bruises.

"I don't think you injured your ribs anymore but I'm not a doctor," Nathan said, pulling my shirt back down.

I winced as he helped me sit up, slowly this time.

"Thanks," I mumbled, flashing a fake smile at Nathan.

I can act all day long but truly, I'm not okay.

My mind and body need to heal, but even more, than that, my soul needs to heal.

I feel utterly disgusting all over, inside and out. Even thinking about Colton makes me feel sick, and all I ever do is think about Colton. Every time I see my reflection I get reminded of what he did to me.

I've thrown up two times since I woke up today, Nathan holding my hair each time.

My ribs feeling like they're hot coals every single time as well. Bending over a toilet when you have fractured ribs is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Nathan asked, setting a water on the bedside table beside me.

"I'm not really hungry," I mumbled, slowly rolling over.

I'm trying to be as careful as possible since I've already thought I was dying three times today because of my ribs.

"Listen, I know you aren't hungry, but you really should eat something. Your parents are in the kitchen, they won't stop saying how you should go to the hospital," He said, trying to keep his voice low.

"Thank you, Nate. I have already thrown up twice today, though. I don't want to do that again, it feels like death," I mumbled, reaching for the water.

"Here," He mumbled, holding the water to my lips.

I gulped down about half of the cup before stopping. I didn't realize how thirsty I was until I was presented with water.

"Can you actually take me to the kitchen?" I asked.

"I don't know. The doctor lady told my mom that you're supposed to stay in bed. With the amount of trauma you went through, your body needs rest before you can be up and around. She said it's why you fainted yesterday," He explained, brushing a stray hair from my face.