Hunter's POV
I sat in the waiting room, my hands clasped together and my head down. Hot tears streamed down my face. I could feel Maisy's hand firmly on my back. I hated sitting still, and I hated not being able to walk through those double doors and make sure my daughter was ok. I kept thinking about this morning. Annabelle really didn't want to go to school, and I shouldn't have forced her. Why was I so stupid that I couldn't see the signs? They were all right in front of me. She hid them well, the black eyes and the bruises. Apparently she even hid a broken arm from both me and Maisy.
Today was the worst of it all, they beat the living hell out of her. For a whole year Maisy and I have been clueless. Everytime she would get bullied, she would run to Maisy's parents, who were estranged from her but not to our children. Maisy's parents had decided not to share this information with us after Annabelle begged and pleaded with them. I didn't understand why Annabelle wouldn't trust us and tell us what was going on. I slowly brought my head up and looked over at Jackson who had his arms wrapped around Aisy who was sleeping. I slowly stood up, squeezing Maisy's hand reassuringly in the process and walked over to where Jackson was sitting. His eyes were red and puffy from crying.
"Hey buddy." I said as I sat down beside of him.
"I told her she needed to tell you and Momma." Jackson said as the tears started to fall again. "But she was so scared. Those girls wouldn't leave her alone, especially Caroline. It started out as throwing her books in the floor and them making her do their homework. Then when she started to refuse them and try to ignore them by sneaking down different hallways to get to class, they started to chase her down and beat her."
I tried not to break down in front of him. I replayed over and over in my mind what the doctor had told us about Annabelle's injuries. She sustained a broken arm, some broken ribs and a broken leg. Her arm was so broken that they had to go in and perform a surgery to put pins in. It killed me to even think about her little body laying in a hospital bed. The way the EMT's explained it, Annabelle was unconscious when they arrived. All the pain had knocked her out. My poor baby, laying there in the school hallway. I couldn't even imagine what was going through her brain at the time of her getting beat up.
"Annabelle's not gonna die is she Daddy?" Jackson asked.
And that was it, that was when I broke down into sobs. I couldn't take it anymore. What if my little girl was to die? I don't know what I would do if she was to leave this Earth. I felt two arms wrap around me. It was Maisy and she had started crying again too. God, how could I let the one thing that brought Maisy and I together break us? I was not prepared to let Annabelle go, and neither was anyone else for that matter. After calming my sobs I looked around the room and saw my parents, Matt, Sam, Devo, Steve and even Andy and Melissa. They were all here because Annabelle had played a huge part in all of their lives.
The room stood still as the doctor walked in. This doctor, I had made sure of, was one of the best in Nashville. I stood up and walked over, Maisy clinging to my arm for support.
"Annabelle is in stable condition right now." The doctor explained, "We were succsessful with the surgery. She will recover, but it will be a long hard road for her. She sustained multiple cuts and bruises on her face and her body. Along with the phsycial scarring, she is going to have emotional scarring as well. I suggest after she wakes up and is fully aware of everything that she speaks to a therapist. Obviously I have no idea what she has been going through except from word of mouth, but I believe that she has been tortured in some way."
"My son mentioned some girls at school have been bullying her." I said. "The EMT's said they found her crumpled up on the floor. The school knows the girls who did this, but yet they refuse to do anything about it. How can you beat the living hell out of someone else who hasn't done anything to you in return? Annabelle wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Mr. Hayes, it's going to be a long road to recovery, but Annabelle is going to be just fine." The doctor said. "As long as she has her family, she can make it through this. We have moved her into recovery. Only two people at a time can go in and see her."
"Thank you." I said through tears as I shook her hand.
Soon after the doctor left, a nurse came and got Maisy and I and led us back to the ICU recovery. My heart sank deep in my chest as I saw Annabelle hooked up to all the machines. She had two needles in her: an IV and a PICC line. Plus she was oxygen. I covered my mouth to keep a sob from coming out as I looked at the detailing of each and every bruise up and down her small body.
"The important thing is that she's gonna be ok." Maisy said lowly. "She's breathing on her own and she can get through this. We are going to help her get through this Hunter."
I grabbed a chair and pulled it as close to the bed as I could get it. I sat down and grabbed her hand gently. I didn't intend to let go until she woke up.
"Oh, she's going to be ok baby." Maisy said tears streaming down her face. "She's got to be ok. Like the doctor said, she's going to need therapy. We can help her get down this road together as a family."
"How could I let her get to this?" I asked, anger rising through my body. "I promised her on the first day that I would make sure to take care of her and that she would have everything that she needed. How could I have broken my promise to her Maisy? She's been through hell, but she never gave up on me. Somehow...deep down inside, I feel like I have somewhat given up on her."
I couldn't believe I had let those awful words slip out of my mouth, but I just felt like they had to be spoken. Since Annabelle was my firstborn, I tried to make her my first priority. Not that I loved her more than Jackson and Aisy, because that's not true. I love all of my children the same. Annabelle just always seemed like she needed an extra arm around her. She was always trying to be the grown-up whenever she was little and I kept trying to get her to be the child she was supposed to be. I remembered the time Maisy and I took both Jackson and Annabelle to the Ripley's Aqaurium in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Annabelle was four and Jackson was three. It had been our first big family outing, and the children had a blast.
*Flashback*
Annabelle held my hand tightly as we walked up the concrete steps to the Aquarium. Maisy held Jackson on her hip. I showed the lady at the box office the pre-printed tickets and she let us through the doors. Annabelle gasped as she seen the huge glass filled with sea animals as we walked in. Jackson started to whimper, he wanted to be let down. Maisy slowly put him down but she said, "Baby, hold Annabelle's hand."
Jackson quickly walked over to Annabelle and latched onto her hand. Like I have said before, I love their brother-sister relationship. I quickly pulled out my iphone and snapped a picture of the two of them. It was one of those that they would more than likely regret when they got older. We slowly walked at a slope down to the first set of glass aquariums where the stingrays lived. Of course we had to pick both Jackson and Annabelle up so they could see.
"Daddy look." Annabelle said tapping on the glass. A stingray had suctioned itself to the inside of the glass and it had fascinated my little girl.
"I see pumpkin." I replied. We went through and looked at every single animal. Maisy and I enjoyed watching Annabelle and Jackson oooh and ahhh at every little thing they saw. As we got to the end of the aquarium, we stopped in the gift shop and let both of them pick out a stuffed animal each. I remember, Jackson had gotten a blue sea turtle and Annabelle had gotten a penguin. Oh Annabelle, she picked out that stuffed penguin, and after we bought it she handed it straight to me. She said, "This is for you Daddy." She knew my favorite animal was a penguin. That sweet, sweet little girl.
*End of Flashback*
I couldn't bear to look up at Annabelle's frail body more than I had to, so I just let my head hang down. I held her hand in both of mine, hoping that the warmth of my two would get her to somehow wake up. I knew she was just asleep from the surgery, but I wanted her to be alert, I wanted her to be able to tell me everything that happened. I wanted Revenge on those girls that hurt my baby.
Hey guys, sorry for taking so long to update. I just haven't been in the mood to write lately but after tonight. Oh boy, I am in for a writing streak. I named this chapter after Hunter's new single Invisible. When I wrote this chapter, I didn't know a thing about Invisible and I had no idea it was about bullying. It was just an idea I came up with. :)
