The Bad and The Broken

Chapter 55

After a few more seconds, Mrs. Daniels face rises in a smile.

"Dawn, honey, I've missed you!" She exclaims, "where have you been?"

She walks up to me and reaches for my hand. I flinch away, making her freeze. Concern takes over her features. Shaking my head, I give a fake smile, making her relax.

"Alright, well," she looks at the board again, "it says here that you fell?" I nod, hoping she doesn't ask any questions. I don't know what Jesse told them.

"You've got a pretty big gash on your forehead, the bruising is pretty bad, too. We had to give you stitches."

My hand immediately flies to my head, looking for the sown gash. I hiss when I find it.

"This is ointment for it and here are some pain killers," she hands me the medicines, "you may experience migraines and headaches for a couple of weeks."

"Your father has already paid the bill, and you can leave tomorrow. We'd like to keep an eye on you over night since you've been unconscious for three days." I nod, avoiding her stare.

"You also bled a lot, sweetie, so take it easy for the next few weeks. No heavy lifting, no athletic activities, and nothing that will stress your body."

I silently pray that Jim will follow these rules, though I know he probably won't.

"And there is something I'd like to talk to you about when your brother gets back," she says as she flips through the pages on the board.

Probably my medical history. It's nothing new, we've lied to tons of doctors and nurses.

She leaves, but comes back with Jesse ten minutes later. She has a white board and a blue marker that she passes to me.

"This isn't your first time in a hospital with an injury such as this one," her eyes flicker to me, Jesse, then her papers.

"It's also not the first that's required stitches, or involved a lot of blood loss," she flips the page.

I've been to hospitals many times, but I only go when my injuries are severe.

"You've had broken ribs multiple times, as well as fractures in other parts of your body.. you've also had-" she stops for a second, then clears her throat as she composed herself again, "you've also had a stab wound in your leg." She clears her throat again and avoids eye contact. I can see Jesse fidgeting, trying to stay calm. I just stare at the board.

"Jesse, the only time you've been was when you.." she reads, "fell out of a tree, correct?" He nods.

"Dawn, you've fallen down many stairs, as well as walked into doors, you seem to horse play with your brother quite often, and you ran with scissors which caused your stab wound?" I nod.

"At the age of 16, you stabbed yourself by running with scissors?" She asked in disbelief. I nod again, trying my hardest to stay calm while connected to a heart monitor.

'im clumsy' I write with a shaky hand. She looks at me, then continues reading. 

"You've had an injury that required surgery, too. Says there was glass in your back." That was before Jim started whipping me. She's looking more into this than the other doctors I've been to.

Fear bubbles in my stomach.

"You've also got a history of being underweight. You were 42 lbs at the age of 15.." I take shorter, quicker breaths. The fear of hyperventilating tightens in my chest.

"She has a fast metabolism," Jesse tries. She hums in response.

"This negative medical history started when you were 13," she says, though it was more to herself. He didn't get life threatening until I was around 12 years old.

"You were always at a healthy weight as a child, but it took a drastic drop. After the car accident you were in.."  she looks at the paper, "at the age of 8, you stopped your yearly check ups. You're only in hospitals when you're hurt. Each time being more severe than the last."

"Is that not what hospitals are for?" Jesse remarks.

"Yearly check ups are strongly advised by doctors, Jesse. Would you mind if we weigh you later today, Dawn?" A lump gets stuck in my throat.

"Actually, would you mind if I do a full check up? How about tomorrow before you're released?"

My hands start to tremble, so I hide them under the blanket.

We need to get out of here, she's too curious. She's looking into this deeper than she should.

Because she cares, a small voice in my head tells me.

'I think I'd like to go to sleep. I'm tired' I tell her.

She clicks her tongue and stares at me, then nods.

"We'll talk tomorrow, sweetie. Sweet dreams." With that, she leaves.

"We're leaving tonight," I tell Jesse. He doesn't say anything, just nods.

After sitting in silence for a few minutes, I actually do get a little tired. Deciding to take a nap, I tell Jesse to wake me when it's dark.

My last thought before dozing off was how royally fucked we are right now. She's onto us, which means we have to leave. We need to leave, and I can't ignore the breaking feeling in my chest when I think about leaving this place. I actually like it here. I like the people here.

Even though I deny it, I like having friends here. Ryder has unlocked feelings I thought I no longer had, and I think I'll miss him most of all if we left.

We can't leave.. but I know we have to. The most painful part about it is having to tell dad. I can already feel the beating he's going to give me for this.