RED

eleven

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW

Blood trickles down the side of the patient girl's (known as Red) head, dripping onto the white tile floor. She cries out distressfully, from the pain in her head, and the pain in her throat. The pain in her throat being the reason she refrains from speaking almost altogether.

A handful of her malnourished hair is gripped in a firm palm, causing her to be forced up in the air. The grown man sends her slamming into the wall one last time. She releases a pitiful sob, wishing more than anything for this to be over with.

"If you dare speak a single word of this or anything else, I can guarantee your life will be over. Do you understand me?" The voice growls evilly in her ear.

The blood gushing from the side of her head is pooling in her ear, making it slightly harder to hear, but Red nods her head nonetheless.

The next thing that is heard is the shower running and before she knows it, she is being shoved into it with her clothes still on, the hot water pelting all over her weak body. Her hair is being weighed down now from the water absorption stinging the fresh wound on her head.

"If anyone finds out about anything, you will die. And I will make it look like an accident."

DR. ALEX STORM

I shook out some pain pills into the palm of my hand and retrieved a small bottle of apple juice. I headed over to the bed where Red was laying and bent down next to her.

"How are you feeling?" I ask softly.

Her depressed eyes flicker up to mine and the tears squeeze out once more. She has been crying all day since the incident yesterday when she fell and hit her head.

"Oh, sweetie."

I reach over and pull her into my warm embrace. I didn't know whether my hugs made her feel better or not, but I did it anyways.

"Take these, you won't hurt anymore," I state, revealing my hand with the pills in it.

This causes her to let out a sob and I can literally feel the spread of pain into my chest and my stomach. When Red starts to hyperventilate, I am set into panic mode. I quickly sit her up in the bed and rush to get a cool, damp rag to place over her forehead.

"Shhh. Shhh, I know. You're okay."

This is the most I've seen Red cry before and the sobs she lets out are scratchy and painful. She is beyond upset and at this point I didn't know what to do to make her feel better anymore. I glance at the IV needle still in her arm, the one she's been trying to remove behind my back all day. I knew how much she wanted it out.

"Hey, sweetheart, how about I take this out for you now, okay? It's almost done anyways, look."

I stretch out her lower arm and as quick as a flash, I rip the medical tape off. She cries out and I hush her, trying to reassure her that that was the worst part and it's almost done. I take the needle and pull it out gently before placing a cotton swab over the puncture hole along with more medical tape.