"Dammit! She called the fucking police!"
The sound of sirens blared through the house and the stomping of footsteps storming up the stairs increased.
He pulled out, taking out his anger on Carrie as always. He punched her hard, causing Carrie to let out another loud scream.
Carrie shrieked. She felt the pain of his fist rush through her body, managing to reach all the way down to her toes. She curling over into a ball on the bed, cupping her eye with her hand.
Three police officers appeared, pulling Derek off of Carrie before he could make another move. The dragged him across the room as he fought them, finally managing to handcuff him still.
"Ma'am." Carrie felt a hand on her arm. She removed her hand from her eye, seeing a female officer bending down beside her with her T-shirt in hand. "Are you okay?"
Carrie took her shirt, sitting up slowly and putting it on, tears running down her face as she did so.
"You'll regret this Bitch." Derek was dragged out of the room, still screaming crude words at Carrie.
"Where's my daughter?" Carrie's heart began to beat faster. She stood up quickly, but instantly fell back onto the bed in pain. She thought she was going to pass out. Her body was suddenly very weak and the room was spinning.
"Shit." She mumbled, cupping her eye with her hand. It was throbbing immensely. She knew it didn't look pretty.
"I'll go get her. She's in your room with another officer." The woman said, standing up from the ground. "Stay here."
"Wait," Carrie reached out and grabbed her arm. "Please don't tell her that I was raped. I don't want her to know."
The woman nodded, then exited the room. Seconds later, Madeline came rushing into the room, sobbing.
"I'm okay, I'm okay." Carrie pulled her daughter into her arms, hugging her as tight as she could. She forced herself to stop crying and be brave for her daughter. "Shh, it's okay. We're alright."
"I'm sorry." She sobbed, gripping her mother's shirt. "I'm sorry."
"Hey, look at me." Carrie placed her hands on Madeline's shoulders, pulling her away so that she could look her in the eyes. Carrie wiped the tears off her face with her thumb. "Don't apologize. This isn't your fault. I'm okay."
"You don't, he raped you, didn't he?" Madeline noticed Carrie's underwear still on the floor and began to cry again.
"No, I'm okay. You did the right thing." Carrie lied, taking a deep breath. "I just have to go get my eye checked out. It hurts a lot, I might have a concussion but I'm okay."
"I'm okay." Carrie pulled Madeline back into her arms, rocking back and forth gently. "We're okay."
——
Forty minutes later, Carrie was sitting in a white room on a hard exam table by herself, holding ice to her eye, anxiously waiting for her best friend to arrive. Mark was going to stay with Madeline at home while Ivey sat with Carrie. Mike was still six hours away in Kentucky for a game.
