tw: the whole chapter is mentions of suicide, rape. (there will be ** around the rape but the entire chapter is suicide so if you may get triggered i wouldn't read this one!)
When I woke up at the hospital it was a doctor, dad, Ryland, and Elaine in a corner talking to some dude who was wearing a suit with a police officer.
"Hi, Bentley. How are you feeling?" The doctor asked and I shrugged. "Okay, we just need to do a quick mental check in before we do any further evaluations okay?" I nodded. "So first, how long had you felt like this was an option."
"I guess like 2 weeks." Shane played with the ends of my hair like he always did.
"How are you feeling right now on a scale of one to ten, the being the worst." The doctor wrote something down.
"Like a 4. I just feel like guilty and regretful." I answered honestly. I hadn't really talked to people in forever.
**
"And final question, was there any final thing that led to this?"
I started crying before I could get an answer out and dad immediately had the doctor take a step back.
"Hey, hey Lane what happened."
"I was- and then-" I tried to stutter something out but I couldn't make it come out. "You're gonna be mad at me." How was I supposed to tell them this.
"I will never be mad at you I promise."
"She had a party. And one of her friends-" I paused, still crying and feeling the pain all over again. "He made me have - but I didn't want to." I cried, still stuttering as I spoke.
**
The doctor and Ryland were whispering as I cried in dads arms. When I had semi calmed down the doctor asked to lift my shirt, and the police officer and suit guy came over.
"So there is significant bruising along both ribs, and her bottom rib on this side is broken. I think she has a concussion which may be correlated with another injury that was right here." The doctor pointed to a spot behind my ear and I winced. "Also, from her regular physician her weight from then to now has dropped 20 pounds in the span of 3 months. And she shows signs of malnutrition."
The police officer took pictures of everything, and Shane thanked them for helping.
I watched the corner of the room.
"Ms. Elaine Jackson, you are under arrest for child endangerment, child neglect, and abuse of a minor." The officer handcuffed her and suddenly she was out of the room.
"It's all over, Laney you're okay." Dad promised. "I'm so glad you called me." He kissed the side of my head.
"What time is it?" I asked and Ryland checked his phone.
"5."
"Are you hungry?" Dad asked me.
"I feel like I'm gonna throw up if I eat." I replied.
"You also just got your stomach pumped so that probably isn't the best idea either." Ryland said.
"Laney, what happened there?" Dad asked. "You don't have to tell me right now but I was so worried about you."
"She would hit me if she thought I wasn't listening to her or if she thought I was disrespecting her. Then I just lost energy to do anything. Like I didn't shower or eat or do school but you knew that one."
"Did she ever offer you food when she ate?" I shook my head at Rylands question.
**
"Then that one night she had a party." I broke down again.
"It's not your fault." Dad promised me. "I'm gonna try my best to fix it. Do you remember what he looked like?"
"Umm," I wiped my face trying to think, "I only went up to like right below his shoulder, so he was probably a couple inches taller than you, he had dark hair. I- I don't really remember exactly what he looked like."
"It's okay." Dad reassured me, "The doctors are going to do some testing on you to see if they can find anything. And you might have to take a pregnancy test, but it's all okay don't freak out okay?"
I nodded.
The doctors came and took me to another room where they made me take a pregnancy test and tried to swab to find his DNA on me.
They told me that I wasn't pregnant and they were running DNA testing, then I got sent back to the room.
I all of a sudden became aware of all the pain in my body. My entire lower body still hurt from that night, my arms hurt because the numbing that they used to put the stitches in was wearing off, and I felt hungry and nauseous at the same time.
**
"I'm hungry." I said, and dad sighed.
"Are you gonna be okay if you eat, you can't eat a lot because you haven't eaten in so long your body will freak." I nodded, and Ryland picked up a pack of crackers that was sitting next to him.
I took the pack and thanked him. I ate one of them slowly as dad and Ryland watched me cautiously. I was fine for the first one, and I felt a little bit better. I ate a couple more, then I felt like I was gonna throw up.
"I can't eat anymore, I feel sick." I sat the food away from me. Ryland had me sit up a little bit so he could pull my hair back.
"Are you gonna throw up?" Ryland asked, and I shook my head no.
"Can I go to sleep?" I asked.
"Yeah, go ahead. I love you."
