Never Let Me Go

Night fell over the hospital, the moon and street lights casting shadows down the darkened halls. Lights flickered, then dimmed with a soft click as they were extinguished for the night.

Nervous green eyes flicked towards the window, looking, listening for any signs of movement. She could hear the sounds of the others in their rooms, some moaning, others muttering unintelligible words. She pushed herself further into the corner, trying to hide in the shadows she so desperately sought. She heard the night nurse walk back, the rubber of her sneakers squeaking, the sound bouncing off the walls.
She began to relax, then felt her blood turn cold when she heard it. The sound of something hitting the wall. She shut her eyes and put her hands over her ears, rocking back and forth, back and forth.

She tried to scream as the window was pushed open. She tried to run, but the door was locked. She tried to hit him, but the drugs only slowed her actions. She clawed at the floor as she was dragged to her bed and thrown on her stomach, her wrists tied with a soft material to prevent any bruising. She felt his first thrust and tried to scream, tears falling down her face. He wasn't rough, like she had first expected.

She didn't know when he had finished; the drugs had knocked her out halfway through. She only knew that when he was gone, she was in the corner of her room, curled up in a ball, her red hair hanging in her face, like he had never been there.

Screams echoed down the hall, mixing with the squeak of white nurse's sneakers and mumblings of the wandering patients the two detectives passed. "This place is like a bad horror movie," Detective Elliot Stable muttered to his partner, Detective Olivia Benson. She nodded, a feeling of unease settling over her as the neared the origin of the screams.

"What happened," Elliot asked, showing his badge to a nurse that stood outside the door. Olivia looked in and saw a team of nurses fighting a teenager on the bed. The girl screamed and kicked as they struggled to fit thick straps around her wrists. Her face was red, tears falling down her face. With her stringy red hair and bright red face, she looked like a banshee.

"She's screaming that she's been raped," one of the nurses said, "She's been fighting off anyone that's tried to get near her."

"Have you tried talking to her," Elliot asked. He glanced over his shoulder and saw his partner watching with a forlorn look in her eyes.

"Yes," the nurse said, "I went in to give her the morning meds and she started screaming. She even tried to bite me." She held out her arm, where bruises from what he assumed to be the teenager stood out.

"What's her name," Olivia asked, looking at the nurse. She wanted to interfere, but knew that she'd only get in the way.

"Emma Hayes," the nurse said, "Admitted for depression and beginning stages of schizophrenia last month."

A shriek caught the attention of the detectives and they turned to see one of the attendants administer an epidural. With a gasp, the girl's body went rigged, then fell to the bed. "What did you give her," the nurse asked, pushing past the attendants.

"50 cc's of Fluphenazine," the attendant responded. "Won't knock her out, but she'll be calmer." The nurse nodded, seeming to approve of the medication that had been administered. The detectives slowly entered the room as the nurse took her vitals and checked her blood pressure.

"She's awake," the nurse said, "You can try and talk to her. Not sure if you'll get anything out of her."

"Can you do a rape kit on her," Elliot asked as his partner pulled a chair near the bed. The nurse nodded and left, leaving the detectives with the teenager.

"Emma," Olivia said softly, "I'm Detective Benson. Can you hear me?"

The teenager nodded, her eyes struggling to focus on the world around her. "We're hear about what happened last night," Olivia said, "Is there anything you can tell us?"

"I…w..was r-r-raped," she stammered out. She turned her head to the detectives, her eyes glassy from the medication. She focused on Olivia, then Elliot. Her eyes widened and she began to fight the restraints, trying to get away from him. His eyes met Olivia's and he nodded, exiting the room to wait in the hallway. "P…Please, let me go."

"I can't," Olivia said. "Why did you try to attack the men that entered the room?"

"I…thought th-they were here to rape me." Her eyes bounced around the room, moving from Olivia, to the wall, to the window. Olivia recognized it as signs of the medication coursing through her body.

"The nurse is going to do a rape kit on you," Olivia said, "If you don't fight her, she might take the restraints off." Emma didn't respond to her, her body relaxing against the thin mattress. Olivia knew she didn't have much time before the girl was asleep. "Emma, I need you tell me whatever you can about the person that tried to rape you."

"He came in…through the window," she said, her eyes slipping shut, "He looked…he looked like an…an angel." Her face went slack and her breathing slowed as she fell asleep.

Olivia reached out and pulled the covers over the sleeping teenager before standing up. With one last sad look, she walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

"What did she say," Elliot asked as they walked out of the hospital.

"She said that he came in through the window," she said, "And he looked like an angel." Her eyes met his raised ones as she climbed into the car ahead of him.

"Olivia Benson." She looked up as her name was called across the office and spotted Alexei Reikovski walking towards her. She could tell by the look on his face that

"Alex, how are you," she asked, standing up to hug him.

"Good," he said, "I didn't know you had been assigned to Emma Hayes' case."

"We just got it this morning," she said, "I didn't know you were working at the hospital."

"Just started," he said, "I wanted to come talk to you…about Emma's situation." She nodded and lead him to an interrogation room, where they sat down.

"Did the rape kit turn anything up," she asked, sitting down across from him.

"The hospital has it right now," he said, "We should get the results back later today." She nodded, sensing there was more he wanted to discuss. "I heard about what happened this morning. I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Is she normally like that," she asked.

"It's been happening more and more," he said, "She was fine when we got her about a month ago. She was on her meds, the depression seemed to be subsiding and then all of a sudden, she's more violent and we've had to keep her sedated to keep her from harming herself or one of the attendants."

"What do you think has brought on this change," Olivia asked, leaning her elbows on the table. "Has she been raped before?"

"I think she's been raped before by the same person," he said. "The thing is though, when the nurse checked her this morning, she didn't find any bruising.