Author's Note: Really nervous about this story, so please let me know if it's any good!
Chapter 2: Caring Hands
Micky stared at Sarah's face for a good while. Her face was pale and almost looked hollow because of how skinny she was. After she told Mike there wasn't anyone they could call for her, Mike had nodded and left with Davy and Peter. Micky knew he had to hurry to treat her wounds before they got infected, but he felt nervous about doing it. He wasn't sure exactly how long she'd been out in that orchard, but judging by the dried dirt on her face, he guessed it was a while. Which unfortunately meant that her wounds very well could already be infected. So he set aside his nerves and pulled the sheet down to inspect her shoulders first. This time she didn't flinch; she really did trust Micky.
There were probably half a dozen little red blisters in conjunction with little cuts buried in dried blood and dirt. Micky grabbed the washcloth and dipped it lightly in the water before gently wiping the dirt, sweat and blood off her shoulders. She inhaled sharply as he brushed over some of the wounds, but now he could get a better look at them. The cuts just looked like they'd possibly been made by tree branches smacking into her; they were very shallow and had only brought up a little blood. It was the blisters that had Micky worried. As he inspected them further, he realized they were bug bites.
"Sarah," Micky said softly. "How long were you in that orchard?"
"A few hours," Sarah answered. Micky frowned a little; that wasn't long enough for her to have gotten this many bug bites this deep. Some of them looked even a few days old and were already scabbing over.
"Where did these come from?" Micky asked indicating the bug bites.
"The basement," she answered wearily.
"Basement?" Micky echoed trying to find something to put on them. He found a small bottle of calamine lotion at the bottom of the box, but it was nearly empty already.
"In the hospital," she answered making Micky freeze slightly. It suddenly hit Micky; she had been in the psychiatric hospital and that's why she had freaked out so much about being taken to the hospital.
"You were tied up in the basement of that psychiatric hospital?" Micky asked. It made sense if she'd been restrained that she wouldn't have been able to move and stop the insects from biting her.
"I did a bad thing," she said.
"Hey, none of this is your fault," Micky said. "Don't you even start thinking it is. No one has any right to do what they did to you."
"I wouldn't..." she started. She suddenly hissed in pain and her body went rigid.
"What's wrong?" Micky asked getting worried.
"My stomach," she moaned. One hand gripped the sheets while the other tried to claw at her stomach.
"Stop," Micky said moving her hand away from her stomach and pulling the sheet down. There were more little blisters on her stomach. Micky's brow furrowed a little when he realized her stomach was slightly distended. She groaned slightly and tried to claw at her stomach again.
"Make it stop," Sarah moaned.
"What happened?" Micky asked.
"They took it," Sarah said relaxing a little finally.
"Took what?" Micky asked looking at her.
"He got mad that I wouldn't deliver," Sarah said relaxing fully. Whatever had caused her pain was gone now. "So he tied me up in the basement until I did."
"Sarah," Micky said softly. "Did you have a baby?" Sarah nodded softly and groaned in pain again.
"They took it," Sarah said. "They took it away. It didn't cry."
"How long ago was that?" Micky asked.
"Last night," Sarah answered. "I'm really tired."
"I know you are, but I need you to stay awake for a little longer," Micky said. "You need to eat when I get done here." Sarah closed her eyes anyway and as much as Micky wanted her to stay awake, he couldn't push her. Instead he moved the sheet down further. The pain in her stomach had been from residual cramping after labor and would come and go, but he knew he had to take care of after-delivery figuring her captor's wouldn't have bothered. She groaned a little as Micky moved her legs apart a little. When he saw the small pool of blood forming, he groaned inwardly.
"It hurts," Sarah groaned.
"I know it does," Micky said grabbing the washcloth and wiping down her legs of the dried and fresh blood. "But just hang on a little." As Micky cleaned her legs, she gasped in pain again and clutched the sheets tightly. He cringed inwardly as more blood pooled in between her legs.
"Make it stop," she gasped.
"Just hang on," Micky said softly pulling the sheet back over her. "I'm going to go get you some something to eat. I'll be right back." Micky tried to move away toward the door, but she reached out and grabbed his arm.
"Micky," she said pleading for him to stay.
"Sarah, I'll be right outside," Micky said. "I promise. I'll leave the door open so you can see me, but you have to eat something. I'll be right back." She relaxed and let go of him after about a minute and he quickly shuffled out into the living room. Davy was at the stove stirring the pot of soup and Mike and Peter were sitting at the table nervously.
"Is she ok?" Peter asked jumping up.
"Not really," Micky said softly so she wouldn't hear through the door he'd left open. "I need you guys to go to the store and get some things. I'll make you a list."
"Micky, we can't afford that," Mike said softly as Micky grabbed a pencil and paper. "I wanna help this girl as much as you do, but maybe the best thing is to take her to the hospital if she's hurt that bad."
"No," Micky said firmly.
"Maybe she's scared about it now, but she'll calm down later," Davy said.
"No," Micky snapped. "I promised her no hospitals."
"Micky-" Mike started.
"I said no, dammit!" Micky yelled pounding his fist on the counter. "We aren't taking her back to another hospital."
"What do you mean?" Peter asked looking a little scared. Micky took a deep breath realizing they all looked a little scared; Micky had never really snapped at any of them like that before.
"That's where they had her," Micky said checking to see if his outburst had startled Sarah at all. "She was at that mental hospital."
"What?" Mike asked.
"What mental hospital?" Davy asked.
"There's a mental hospital near the church where we found her," Mike answered hastily. "What do you mean she was at the mental hospital?"
"I mean that's where they were keeping her," Micky said. "They tied her up in the basement and left her there for days."
"Did she tell you that?" Davy asked slowly. "Cause if she was in a mental hospital-"
"She's not insane, Davy, and don't let her hear you say that," Micky snapped checking again to make sure Sarah didn't hear.
"Davy has a point," Peter said.
"You saw her, Peter," Micky said. "She didn't get that way on her own!"
"I'm inclined to agree with Micky," Mike said. "You didn't see her. She was terrified and those injuries are not self inflicted."
"Are you sure?" Davy asked.
"Davy, she's covered from head to toe in bug bites," Micky said rubbing his head. "Some of which are at least a few days old if not a week. You don't get that way unless you're restrained. I don't care how crazy you are, you're not going to let bugs eat you for lunch. You brush them off as soon as you feel them crawling on you."
"Unless you can't," Mike said. "How bad is it?"
"It gets worse," Micky said scribbling down a few things on the paper. "I need someone to go get this stuff from the store. We need to use the emergency fund or something. Also we need to get her some clothes."
"Clothes?" Peter asked as Mike took the paper from Micky and inspected it.
"Why do you think she was wearing my jacket?" Micky asked amazed at how naive his friend could be sometimes.
"Oh," Peter answered.
"Well, I still don't see why we can't take her to a regular hospital," Davy said. "A regular hospital is different than a mental hospital and she can get the help she needs."
"The doctors at the mental hospital will know she's escaped," Micky said. "Which means they'll put an alert out to other hospitals because they know she's hurt. If that happens, they'll just help her and then ship her back to the mental hospital to be tortured some more."
"How do we know it was the doctors who did this?" Peter asked.
"We don't, but it's a likely assumption that they at least knew what was going on," Micky answered.
"Micky," Mike said slowly. "These are...is she...I mean was she..."
"Yes," Micky answered.
"What?" Davy asked peering over to look at the paper.
"She just had a baby," Micky answered.
"You must be joking!" Davy exclaimed.
"No," Micky answered just as Sarah gasped in pain again from the other room.
"Is she ok?" Peter asked.
"No," Micky answered running back into the room. "Whoever did this to her took her baby and left her to die in the basement of that hospital. But the sooner you go to the store, the sooner she'll get better."
"Davy, Peter, you go to the store," Mike instructed as Micky went back in the room and sat on the edge of the bed. Micky heard the shuffling of movement and assumed the two had agreed to go without any further argument. Micky had to move Sarah's hand as she once again tried to grasp at her stomach.
"I know it hurts, Sarah, but you've got to stop that," Micky said softly taking her hand in his. "We're going to get you something for the pain; you just have to hold on a little longer."
"It hurts!" Sarah exclaimed squeezing Micky's hand hard.
"I know," Micky said. "Just breathe through it. Long, deep breaths. Can you do that for me?" Sarah nodded a little and let out a long breath. After a minute, the pain was over and she relaxed again.
"I brought her some of these," Mike said behind them. "I found them in the closet."
"Thanks," Micky said as Mike set down a pile of folded clothes on the bed.
"I also brought her soup if she's up for it," Mike said holding a bowl in the other hand.
"You ready to eat?" Micky asked.
"Can I just go to sleep now?" Sarah asked weakly.
"I want you to eat something first," Micky said. "Then we'll get you dressed. Then you can sleep."
"I'm not hungry," Sarah argued. "I'm tired."
"When's the last time you ate?" Mike asked.
"Few days ago maybe," she answered.
"That's why you're not hungry," Micky said. "Severe malnourishment. You have to eat something. You'll feel better; I promise." She finally nodded that she would let them help her eat. She was still really weak, but at least the soup would be easy for her to digest and not hard for her to swallow. Mike sat down on the edge of the bed and carefully spoon fed her a little bit of the soup before she cried out in pain again. Micky carefully laid his hands on her stomach and felt for her hip. She relaxed almost immediately after he began slowly massaging her stomach in little circles.
"Where'd you learn to do that?" Mike asked.
"Saw it when I was a kid," Micky answered.
"Oh," Mike answered. "Is that also how you know what to do?"
"Yeah," Micky answered.
"Can I go to sleep now?" Sarah asked. She'd only eaten half the bowl of soup, but Micky didn't want to press her too much.
"Yeah," Micky answered. "Just let us help you get some clothes on." She nodded and closed her eyes as Mike grabbed the clothes and started handing them to Micky one at a time. She was too weak to do much to help, so Mike had to help lift and hold her for Micky to get them on. Once she was finally fully dressed, Micky gently brushed her hair out of her face and told her to sleep.
"Will you stay here?" Sarah asked softly.
"I'll stay here as long as you want me to," Micky answered with a smile. It didn't take her very long after that to fall asleep.