My Heart's Already Broken
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RetardedFish97 xx
The young girl slumped in Zoe's arms, and fell backwards onto the bed- she had fainted. Zoe woke her from her daze and laid her down in the bed, pulling the covers up round the girl's broken frame.
"Lily- we can help you, you know- if someone's hurting you, we can stop them…"
"No…you…can't!" The girl forced out between sobs, "No…one…can!"
"We could get the police involved- get help for you," Zoe explained.
"No!" the girl cried, sinking further into the bed, under the white covers.
"Okay, then- how about family?" Zoe asked.
The girl sat up and wiped her eyes, looking at Zoe.
"No… thanks, we had an argument- I've lived on my own since I was seventeen- sometimes with mates, but I lost track of them over time."
Zoe looked sympathetic. "Oh, well- can you tell me?"
"No…" the girl sighed, crying more gently as she rolled onto her side, to face away from Zoe, who then left the room.
The Doctor was heading to find Lloyd, when she was distracted by a crowd of people- patients and staff, around the telly. On screen, was a photo of a blonde girl, with blue eyes and pale skin, out of it on drugs, in a police photo. Zoe turned to Big Mac, at the centre of the crowd-
"What's this about then?" She asked.
"Oh, er- that girl up there escaped a youth offenders last night- she's fourteen- name of Leila Heart, apparently- she got arrested in the riots, for attacking a plain clothes officer. She kept saying she was not guilty, even said the officer raped 'er! But she was out of it- pissed and on drugs, she was! Oh, look 'ere, it's 'er cellmate- oh!" Big Mac stopped, noticing who was onscreen. Scarlet.
They listened intently, as Scarlet said-
"I don't know where Leila is, I'm sorry."
That was it. They could see that she'd been crying, as shiny trails ran down her face. She had cuts and bruises on her frail, thin arms and neck. Scarlet was being hurt in there, and none of them could stand it.
When the image returned to the girl, there was a feeling that Zoe could not shift. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, but it was there. Just then, Lloyd came up behind her, a shining tear on his cheek. Zoe steered him from the crowd, and Tess saw the pair. Wrapping her arm round Lloyd's shoulders, she steered him into a staffroom, and Zoe followed behind them.
"How's she holding up?" Tess asked, sitting across a coffee table from Lloyd, as Zoe perched awkwardly on the arm of Tess' chair.
"She says well- but she's thin, and she keeps crying," Lloyd mumbled.
"Maybe she's just upset? It doesn't mean she's in any danger!"
"With a tearaway drug addict as a cellmate?" Lloyd asked, sarcastically.
"Lloyd, that's not fair. The girl was fifteen and very frightened." Tess pointed out, firmly.
Zoe thought about this for a moment.
"Yeah- she might have been innocent, for all we know! And besides, you can talk to Scarlet- when's the next visiting hours?"
"Tonight." Lloyd replied. He never missed a chance to visit Scarlet- for he still loved her deeply. His parents objected to this, but eventually had come to terms with the fact that she'd made a mistake, and Lloyd would not stop loving her for that.
"Well, ask her then!" Zoe suggested.
"I guess so, but what if she won't tell me?" Lloyd looked worried.
"Lloyd," Tess spoke in a soothing voice, "Scarlet's stronger than she looks, and she's very likeable. She's not exactly going to be a target, is she?"
"But she'll never be a nurse again…" Lloyd rested his head in his hands.
"Says who, Lloyd? Nick and I have discussed this, and Scarlet will have a job here waiting for when she gets out, if she wants it."
Lloyd looked up at Tess.
"Thanks, Tess," he smiled, leaving the room to return to cubicles.
"Now, Zoe, anything I can help you with?" Tess joked.
Zoe wondered whether she could trust Tess, and relay her fears about Lily to her.
"Erm, yes, actually Tess- Lily Macbeth, a patient of mine, she's frightened of something, and I can't work out what. She's got a bleed she insists is period and puncture marks on her arms and legs, supposedly from barbed wire, that she won't let me clean! I just want to do more to help her, and I don't know how! But she's scared Tess, really scared."
Tess took in Zoe's words, then looked the worried doctor in the eye, saying:
"Keep her in for a few days, if the bleed is worrying you, and see if she opens up," Tess suggested. Zoe nodded and left the room, Tess' gaze following her.
"Me? Oh, I'm fine…" she joked to herself, before leaving to help out with patients here, there and everywhere.
Zoe sat on the end of Lily's bed, and the young girl looked up to see her.
"Hey," she whispered.
Zoe looked at her, smiling slightly, "Hey."
Lily looked at Zoe, tilting her head to one side. It was a look that felt so judgmental that Zoe flinched. Then the young girl spoke to her.
"My arms really hurt- would cleaning them make them better?"
Zoe nodded, and the girl slid down into the warm hospital bed, arms outstretched.
"Okay," she whispered.
Tentatively, Zoe wiped the biggest pool of blood from the girls arm, revealing a large, deep wound. The Doctor continued to wipe the different blood spots away, then stopped. She looked at the girl's skin. What was once black skin was now deathly pale.
The girl wasn't black after all.