Carter lies in a hospital bed with fluorescent lights shining on her. She has no strength; she can barely turn her head to see where she is.
As she musters enough power to look around, she sees Elizabeth curled up in a chair and Taylor right next to her. Elizabeth has a butterfly bandage over her right eyebrow and a nasty black eye below it. Taylor's arm is bandaged up from the fall out of the van.
Carter thinks of how damaged they are-all because of her. Then she looks down at herself and sees an IV in her arm, a cast on her right hand, a bandage on her left forearm. But the most pain is coming from one concentrated area: her waist. She tries to adjust herself to get comfortable, but a sudden sharp pain becomes agonizing. Carter croaks, she barely has a voice and she can't remember why. She gives out on the bed.
FLASHBACK
Carter is lying on the concrete, Taylor is towering over her. Things become blurry, noises turn to hums and the bullet becomes painstakingly clear.
Lori shot her. The woman that was suppose to love her, support her, and raise her, has made the ultimate betrayal. Worse than betrayal.
All of this was too much to process, she was overwhelmed and began to panic; she was helpless. She couldn't move. She couldn't talk. She could only look at Taylor and could see poor Taylor's heart breaking.
"CARTER! Carter!" She yelled.
"Carter!" Taylor yelled hovering over her in the hospital room. Elizabeth was watching Carter's every move, no matter how small, trying to read what Carter was going through, what she was feeling.
Carter gasped from the memory and her face turned from fear to relief. Seeing Elizabeth and Taylor in front of her was the best thing she's seen since the kidnapping.
Carter tries to speak, but only gets a husky, "Hi," with a smile.
"I'm so glad you're okay. We were so worried for you," Elizabeth smiles.
Taylor goes in to hug Carter, but she flinches away from the pain and Taylor quickly recoils back, embarrassed.
Taylor looks down and says, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
Carter looks at her and slowly inches her hand to Taylor's, loosely holding on to it.
FLASHBACK
Taylor is gripping Carter's hand and Carter is screaming a blood-curdling sound that has gone on for 5 minutes straight almost driving Taylor to insanity, but Carter keeps squeezing her hand. Until, suddenly, she lets go and there is silence.
Taylor immediately looks at Carter, not knowing what to do, she yells, "CARTER DO NOT FALL ASLEEP."
Carter is shifting in and out of consciousness and her eyes flutter open. Both of Taylor's hands are covered in blood. Carter's blood. Taylor desperately looks around for help, as cars whiz by, hoping that one of them called 911.
Just as she looks back down to a suffering Carter, she hears the sirens. She shakes Carter in excitement, Carter is startled awake and she too hears the sirens.
The beeps from the heart rate machine get louder as the conversation quiets down. Carter tries to say something, nothing comes out.
Elizabeth breaks the silence, "Carter, I know you can't speak right now, and that's totally normal after what you've been through, but I need to ask you some question about what you remember. Do you think you can write on something?"
Elizabeth brings to her a clipboard, paper and pen. She adjusts the bed so Carter is sitting up, but not on her own. She slowly hands her the clipboard.
Carter holds the clipboard, Elizabeth unhooks the pen and puts h it in Carter's hand that's when she suddenly starts shaking.
FLASHBACK
Carter is frantically writing down addresses she could remember living in with Lori. Her hand scribbling across the paper until it's dragged across against her will.
Carter's stare doesn't see the pale tiled floor, but something much worse in her mind. Taylor looks around, trying to find something to do to help Carter.
Elizabeth quickly takes the writing utensils away from Carter and touches her shoulder.
Carter flinches from Elizabeth's touch, almost like she didn't see it coming.
"I know." Elizabeth says, looking into Carter's eyes. "You tried to write down places you thought you'd might visit or live in and when you held that pen you were there. Weren't you? You saw and experienced the same feelings when you were writing down all those addresses?"
Taylor looks at Elizabeth with a slightly confused face. She never knew how many places Carter lived at as a child. Taylor only knows the house she's living in now.
Elizabeth is calming Carter down back to normalcy. Carter's eyes are locked to Elizabeth's.
"Let's try something different. It's kind of funny. Can you blink once for no and twice for yes?" She smiles.
Carter blinks twice and weakly smiles back.
Elizabeth continues, "Good girl. If you can't answer, or can't remember something, that's okay. But try your hardest."
Taylor looks at Elizabeth, about to say something, but doesn't.
Carter looks at Elizabeth, not knowing what to expect.
"In the van," Elizabeth starts, "were you alone?"
Taylor interrupts, "No. Lori was there. And I was there. I already told you this!"
"I need to hear it from Carter," Elizabeth says sternly.
They both look at Carter, she blinks once.
After a few questions that Elizabeth had already asked Taylor, she starts with, "Before our meeting did Lori hit you?"
Carter tries to open her mouth, but blinks once, shaking her head.
"Did she hurt you?" Two blinks.
"Okay, we'll get need to the specifics later for the report when your throat has healed."
Carter's eyes light up at the word throat, trying to indicate what had happened in the woods.
Taylor looks at Cater desperately trying to figure out what she's saying, but no luck. Through her frustration, she stomps out of the room.
Elizabeth and Carter look at the empty doorway. Elizabeth sadly says, "She's had a really tough time, let me go talk to her. I will be right back."
Two blinks.
==========/=====/============
After a few days of rest, Carter's voice has healed and she is fully capable of speaking.
"I am so grateful that you guys are here. I don't know what I'd do without you," she says, starting to get emotional.
"Everything that's happened with Lori-" she stops.
That's the first time she's said her name since the kidnapping.
"Um..." she loses her thought, "you guys built me back up." Carter finishes.
There's a minute of silence, almost for self-reflection. For everyone.
"What happened to you, before we came?" Taylor asks abruptly. They both look at each other. Completely focused; Carter doesn't know how much she should reveal to the wounded Taylor.
"Lori was really violent. Not like something I've seen before. I've never seen this," Carter says, without making eye contact.
"But, I tried to escape and run to you guys," she admits.
Elizabeth pops up, "You did? How far did you get?"
"Not far, she caught me at the top of a hill outside the woods. It's just-when we were up there, she threatened me. I mean, I couldn't breathe."
A beat.
"It was either suffocate or get in the car. I...I don't know what happened to her," she says as her eyes get filled with water.
"And then, when I wouldn't talk to her, she would use you." Carter looks at Taylor and a tear falls down her face. "She would tell me how she would get you. But, you, you didn't deserve that, deserve this." She looks down at herself. Then looks to the side and to see a reflection of herself.
She's pretty banged up. There are shallow scratches on the left side of her face and her lip is split from the gun-when Lori swung it across her face. There are bruises and cuts, just a painful reminder of everything bad that happened to Carter. She turns her head away, unable to see it any more.
Elizabeth cuts in, "Carter, you didn't deserve this either. What Lori did was wrong; nothing was your fault." She says encouragingly.
"No, I know that," Carter replies reassuringly, "but, I didn't want what was happening to me happen to you." Her eyes shift to Taylor.
Taylor gets up and sits on the side of Carter's bed. She puts her hand on her arm and says, "Thank you, for protecting me. For everything. I told mom what happened in the van, so you don't have to live through that again."
Carter thinks to herself, "I already have, over and over again."
After a beat, Carter continues her story, "Lori ended up pulling the car over just to yell at me and...then we went to Tony's Shack."
"You know, I see you taking my job in a few years," Elizabeth jokes, lightening the mood. Carter starts to laugh, but immediately grabs her side and yelps from the pain.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry-" Elizabeth tries to apologize, but Carter says through her teeth, "No, no, it's okay." And after a minute, finishes with, "I can't remember the last time I laughed."
Elizabeth brushes Carter's hair to the side, lovingly.
FLASHBACK
Lori keeps get close and closer to Carter, trying to fix her hair. As if she's trying to be a mother. Carter hits the wall of the van and is stuck face to face with Lori.
Carter is spaced out, barely listening to what Elizabeth is saying.
"What I meant was, the stunt you pulled with the wire, it was genius. You played me!"
This gets Carter's attention.
"I thought you were so upset, which just broke my heart, but you planned it, wanting to pull out the wire from the mic. Carter, you're incredible." Elizabeth smiles.
Carter returns a small smile, but her memories are haunting her.
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That is chapter 3! Let me know how you want the story ton continue, I'll be taking suggestions! As always, thank you for reading :)
