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Power & Fragility

(10) Little Girls with Broken Wings

She wakes up and sees a bright light, so bright it makes her squeeze her eyes shut and hiss weakly. A few moments pass and the fog around her head is lifting. She sits up in her slightly elevated hospital bed and notices a nurse walk in. "Oh! You're awake, you just relax now honey" Aurora shakes her head and stands up. "I have to—I got to go now. I'm fine, I just…I gotta go" the nurse's brows furrow and she blocks her path. "Aurora. Look at me, honey, you don't need ta go rushin' about. You need to lay down and relax real easy like. You're in no state to go hurryin' off all by yer lonesome. Ya hear me, little girl?"

"No you don't understand. I have to go now. I'm going to miss school okay? I n-need...if I'm not there he'll be so m-mad at me. you don't fucking understand you don't…you don't know what he'll…" she's already said too much. She covers her mouth with her hand and stumbles into a seating position on the bed. The nurse sits down next to her. Her voice is soft. "Bumblebee, hey…someone hurtin' ya? You can tell me, you're safe here. Ain't nobody gonna lay a finger on ya. Just tell me what's goin' on?"

"I…I c-can't…I can't tell anybody a-about it." Aurora finally replies after a few long minutes of silence. "Sure ya can, sweetpea, go on. Tell me everything" again there is nothing but silence. Her lips are pursued tight and she's staring at the ground. "I've…I've dealt with bullying for years now you know? I got used to it. I learned to ignore it. I knew…I knew that somebody I'd…I'd get away from it and just move to New York…find my true place in the world. I thought I was s-strong enough to handle it on my own without anyone's help but…I'm not and…I'm so….I-I'm so scared of him"

Nurse Wilhelmina B. Ramon is thirty-seven years old. Born in raised in Memphis, Tennese. She moved here to England at the age of twenty to study medicine and has worked at this hospital since the age of twenty-four. She's a head nurse, working in the woman's health department, and she's dealt with victims of abuse many times. It doesn't make it any less hard after the thousandth time. She used to believe that she would stop feeling so hurt and angry for these girls and boys as time past on but looking at Aurora now she can honestly say she feels the exact same way she did the first time she encountered her first battered patient.

She wraps her arm around the trembling girl's shoulder, gently coaxing her on. "Last…last year he b-bullied me but it was…it was different. He was just…he was a jerk and I…I didn't let him get to me but this year he…he's a nightmare. He's been spreading rumors that we…that I performed s-sexual acts on him but I most sincerely never ever did. He's al-always touching me, grabbing at me and I-I make it clear to h-him that I don't w-want him touching me that way but he…he doesn't stop and the…the more I triy to f-fight him off the more rough and v-violent he gets with m-me"

Nathan is listening outside the door, his hands balled into fists so tight his knuckles blanch. He's so angry he's almost blinded by it. He listens as she continues to blurt out every horror Alex has inflicted thus far. Aurora's voice trembles and she's forced to stop due to her own violent sobs, Nathan wants to hold her but he knows his prescence will startle her too much and she'll stop talking. So he remains out of sight. Listening while she tells Nurse Ramon about Alex slamming her against lockers (sometimes repeatedly until she was dizzy and disoriented with pain) Alex making excpilict sexual remarks about her during class and humiliating her, Alex brutally taking her first kiss by force.

Now she's talking about the bathroom incident. "H-He started yelling that I…that I belonged to him and he was…he was just…he was so angry. And he threw me to the ground and he put his…he put his hand over my n-nose and mouth to cut off my air s-supply, I couldn't b-breathe and he…he wouldn't let me get any oxygen. He was sitting on top of me, I couldn't…I couldn't breathe!" Her voice raises to a terrified shriek and Nurse Ramon hugs her a little tighter. "It's okay now, you're safe"

"Alex…finally g-got off of me but I was…too exhausted to try and get away. And he kissed me, I asked him to stop but he…he hit me and started unbuttoning my blouse. I w-wanted to fight him but I was so…I was so tired. Then Alex…he f-forced his hand down my panties and…and h-he touched me. He was h-hurting me, it didn't feel good at all. His f-fingernails scratched me and I started c-crying and pushing at him b-because I…I wanted him to stop. I wanted him to leave me alone but h-he…he was so much stronger than I was and I…I was so t-tired. He t-told me to keep…keep struggling because I was making him hard. And then h-he was done with me. Or…a-atleast I thought he was"

Nathan's having a hard time breathing right now. He never thought he'd live to see the day that Aurora Grayson would be sitting on a hospital bed crying and shaking, terrified of a faceless (to him) monster. She'd always been so incredibly strong. She never let anyone get in the way of her dreams and aspirations. She just looks so tiny and helpless, it's not right. It's so surreal and out of place to him.

"Sweetheart…has Alex ever raped you?"

"I…He…it was m-my fault"

"No. It was not. None of this was your fault in any way, shape, or form"

"I sh-should have told someone f-from the beginning but I didn't…I didn't and it just kept e-escalating and I didn't kn-know how to make him s-stop…he th-threatened to r-rape me and my mom in f-front of my dad if I told…if I…OH MY GOD! I'm so stupid! I just… I fucking told you everything and n-now he's HE'S GOING TO HURT ME AGAIN oh god oh god I'm so stupid! HE'S GOING TO HURT MY POOR MOTHER"

Nathan can see she's on the verge of another panic attack, he hurries into the room. Trying to calm her down with the help of the nurse; "No one's going to hurt you or your mom, I promise you. What is Alex's last name?" she doesn't seem to hear these words or at least register them. Finally she spits out, "Burgess" and Nathan rushes to tell a head doctor to call the police.

Fifteen minutes pass by and Alex Burgess finds himself in the back of a police auto.

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I've started school :D my first year of college! I'm only able to afford one class but I'm excited for it. I'm taking a Human Development class.