Chapter Fourteen
Authoress' note: Oh my goodness where have I been? Last update March… really? Whoops! Sorry to keep you waiting!
"Rita?" her father called from the staircase. "Are you alright?"
"Argh." Rita groaned sinking forward and pressing the weight of her right hand over the wound on her other arm. Tears were streaming down her face as she looked at all the blood that coated her clothes and the bathroom floor in which she sat.
"Rita?" she heard him call again, this time he sounded closer.
She jumped when she heard him knock loudly on the door.
"Rita, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, dad."
"I heard glass break, what are you doing in there?"
"I'm fine dad!" she repeated "Please just leave me alone!"
Her voice trembled as she yelled. She had never raised her voice to her father and she now knew he wouldn't leave.
"I'm coming in!"
"Dad, don't!"
He opened the door and saw her crouched over on the floor. His heart sank at the sight of her.
"Rita! Dear God… what have you done?"
"It was an accident…"
She didn't really know what to say. She knew it wasn't believable but somehow 'My crazy, ancient, psychopathic husband doesn't like me arguing with him' didn't seem as appropriate. He knelt beside her and grabbed the cloth she was using to try and stop the flow of blood. She cringed as he applied more pressure to the area. The cloth was now soaked and he reached over to grab another from the towel rack.
"Here." He said as he replaced the used one with the new. "Hold it tight. I'm going to call an ambulance."
She took a deep breath and sighed. That was the last thing she wanted. To be admitted to hospital. As she sat alone once again her mind trailed off to that of Ryou. How many times had he been admitted to hospital because of him?
Soon things began to get hazy. The room became a blur and Rita's eyelids quickly fluttered over her green orbs. She swore she saw Bakura standing triumphantly in the doorway. She could see his lips moving yet no sound came to her ears. That was the last image she saw before everything went black.
When Rita awoke she could barely remember what had happened. She tried to sit but her body was too numb and her head too heavy. She turned her head gently and noticed her father fast asleep on the chair in the corner of the room. There was a bunch of flowers on the nightstand beside the bed with a get well card in front. She turned her head back and looked at the ceiling.
Everything in the room was so white. It hurt her head and it reminded her of the bathroom. The image of herself and her blood coated clothes filled her mind. She rolled over on her side and brought her arm up. It was bandaged tightly though she was thankful the bleeding had stopped. She looked at her other arm. There was an IV tapped to her vein and someone had also bandaged her knuckles where Bakura had punched the glass.
"Rita?" she heard her father ask quietly.
"Hi..." She responded, her voice groggy.
"How are you feeling?" he asked as he got up from the chair.
"I'm okay." She lied.
She moved over slightly and allowed him to sit on the side of the bed. He placed his hand on her hair and gently kissed her head.
"You gave me such a fright."
"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to."
There was a brief silence between them until her father spoke again.
"I know things have been hard on you since your mother…"
She watched as he brought his thumb and index finger to his temple. He lowered his head and tried to fight off the tears.
"Please don't cry dad."
Rita closed her eyes. She couldn't bear to look at him. Bakura's actions seemed to have hurt her father more than they did her.
They sat together silently with only the sound of her father's sobs audible. Eventually a nurse came in to check Rita's stats. Rita told her father he looked tired and he should go home and rest. He declined her offer but the nurse agreed telling him it was getting late and that Rita needed rest. She tried to reassure him that Rita would be in good hands.
He didn't want to but he finally decided to go. He informed Rita he would be back first thing tomorrow morning. He had arranged for their neighbor to look after the shrine for the next few days so he could spend more time with her. Before he left he mentioned he had also arranged for a psychiatrist to come speak with her. Rita was outraged and they fought over his decision for a while before he eventually left.
The nurse came in not long after and turned off the light. Rita shivered under the blankets. The darkness scared her for she knew what lurked within.
As if on cue Bakura appeared in spirit form by the window. Rita saw him from the corner of her eye but chose to ignore him.
'I hope you have learnt your lesson.' He finally spoke.
She chose not to respond.
'That's better.' Bakura stated. 'I like you more when you are quiet.'
Rita bit her tongue, she wanted nothing more than to scream at him, to hurt him somehow. She wanted him to feel the pain that she felt.
Bakura sat on the chair her father had sat on earlier. He watched as she pretended to sleep.
'I want to find out what happened to this book of shadows. If you wrote down all the spells and magic the Pharaoh practised then I need to have that book.'
Rita dared not to ask why. She kept her eyes shut and tried to imagine herself anywhere but here with him.
'Do you know where it ended up?'
"No." she whispered.
'You're not lying to me are you?'
"No, I don't know anything."
'Good.'
Rita rolled over so that Bakura now faced her back. He watched the way her body slowly raised and fell as she breathed. The feeling of satisfaction seemed to leave him as he watched her lay so helplessly. Her fighting spirit seemed to have left her and though Bakura had thought this was what he wanted a part of him felt guilty.
The next morning Rita ate her breakfast awkwardly as Bakura still sat in the corner of the room watching her.
'When will they let you leave?' he asked.
"Probably never. Thanks to you they think I'm suicidal." She grumbled.
Bakura laughed.
"Why is that funny?" she asked.
'You're too much of a coward to take your own life.' He mocked.
Rita narrowed her eyes at him and then continued to pick the grapes out of her fruit salad.
'As soon as you are out of this place you and I are going to take a little trip.'
Rita didn't say anything and her silence started to irritate Bakura.
'Are you going to ignore me?' he asked aggravated.
"I thought you wanted me to be quiet."
'I want you to tell me what happened when you returned to the palace.'
"I don't know what happened. I know as much as you do."
'I find that hard to believe.'
"Well believe what you want, it's the truth."
'If that's the case then you will need to think a bit harder. Or else I will have to go through your mind and uncover whatever it is that you are hiding.'
"I'm not hiding anything."
Rita and Bakura stopped arguing when they heard a knock at the door. Rita looked over to see a middle-aged woman entering the room. She was dressed in a grey skirt and matching blazer, her hair was tied neatly in a bun, not a strand out of place. She carried a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other. Rita knew immediately this was the psychiatrist her father spoke of.
"She came highly recommended, Rita." she thought back to her father and their argument over this woman the night before.
"I don't need some shrink telling me how I feel!" Rita had yelled.
"Hi Rita," the woman spoke interrupting her flashback. "My name is Emiko Himura, I'm-."
"I know who you are." Rita cut her off.
"Oh, you do?"
"My father told me you would be coming."
"I was hoping we could have a chat."
'Get rid of her.' Bakura ordered.
"I'm not really up for any visitors at the moment, perhaps you could come back another time."
"I understand you must be tired but I would really like to speak with you now."
She took a seat on the only chair in the room, sitting straight through Bakura.
Rita tried to supress a laugh as he was forced to move from the seat.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Emiko asked quietly.
"It was an accident, I slipped and broke the mirror."
"Rita, we both know that's not true."
'She's testing my patience, get rid of her or I will.' Bakura challenged.
"Please leave." Rita begged tears began to surface in her eyes.
"I can't do that." Emiko smiled warmly.
"Go!" Rita said, this time with more authority.
"There are so many people who want to help you Rita, you just have to let us in."
Bakura walked to stand behind the woman. His chest started to glow and the millennium ring began to emerge. Rita could feel her own chest warming from the feel of the ring.
"Leave me alone!" Rita screamed.
She wanted her to go before Bakura decided to hurt her. So she reached over and picked up the vase from the table beside her bed and threw it toward Emiko. The vase smashed on the floor next to her and the roses scattered among the glass. Rita had no intention of hitting the woman she just hoped to have scared her out.
"I said get out!" she yelled again.
Emiko rose startled from her seat and made her way out the door. Moments later several nurses entered and tried to calm Rita.
"Leave me alone!" she screamed and tried to kick them off her as they attempted to lay her down.
Rita's doctor entered the room and was quick to pick up a syringe from the trolley one of the nurses had brought in earlier. He placed the needle into a small container of liquid, pulling the top he allowed the liquid to fill the syringe. He approached Rita who was now being restrained by the nurses. He took her forearm and injected her with the sedative. The nurses held her down until she calmed.
Emiko watched from the doorway as Rita fell into a deep sleep. The doctor discarded the used syringe in the disposables box and went over to Emiko.
"We gave her a sedative. She will be out for a few hours."
Emiko nodded and looked over compassionately to the sleeping girl.
One of the nurses began to collect the fallen roses from the floor and lay them on the bedside table. Another swept the broken glass.
Once the room was tidied they left her alone but as soon as the door closed Rita's eyes shot open. She sat up and scanned the room then looked down at the IV in her arm. She pulled on the cord and when it was removed from her arm she threw it on the floor. She quickly got out of bed and found some clothes in the bag of belongings her father had brought for her. Once dressed a purple aura surrounded her and the Millennium Ring appeared upon her chest.
"I don't have time for this." Bakura grumbled as he forced Rita's body out of the room and down the hospital corridor.
Oh no, what's Bakura up to now?
Once again thank you to Getsunohimesama and justpeaches for your reviews! They always make my day. They also make new chapters come quicker because it motivates me to write if I know people are enjoying my stories.