Chapter 20: Revelation
~Honestly, sometimes it is better not knowing~
"Alright then, Mr. Smythe, can you flex your arm a bit?"
Dr. Sophia Conners reminded Sebastian a lot of his mother. They shared strong resemblance to one another except that Dr. Conners's hair was straight and shoulder-length instead of long and wavy like Sebastian's mother. But they had the same smile and the same gentle tone in their voice when they were speaking. That was probably why Sebastian was enjoying this doctor's visit quite a bit.
"How do you feel?" she asked once Sebastian flexed his arm slightly.
"I feel okay," Sebastian answered, smiling a bit.
"That's great," Dr. Conners smiled, writing something on a clipboard. In the small examination room, stood the rest of the Hudmel family. Finn was looking at the posters on the wall, Burt and Carole were observing the examination carefully while Kurt was texting on his phone.
So, how's Sebastian? –David
Kurt glanced at Sebastian, who was stretching his arm again while looking pleased that he could finally stop wearing the sling.
He's doing fine. He's happy that the sling should be off for good, -Kurt
Well, anyone would be :) –David
How are the Warblers? I haven't seen them for a while… -Kurt
Visit us then! Come over to Thad's house some time. We've been hanging out at his place lately xD –David
Why? –Kurt
Three words: BEST. CRIB. EVER. –David
Kurt let out a soft chuckle and replied a bit more before putting his phone back into his pocket. By the time he returned his attention towards Sebastian, the latter already got up from the stool he was sitting on and looked around the room.
"So, what's the verdict?" Kurt asked.
Sebastian grinned. "My shoulder is healed and ready to go,"
"But he still needs to go for regular checkups if he starts feeling discomfort," Dr. Conners interjected.
"Yes, doctor," Sebastian rolled his eyes but he was still grinning.
Burt and Carole took care of the rest and within 30 minutes, the whole family was preparing to leave. Kurt hesitated before turning to his dad. "Um, dad?"
Burt looked at him curiously. "Yes, buddy?"
"I…want to talk to Dr. Conners for a bit," Kurt fidgeted where he stood. The said doctor, who was going through some medical files, looked up at the mention of her name, regarding Kurt with a surprised expression. "Is that okay?" Kurt continued.
Burt blinked. "Why? Are you okay?"
No. "Yes," Kurt nodded. "I just want to ask something that's all,"
His dad hesitated but he nodded anyway. "Okay, bud. We'll wait for you in the lounge. But don't be long. We're having a celebratory lunch," he announced.
"Why?"
"To celebrate the fact that Sebastian here isn't an invalid anymore!" Burt grinned, wrapping an arm around Sebastian's shoulder. "Now he can have his own fair share of housework so you can't complain anymore , Kurt," Sebastian rolled his eyes at that but his lips were curled up into a smirk.
"I'll try," Sebastian said.
Kurt chuckled a bit and waved them away. Once they were gone, he turned towards Dr. Conners, who was sitting at her desk, having watching the whole scene with a very amused expression. "What a close-knit family you have there, Mr…." she trailed off.
"Hummel," Kurt finished. "But you can call me Kurt. And yeah…we're very close," he smiled softly. Dr. Conners nodded and leaned against her chair. "Please take a seat, Kurt," Once Kurt did, Dr. Conners straightened her posture and regarded Kurt curiously.
"You wanted to ask me something?"
Kurt swallowed thickly, looking down at his lap. "Yes," he said. "I've been wondering about something,"
"And what would that be?"
Kurt did not reply straightaway. He slowly lifted his gaze to meet Dr. Conners's. Behind the rimmed glasses she wore, her eyes were gentle and understanding. It reminded him so much of his mom. Kurt understood why Sebastian was so comfortable around her. Her looks resembled those of Sebastian's mom greatly.
"A friend of mine," Kurt began, opting for a safe approach. Dr. Conners must have experienced this sort of approach, though, as Kurt swore he saw a flicker of amusement in the doctor's eyes. However, Dr. Conners remained silent. "She's been having weird experiences lately,"
"What sort of weird experiences?" Dr. Conners asked, reaching out for her notepad, presumably to scribble down anything necessary.
"Flashbacks…mostly," Kurt replied. "She…she reacts strangely to some things like…I don't know, like…" Kurt bit his lip. "Someone hugged her once and she completely freaked out,"
Dr. Conners raised her eyebrow. "Do you mind explaining on that bit?"
"…Her body stiffened. She would start breathing rapidly," Kurt exhaled. "And…she suffered from nightmares these past few days,"
"Nightmares, you say," Dr. Conners replied, writing something on her notepad. "Are they…perhaps, the same nightmare every night?"
Kurt blinked. "Yes," he said. "They are,"
"Care to tell me what the nightmares are usually about?"
When Kurt hesitated, Dr. Conners smiled reassuringly. "You don't have to tell me if you're uncomfortable. It's okay,"
But Kurt decided to tell her anyway. At least, the summary of it, anyway. "A man," Kurt breathed. "She said that in her dream, a man is constantly disturbing her. Mocking her and sometimes, coming close to attacking her,"
A pause. A few scribbling.
"And these flashbacks," Dr. Conners continued. "Are they triggered by something specific? Like a place or an event?"
Kurt racked his brain. "…Touches. The flashbacks are often triggered when she was being touched,"
"Touched, huh? As in…hugging and hand-holding, that sort of thing?" Dr. Conners guessed.
"And simple touches as well," Kurt nodded. "Like a friendly pat on the shoulder," He remembered how he had nearly jumped a foot in the air when Finn did that to him this morning at breakfast. He startled Finn quite a bit when he reacted that way. "Do these things mean anything? Is she suffering from something?"
Dr. Conners was silent for a while. She closed her notepad and put her pen back into her pocket. She looked at her hands briefly, her brows furrowed. She seemed to be hesitating at something. Kurt could feel dread going through him for some reason.
"Doctor?" he asked slowly. "What is it?"
Dr. Conners met Kurt's gaze. The look in her eyes startled Kurt. It was rueful…sad even. Kurt gulped. Dr. Conners sighed heavily and reached out to clasp one of Kurt's hands. Her own hands were smaller than Kurt's, but they were warm and soft.
"I might be wrong," she began. "But I think…"
Kurt waited.
A heavy silence.
.
.
.
Finally, Dr. Conners took off her glasses and stared at Kurt straight in the eye.
"I think your friend has been sexually assaulted,"
~*.*~
Kurt could not breathe. He felt as if the air was choking him and refused to let go. He stumbled blindly into his bedroom as soon as he reached home while the rest of his family watched with worried expressions on their faces. They noticed that Kurt had seemed utterly distracted throughout lunch, refusing or sometimes, not acknowledging any attempt at small talk. He was constantly staring into space. Sebastian also noted that his hands were shaking.
"What's wrong with Kurt?" Finn asked worriedly.
"I don't know," Sebastian replied.
Meanwhile, Kurt immediately switched on his laptop and tapped his fingers impatiently on the mattress as he waited for it to hum into life. Once it did, Kurt wasted no time and logged onto Google. His fingers hovered above the keyboard uncertainly, before he began to type out something he would never imagine himself doing aside for Health and Science class.
Signs and symptoms of rape victims
Thousands of results came up and Kurt clicked on a few on the first page. Without blinking much, he began to scan through the articles that came up.
Rape is usually experienced as life threatening and as an extreme violation of a person. It is not surprising then, that many rape survivors suffer from a particular kind of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, known as Rape Trauma Syndrome.
With shaking fingers, he scrolled down to read the rest of the article.
Immediately after a rape, survivors often experience shock: they are likely to feel cold, faint, become mentally confused (disoriented), tremble, feel nauseous and sometimes vomit.
Kurt remembered feeling confused lately. But…shaking his head, he thought about the fact that he did not know why he was confused in the first place.
Sleep disturbances like: difficulty falling asleep, waking up during the night, being woken by nightmares about the rape, getting less sleep than usual; or on the other hand feeling exhausted and needing to sleep more than usual.
The nightmares that had been haunting Kurt for the past of couple of days had been terrible. He knew too well that he was actually exhausted, but throughout last night, after the latest nightmare, he was afraid to go back to sleep. He had spent the entire night going online instead, distracting himself by watching movies.
Being more easily frightened or startled than usual.
Flashbacks - the sudden feeling that the rape is happening again, which makes the survivor very frightened and upset.
The rest were pretty normal and were something that Kurt had read before. But his heart skipped a beat when his eyes read one particular sentence.
A loss of memory for all or part of the rape, which is called psychogenic amnesia.
And immediately, one conversation came rushing back into his head.
"Um, so what happened?"
"You don't remember?"
"Bits and pieces,"
"You don't remember the guy? With all the tattoos? In the toilet?"
A man…
With tattoos…
"You're going to enjoy this, princess…"
A man sneering at Kurt,
The dirty toilet floor…
A pounding headache in the midst of the pounding music…
choking him and pinning him to the ground and-
Oh God.
"Kurt?" Sebastian entered the room cautiously. He saw Kurt staring blankly at his laptop, sitting cross-legged on his bed, his expression horrified. Instantly, Sebastian knew something was very wrong.
"Kurt, hey, are you alright?"
No reply.
"Kurt?" Sebastian approached the boy slowly. "Come on, Kurt. Please answer me,"
When Kurt did answer him after a while, Sebastian wished he never did. Turning slowly to face Sebastian, he choked out a whisper.
"What happened to me at Scandals?"
A/N: WOW. That was pretty short, wasn't it? I know, I know and I'm VERY sorry. But I was busy with school work and I didn't want to leave you guys hanging for too long so yeah…Don't worry, the future chapters hopefully won't be as short as this. The next chapter…well…you'll see ;) It would be quite long, hopefully, but no promises! I'll be away this several days so I won't be able to type much, but I will try my best. :D
Reviews are lovely and appreciated.