Warning: References to a sexual assault.
The next morning, Peter was walking through the hospital corridors to see Carla. He stayed at the hospital for as long as he could but was forced to leave when it got too late, so he made sure to be there first thing in the morning. He couldn't let Carla out of his sight.
As he walked in, she was sat up slightly in bed and jumped in fright when he walked in and sat down.
"Morning, baby." He says, quietly.
She doesn't respond, instead smiling slightly and looking down.
"Are you alright? Are you in pain?" He asks.
"Yeah." She replies, quietly. "But I'll survive."
"Do you want me to ask if they can give you some more drugs?"
"No, I'm fine."
"I don't think you are." He sighs.
When she doesn't respond, he looks down and sees her lightly run her fingers along the dark marks that littered her skin.
"Carla..."
"I don't want to talk about it." She mumbles.
"You're going to have to at some point, darling."
"But I don't want to." She repeats, her voice cracking as she tries to hold in her tears.
"You can cry, you know. No one will blame you." He sniffs back tears himself.
"I'm fine." She croaks.
"So you keep saying. Carla, you know what bottling in your emotions can do. Just let it out." He gently urges her to do so.
She stays silent for a few seconds, before a small sob emits from her mouth which opened the flood gates immediately.
Peter rises from his seat, sitting on the edge of the bed and comforting her. He let her sob into his chest as he held her head and hugged her.
"Why me? Why again?" She cries.
"I don't know, love." He replies, he didn't know what to say. And he knew he was on the brink of tears himself so their was not much he could say without breaking down as well.
"I can't survive this again."
He scrunches his eyes up and bites his lip. This was confirmation that Frank had sexually assaulted her, again.
"Carla...did he?" He asks, he had to hear her say it.
"Yeah," she muffles into his top. "He-he raped me. Again."
"Oh, darling. Did you tell your doctor?"
"No."
"Why not?" He frowns. "You need to do a rape kit, love."
"No!" She snaps, pushing him away. "I don't need one. It won't do anything."
"But Carla-..."
"I don't want to go through it. Please, don't make me go through it."
"We need evidence." He tries to empathise.
"Why? Peter, he is dead!" She shouts.
"How do you know that?" He frowns.
"The doctor told me this morning-..."
"When you're this fragile?" He interrupts, causing her to flinch again. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," she sighs. "We haven't seen eachother for days and when we do, we start arguing. Sounds about right, doesn't it?"
"Yeah." He smiles slightly.
"Do you know when the police are coming to speak to me?" She asks.
"Sometime today." He answers.
"I don't know why. He's dead, it's not as if he's going to be locked up or punished." She shrugs.
"They still need to know what's happened."
"Is Andrew dead as well?" She asks, wearily.
"Andrew? Who the hell is Andrew?" Peter narrows his eyes.
"Frank's friend. He's the one that kidnapped me." She explains.
"What? He better be dead." Peter growls.
"Stop speaking in a threatening tone, Peter." She murmurs, it was making her feel uneasy.
Of course she felt safe with Peter, she knew he wouldn't do anything bad to her but it just reminded her of everything she went through. All the threats frank gave, the malicious and evil way he spoke. It gave her flashbacks to those horrible moments.
"I'm sorry. I'm having to be saying that a lot recently, aren't I?"
"Don't worry. I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me, it's just..."
"You don't need to explain. I completely understand."
"So, do you know when I'm getting out of here?"
"Not for a while yet, love. Your injuries are quite bad still."
"I just want to in our bed, your arms secured around me where I feel most safe. I want to be away from this place. I feel like a zoo animal, having all these strangers stare at me through the window."
"I know. Won't be long until that happens. And when you do go home, I'm going to move back into Roy's to look after you. I've spoken to him about it and he thinks it's a good idea as he can't stay with you all the time because he has to run the cafe and look out for Nina." He explains.
"Okay. I'd like that," she says, quietly. "I'm not going to try and top myself though."
"I know that. But you're injured and I think it'd be best to watch you anyway."
"Watch me?" Her eyebrows raise.
"Hello, Carla?" Scott, her psychologist, interrupts as he peeps his head round the door. "Is this a bad time?"
"No, it's fine." Carla replies. "Come on in and have a seat."
"Do you want me to go?" Peter asks, pointing the door.
"Probably best." Scott smiles.
"No," Carla shakes her head. "Stay."
"Are you sure?" Peter says.
"Carla, what we're going to be talking about may upset Peter and I don't want you holding back so you don't hurt him." Scott sighs.
"I know but I just feel safer with him here."
"Okay." Scott replies, giving a relieved Peter a smile.
"So, have you told the police everything that's happened? I don't have notes explaining it all."
"No. They're coming in later so I can give a statement. I've not actually told anyone the thing that, you know...happened." She stutters.
"In your own time." Scott reassures her, giving her time to go over the painful events.
Carla took a while explaining what happened in the four days of being trapped by her rapist. She kept stuttering, unable to get her words out and face up to what had actually happened as it hadn't sunk in yet. By the end, she had tears down her face and puffy eyes. But this was the bit she was proper dreading, it was time to explain to Scott and Peter what had happened on the final day of her abduction..."
"He-he was drunk. Really drunk." She inhales, deeply. "I knew he was unpredictable at this point. He'd slapped me a few times in the past, as I said, and he was sober then so I was terrified to see what he'd be like now..."
Peter squeezes her hand, softly.
"He got into my bed and at first, he was just laying on me but the force was so hard. It was hurting me and making me feel trapped so I tried nudging him away and thats when..."
She place a hand on the bridge of her nose and tries to regulate her breathing. This was even harder than last time.
"Go on..." Scott reassures her.
"Ummm...I kept telling him to stop." She cries. "B-but he just kept saying that I liked it when I didn't. He started ripping a-at my clothes and pushing me down. The force of his...lips on mine felt like I was getting punched again, it was so hard. And then he-..."
"Raped you," Peter interrupts, finishing off the sentence. He knew it'd be hard for her to say those words again but he also had to face up to it himself. Frank had raped her again. "He raped you."
She nods slightly, releasing a sob.
"Hell is too good for that man." Peter clenches his jaw, squeezing his hand into a fist to try and contain his temper.
"Carla, I know it's hard but I need to hear you say the words." Scott says.
She nods; this was going to be a challenge.
"He...r-r...r-raped me." She cries. "He raped me."
Peter gets on the bed, sitting her up and cupping her head in his chest as she breaks down.
"And what happened after that?"
"Umm, he fell asleep next to me," she wipes her eyes and comes out of Peters embrace. "I tried getting off the bed I think and that's all I can remember."
"I understand. The doctors said you've got a blow to the head, do you think you hit it whilst trying to get off the bed?"
"Yeah, definitely. Because the next thing I remember, I was in an ambulance."
The three of them carried on talking for what seemed like forever. Scott needed to know exactly what she went through and exactly what she was feeling so he knew what he was working with, he had to help her in the best way possible.
Scott left her to sleep, leaving the room as Peter followed him.
"So...what happens now?"
"She isn't at a stage where she needs to be sectioned, thankfully. There are no strong indicators to suggest her psychosis is messing with her head again but we need to take into account that she is still in shock. Sometimes in time it can build up and that's when the paranoia sets in. Which means I'll be doing daily checks again as well as giving her a higher dosage on her medication. If she does show any signs, whatsoever, of her psychosis then call me immediately. You know that it's best to control it before it turns into a bigger issue. Try and make her talk about it all, that way she can process it and come to terms with what's happened. Don't let her close herself or push herself away from everyone. But as things stand right now, her mental state isn't in a dangerously low level currently. Anyone whose gone through what she has wouldn't be in the best mind set right now so that's what you've got to remember." He explains.
"Okay. She went without her medication for four days though?"
"She's extremely lucky that it didn't affect her as much as it could've."
"Alright. Thank you, Scott."
This is the second to last chapter! Leave reviews.