The morning wasn't going so good. Laura was in an ill mood, due to the fact she had to be at the doctors in a hour. She sat at the table picking at her food. "Eat Laura, stop playing with it." Mark said. Laura laid her fork down. "I'm not hungry. She said. Mark sighed. He knew she was nervous. "We better go then, John is expecting you in a half an hour." He said. Laura got up and put on her jacket and followed Mark out to the truck. Mark tried to start a conversation with her, but she wasn't in the mood, so finally he just shut up. It will be over soon he thought.
Laura sat in the cold examining room with a gown on freezing to death. God I just want this to be over she thought. The door opened and a handsome man walked in. He had black hair, bright blue eyes and a friendly smile. "Hi Laura I'm John "he said shaking her hand. "Hi" she said. A nurse came in behind him. "Nora here is going to take some blood, Okay?" he said. "Alright." Laura said. Nora quickly put the needle in her vein and took several vials of blood and then put a band aid on her arm. Mark had told John about her past and how nervous she was. So he didn't want to scare her. "Laura, I'm going to take your blood pressure and listen to your heart and breathing." Laura was fine till he went behind her and opened her gown to listen to her breathing. John told her to take several deep breaths and he listened. John couldn't believe what he saw on her back. She had lines of scars crisscrossing her back and what looked like cigarette burns. He could tell they were all years old, not anything recent. Which meant this had been done to her when she was just a little kid. He came around and sat in front of her and asked her about her sexual history. She turned bright red. "I Uhh, I haven't had sex." she stuttered. "Okay." he said. "When and if you do, you would need to come in for an exam, Okay?" he said. "alright." She said still turning red. "Well that's it, Ill be back when I have the blood workup done." He said. She nodded. Great she thought, he's going to tell Mark about my back.
John called Mark to the back. "Mark this kid has been abused severely abused. He back is full of scars from beatings and cigarette burns." "Damn." Mark cursed. He hit the desk with his fist. "I would love to find her parents and beat the hell out of them. "I know Mark, this kinda of thing is sickening, but it happens more than you know. "But she has got a clean bill of health, other than she is about 15 pounds under weight." "Just make sure she eats well." John said. Mark nodded, "I will." "I'm going to go in and talk to her for a minute and then she will be out." John said. "Okay" Mark said.
Laura had got dressed and waiting for the doctor to come back in. The door opened and John came in. "You got a clean bill of health, you just need to gain a little weight." He said. "I'm working on that." She said. "Good, some of the blood work will take a couple of weeks to get back. I will call you when it does. I don't expect any thing it's just routine." He said. "Laura it was nice to meet you, you have any problems call me." He said. "Thanks Doc." Laura said and shook his hand.
Mark was waiting out front for Laura. Laura looked at him as she entered the waiting room. He looked up and seen her. "ya ready to go Laura?" he asked. "Yea" she said. Mark walked out and Laura followed him.
The ride home was silent. Laura could tell Mark knew about the scars. She felt horrible. She kept her head down. He must think she was trash. She felt so worthless and low. Mark didn't throw his arm around her like he usually did or even try to talk to her. He didn't want anything to do with her anymore. Mark was in his own thoughts. He had seen the look on Laura face when she came out John's office. She looked angry and miserable. He thought it best to leave her be for now, till she got over this mood. He didn't think the visit was that bad so he had no idea why she was so upset. He looked over at her and she was sitting there with her head down looking like she lost her best friend. Hopefully she would snap out of this mood soon he thought.
As soon as Mark stopped the truck, Laura hopped out and went in the house. Mark followed slowly wondering what in the hell was eating her. Laura had gone up to her room. She took a shower and lay down on her bed to read, anything to keep her from crying. She felt like she could burst into tears at any moment and she didn't want to do that.
Mark had decided to grill them some steaks for dinner. He kept himself busy preparing dinner. He made a salad and some baked potatoes to go with the steaks. Laura should be hungry he thought she didn't touch her breakfast. When it was done he went up and knocked on her door. "Laura, open up." He said. Laura opened the door and looked at him willing herself not to cry. "Dinners ready." He said. "I'm not hungry." She said. "You didn't eat any breakfast; you must be a little hungry." He said. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE." She yelled. She just wanted him out of the room before she started crying. Now Mark was getting angry. She had been acting like a little brat all day and he had enough. "Don't yell at me little girl." He said in a deadly low voice. "I've had just about enough of your bad temper today, the next time you yell at me like that Ill put you across my knee." Everything was just too much for Laura, The doctor's appointment, him seeing the scars, and Mark not liking her no more. She just burst into tears on the spot.