CHAPTER 12 : Coma, culpability…

Tom and Doug drive to "The Pity" hospital to see Trisha. They go to the admittance to ask for her room number.

They arrive in Trisha's room a few minutes later and see all the bruises she has on her face and her arms.

"Oh my God" Tom says to Doug "you saw that ?"

"Yeah it's horrible."

Trisha, in the coma, doesn't move. A nurse enters the room and asks Tom and Doug to wait in the hall while she's examining the girl. They sit on chairs near the door.

"Doug it's my fault" Tom says in a sad voice.

"What the hell are you talking about Tommy ? Of course it's not."

"Yes it is, remember I didn't give her the money… I should have."

"And so what ?" Doug asks.

"She prostitutes herself so she probably did that to have money. I guess she didn't have enough money tonight and Frank beat her" Tom says. "Then whether he gave her too many drugs or she did it herself but she took too much. Look where's she is now because of this shit ! What if she never wakes up ? What if…"

"Eh Tom, even if you'd given her the money she'd injected the drug" Doug says trying to make Tom feel better.

"Yeah but it doesn't necessarily mean she'd had been beaten…" Tom replies putting his head on his knees.

"It would have arrived one day or another" Doug says. "Stop thinking you're responsible for what happened cause you're not."

A few moments later, the nurse comes out of the room and goes to talk to Tom and Doug.

"You can go back near her" she begins to wake up.

"Thanks God" Tom and Doug say at the same time.

They enter the room.

"How you feeling Trisha ?" Tom asks relieved to see her eyes opened.

"What do you think ?" she answers. "I'm not high anymore because of them."

"But you were in the coma" Doug says surprised by her answer.

"So what ?" Trisha asks like if being in the coma wasn't a big deal and she doesn't care.

"Who did this to you Trisha ?" Tom asks.

"Nobody, I fell."

"You seem to be really clumsy, huh ?" Doug says knowing she's lying.

"Seems so" she says trying to end this boring conversation.

"Was it Frank ?" Tom asks.

Trisha doesn't answer. She'd like to deny the truth but in another hand she'd like to admit it was him so these young men could give him what he deserves for treating her so bad.

"Who told you about him ?" she asks astonished.

"Rick and Mikey" Doug answers.

"So it was him, right ? And he also beat you the other time ?" Tom asks even if he already knows the answer.

"Yeah" Trisha says in a low voice.

Tom and Doug look at each other, thinking about the same thing 'we'd better hurry to bust this man'.

"Tom, could you please take me out of here ?" Trisha asks complaining.

"Why ? You didn't have enough drugs ?" Doug asks.

"What the hell… I'm not even talking to you. Leave me alone ! Get the hell out of here !" She yells at Doug.

Tom gestures Doug to wait for him outside. He obeys. Trisha begins to sob again. She doesn't want to stay in the hospital.

"Tom please I wanna go, I hate this place, help me !" she says half crying.

"You're better here than in the streets, don't you think ?" Tom says looking at her.

Tom comes closer to her, looks right in her eyes, and leans over her touching her face.

"I wanna get out of here and I'm gonna do that !" she says determined to leave. "I don't need your approbation."

She begins to move and open her blankets to get out of her bed. But Tom sits on her bed so she can't get out.

"Move ! Let me go !" she asks yelling and crying at the same time.

"Calm down, they're gonna take care of you here and you'll be safe."

Tom takes her in his arms again but she tries to move away from his touch. He holds her tight and talks to her to try to calm her down. It's harder this time cause she's really in pain, she's hurting and she doesn't want to stay in this place. She's not high anymore, she needs money to buy drugs and get high. She doesn't feel good. She's going through withdrawals. The only thing she wants is to get out of here.

"Tom I wanna get out, you hear me !" She yells again.

"You'll be better here" Tom says calmly.

"No it's not true, you're wrong ! You can't force me to stay anyway !"

Tom holds her tighter as if he was hugging her. She begins to cool off. Tom could think his arms do miracles but it's mainly the way he can speak to make the girls feel better. He knows how to talk to them. He's really gifted for that. More gifted than Doug.

Now that Trisha's calmer he puts her back in the bed, puts the blankets on her, give her a kiss on her foreheadand tells her to try to sleep.

"You'll come back to see me ?" she asks.

"I promise. You have to sleep now."

Tom comes out of the room and goes near Doug. He asks a nurse to give a sedative to Trisha after explaining she's agitated and could try to escape. The nurse enters the room while Tom and Doug leave the hospital.