Dr. Evans left the infirmary after talking to Peter and telling him that Shelby should get into the hospital for a proper examination. Peter said he would get Shelby into the hospital as soon as he could.
Peter walked into the room Shelby, Scott and Sophie were in. Shelby was still in the bed and was now under the covers. Scott was sitting on the bed next to her, holding her hand and Sophie was standing by the door leaning on the wall.
"Well, the Dr. Evans said I should get you into the hospital for a full examination soon so we're going to go later today. Okay?" Peter said, talking to Shelby.
Shelby nodded.
"And you have to call her mother back and tell her that Shelby's going to be checked into a hospital," Peter said, now talking to Sophie.
"By the way, how did my mom take it when you called? I'd be surprised if she even believed you," Shelby said.
Sophie looked around with a guilty look on her face.
"What?" Shelby asked.
"I forgot to call your mom," Sophie responded softly.
"You what! How can you forget to call the parents?" Peter asked.
"I'm sorry! I was worried about the immediate care of Shelby. The doctor and you were the first people I called,"
"Soph-"
"You guys! It's okay. Just call her now," Shelby said trying to stop the arguing. She didn't want to deal with that right now.
Sophie looked to Peter and he nodded. Sophie left the room and walked to go call Shelby's mother. She picked up the phone and dialed the number then waited for a response. After three rings someone finally picked up.
"Hello?" Jess's voice came over the other line.
"Hi, Jess. Is your mom there?" Sophie asked recognizing Jess's voice.
"Yeah. What happened?" Jess asked sounding kind of worried.
"I need to talk to your mother about if before I can talk to you. I'm sorry,"
"Fine. I'll go get her,"
A moment passed and Sophie tried to think of what she might say to Shelby's mother. Before she could think of anything, Alice Merrick picked up the phone.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Hello, Ms. Merrick. Um I have Shelby down in the infirmary right now--"
"What happened?"
"Well, someone tried to rape her," Sophie said plainly.
"What?" Alice asked in disbelief.
"Yes. She's here and she's pretty badly hurt whether she would like to admit it or not. We had a doctor look at her and she suggested that we get her to the hospital for a full examination,"
"Would it be all right for Jess and myself to come up and see her?"
"I would have to talk that over with Peter and Shelby but I don't see why not."
Peter walked out by Sophie with just enough time to here what Sophie had just said.
"Talk what over with me?" Peter asked quietly.
Sophie put her hand on the phone so Alice wouldn't hear her and said, "Shelby's mother wants to come up to see her."
"That's fine. We're probably going to need her to sign things at the hospital anyways."
Sophie nodded and removed her hand.
"Ms. Merrick--"Sophie started but was cut off.
"Ms. Becker, I would really like to see my daughter." Ms. Merrick responded.
"I understand that. That's fine. You can come see her,"
"Thank you. We will be up there as soon as possible,"
"Do you have any idea when that might be?"
"Hopefully by nightfall," Alice said and hung up.
Sophie put the phone down and blinked.
"Okay..." She said.
"When will she be here?" Peter asked.
"She said by tonight,"
Peter nodded.
They both nodded and walked back into the room with Shelby and Scott.
Shelby looked up at them and said, "So what did dear old mom have to say?"
"She's going to be here by tonight," Peter said.
"Oh. Great," Shelby rolled her eyes.
Peter smiled.
"Did you guys call Mike's parents yet?" Scott asked.
"No. That's no longer our responsibility. The police get to call Mike's parents and we won't have to see him again until the trail," Peter said.
"Trial?" Shelby asked obviously disapproving.
"Yes. This was attempted rape. That's a crime"
"I'm well aware of that, Peter."
"Don't you want him to pay for the crime?"
"Peter, I don't want to go to court," Shelby said.
"I can't make you but he's just going to be free to go if you don't," He pushed.
"Peter, I don't want to go to court," Shelby repeated.
"Fine," Peter sighed. "Scott, you have to get to breakfast."
Scott started to argue but Peter raised his hand to stop him.
"You go eat and then you can come back after and bring Shelby breakfast," Peter said.
Scott smiled and turned to Shelby. He leaned forward and kissed her gently.
"I'll see you soon. I love you," Scott said.
"I love you, too" Shelby responded and smiled.
"Okay. I'm pretending like I didn't see that," Peter said and smiled.
"I thought you liked our relationship? You said it was good for us," Shelby teased.
"The relationship: yes. I'm not suppose to allow the kissing though,"
Shelby nodded and grinned.
"Sorry, captain." She said with teasing still in her voice.
"Uh-huh," Peter said and turned to Scott. "Let's go, Romeo."
Everyone chuckled. Peter and Scott walked out of the infirmary. Sophie walked over by Shelby and sat down in a chair next to the bed.
"How are you?" Sophie asked.
"I'm holding in there. I'm just tired," Shelby responded.
"Well, why don't you try to get some sleep?"
"I don't want to miss Scott coming back," Shelby smiled.
"Fine. But after you eat I want you to try and rest."
"Deal."
Sophie got up and walked out of the room. She sat behind the desk she was at the night before and sighed. Poor Shelby, She thought. Shelby had been through so much before she came here. She came here to be safe and look what we allowed to happen.
Shelby looked around the room and fought back tears. She was keeping up a good look while people were here but when she was alone, she was allowed to cry.
She thought back on what Peter said about taking Mike to court. She wanted Mike behind bars more than anything right now but she really, really didn't want to have to go to court. She was scared to death of what would happen.
"Hey," Scott said from the doorway.
He walked into and set the tray of food down on a small table next to the bed Shelby was in. He sat down on the bed and grabbed her hand with his left hand and wiped her tears away with his right.
Shelby smiled up at him.
"Shelby..." Scott said.
"I'm fine," Shelby responded. "Really. I was just thinking about whether or not I should take Mike to court or not."
"Have you decided?"
"Not yet. Can we drop that topic though?"
"Yeah. No problem."
"Thanks."
Shelby turned to grab her food but stopped halfway through the movement. The cut on her belly hurt from it. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the pain. She took in a breath and left it out slowly; it helped.
"Here," Scott said and grabbed the tray of food.
He put the tray in Shelby's lap and she smiled at him.
"Thanks," she said.
Shelby grabbed a tator tot and ate it. She picked up her fork and poked the egg and then took a piece and put it in her mouth. She sipped her cup of orange juice and had a few more tator tots. That was it.
"You should try and eat some more," Scott said.
"I'm not hungry, Scott." Shelby responded.
"Shelby..."
"I'm fine," She stopped him before he could get his sentense out.
"Fine." Scott said.
He leaned down and kissed her gently. He pulled away and Shelby whined softly which only made Scott smirk. Shelby grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled his lips to hers for another kiss. After all of the forced kisses on her the night before she wanted to have a true one that she started and stopped. She didn't have plans on stopping it anytime soon.
Sophie cleared her throat from the doorway and the teenagers stopped there kiss. Shelby looked past Scott and saw Sophie grinning.
"You two need to be more careful. I could've been Peter," Sophie smiled.
Shelby went wide-eyed. Sophie was being cool about this. No yelling; no discipline. Maybe I should almost get raped more often, Shelby thought then shook her head. On second thought, let's pass that up.
Scott sat up again and looked at Sophie.
"Sorry," He said but couldn't keep a strait face.
"Riiight," Sophie smirked and walked out.
Scott and Shelby looked at each other and just burst out laughing. The laughing quieted and Scott gave Shelby a serious look.
"Okay, now you, my love, need to get some rest," Scott said and stood up.
"My love? Who are you trying to impress?" Shelby teased.
Scott smirked, leaned down and kissed Shelby's forehead.
"Good night," He said.
"Good morning," She corrected.
Scott smirked and turned to walk away but Shelby grabbed his hand.
"Stay with me until I fall asleep," She said. "Please?"
"Okay," Scott responded.
Scott lay down on the bed next to Shelby. They were very close to each other for it was only a twin size bed but Shelby liked it like that. She felt safe with Scott.
Shelby closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep; it only took her a few minutes before she was dreaming. It was like it everything was happening again. Everything with Walt, everything on the streets and everything with Mike.
Dream
First Flashback
She was 13 years old again lying in her bed half way asleep. She opened her blue eyes when she heard her door being opened. She looked up and saw Walt walk through the door.
"What are you doing here, Walt?" Shelby asked him, confused.
"I just want to show you how much I love you. Today was a special day for you and I want to show you how proud I am of you." Walt said and smiled.
He walked over to Shelby's bed and sat down next to her dangerously close. He moved his hand to her shirt and unbuttoned the first buttons down to the middle to reveal her breasts. Shelby pushed his hand away.
"What are you doing?" She spat at him.
"Showing you how much I love you," Walt responded in a calm voice.
He moved his hands and unbuttoned the rest of her shirt. She was sitting in front of him nude from the waist up. She tried to cover herself up with her blanket but he grabbed her hands with one of his and threw the blanket away with the other.
He took off his own shirt and then his pants. He stood in front of her naked. She looked away but looked back when he grabbed her waist and forced her to stand. He pulled her pants and underwear off and she stood in front of him completely nude now. She tried to cover herself with her hands but he once again grabbed them and forced her to stop.
He lightly pushed her back onto the bed and got on top of her. She felt him in between her legs but he didn't enter; not yet. Walt looked down at the 13 year old girl he was suppose to think of as a daughter. He brushed a piece of her hair away from her face and smiled.
"You have such a pretty face, Shelby. Don't hide it," Walt said. "Now this is going to stay just between us. It's going to be a secret; a very special secret."
With that said, he entered her and she let out a soft scream.
Shelby would remember that night for the rest of her life. It was the night she graduated from Jr. High. It was also, more importantly, the first night Walt, her step-father, ever molested her.
End First Flashback
Second Flashback
Shelby sat in her bed, waiting for her monster to show up. She knew he would; he always did. Night after night the same routine. She was sick of it. She shook her head and swore to herself that the routine would take place tonight. She wouldn't let it; she wasn't going to let him do this to her.
As if on cue, Walk walked into her bedroom.
"Hi, kitten," He said and tried to sound seductive. "Ready?"
Shelby took a deep breath and said, "No."
"Fine. Then I guess I'll just have to go love my other girl"
Shelby knew when he said 'other girl' he was talking about Jess. Her and Shelby were his girls. She also knew when he said 'love' he meant rape.
Walt turned to leave.
"No!" Shelby said quickly. "Please, don't touch Jess."
He turned around and looked at Shelby.
"Then let me love you. I have to show at least one of my girls that I love them," Walt said.
"Promise me. If I let you continue and I don't tell, if I never tell, that you won't touch Jess." Shelby pleaded.
"I promise. Keep our special secret and I won't touch Jess. Happy, Kitten?"
She looked down. If what she was doing would protect Jess than no matter how much she hated it, she would endure the suffering as long as it meant Jess didn't have to.
Shelby nodded and softly said, "Okay"
She took off her clothes and got on the bed like she always did. Again, Walt undressed himself and got on the bed with Shelby. Shelby watched his every move and promised herself that this would be the last time.
End Second Flashback
Third Flashback
Shelby walked the streets by herself. She was hugging herself and looking down, forcing herself not to cry. She was so hungry and so cold. She'd been on the streets for a little over two weeks now without a bed to sleep in or a decent meal to eat. She slept under a bridge and the only food she had was the food she begged for. It wasn't enough though.
Her stomach ached. What she was feeling went past normal hunger.
Shelby walked slowly by a store and looked at all of the food through the window. What was she thinking? She couldn't steel. She didn't know how to. She shook her head and continued to walk.
A car pulled up next to her and rolled down the passenger window to talk to her.
"Wanna come in here, sweetheart?" The man in the drivers seat asked.
Shelby looked over.
She didn't know what to do.
Shelby saw that the man looked pretty wealthy and thought about getting in the car. She knew what he wanted; she wasn't stupid. She felt disgusted just considering the idea but what else could she do? She had no money, no place to stay and no food.
She needed it.
Shelby walked over and opened the door. She sat down in the passenger seat of the car and looked over to the man. He wasn't too old; not like Walt. He wasn't terribly un-attractive either.
The man gave her a few twenty dollar bills and pulled over the car. Shelby looked out the window and noticed she was at a motel, or what looked like a motel. The man got out of he car and motioned Shelby to follow.
She did.
She walked behind him into a room and he pulled her onto the bed in the middle of the room. He flipped her over so she was on the bottom and he on top. He discarded his clothes and waited for Shelby to do the same.
She did.
He sat above Shelby and looked down at her.
"Now, if you do this good you can keep the money I gave you and this room for the night. Along with the room you can get any food you want. Sound good?" The man asked.
Shelby couldn't find words so she just nodded.
In a swift movement, the man entered her. Shelby closed her eyes and bit her lip to stop a scream from leaving her mouth.
After the initial shock of what she was doing wore off, Shelby sat there and was almost oblivious to her surroundings. She ignored the man and what he was doing. She ignored he fact that she was in the motel room. All she could think about what getting a good night sleep and getting food to eat. That's all Shelby cared about; she needed it.
Shelby let the man finish what he wanted and he threw her another twenty dollar bill while she was getting her clothes on.
"You're not that bad, little girl. It was obviously your first time hookin' though," The man said.
Shelby looked up at him, then down and nodded.
"Like I said: you can keep the room for tonight and order whatever food you want. You look hungry anyways. "Well, you should think about doing it. You're a pretty good fuck. But, don't always expect the sugar coated treatment I'm gave you, Princess," The man said and left the room.
Shelby sat on the bed, now fully clothed again. The first thing she thought of was food. She picked up the phone next to the bed and was transferred to the front desk without doing anything. She ordered herself food and then waited for it to arrive.
Shelby was impatient while waiting but did so anything; she had no choice. As long as the promise of food was given, she was a little calmer. Her stomach ached even more now, knowing that she was going to eat soon.
The food arrived and she started to eat right away. She took a huge bite the cheeseburger she asked for and continued the take big bites only pausing to grab a fry or take a drink of her soda.
After she was done eating she got out of her wet clothes and left on only her bra and panties; it wasn't fancy or conservative but she had the room to herself and it was comfortable. She crawled onto the bed and under the covers. This was what she needed: a night off the streets and away from the monster.
Shelby started to think about what the man said; that she should do this. She shrugged and dismissed it right away. This was a one time only thing, Shelby thought. She told herself she would never do it again. Never.
End Third Flashback
Fourth Flashback
Shelby slid into the passenger seat of the car and looked over at the driver.
"How much you charge?" The man asked.
"$100" Shelby responded.
"You good?"
"Why don't you take me somewhere and find out?"
"Why don't we just go in my back seat?"
Shelby nodded. She climbed into the back seat and got her butt smacked while she did so. She wanted to say something but she didn't; it was part of her job now. She had to please the men in any way possible.
The man followed her into the back and grinned to her.
"What will you do?" He asked.
"I don't kiss on the lips," Shelby responded.
"Why not?"
"Too personal. I don't like to know my customers. Now let's get this done with so you can pay me and I can get the hell out of here,"
"Fine," The man said. "If you do this real good then I might tip you"
The man slid his hand into Shelby's very low cut shirt and started to feel one of her breasts. She pretended that she liked it just how the men always wanted. He moved his other hand down her thigh and started to feel in between her legs. Once again, she pretended to enjoy it.
The next thing Shelby knew, she was on her back in the back seat of the mans car and he had his pants down. She knew he was only waiting for her to discard her own bottoms. She was wearing a skirt so she just pulled it up above her hips and discarded her panties. Before she could say anything, he on top and inside of her.
He moved in and out of her and she pretended that she was enjoying it by letting out soft, fake moans. When he finally came, he pulled out and she was left to fake an orgasm. Whenever she pretended like she greatly enjoyed it, the men tended to tip her more. She hadn't had a customer in a couple of nights so she needed the tip. She moaned loudly.
Once her fake orgasm was over, Shelby pulled her skirt back down around her thighs. She looked over and saw the man now fully dressed and digging in his wallet. He gave Shelby 7 twenty dollar bills. $140, She thought, I've had worse nights.
Shelby walked out of the car without a good-bye. She walked down and alley to sneak her way to a near by motel and she got herself a cheap room there.
She walked into the room and saw the twin bed in the center. It was nothing fancy but it was a place to sleep. She walked over to the bed and lay down in it. She sighed. She couldn't believe that this was how she made a living now. This is what she was reduced to: selling herself on the streets.
She could go home and not have to do any of this. Who was she kidding? She got out of this hell and she would be put right into another. No. She was never going back. She'd rather live on the streets and turn tricks for as long as she could than go home and have to live with that monster.
End Fourth Flashback
Fifth Flashback
Shelby walked and then was grabbed by someone from behind. The figure put his hand over her mouth to prevent her scream from leaving her mouth. The person pulled her aside and continued to pull her until they were into another shed.
Shelby finally freed herself of the death grip the person had on her and she turned around to look at who grabbed her. Her blue eyes gazed up at the figure of Mike and her breath cought in her throat.
"I'm going to make you believe that you want me, Shelby." Mike said and sounded calm and sure of himself.
"No, you're not." Shelby said and tried to make a run for the door but Mike grabbed her and pulled her away from the door.
Mike shoved her to the opposite end of the shed and pushed her up against the wall. With Shelby's body pinned to the wall, Mike grabbed Shelby's chin violently and forced her to look at him. He moved down towards her in a quick movement and laid his lips on hers in a bruising kiss. Shelby tried to move her head away but couldn't. He was simply too strong.
"You're not going anywhere, babe. You're mine!" Mike said with an almost inhuman voice.
End Fifth Flashback
End Dream
Shelby woke up screaming 'no'. She scratched at the hand that reached for her, not knowing who it was and really not caring. She backed away until her back was firmly against the backboard of the bed. Once she called herself down she looked around and noticed that Peter, Sophie, Scott and Daisy were all looking at her with worried eyes.
"Shelby, are you all right?" Peter asked.
"Uh...yeah," Shelby responded but didn't sound convincing.
Shelby looked over at Scott and saw that his arm was bleeding. She realized that he was the one she scratched.
"Oh..yeah..sorry about that," Shelby said, looking up at Scott.
"Don't worry about me. I'm worried about you," Scott responded.
"Why?" Shelby asked as if she didn't have the dreams.
"Shelby, we know you were having nightmares,"
"A nightmare. It was only one now can we just leave it at that," Shelby was getting frustrated. She didn't want to talk about it.
"Shelby..."
"No, Scott. I don't want to talk about it. So can we please just drop it?"
Scott looked hurt that Shelby didn't want to open up to him like he always did to her.
"Shelby, I'm just trying to help," Scott said and grabbed her hand reassuringly.
Shelby looked up at Scott, pulled her hand away from his and looked down. After being reminded of her past with such reality, she felt like she didn't deserve to touch him. She felt just like one more slut now. She got rid of that feeling for a while but now with what she had to do with Mike, she felt like her old self again; the girl who turned tricks on the streets because she didn't want to screw her step-dad anymore.
Scott looked down at Shelby, once again hurt.
"We'll leave you two to talk," Sophie said and emphasized the word 'talk' for she did walk in on them kissing earlier.
Sophie, Peter and Daisy walked out of the room and let Scott and Shelby have their privacy.
Scott sat down on the bed next to Shelby and she scooted away from him. She got into a comfortable position and was back under the blanket again but she still didn't touch Scott.
"What happened?" Scott asked, eyeing her.
"Nothing," Shelby responded.
"I don't buy that. It was the dream, wasn't it?"
Shelby looked down again.
"Tell me," Scott ordered.
"It was nothing," Shelby retorted.
"Don't lie to me, Shel,"
A tear trickled down Shelby's cheek while she thought back to the dream she had. Scott wiped her tear away and she let him.
"What happened?" Scott asked again this time gently.
"In..the nightmare...it was like it was happening again," Shelby said softly.
"It? Mike trying to rape you?"
"Not just that. Everything with Walt, me being on the streets and the thing with Mike; just everything,"
"Was it like the dreams I use to have about Elaine?" Scott asked and his voice went tight at saying her name.
"I think so. This dream was like a bunch of flashbacks. It would just go from flashback to flashback and I couldn't control it..." Shelby drifted off as a couple more tears fell.
"It's okay," Scott said and rubbed Shelby's back very gently, trying not to hurt the bruises.
"And it was like I was just re-living it. It was horrible!"
Shelby let more tears fall down her cheeks.
"You're okay now, Shel. It was just a dream," Scott said.
"Did you think that when you were having those dreams about Elaine?" Shelby asked.
Scott shook his head. He knew exactly where Shelby was coming from right now and how she was feeling. Maybe not exactly, but pretty close. He understood the part of her dream about Walt. After that, he was just hoping it wasn't any worse for if it was worse then Shelby had one hell of a nightmare.
Shelby took in a deep breath and forced herself not to cry anymore. She looked at the time and saw that it was almost 3:00 p.m. She had to go to the hospital soon and her mother would be here in a few hours. The last thing Shelby wanted was her mother here while she was shaky from a dream about her sexually abusive ex-husband.
"No offense, Shelby, but how does your dream have to do with you not wanting to touch me?" Scott asked, still confused on that aspect.
"I don't feel like I deserve it now," Shelby said with sadness.
"Deserve it?"
"Yes. Scott, I was just reminded of the worst things in my life with such reality that it was like I was there again. I was the confused, little 13 year old girl who had sex with her step-father. I was the stupid 14 year old you kept it up just so he would promise not to touch her little sister even though he broke the promise and did so anyhow. I was the 15 year old slut who turned tricks on the streets. And I was the 16 year old who pretended to enjoy nearly getting raped just so he wouldn't hurt me anymore."
"And you think because you did those things that you don't deserve to touch me?"
"Well...yeah,"
"Shelby, you always deserve to touch me,"
Scott grabbed her hand, lifted it to his lips and laid a kiss on her hand.
"I love you." Scott said sweetly.
"I love you, too," Shelby said. "But--"
"No. No 'but'. I love you. And that's all that matters,"
Shelby looked up into Scott's baby blues and smiled.
"Now come here," Scott ordered softly.
He pulled Shelby into his arms and held her to him. He was trying to hard to be gentile and not hurt her for she was covered in bruises but all he wanted was to picked her up, squeeze her tightly and never let go.
Shelby hugged back and then pulled away. She, once again, looked into Scott's eyes.
"You're too good for me, Scott Barringer," Shelby said.
"No. I'm not good enough for you, Shelby Merrick," Scott responded.
"If only that were true,"
"It is,"
Shelby smiled again. Scott pulled her into another hug and they just sat in each others arms on the bed. They stayed there for some moments until they were disturbed when they heard the door open and they looked over.
Peter, Sophie, Daisy, Shelby's mother and Jess were all standing in the doorway looking at the couple on the bed.
(A/N)- I'm sorry this took so long. I was in the hospital for 3 days and I just got out. This chapter is very long but I wanted to give a good chapter. I hope I did. This might have been confusing though. With the dream: the flashbacks were part of the dream, they were all things that had happened to Shelby in the past. The dream was, like, it would just go from flashback to flashback without any pause, they would just sort of bleed intoeach other,and it was up to Shelby to remember each one.
I'm not very happy with my on-the-streets flashbacks. I've lived on the streets before like Shelby(but I never turned tricks) and I don't think that I captured it completly. I tried though. It's a very hard thing to do. I've been getting more serious about my writing and I'm not as easily impressed anymore. I had to write several different versions of each flash back.
Please let me know what you guys think.