Chapter 14: New Fears
His eyes opened, the light nearly blinding him. "Where am I?" He asked. His heart then started racing. "Where am I?" He repeated. His vision started to become clearer, but he was already trying to take the needles in his arm out when someone pinned him. "NO!" He shouted. He struggled against the person. "GET OFF ME!" He shouted.
"Andros, Andros, it's me," Karone insisted.
Andros stopped when he heard her talk and he opened his eyes to see his sister staring at him. "Karone?" He asked. She nodded her head slowly.
"It's me," she replied.
Ignoring the pain from his rib and hugged her tight. "Karone," he whispered. The tears threatening to fall down his face. "You mean…I'm home?" He asked.
"Yes, you're home," she replied.
He suddenly became like a helpless child and he let out a sob. Karone sat on the edge of the bed and held onto her brother, stroking his striped hair with a sigh. "You're home, you're safe," she whispered.
"Y--You have no idea how long I--I've been wanting to hear that," he answered.
Karone hushed him and had him lie back down. "Andros, do you remember anything of when you escaped?" She asked. Andros laid there for a minute and he shook his head.
"I didn't escape, I was rescued," he replied.
"What?" She asked.
"I was rescued…Ecliptor saved me."
"Ecliptor!
Is he okay?"
"He was when I saw him."
Andros let out a sigh. "Andros…I have something else to ask you and if you don't want to tell me it's okay," she informed. Andros took a deep breath without hurting his rib.
"What?" He asked.
"Who raped you?" She asked.
Andros felt his heart sink to the bottom of his stomach. The hot tears were stinging his eyes as every painful memory hit him at full force. "Andros?" She asked. A tear fell down his face.
"Divatox…" he muttered.
Karone suddenly felt sick to her stomach. "Darkonda beat me…and she raped me," he replied.
"Andros…" she trailed off.
Andros was about to say something when the door opened and the doctor came in. She smiled at Andros. "Well, it's good to see that you're awake. I need to check your rib," she informed. Andros backed away from her.
"Don't touch me," he insisted.
"I have to in order to see how your rib is doing."
She reached out to touch his side when he pushed her away. "I said, don't touch me," he ordered.
"Andros, just lay back and relax, it'll be done shortly," she assured him.
When those words left her mouth, that was it. When she once again reached out to touch him, Andros pushed back with full force. "NO! DON'T!" He shouted. Karone got up when Andros started to struggle against the doctor.
"Andros, calm down," she insisted.
"DON'T TOUCH ME! LET ME GO!" Andros shouted.
The doctor brought out a sedative. "Karone, you have to give him this," she insisted.
"What?" Karone asked.
"If you want to help him you'd give him this, he'll hurt himself if he doesn't calm down," she replied.
Karone took the sedative. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Andros winced in pain when the needle went into his arm and he suddenly felt exhausted again and was asleep in no time. The doctor sighed and checked Andros's rib.
"It should heal with a lot of rest," she commented.
"You should have listened to him," Karone
mumbled.
"Excuse me?"
Karone stood up with a glare. "You said it yourself he was raped! And yet you go over to touch him!" Karone snapped.
"I was doing my job," she insisted.
"MY BROTHER JUST CAME OUT OF A TORTURE CHAMBER AND YOU GO TO TOUCH HIM!" Karone shouted.
Karone glared at her. "You're a doctor! You should know that a rape victim doesn't want to be touched," Karone snapped. The doctor sighed.
"I had to check his side," she insisted.
"You could have waited. My brother nearly died and you act as if it's nothing," Karone hissed quietly.
The doctor sighed. "Karone, I also came to tell you that with the amount of trauma, your brother might be long gone," she informed. Karone looked at her with a slight glare.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"There's no hope for your brother to recover, not very many people who went through this kind of trauma survive afterwards," the doctor replied.
"My brother is not suicidal."
"I didn't say that."
"You were hinting it."
Karone took a step closer to the doctor. "I swear to you that my brother will survive and he will be the person he once was. Don't you give up on him before he was even able to start to live again," she snapped.
"I'm just saying, there's no hope left for him," the doctor repeated before leaving.
"There is still hope for him," Karone whispered.
Karone walked over and sat back down beside his bed and held his hand. She stroked his hair and bit her lip when her hand accidentally bumped the stitches along his hairline. A lump formed in her throat, she lowered her head, and her shoulders shook as she cried. "How can they give up on you, when you haven't even been given the chance to live again?" She sobbed.
