CHAPTER FOUR
"Thanks for driving us, mom." Aria said as she, Hannah, and Ella got out of the car and walked towards the hospital.
"No problem, sweetie. I was planning on coming anyway." She glanced over at her daughter who was speedily tapping her phone.
Hannah looked down at Aria's phone and muttered "What did Toby say?"
"Spencer's asleep and Emily is in and out of it. She's in a lot of pain so they've been giving her meds that make her really groggy." Aria informed her. She then turned to her mom as they waited for the elevator. "I told him what you said about Mrs. Fields being here soon."
"Still no word on Spencer's parents." Ella asked as they rode the elevator. Hanna and Aria shared a look that did not go unnoticed by Mrs. Montgomery. "What is it?"
After the disaster interview with the police, they all agreed not to talk about what happened until they could get some food, rest, and their thoughts together. But getting rest or having an appetite was hard to do when two of their best friends were in the hospital and they had all gone through the most horrific night of their young lives. Instead of talking about what happened, Hannah and Aria had stayed up in Aria's bedroom talking about what will happen. And everything kept coming back to the Hastings. Melissa Hastings had killed Allison DiLaurentis which meant she would need a lawyer. Her parents were lawyers but Allison was Spencer's best friend. And if that wasn't enough, Ian who was Melissa's husband had been arrested which meant he would need a lawyer. But he had raped and nearly killed Spencer. But when Ian had tried to kill Spencer in the bell tower, her parents-none of their parents-believed them. What if they still didn't believe them especially since the first thing the police who questioned them yesterday said was that they committed a crime by breaking into Jason's house? So they probably all needed lawyers but who would the Hastings defend? Which daughter?
Before Aria could answer, the elevator dinged open and the three exited. Shockingly just outside Spencer's room was Mr. and Mrs. Hastings. Mrs. Hastings was on the phone and they looked like they had just arrived at Spencer and Emily's room.
"Calm down, honey, I can barely understand you. Okay. Okay. Melissa please. You have to calm down this is not good for the baby. Me and your father are at the hospital now. Spencer's been hurt. I will be there as soon as I can or I can send your father to meet you there and I'll stay here with Spencer."
"What's going on?" Peter asked when she hung up.
"She said that Ian's been arrested."
"Ian!" Peter yelled in surprise. "He's been in jail this whole time? Where?"
Veronica shook her head. "No, he's back. He was arrested by Rosewood PD." Peter opened his mouth to say something but Veronica shook her head again knowing his next question "Melissa's 's trying to find out why but he said the police aren't being clear on what they are charging him with."
"When was he arrested?"
"Last night." Hannah answered when she approached the couple.
"What?" Both Mr. and Mrs Hastings looked shocked. "How do you-are you girls involved with this somehow?" Peter asked looking between Aria and Hanna.
"Wait is that why Spencer's in the hospital?" Veronica guessed. "Did something happen with you all and Ian!"
"Veronica, please calm down." Ella stepped in. "I'm sorry you are just now learning about this but we have been dealing with this since last night. Spencer and Emily were brought to the hospital last night both badly injured. It happened at Jason Dilarentis' house. The police tried questioning Hannah and Aria yesterday but the girls were too traumatized. Jason's also here in the hospital and yes Ian was arrested. We still haven't heard everything but the little we heard was horrifying. Those two men terrorized our daughters and right now the only thing we need to be thinking about is how to help them through this and keep them away from any further harm."
"I can't believe this. This is insane. I need to talk to Spencer. Peter let's go."
"Veronica, wait."
"What is it, Ella?" Veronica nearly whined in frustration, the need to talk to Spencer and get some real facts overwhelming.
"You need to prepare yourselves before walking in that hospital room." Hanna and Aria watched in awe as the color drained from the usually intimidating faces of Mr. and Mrs. Hastings. "Of the four girls, Spencer was hurt the worse. The scars on the outside only tell half the story."
"Oh my god." Veronica uttered before rushing into the hospital room, terrified of what she would see but needing to see her child more than ever.
The room was quiet. The three teenagers were asleep in various positions. Emily on her back, head tilted and chest rising and falling gently. Toby was in a chair between the two beds, head back and snoring slightly. Spencer was on the bed curled in a fetal position facing the window, her back also rising and falling gently with each breath. Her parents quietly closed the door behind them making it clear to those waiting outside that they wanted to be alone with their daughter.
"When she wakes up, I'll stay with her while you go see about Ian." Veronica whispered as they quietly made their way towards Spencer's bed. "Melissa said-" Veronica stopped talking when she saw that Spencer's eyes were open and she realized she had been mistaken assuming she was asleep. "Spencer...honey...how are you feeling?"
Slowly Spencer moved her stare from out the window to her parents worried faces.
"Champ?" Peter questioned when instead of verbally responding she only stared at them with a dull expression.
Heart pounding with worry, Veronica dropped her purse onto the table by the bed before pulling a chair as close as it would go with her sitting in it to Spencer's bedside. "Baby?" Veronica questioned as she took Spencer's hand in hers. Still no response, Veronica scanned her daughter and that's when she noticed the discoloration on her neck and the light bruises on her face. "Baby what happened?" She whispered.
She tried to talk. She really did but nothing would come out. All that time learning SAT vocabulary amounted to nothing. She couldn't find anything in the English language or the few other languages she knew that could communicate how she was feeling, what had happened, or why. All that came out were tears. They welled in her eyes and spilled over her eyelashes when her mom asked what happened.
"Peter, get her doctor in here now." Veronica ordered while still witnessing her normally articulate daughter struggle to utter a single word.
Amazingly before Peter could act, Spencer's doctor walked in and greeted the Hastings.
"Your daughter was brought in last night along with Emily Fields and two other girls. I'm still waiting to speak with Emily's parents." The doctor informed them as she nodded to the sleeping Emily. "The police also want to speak to them but I did not allow them to talk to either of these girls until I spoke to you."
"What happened?"
"I can only talk about your daughter's injuries that we treated thus far."
"Okay."
"She has one broken rib and severe bruising on her abdomen and around her neck. Some minor chafing on her wrists and a few other minor scrapes and bruises. What concerns me the most is her silence. She has been either unwilling or unable to answer any questions that the staff here has asked her. While she shows no other signs of having a concussion-we found no head wounds or lumps-I still want to check for any brain damage. If there is, that could account for her not speaking because of something called aphasia."
"Did the other girls say what happened to her?"
"Not to me." The doctor shook her head. "I can set up the brain scan for later this afternoon."
"Thank you." Peter Hastings muttered, annoyed that they still did not really have any answers.
"She doesn't have brain trauma. Just trauma." Emily spoke as soon as the doctor left.
"Please tell us what happened." Veronica asked. She had already suspected that Emily was pretending to sleep and therefore not surprised when she spoke. Emily looked at Spencer then at Toby who was also now awake. She used her eyes to communicate a message to Toby that he understood.
"I'm gonna go grab a bite to eat." He said as he stood and made his way out. Once he was gone, Emily got out of the bed and went and sat on Spencer's with her back toward Spencer's parents. She used her thumb to wipe away a still falling tear from Spencer's face.
Mr. and Mrs. Hastings watched in awe as Emily bent down and whispered something in Spencer's ear. They saw their daughter look down and bite her lip before looking back into Emily's eyes and nodding slightly.
Having her answer, Emily turned to face the Hastings. "You should probably sit down for this."
Just as they were about to, a new voice broke the silent tension.
"Oh my god, Emily." Pam Fields gushed when she rushed into the room.
"Mom!" Emily cried. The two embraced. Mr. and Mrs. Hastings awkwardly moved closer to their own daughter. The stoic family not one for publicly displaying so much emotion.
"Peter, Veronica? What's going on? How's Spencer?" Pam questioned after pulling away from Emily but keeping her hand clasped in hers.
"We know as much as you do at this point." Veronica spoke. "Emily was just about to fill us in."
The families abruptly turned towards the door when they heard someone clearing their throat.
"I'm Officer Alavez." He offered. "I'd really like to get to the bottom of all this. I've got a lot of injuries and one man in custody. I've been waiting since yesterday to talk with Spencer Hastings and Emily Fields. You're their parents right."
"Yes, officer. I'm Peter Hastings and this is my wife, Veronica."
"I'm Emily's mom, Pam."
"I brought some officers with me and I would really like to take your statements separately. Do you mind if an officer brings a wheelchair to take you to a different room?" Alavez asked Emily.
"I can walk. I don't need a wheelchair." Emily informed him.
"Very well." Alavez waved someone over. A short, balding man in a uniform appeared a moment later. "This is officer Brooks." Alavez introduced him. "He'll take your statement.
"If you'll follow me." Brooks said before heading out. Emily cast one last glance over at Spencer before slowly following her mom and the police officer out the room.
All remaining eyes then turned to Spencer as well who was still curled in a fetal position on the bed refusing to make eye contact with anyone.
Alavez took out a small notepad and pencil. He put the pencil behind his ear before removing a small tape recorder from his coat pocket. "Miss Hastings, I just need you to tell me in your own words what happened last night."
When minutes passed with no acknowledgment from Spencer of anyone's presence, Alavez sighed and shut the recording off. Peter and Veronica looked at each other and then at Spencer.
"Okay, this is crazy." Veronica finally snapped. "I need to know what happened to my daughter last night."
"What have you heard?"
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing. We get a call saying Spencer's in the hospital and to get there right away. When we tried calling her phone, it went straight to voicemail and we only just heard from Melissa but that was to tell us that Ian was arrested."
"Ian Thomas?"
"Yes."
"How do you know him?"
"He's our son in law!"
"That's right." Alavez said while flipping back through his notebook. "I've got that here."
"Well what else do you have there!" Veronica exclaimed. "Because you clearly have more information on what happened than your letting on."
With all the yelling, none of the adults noticed the teenager suddenly shaking and crying in her bed. Hearing Ian's name enough to transport her back to Allison's room.
Meanwhile, in three separate rooms, the girls recounted what happened at Jason's house.
Aria: Spencer and I searched downstairs while Hannah
Emily: and me looked upstairs. We figured out that Allison would be clever enough to hide the thing Jason wanted in Jason's room. We found the
Hannah: flash drive in his closet. We all met back in the living room but then I remembered I left something upstairs.
Aria: It was a little knife...a pocket knife. We all went back up to Jason's room to get it but then we heard the door slam downstairs.
Hannah: I thought Emily was right behind me but when we didn't see her we just waited. After a few more minutes, Spencer told me and Aria
Aria: to get help and she was going to go back upstairs but it was important that at least one of us got away. We split up. Hanna and I were almost to the back door when we heard Spencer scream.
Hanna: Ian had her by her hair and she was trying to get him off of her. We didn't think about getting away. We just tried to help Spencer. I guess we thought the three of us could take him but then suddenly
Aria: Jason was there. They were too strong. They grabbed us and took us back to Jason's room.
Emily: It was awful
Aria: He hurt her so much
Emily: I didn't think it could get any worse.
Aria: They were on top of them. Jason on Emily. Ian on
Hannah: Spencer. There was nothing we could do. He had tied us up. I tried to kick Ian off of her but he just pushed me down.
Emily: He touched me...everywhere. I just wanted him to stop.
Aria: We almost got away. Emily was able to kick Jason hard enough and then I kicked away the gun. We ran but
Hannah: The door was locked. Ian was right behind Spencer by the time I got it open. I made it out the door but then someone...Aria fell into me. I think Ian must have pushed Spencer into her. We still made it to the next room but we couldn't keep the door closed. Ian was too strong.
Aria: He pushed it open and we fell down. Then he grabbed Spencer and dragged her out. We tried to open the door but it was hard, you know, because our hands were still tied. We couldn't get out.
Emily: Yes I stabbed him! He...was...he was going to...to...r-r-rape me.
Hannah: Emily opened the door. I remember seeing her bleeding but she didn't seem to be bothered. I think we were all just worried about Spencer. Ian had taken her to Allison's room.
Aria: He raped her.
Hanna: He raped her.
Emily: Ian raped her.
Meanwhile, back in Spencer's room, Officer Alavez was starting to sweat from the workout of fielding rapid fire questions coming at him from the two Hasting attorneys.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hastings I'll know more when the officers finish taking the statements of the other girls." Officer Alavez explained. "I was able to talk to Hanna Marin and Aria Montgomery briefly last night. Hanna made a pretty big accusation against Ian Thomas which is why I really need to speak to your daughter."
"Well what did she say?"
"She claims she saw Ian Thomas rape your daughter."
"He's dead!" Peter Hastings raged as he headed for the door.
"Now hold on Peter." Veronica said while grabbing his arm.
"Hold on!" Peter yelled. "Look what he did to her!" He continued gesturing at Spencer.
"I know Peter. But we have to be very careful here. Ian is Melissa's husband. They are about to have a baby. We need to make sure we have all the facts which means we have to hear this from Spencer."
Alavez watched the interplay between the couple.
"You and I both know this marriage was a bad idea." Alavez eyebrow raised at that. He made a note thinking the couple were too engrossed in their argument to notice. But they did.
"Let's discuss this later." Veronica stated. "Right now we should be thinking about Spencer." Veronica then turned to Alavez. "Can you give us a moment? Now that we know more of the situation, I want to talk to my daughter...in private."
As soon as the officer left, Veronica moved to sit on her daughter's bed. Just as Emily had done earlier, she wiped away Spencer's tears. "Is it true, baby?" Mrs. Hastings whispered. "Did Ian rape you?" Spencer still couldn't get the words out so instead she nodded. "Come here, baby." Veronica soothed as she pulled Spencer up and into her arms.
Peter sat in the chair Toby had left and put his head in his hands. Everything in him telling him to go to Ian and beat the crap out of him. But as an officer of the court, he knew he needed to keep a cool head. The sound of his daughter whimpering in his wife's arms became too much. He stood and left the room needing to take a walk.
Veronica knew him well enough to know he just needed to cool off and that he wasn't going after Ian. She was glad that he left because the next part was only going to get harder for him to see.
"Spencer, my brilliant baby. I know you don't want to hear this but you know what we have to do next, don't you." Spencer's eyes widened with fear before shaking her head.
"No, please." She rasped. It wasn't lost on her that these were the first words she had spoken but also the last words she had spoken hours ago.
"I"m sorry, honey." Veronica pushed an errant hair behind Spencer's ear before continuing. "I'm sorry, I have to talk to you like a lawyer now but the police need evidence to support your claim. Your body…"Veronica internally fought to keep it together. But Spencer saw the tears well up in her mom's eyes. "Your body is a crime scene. They have to do a forensic exam. We'll need it if we want to send Ian away for a long, long time." It seemed like hours passed where mother and daughter stared at each other, each pleading with their eyes to understand their side of things. Really it was only a matter of seconds before Spencer nodded.
"Okay," She breathed. "I'll do it."