I'm Not Scared.
Darcy walked back through the curtain casually, not wanting to break character, but as soon as it was behind her she jumped up and down with a huge grin on her face. Saraya was waiting for her with an equally big smile.
"That was really good, Darcy!" She exclaimed.
"Well done, kid."
Jon had barely finished speaking when Darcy almost launched herself at him, her arms wrapping around his neck tightly. Darcy was speaking quickly and loudly while Jon held her off the ground, she had gotten through the match without any significant mistakes and was going to make sure everyone knew it.
Harry cleared his throat and Darcy's arms dropped from Jon's neck as she turned to face her boyfriend.
"Did you see that?!"
"Yeah, I did," she smiled down at Darcy, watching her walk towards him with open arms. She hugged him around the waist. Without her being able to see, Harry sent Jon a warning look.
Darcy then followed Saraya to the locker room so that she could shower and change out of her ring gear. Her smile never left her face prompting Saraya to poke fun at her, Darcy was in too good a mood to even call her out on it.
No rush was made to get out of the locker room. Missing parts of the tapings never worried her much given that she would be able to watch them all later. Paige, however, was quick to get back to a monitor to watch the live feed.
Darcy, now fully clothed and running a towel back and forth over her hair, quickly looked to the door when she heard it open. Her heart began to race when she saw Harry come in, fury evident across his face and made even more so by the way he slammed the door shut.
"Guess who I had just had a chat with?" he asked as he took long steps towards her. Darcy stepped backwards instinctively and squeezed her eyes tight when she met a wall.
"I don't know." She opened her eyes and shook her head. Harry's arms encased her against the wall. She could feel his warm breath hitting her face; he was trying to maintain eye contact.
"That Ambrose character," he spat the name, his saliva hitting Darcy's face. She tightened a fist beside her, she wasn't stupid enough to try and hit him but it was helping her keep her composure. "You know what he tells me?" The question, clearly rhetorical, sends Darcy into a mild panic. "He told me that he wasn't gay. Do you have any idea why he'd say that, Harley?"
Darcy let out a shaky breath and closed her eyes again. Harry's hand grabbed onto her chin and she reopened them instantly. He held onto her tightly.
"You know, I didn't believe him at first," Harry continued to talk, her voice grating her ears. He knew Darcy wasn't going to say anything to him. "You wouldn't lie to me, I know that. You always tell me the truth. But then..." Darcy could feel her heart beating faster and faster, she could hear it in her ears and feel it in her throat. An empty feeling was brewing in her stomach, the first sign she wanted to vomit. "Then he started to tell me all of the things he'd do to you if you were his."
Darcy's breathing, as heavy as it was, was making her lightheaded. Both of her fists were clenched at her sides, one was dangerously close to grabbing onto Harry's shirt so she would have something to hold her up should her legs give out.
"He was going to push you up against the wall, rough but not too hard. Just how you like it. He'd bite your neck; mark you as his so everyone knew." Darcy gasped when the arm that wasn't holding her chin was forced against her throat. The pain was instant. "After he'd bruised your lips, as well, he'd take you to his bed. He told me how he'd kiss that spot you love so much. Your stomach just above your pussy. You wouldn't have told him how crazy that drove you, would you?"
'No," Darcy cried out as Harry applied more pressure with his forearm. "Harry." Her whimpering grew quiet when the pain in her neck and throat began to increase. Tears streamed down her cheeks from both fear and pain.
"You lying whore," Harry leaned into her ear. "I should have known you were sleeping with him. I wanted to believe you wouldn't do that, you know? I wanted to trust you so bad, Harley. But you're no good! And look what you've made me do!" He exclaimed, pulling back and making a strangling motion with his hands, but he stayed back. "I don't want to hurt you."
Darcy grasped at her throat and started to dry-retch. The soreness of her throat made her cry even harder, sobs beginning to rack her body. She was doubled over and wheezing.
The sound that resonated through the locker room caused enough pain as the actual slap. There was no way of keeping herself standing, Darcy fell to the floor in a heap. One hand cradled her left cheek, the other still holding her throat. Her nose ring had definitely moved; she could feel the same sting she had when her eyebrow ring had been ripped out.
She tried to push herself backwards when Harry knelt beside her, but once more she connected with the wall. She tried her hardest to scream for help but her throat was too sore, it came out as a muted groan.
"You've done this to yourself," Harry growled at her. He stretched out a hand and, forcing hers out of the way, pushed her back into the wall by her throat. She clawed at his hand in desperation. "I'm the only person who is ever going to love you right, remember th-"
He was cut off by the slamming of the door against the wall. Darcy dropped onto the floor again and shut her eyes as tight as she could. She heard a lot of commotion but didn't want to see what was happening. She knew the voices – Matt, Ashley and Colby were closest to her, Jon could be faintly heard snarling at Harry.
"We're going to get you out of here," Matt said as he touched Darcy's arm, trying to help her to her feet. She flinched backwards and couldn't stop the next wave of tears. Her eyes still hadn't opened. "Darcy, come on, you need to get to a hospital."
"No!" She shouted hoarsely, pushing herself up with help of the wall.
"What is she still doing here?" Jon asked over his shoulder, his teeth gritted. Darcy opened her eyes to see his arm around Harry's neck. Sleeper hold.
Darcy gasped and flew forward. She wanted to stop Jon, to make sure Harry could breathe, but her legs gave out from underneath her. The lack of oxygen had gotten to her entire body.
Ashley took hold of her hand and pulled Darcy to her feet. There was little she could do now that she was aware of how weak she was. Matt lifted her up into his arms easily, carrying her from the room with Ashley and Colby following close behind.
Still crying hysterically, Darcy tried her hardest to climb over the high railings of the hospital gurney. She was desperately trying to escape. She heard voices around her grow louder as the gurney came to a halt and she was gently moved back onto the bed despite her struggles.
Protests were lost in her throat; she was unable to produce anything that resembled an intelligible word and it hurt too much to groan or scream.
Silent sobs racked her chest when she tried to get her arms out of the grasp of a security man. He looked down at her sadly as he tied restraints around her wrists. Darcy clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut tight, still thrashing from side to side.
"Miss Quinn, I'm Doctor Troy and I'm going to be looking after you today, okay?"
Darcy did not acknowledge the young doctor and instead continued her attempt to rip her hands from the restraints. She wanted to wipe away the blood dripping from her nose. She wanted to wipe the tears from her cheeks. She wanted to get out of the hospital.
"We're going to take you for some scans, okay?" Doctor Troy tried to speak to her again but she continued to sob and struggle against the restraints. "Then Doctor Stevens here is going to speak to you."
Darcy looked to her other side to see a woman walking beside the gurney with a concerned look on her face. She only cried harder when she realised how many people had seen her in such a state.
She stopped struggling only moments later. She had run out of energy. She was hurting her neck every time she struggled and whenever she moved a muscle in her face she felt her nose throb more. She could feel her left eye beginning to swell.
There was no movement on her part as x-rays were taken and it was evident the Doctors appreciated her when she was calmer. Amidst her panic she had heard people discussing giving her something to calm her down. She was just waiting for something for the pain.
When she'd been through more machines than she could count – still attached to the sides of the gurney – Darcy was wheeled into a private room.
She swallowed the lump that had grown in her throat – grimacing violently at the pain it caused her – and nodded ever so slightly to the nurse who asked if she would like to have the bed raised into a sitting up position.
"Hi Darcy, I'm Doctor Stevens." Darcy's gaze – that of her right eye at least – followed the brunette from earlier as she walked further into the room. "I have to take some photos," she said and Darcy looked at her horrified. "I know it's not very nice but its procedure. I'm going to loosen your restraints and I just want you to come stand over here."
Darcy felt her wrists come free but she made no effort to get out of the bed. Doctor Stevens looked at her, the same sad expression on her face, and it made Darcy even more determined to stay in bed.
"Okay," Doctor Stevens said calmly, putting the camera down on the table. "I'm going to ask you some questions." Darcy looked away instantly. "I know you don't want to answer the questions but it's important so we know how to help you."
"No," Darcy said, her voice strangled and raw. She couldn't recognise herself. She definitely did not want to look in a mirror.
Doctor Stevens sighed to herself but pulled a small notepad out of her pocket along with a pen, "If we do this now it's over and done with, Darcy." She scribbled down a small word on one side of paper and then another on the other before ripping it off and putting it at Darcy's hand. "Yes or no questions so you don't have to strain your voice."
Darcy picked up the paper between her fingers and gingerly held it in her line of sight. 'No' was written on one side and 'yes' on the other.
"Do you know the person who assaulted you?" Darcy looked down at the paper for a moment. The night flashed through her mind again and she worried whether Harry would come find her again if she told. "Do you know them Darcy?"
Darcy held up 'yes'.
"Are you in a relationship with them?" another 'yes'.
The questions kept on coming and the tears flowed once again, though this time she was free to wipe them away.
It was clear that Doctor Stevens had found out as much information as she could from Matt, Colby and Ashley but she needed to hear it from the person who experienced the whole thing.
"Did you ever lose consciousness?" Darcy held up the 'no' card and Doctor Stevens put her notepad away, taking the answer card from Darcy and scrunching it into a ball. "We'll get you something to write on. How about those photos?"
It was slow and dejectedly, but Darcy pulled herself from the bed and stood in front of the white wall. She never looked directly into the camera. Close up shots of her face and neck; her swollen eye, her most likely broken nose and the bruises forming on the front of her neck. She felt like a rag doll, thrown around and beaten effortlessly. She hadn't even put up a fight.
As Doctor Stevens left the room Darcy heard Jon's voice.
"I'm going to go in there and see her because it's my fault she's in there."
"I'm sorry sir, but you aren't allowed," Doctor Stevens' voice had changed from calm and caring to almost malicious. It was evident what she assumed. She quickly closed the door behind her.
"You think I hit her?" Jon seethed. Even through the closed-door Darcy could hear him clearly. "I'm not the low life sack of shit who hits women. Don't ever accuse me of that again. If some stupid punk comes in with a broken jaw, two black eyes and is having trouble breathing, that's him. I made sure he had to come here."
Darcy pressed her ear up against the door; she knew that Doctor Stevens was not going speak as loud as Jon.
"I didn't hear you say that," the doctor sighed heavily. "We'll get him when he comes in. That still doesn't mean you're allowed to see her. She's not in any frame of mind for visitors that aren't family."
"She doesn't have any family," Jon groaned – Darcy knew he was wiping a, probably bloodied, hand over his face. "We're her family."