Chapter 3
Rachel gawked at the wall ahead as she lied in her bed where she had been since she arrived home yesterday, after a week in the hospital. She only moved when she needed to use the bathroom. Images flashed on the TV, but she paid no attention to it.
There was a knock on the door before Hiram appeared in her doorway, holding a tray of food. "Hi sweetheart, I made your favorite soup."
"I'm not hungry." Rachel muttered, peeling her eyes off the wall to glance at her father.
Hiram sighed as he placed the tray on her nightstand. "Rachel, you have to eat."
"I'm not hungry." She repeated.
"Well I'll leave it there in case you do get hungry. But you'll have to eat at least a little bit in a little while so you can take your medicine." Hiram said, taking a seat on her bed. He placed a hand on her leg, his heartbreaking when she flinched. "Can I do something for you?"
Tears sprang to her once sparkling eyes. "Can you make everything go away?"
"No, unfortunately I can't." He frowned. He would do anything to take this misery away from his baby girl. "Do you want to talk?"
She shook her head, sniffling.
"I know you want to forget about it, but bottling it in isn't going to help." Hiram said, but Rachel remained silent. "Dad is going to call the psychologist today."
"I don't want to go." Rachel whispered hoarsely.
"I know, but you need help." Hiram smiled sadly. "Why don't you come downstairs for a little while? Maybe get out of your bed?"
"I don't want to. It hurts to move." Rachel cried.
Hiram took a deep breath as he stood. "Your body will start healing soon. I'll be downstairs with Dad. Shout or call if you need us."
Rachel watched as her father left the room, closing the door behind him. She was pleading her mind to terminate the horrible memories that invaded her head, but no matter what she did, the images remained. Tears traced a trail down her battered face. She couldn't take it anymore.
She winced as she hauled her aching body off the bed. She slowly made her way into the bathroom, each step strengthening the pain. She threw open the medicine cabinet, grabbing a razor from the shelf. She ran her thumb over the glistening blade. She wanted to end this. She wanted to end the pain and misery she was feeling. Without another thought, she shoved the blade against her arm, tearing open the bruised skin. Blood spurted from the wound, splashing onto the tiles beneath her. She pushed it harder against her flesh as the room began to spin. Black spots danced in her vision and her legs grew weak. She collapsed to the floor, feeling her body slowly succumb to the darkness that was threatening to overtake her. The blade dropped to the floor beside her with a clink as her body fell lifeless.
Hiram poured a glass of water before grabbing the bottle of pills that sat on the kitchen counter. He glanced at his husband, who sat at the kitchen island, his eyes glued to the computer screen as he researched help for his daughter. "I'm bringing her medicine up to her."
"Okay." Leroy said, peeling his eyes off the screen.
Hiram climbed the stairs and knocked on the door with a gold star on it. He opened it slowly when he heard no response, but he found the bed empty. "Rachel?"
He placed the water and pill bottle on the dresser and knocked on the connecting bathroom door. "Rachel? Are you in there, sweetie?"
He grew uneasy as he heard no response. He opened the door, his stomach dropping and his eyes widening as he found his daughter sprawled on the bathroom floor with blood sputtering from the gash on her arm. "Oh my god! Leroy! Call 911! Call 911!"
Hiram grabbed the bath towel on the door and pressed it to the wound. He felt for a pulse, feeling slightly relieved at the faint throb beneath his fingertips. His heart was pounding in his chest and he felt tears spring to his eyes. "Why Rachel? Why?"
Leroy surged into the bathroom with a phone in his hand. Nausea overwhelmed him as his eyes settled on his daughter. His fingers fumbled against the buttons on the phone as he dialed 911.
Hiram began to cry as he pressed on the gash with the towel. His daughter was trying to commit suicide. Everything felt so surreal. It felt as though he was watching his family fall apart from afar. It was like a never-ending nightmare.
Sirens were faint in the distance. They grew louder and louder as they approached the Berry house until they were blaring. Leroy darted out of the room and down the stairs to open the door. Hiram scooped his daughter in his arms, taking note of how light she felt. She was quickly disappearing into bones since she was put in the hospital. The scary thing was that she barely had anything to lose to begin with.
He met the paramedics at the bottom of the stairs where they were waiting with a gurney. He slipped her onto it gently. The once white towel wrapped around her arm was now heavy with blood. "She…she tried to…kill herself. There was a razor on the floor next to her."
The paramedic nodded as two others whisked Rachel outside. "Any events that led to this?"
Hiram and Leroy exchanged heartbroken glances. Leroy cleared his throat before speaking up. "She was…raped a week ago."
The man cringed. "I'm sorry. I know it looks bad, but chances are she will be okay. You did a good job wrapping the towel around the wound and applying pressure. Unfortunately, I'm only allowed to take one in the ambulance."
"You go. I'll meet you there." Leroy said, grabbing his keys from the tray on the table.
Hiram nodded, following the paramedic outside and into the ambulance. Tears began to tumble down his cheeks as he stared at his daughter's pale and fragile form on the gurney. The drive to the emergency felt like a lifetime. They rushed her into the emergency room, and a nurse stopped Hiram outside the door. "I'm sorry sir, but I can't let you into the room. It's protocol. I'll keep you updated."
Hiram nodded. "Thanks."
He strolled into the waiting room, pacing back and forth. He couldn't sit. Not while his daughter was lying on a table because she tried to end her life. He couldn't even comprehend how they got here. His baby, the girl whose smile always lit up the room, who was always bouncing with joy and passion, tried to kill herself. He felt rage ignite within him. He wanted to kill the boy who did this to her; who broke his daughter.
Leroy scurried into the waiting room, embracing his husband in his arms. "I just got a call from Nicole, the detective working on Rachel's case. They arrested the boy, Jason Greyback."
"Jail doesn't do enough justice to what he did to her. Somebody needs to make him feel the pain she is feeling."
"He's only sixteen so he just ruined his entire future."
Hiram pulled out of his husband's arms. "Sixteen? How does somebody commit such a horrible crime at sixteen? Are they going to try him as a minor?"
"It's hard to tell. He's sixteen, but he committed an adult crime. I'm going to call Christina. I can't work on this case, it's too personal." Leroy said. "It's taking everything in me to not go to the jail and beat this son of a bitch."
Hiram nodded, rubbing his face with his hands. He just needed to know that his daughter was okay. "I just don't understand how he could do this to her."
It was nearly an hour before the doctor made an appearance in the waiting room. Hiram and Leroy both jumped up from their chairs and clasped each other's hand. "Is she okay?"
"Physically yes. She lost a lot of blood so she's very weak, but they stitched up the laceration. Her arm will probably be sore for a few days, but it will heal fine. However, we have to keep her for twenty four hours for suicide watch. A psychiatrist will be in within the next hour to talk to Rachel. She also specializes in rape counseling." The doctor explained before frowning. "Your daughter is very traumatized and she doesn't seem to regret what she did."
"She just got out of the hospital yesterday after being there for a week. We were downstairs researching therapists when she did this. She doesn't want to go though and she refuses to talk." Hiram said dejectedly. "We're so worried about her."
"She went through a very traumatic experience and she's only fourteen. It's going to take a lot of time and work for her to get passed this." The doctor said with a sad smile. "You can go see her; we've transferred her to the psych ward, so I'll show you the way. A nurse will be in every thirty minutes just to check on her."
"Thank you." Hiram whispered. He and Leroy followed the woman to Rachel's room. They stepped inside to find their daughter gawking at her wall ahead. "Hey pumpkin."
Rachel's eyes moved to her father's, but she remained silent.
"Rachel, please do not ever scare us like that again." Leroy said.
"You weren't supposed to find me." Rachel whispered, glancing down at her lap.
It took everything in Hiram to hold back his tears. "Rachel, we love you more than anything and I know this is hard right now, but you will get through this. You have so much to live for."
Rachel's lower lips trembled as she looked at her fathers with pain etched in her features. "It hurts too much."
Hiram gathered his daughter in his arms as she erupted into tears. As Rachel grew older, he began to prepare himself for the day she came home crying that her heart was broken. Never did he think he'd be holding her crying because of this.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! I had a spark of inspiration with the sequel so it will definitely be up within the next three weeks. Thanks for being patient.
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