Thanks for the responses I got, they really made my day! This chapter is dedicated to savetoniqht, blondy808 and scullyschik. The events described at the beginning could be seen as a little extreme, and I agree. I didn't really think about it when I wrote it so I guess you'll just have to deal with it :P
Enjoy, and don't forget to review!
"W-What do you want from me?" I stutter as he paces back and forth in front of me. He turns to look at me, an evil grin on his face. "I want you to submit." he replies. Tears spring to my eyes. 'Don't cry' I think to myself. 'Don't you dare cry.' I'm shaking all over, my wrists bound to the arms of the chair and my ankles to the legs of it. I look away, but he puts a hand under my chin and forces me to look in his direction.
"You have two choices. Either you shut up and do exactly as I say exactly when I say it, or..." he produces a knife from his trouser pocket. "...Or I cut you. Which is it to be?" A tear silently trickles down my face. "I'll do anything you say." I tell him. He nods in satisfaction.
"Good girl." He brings the knife to my arms and I wince, but all he does is slit the rope binding me to the chair, as well as my ankles. I take this opportunity and kick him hard, spring to my feet and make a dash for the door. It's locked. I cry out in desperation as he catches up to me.
"Bad girl!" he scolds. "Now I'm going to have to punish you." he didn't sound at all upset by that fact. He clenches his hand into a fist, draws it back and brings it down into my stomach, hard. I cry out and bend forward, and when I do this he shoves me roughly to the floor. He kicks me in the ribs and I curl up into a ball to protect myself.
"Into the bathroom!" he roars at me, and not wanting to anger him any further I pull myself up and stagger after him. I stop just short of the door, staring at what I presume to be my 'punishment'. 'More like torture' I think.'He must have known I'd screw up'. He pushes me inside the door. "Go, bitch." he tells me.
"N-no... You can't!" I can't stop shaking, and I'm sure I can hear my own heart thumping in my ears. All my thoughts are focused on what is to come, and I barely register his hands pulling my shirt over my head, unclasping my black skirt and yanking my panties down.
"Step out" he orders, and I obey. He tells me to lie down and I obey. He tells me to spread my legs and I start to panic. I start begging him to leave me alone, to let me go. He slaps me hard across my face, and I obey. Tears stream down my face and I barely notice them as the bastard forces himself into me. Something inside me breaks, and I scream in pain. He clamps a hand over my mouth, grunts, and comes. I sob. Finally he pulls out of me, and upon standing up grabs a fistful of my blonde hair, yanking me to my feet. I cry even harder, and he hits me again.
"In." he tells me. I stare at the device of torture in front of me, and after taking a deep breath, plunge my foot into the ice that is filling the bath tub. I gasp at the raw coldness and have to compose myself before putting the other foot in. I lower myself, my face contorted in pain. The ice burns at my skin, and I struggle to breathe. "Please let me out!" I gasp. My chest hurts, my lungs feel like they're twisted and manipulated so they can't receive any oxygen. "Please!" I beg. "I think I'm about to have an asthma attack!" he ignores me, just smiles cruelly at the sight of me writhing in pain. He pushes me down so that I am almost totally submerged and I try to scream, but instead panicked gasps come to my throat. I can feel my airway closing and I cough, practically choking on the mucus that is filling my throat. He suddenly reaches under my arms and pulls me roughly from the melting ice, depositing me on the floor. Shivers wrack my body uncontrollably, and not just from the freezing cold. I reach for my skirt but he kicks it away. "Please! My inhaler, I'll die if I don't take it... Please!" he laughs again, and bending down, fucks me again. I arch my back, and as he pulls himself out of me, he places the tip of his stiletto against my right upper cheek, and holding me still, drags a small but deep cut down my face.
"Something to remember me by" he sneers, before tossing my clothes at me. "Listen bitch, if you tell anyone..." he drew his knife lightly across my throat, and left. Straight away I feel in my skirt pocket for my ventolin and take it, breathing a sigh of relief. As my throat begins to reopen I lean back against the bathtub, feeling numb and detached. I rest my head in my cupped hands and cry myself to sleep.
"Remy?" a hand gently shook my shoulder and I opened my eyes to find Cameron standing over me, her expression dripping with solicitude. I swallowed nervously. I was sweating, but shivering. "You have a fever" Cameron said, as if she had read my mind. "And you were screaming in your sleep." I looked up at her, suddenly shocked, before staring blankly at the wall behind her, tears welling up behind my tired eyes. She tilted her head to one side and sat down on the side of my bed. "Who's Sean?" she asks quietly. "Is he the man who-" I cut her off.
"No! He's... I don't want to talk about it." I curl up on my side and gasp in pain as it puts pressure on my broken ribs. Cameron sighed. "You should try and stay on your back." she tells me.
"Hurts" I mumbled. She lifted up my gown to look at the damage and grimaced at the newly-formed pattern of bruises covering my skin. She had to take a moment to compose herself before replying. "All the same, lying on your side could cause further damage. We haven't even been able to X-ray your ribcage yet, one of the machines is broken and there's a massive queue for the other. Come on, I'll help you." She firmly grips my shoulders and twists me so that I'm looking up at her again.
"I'm naturally blonde" I blurted out. Cameron looked confused. She put a hand on my forehead again, checking for delirium, but I shake her off.
"When I was in college I had this boyfriend, Sean. He was... Rough." She froze, a hand flying up to her mouth in shock as she made the connection. "Oh God." she sank into the chair beside my bed. "So last night wasn't- ...I mean it wasn't the first time something like that had happened?" I shook my head and looked away, ashamed. She put a hand on my cheek and tilted my head so she could look into my eyes.
"And everything that you said in your sleep... The abuse, the ice baths, the rape... It was all true? Oh... I think I'm gonna throw up..." I was crying and I hadn't even realised. I reached over and grasped her hand, and she stroked my fingers gently. Tears dripped down her own cheeks.
"I... I need to do a physical exam." she mumbled suddenly. I almost laughed; it was such a ridiculous change of subject. I tried to sit up, and winced. She smiled sympathetically at me and put a hand on my bruised back to support me. "Could you open your mouth for me sweetie? I need to get a swab..." I complied. "Did he... Do anything like that with you?" I thought back. My memories were getting foggier and foggier.
"I can't remember" I answered honestly. Cameron patted me gently and helped me out of my gown. "Sorry hun." she apologised as I closed my eyes tight, refusing to look at the preliminary damage covering me. Her fingers gently probed my broken body, tutting and cringing as I let out quiet cries of pain. Finally she stroked the hair from my face and laid me back down again.
"Um... There's just one more thing I need" she blushed and held up a q-tip. Knowing immediately what she meant, heavy sobs started to wrack my body. She looked guilt-ridden, and it wasn't even her fault. "Can I?" she asked, and I nodded slightly. I heard her take a deep breath before lifting up the blankets at the end of my bed. I covered my face with my hands, blushing in embarrassment as she did her job. "I thought it would be better that I did it rather than a nurse." she told me. I mumbled my thanks and when she was done, she stood by my side, unspeaking.
After a couple of minutes with me staring blankly into space and her watching me stare blankly into space, she spoke again.
"I think you should tell Lisa." I looked at her for a moment before replying.
"I can't" I whispered. Cameron handed me a tissue.
"Hey, shh... It'll be okay. Why can't you? She can help you, talk to you maybe. She'll understand." I coughed a couple of times.
"Can... Can you tell her for me?" I asked. I put a tentative hand up to my chest- it felt tight and was starting to hurt. Great I thought. Cameron nodded, and left the room. I sat up, trying to regain control of my breathing. Breathe in, breathe out... Breathe in, breathe out... It was my asthma, of course. It was never usually that bad. I clutched at the cloth hanging over my chest, and doubled over, practically hanging out of the bed.
And somewhere in the room, a machine beeped noisily. A nurse rushed into the room, followed by a junior doctor. An intern. I gasped for breath, starting to feel dizzy from the lack of oxygen. Before I could even register what was happening, I was being pulled forward, and a stethoscope was pressed against my back. I could hear incoherent voices over my head, and a small pinch as a syringe was injected into my arm.
"We should intubate" someone said. I was leant backwards, the pillows taken from under my head. I still couldn't breathe. My throat had closed. A hand tilted my head backwards, and another injected me again. A sedative, I thought sleepily. I closed my eyes.
Lisa
I sat with my head in my hands, my heart heavy from what Doctor Cameron had just told me. Neither one of us had spoken in nearly five minutes now, and I knew that someone had to break the pattern.
"And she told you what he was doing to her?" I asked. Allison shook her head.
"She was crying and talking in her sleep. She mentioned something about ice baths, and a guy named Sean. I think it goes deeper than that though." Something dawned on me.
"Oh, no..." I groaned. Allison shot me an inquisitive glance. "Her medical files!" I began. "They showed multiple admittances to hospitals all around the area she grew up in. She told me it was because of her asthma, but maybe..." I stood up and retrieved the file from in my desk drawers. It had been there ever since Dr. Hadley had 'spiralled out of control' a few months back. I found the number for one of the hospitals and dialled.
At the same time, Allison's beeper went off. "Oh God, surely not?" I heard her breathe. She ran out of my office, leaving me alone with a secretary of New York Downtown Hospital on the line.
A bit too soap opera-y, maybe? Ah well. I love drama :D
Don't forget to review; I'll get emotionally irrational if you don't. (Nobody wants to see that.)
Ta for reading!
Toodle pipsqueak!