Chapter 14
Sam woke up early the next morning, quickly got dressed and went downstairs to eat breakfast. Judy was in the kitchen making breakfast for him.
"Good morning Sammy." She told him. He grunted a "hello" before sitting down and shoveling food in his mouth. Judy was shocked at how fast he was eating.
"Sam! Slow down! Why are you in such a hurry?" She asked him. He stared at her with a look that said "Are you serious?"
"Mom! I'm going to visit Mikaela at the hospital. Where did you think I was going?" Judy gave him a look.
"Samuel. You have school today. Did you forget?" She told him.
"Honestly," he thought "I did".
"No." He told her. Judy rolled her eyes. "I just thought my loving mother would let me see my hurting girlfriend until she feels like herself again." Judy thought for a minute.
"Nice try Sam. But you're going to school. Your father and I will pick up Mikaela from the hospital and you'll see her as soon as you come home." Sam was about to protest but quickly changed his mind by the look his mother was giving him. He sighed, finished his breakfast and grabbed his school stuff before heading out the door. A few minutes later he pulled up in front of the school and headed into the school, not eager at all to sit through the school day.
Meanwhile, Mikaela was just waking up in the hospital and found her room to be empty which didn't surprise her. She knew Sam would have stayed the whole night if he could but with both his parents and her telling him to go home and get some rest, he had no chance. She also knew that if he couldn't stay the whole night, he most likely woke up really early, forgetting that it was Monday morning, and was about to head out to the hospital to see her wake up but was stopped, probably by his mother, and was told to go to school. Mikaela didn't want Sam to fall behind in school, but it would have been nice to see him right when she woke up. Stretching slightly, she sat up in her bed and pushed the nurse button like she was told to do when she woke up in the morning by the head nurse last night. Half a minute later a nurse rushed in and drew the curtains for Mikaela. The sun shown brightly through the window and brought Mikaela's spirit up a little.
"Good morning dear. The doctor told me you will be able to go home at around lunch time. I'll bring your breakfast in a couple minutes. Did you need anything else?" Mikaela said no. "Oh! And there are a few detectives here to talk to you. If you're ready, I'll bring them in."
"Sure. They can come in." Mikaela told her. The nurse smiled and then left to go get the police officers. Two detectives walked in seconds later and sat down in the chairs in the room.
"Good morning Mikaela. How did you sleep?" One of them asked her.
"Okay. Did you find my father?" She wanted to get right to the point and find out what happened while she was sleeping.
"Yes. He was arrested last night along with another woman who was in the house with him."
"Victoria, right?" Mikaela asked. She was kind of glad Victoria was getting in trouble for this as well, even though she wasn't quite sure why she would be in trouble. "Why was she arrested? She didn't abuse me."
"She witnessed the abuse and refused to say anything about it. We even interrogated her for a few hours, but she stood by your father and refused to say anything about it. So we had to arrest her and keep her in jail too. Today the bail will be set by the court judge and the court date will be set also. It will probably be in a few months. Mikaela, we need your help if your father is going to get the punishment he deserves." The officer said.
"Okay." Mikaela said slowly. "What exactly do you need?" She asked.
"We need to take pictures of the bruises you have on your stomach and back. We'll take those in a minute. But we need to ask you for something else. Keep in mind, you can think about this for a while if you need to. We don't need an answer right away okay?" Mikaela nodded her head, waiting for him to continue. "We need you to testify, in court, against your father. That is the only surefire way we can know we did everything in our power to make sure your father gets what he deserves." Mikaela didn't say anything for a minute.
"I need to think about it. I'm not sure yet." Mikaela told them. The detectives understood.
"Of course. We'll give you time to decide. Since you'll be going home today, we'll give you our numbers and when you come to a decision, you can call us and let us know alright?" The detective watched as Mikaela nodded her head. "Sweetheart, if you let us take the pictures now, we'll be out of your hair until you make your decision, okay?" Mikaela nodded again.
"Okay, my partner is going to take the pictures for us." The first detective walked out of the room and Mikaela looked a little confused. The female detective stood up with the camera in her hand.
"Okay sweetheart, I'm going to need you to take off your hospital gown so we can get the full extent of the bruises." Mikaela hesitated for a second before pulling off her gown and standing in front of the detective in her underwear, hoping this would go by very quickly. The detective took a few pictures, told her to turn around and took a few more. After checking to make sure the pictures turned up well on the digital camera, she allowed Mikaela to put the gown back on and sit down in bed.
"Did you have any questions for me before I go?" The detective asked her.
"No, I think I'm okay." She told her. They said their goodbyes and the detective left the room. Mikaela had a few minutes to think to herself.
"I guess I really should testify against my father. I know it's what's best for me. I don't know if I can do it though. Do I have to sit near him? Will he hear everything I have to say? Will he talk to me? What if he finds me before the trial even begins?" She began over thinking things and working herself up when there was a knock on the door and the nurse came in again holding her breakfast tray.
"Is everything alright dear?" Mikaela looked up and nodded quickly. She didn't want the nurse to think anything was wrong and perhaps delay her release time that afternoon. The nurse smiled and set the breakfast tray down in front of her. Mikaela looked at her breakfast and couldn't help but laugh. She had heard that the food in hospitals wasn't the best, but she didn't imagine she would ever be given food that looked inedible. There were scrambled eggs that looked like rubber, bacon that was cold and hard, and the orange juice that she was given was a color she didn't know that an orange could be. She thanked the nurse and watched carefully as she left the room and then attempted to eat the mess in front of her. Gagging on only the first bite, Mikaela pushed the plate away from her and stood up. Looking at the clock it read 10:30. She only had about another hour and a half in the hospital. She decided she would brush her teeth and hair and get her stuff together as much as she could so she could get out right on time.
In the bathroom, Mikaela brushed her teeth and hair which made her feel one hundred times better. She did not approve, however, of her reflection in the mirror. She had always been a slightly insecure person about her looks. She knew it was silly but she felt like she always needed to look at herself and make sure she passed her own inspection before anyone else saw her. Every time she would tell people this they would laugh and tell her she was ridiculous. Every person told her that except Sam. Of course, he was the one person in the entire world who would understand her insecurities and instead of make fun of her for it, he would try to counteract them by telling her she was beautiful in every way. Just thinking about that now made her feel more comfortable with herself and more eager to leave the hospital and see Sam.
