Disclaimer: I do not own Another Cinderella Story, but if I did I would probably take over the world.
A/N: I don't claim to be a medical expert, so sorry if some things don't make sense or aren't accurate. Cut me some slack. Thanks again for your reviews!
"Oh God, oh God. Please! Help me!" Joey cried to no one. He could hear the chatter of doctors over walkie-talkies paging each other, the hum of people talking quietly, the blabbing of the news on a TV in the corner. Nothing mattered. What was going to happen? If Joey had ever needed God, it was now.
He couldn't keep the images from filling his mind, taunting him like some unseen menace. Mary collapsing through the door, small and broken. His screams as blood fell on the carpet. Unbelievable fear as the ambulance came and picked them up. Now the gut-wrenching dread of waiting to see what was happening to the love of his life.
Panic. Couldn't breathe. Breathe in, breathe out, his lungs wouldn't work. Breathe, Joey! He couldn't see. The blackness was closing in, pressing him from all sides, suffocating. Help me! God, please! Dry sobs escaped his throat as he fell from his chair to his knees. "I'll do anything! Anything! Just save her, please!" Then the tears came. Joey rose to his feet and rushed into the hallway, away from watching eyes.
Air. Sweet air filled his lungs as his mind cleared and his eyes opened. He approached a nurse scribbling something on a clipboard. "Miss? Do you have a Bible anywhere?" The woman looked at him with pity and nodded. She scurried into a room and when she returned, she had a small black book with her.
Joey took a deep breath and opened to a random page. It was open to the book of Matthew. He recognized it from his Sunday School days as the story where Jesus walked on water.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
Joey took a deep breath. He knew he was drowning. Maybe all he needed to do was ask for help. Joey had never really believed in God or the Bible, chalking it up as superstition. But this seemed real enough to consider it.
A doctor in scrubs approached him. He introduced himself, but Joey didn't care about his name. "Where's Mary? How is she? Is she awake?"
The doctor led him into a room so they could talk. "Now, Miss Santiago was alert enough to explain some of her situation to us, but we gave her some pain killers that should make her tired for a few hours. She told us that she was coming home at about eight when she was confronted by a big man and assaulted. You might want to try and get any details you can from her so we can find whoever did this. It's probably not a good idea to visit her right now, but I can give you an estimate on how she's doing.
"Besides the obvious scrapes and bruises, her wrist is fractured in two places." At this, the doctor showed Joey an x-ray of Mary's hand. Joey could clearly see both breaks. "She'll probably need to keep a cast on for eight weeks. She has a concussion, and we suspect this was coupled with shock for her to be unconscious for so long. Also, we've found traces of semen in her body. Now this doesn't mean anything yet, but we'll have to see her again to run some tests to find out if she is pregnant." Joey buried his face in his hands. I can't doubt you, God. Not right now. I can't afford to.
"When can I see her?"
"In about an hour we'll let you in. She won't be conscious, but it's the best we can do for now." Joey stood up and shook the man's hand.
"Thank you, doctor." Joey headed back to the waiting room, and to her surprise, found Tami there. She jumped up and headed over to him.
"Joey! Oh my gosh, I just got a call! What's happened? When can we see Mary? Is she going to be okay? Is-" Joey cut off her deluge of words with his hand.
"Sit down, Tami." Tami sat. Joey eased down next to her and looked at his hands, wondering what to say. "Tami," he began again, "On Mary's way home, she was raped." That was all Joey had to say. Tami burst into tears and buried her face in Joey's shoulder. Joey was surprised, but quickly grateful there was someone here to cry with him. He knew he had to stay strong, but he couldn't help but let a few tears fall as he held Tami. All they could do now was wait.
Mary's eyes opened at last. She looked around her. Where was she? How did she get here? Two totally understandable questions for someone who just woke up in a hospital to ask. She was in a bed next to a window, and outside it was dark. Mary tried to sit up. A sharp pain met her, and she plopped back down.
Her movements jerked a light brown head to life. Joey cried out, "Mary!" and immediately took her uninjured hand. Mary was very surprised, and her first reaction was to flinch. Joey jumped back, looking alarmed. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean... Did I hurt you?"
Mary shook her head. She tried to speak, but realized she could not, due to a tube down her throat. Her eyes bulged, and she looked to Joey for help.
"It's okay, that's just there to help you breathe," Joey explained. He gently took her hand. Mary looked down at herself and realized that there were tubes and wires all over her. She would have cursed if she could.
Mary didn't want to think. Memories were steadily returning, and she willed them to stop. She returned the pressure of Joey's hand with surprising strength. Tears began to flow.
"Oh, Mary..." Joey looked like his heart had been ripped in half. "I'm so sorry..."
Just then, the door swung open and Tami shuffled carefully into the room. "Mary," she choked. "You're awake." Mary could tell she was holding back. Her face was stained from crying, and she wiped her eyes. "How're you feeling?" she sniffed. Marry nodded down at monitors and shrugged her shoulders. "Oh yeah. Well, a doctor's coming to remove that tube in your throat, seeing as you're awake."
On cue, a man wearing scrubs entered and introduced himself. Mary didn't care about his name. He explained to her what he was going to do and told her he would be done in a jiffy. Mary closed her eyes and only reopened them when the tube was out.
"What time is it?" Her voice came out in a whisper.
"About six in the morning on November 30th." Mary nodded. So she had only been here seven hours. "We gave you medicine that knocked you out cold, but after it wore off you fell asleep by yourself."
The doctor glanced at Joey and Tami, then looked back to Mary. "Would you like to be alone when I tell you what's going on?" Mary thought about it, then shook her head. She couldn't face this herself. "Okay." He motioned for Tami to sit as well. Tami would have taken Mary's other hand, but it was in a cast.
"Well, your internal organs seem to be in good condition, so your heart, lungs, etcetera. You have plenty scrapes and bruises. We estimate anywhere close to five percent BSA is affected. You also have a concussion. Your right wrist is fractured in two places." The doctor showed her an x-ray image of her wrist. "As you can see, they are pretty clean breaks, not nasty at all, so you should probably only have a cast on it for eight weeks. Also," the doctor glanced up at Joey, who looked grave. "Also, we found traces of semen in your body. It doesn't necessarily mean anything, but we'll have to have a check up before your next expected menstrual cycle." Mary buried her face in her hands and wept. She heard the doctor get up and leave, and the three were left to sit and grieve together.
Joey held the door open for Mary. "Home sweet home." Mary followed him through. She had been allowed to go home later that day, after setting an appointment for next week with a Doctor Stevens.
"Ugh, the medicine they gave me makes me so tired." Mary sunk down into the couch, and flipped on the TV. It opened on a segment about a group of college students protesting an increase in student tuition. Joey pressed mute and turned to Mary.
"Mary, do you want to talk about it?" Mary turned away, her face burning with shame. "I need to know who did this. We can't let it go unpunished." Joey gently took her hand. "I won't let anything like this happen ever again. You hear me?"
Mary took a deep breath. "Dennis." Joey's eyes bugged out of his head.
"Oh God, please tell me no."
Mary looked up pleadingly. "He was drunk. I took a shortcut home through an old warehouse, and..."
Joey buried his face in his hands. Mary could tell this was a lot for him to take in. "I knew that guy was a psychopath." He stood up. "I've got to go make a call, be back in a minute."
Mary flipped on the TV and tried to forget her pain.
A/N: So what did you think? PLEASE review, even if just to answer this question (it lets me know you people are reading this and I'm not just writing for my own benefit): what's your favorite holiday?
