When trust is questioned
Please keep in mind that English is not my mother tongue, if there are any errors in the text I apologize in advance. In this chapter I describe scenes at the police and in the hospital, these are of course fictitious, I only know in some way the process after a sexual abuse.
Chapter 16
At the police station
Tony is waiting for Angela in the hallway. He sits on a wooden chair. He's been sitting there for 40 minutes, thoughts circling in his head... Angela is so sorry to have to tell everything again...
Angela sits in the interview room with Officer Shawn and his colleague Detective White. Commissioner Johnson is also present. He leads the conversation. They sit together at a table. Angela turns a mug of coffee back and forth in both hands.
Offfizer White keeps a record of Angela's testimony. She writes everything down in detail, the process of the crime, what happened before, simply everything.
Commissioner Johnson asks a lot of questions, too many. For Angela it was torture to tell everything again and again and again, every detail where he touched her, what he touched and what he said exactly. She doesn't remember much because she was in shock.
Commissioner Johnson: "Did Mr. Stanton make any other sexual innuendos that day? Did he become grossly abusive before that? Did he say something to you on that day that might have struck you as strange?"
Angela looks at him: „No, not really. We had a conversation beforehand in which We had clarified everything, that we wanted to keep the distance and would like to continue working together in a professional way without going into more detail about something more. On this day he was polite as always and didn't make any hints, it only started when he came into my office. As if he is suddenly a different person….". Tears welled up in Angela's eyes.
She looks down in embarrassment. Commissioner Johnson nods and asks her more questions, awkward questions, which Angela tries to answer as best she can.
Detective White: "Well, Miss Bower, I would like to ask you to go to the hospital immediately after we have finished here, so that your injuries can be checked and recorded by the doctor."
Angela is uncertain: "Is that absolutely necessary?"
D. White: "Yes, Miss Bower, that's necessary, that's evidence that is important and decisive for the later testimony in court!"
Angela nods to the detective.
Tony is currently still waiting. He looks at the clock, gets nervous ... That takes a really long time...
Then she opens the door, Angela says goodbye politely and goes directly to Tony.
Tony looks at her: "And Angela, what did they say?"
Angela quickly answers: "Well, they asked 1000 questions, Roger is still at large, but he is already on file for sexual harassment..." Angela shakes her head "how could I trust him..."
Tony worried: "Angela, you couldn't know! Now please don't blame yourself!" He takes her in his arms.
"Can we please go now, ..." Angela goes ahead, "Oh Tony, I should definitely go to the hospital, they have to document the injuries I have sustained there for the burden of proof. I also got a document for the hospital..."
"Okay, Angela, then we'll do it right away," Tony says hastily.
Angela is not very enthusiastic. Hurriedly, they both leave the building and get into the car. You drive to the nearest hospital. Once there, they go to the reception, Angela hands over the police document and briefly explains their situation.
Once in the waiting area, 30 minutes later a nurse calls herself and takes her to an examination room.
There she waits for a while when Doctor Brown comes to her room. She is in her late 50s, very polite and confident.
"Hello Miss Bower, I would like to examine you closely, please take off all your clothes and put on your surgical shirt. I have to accurately record and document everything, the police had already told you that."
Angela nods. She takes off her clothes and puts on the thin surgical shirt. She feels uncomfortable. She sits down on examination table.
Doctor Brown: "Miss Bower, first of all, I'll take a look at your wrist." She takes Angela's wrist and turns it once to the right and once to the left, "Does it hurt with these movements?"
Angela grimaces slightly "yes it pulls and pushes".
"They suffered some very severe injuries," says the doctor. It pushes around on the joint. Angela says " outch" .
A nurse comes here to help. She documents the examination and takes photos.
"ok Miss Bower, we're going to bandage the joint to keep it still, it's had a trauma and can't be strained for the next two weeks."
"Please lie down."
Angela lies down on examination table.
Dr Brown asks questions about the crime...
Angela is already very annoyed inside... Again... isn't it all embarrassing enough...
Then the doctor pulls up the surgical shirt. The nurse documented with a worried look at the other injuries .
Dr. Brown: "So here we have several scratches on the inner thigh and several bruises. There was no rape, examination of the vagina was not necessary because no sperm fluid leaked..."
"A slight lesion can also be seen on the hip, please take another photo here"
Angela feels like she's in a fake movie, cold and at the mercy of others, like a piece of cattle on a truck that you're driving to the slaughterhouse, very unpleasant and shameful at the same time.
"I don't know if the police told you that, but the clothes you`d been wearing when the crime occurred, they should please hand over, they serve as the burden of proof."
"Yes, that was communicated to me today at the police station."
The doctor nods. "All right, Miss Bower, please sit up again. Your hand will get a bandage right away, we would be done then. I would also like to tell you that it would be wise to go to a therapist to work on what you have experienced. The perpetrator could come back, please don't be alone at work, on the way there or on the way home. He knows where you live, I've read, again, please be careful - don't be alone. I have many patients who are very careless, the perpetrator has struck a second time"
A chill runs down Angela's spine, she has to swallow.
The nurse bandages Angela's wrist.
"You can get dressed again now, Miss Bower, all the best to you for now."
Angela tries to put her clothes back on.
Because of the bandaged hand, she has a lot of difficulty getting dressed again, the nurse smiles slightly and helps her.
Doc Brown hands her a flyer about sexual abuse and then says goodbye in a friendly way.
Angela walks out of the room, she takes a deep breath.
Back in the waiting area, Tony gets up when he sees her and goes to her. "Hey Angela dear" he looks at her with a worried look.
"Let's go home..." she says with her head bowed. Tony puts his arm around her shoulders in comfort and they walk out.
At the same time in the morning when Tony and Angela were at the police station
At the agency
A police car is parked in front of the building. Mona looks surprised. She goes upstairs.
Mona takes off her coat and hangs it on the coat rack and puts down her bag.
Two detectives receive her.
"Good morning," she says in a calm voice.
The police are still documenting everything, they have cordoned off everything and taken pictures.
Mona thinks she's in a fake movie. "Excuse me, may I drop by"
The detective nods, but says sternly to her: "Please don't touch anything, that's all evidence!"
Mona raises her eyebrows and says brusquely: "ok..."
She goes straight to Angela's office to get an overview, she remains frozen in the doorway.
... Oh my god...
She finds a very chaotic room in front of her. Everything that was on Angela's desk is scattered on the floor. All papers, pen holders, a glass are scattered on the floor. Mona is shocked.
The detective walks over to her: "Miss Mona Robinson, right? You can't do anything here for the time being, we have to leave everything as it was devastated during the crime, we have documented everything. And photos taken, they have to wait for the release of the premises, please go home now and otherwise work from there."
Mona looks at him in amazement.
She goes back again, quickly and secretly grabs the address and phone book from her desk, puts her coat back on, stuffs everything into her bag and goes downstairs.
She stops, 1000 thoughts suddenly shoot through her head... how horrible it must have been for Angela... Tears come to her eye.
At home
Tony made Angela a cup of tea. The house is empty.
Both are alone.
"... Angela...?"
"Yes, Tony?"
"How are you now?" Tony asks her in a soft voice.
Angela stares into her mug and then looks at Tony, "I don't know Tony, ... tired and empty..." she drinks her tea slowly. He takes her hand and gently caresses it "everything will be alright Angela".
"Oh Tony, how can you say that, Roger is running around somewhere out there, what if he comes back?"
Tony looks at her, "I'm here!"
Angela quickly confronts him, "but you're not always here" She looks at him sadly. Tony moves closer to Angela and kisses her tenderly on the mouth. "But Angela until this guy is behind bars, and then, always!"
Angela begins to cry, Tony takes her in his arms. Very tightly, she can feel his heartbeat and he can feel hers. They kiss furtively, then more intimately, while remaining tightly embraced, they hold each other. Tony whispers, "I'll always stay with you Angela, I won't leave you alone, I love you!" Angela looks at him with tears in her eyes "I love you too, Tony, very much!"
At this moment, Mona enters through the back door of the kitchen. Tony and Angela, kissing, don't notice Mona right away.
Mona looks at them, happy, yet worried about the whole situation.
"… it was about time, you two," she says louder.
Angela and Tony are frightened.
And they part, looking at Mona with open mouths.
"Sorry my dears" Mona sits down next to Angela. "Angela, dear, how are you?" She gently strokes her daughter's cheek. "I was in the agency, this is the first time it is cordoned off by the police" Mona rolls her eyes. "I've already made a few calls from my apartment in the meantime and postponed all the next appointments until you feel better and so on."
Angela looks at Mona thankfully: "Thank you mother..."
"Yes, I have not been completely idle... and you, Angela, I was in your office..." Mona puts her hand on Angela's forearm and smiles sympathetically at her.
Angela looks down.
"Well, you two, I'll leave you alone again... Sam won't be back until tomorrow evening and Jonathan will be with his buddy for three days, so you can rest a little for the first time Angela... Tomorrow you can tell me what the police said" she gives Angela a kiss on the forehead and leaves the house.
"Ok Angela, what do you want to do, watch a movie, then you can relax on the couch?!
"Later, of course... I'll take a hot bath first..."
"Oh ok Angela... I'll let you have the bath water ok" Angela nods in the affirmative.
A good 15 minutes later.
Angela is upstairs in her bathroom. She tries to undress but has obvious problems as her hand is bandaged.
... How am I supposed to do that?...
She thinks... then calls out loud for Tony.
Two or three times, then Tony suddenly comes storming into the bathroom
"ANGELA, what happened?" he says loudly and out of breath.
"sorry Tony..." she says ashamed and blushes completely "... um, my hand... I need help with... undress..."
Tony's eyes get big, "um, ok, Angela..."
She turns around, he helps her out of her blouse, pants and stockings.
She bites her lips, turns her head slightly towards him... Her eyes look down furtively. Tony registers her hints.." oh ok... that too... um, yes..."
He helps Angela take off her bra and panties.
She had never been so completely naked in front of him, only the one time when she came out of the bathtub, but that was only a brief moment. Now she is completely dependent on his help, a queasy feeling, even if they have confessed their love to each other.
Tony tries not to look like a gentleman, but it's incredibly difficult for him. His heart beats up to his throat. He dares to look down furtively, sees her injuries, then looks worried and sad again. Angela notices this. She tries to cover the intimate areas fleetingly and turns back slightly to him. She gives him a kiss, for a brief moment she forgets that she is standing naked in front of him. And when it becomes clear to her again, it's different, familiar, because it's her Tony.
Tony kisses her back, more passionately. He can't help but take her in his strong arms and press her to him. Feeling her naked skin is incredible for him. She has such delicate skin... Both of their hearts are beating strongly.
Tony breathes, "Angela, you're amazing... I would never hurt you! You are my everything"!
Angela has tingling in her stomach, she feels incredibly comfortable in his strong arms, just now - so completely naked - very vulnerable - she feels incredibly safe with him.
Her kiss is passionate, longing, vulnerable.
"Tony..." Angela breathes "I should take a bath now... Unfortunately, I also need your help with this..."
Tony quietly replied: "Unfortunately?... No, not unfortunately... I'll be happy to help you."
He helps her into the bathtub... Now he sees everything of her. Everything, really.
His gaze wanders from body part to body part... She looks incredible... So beautiful... it goes through his head.
He swallows and clears his throat. Angela's cheeks are red.
Tony gets slightly dizzy, his heart shoots right through his chest...