Trauma [H.S]

10

Suddenly everything went silent except for the ringing in my ears.

I could see Rebecca's lips moving as she was saying something to me, but I couldn't hear it.

The only thing I could hear was that ringing noise and my laboured breathing.

Everything else sounded distant.

Why is it hard to breathe?

I tried wiping my bloody hands on my clothes. I looked at them again but the blood was still there. Now on my PJ's too.

This is not my blood.

This is not my blood.

I am not the one who's hurt.

I am not the one who's hurt.

I'm okay.

I'm okay.

I'm alright.

I'm safe.

I gradually regained my hearing, calming myself down to prevent the panic attack that had just started.

This was not the time to panic.

"Valeria, please snap out of it and tell us what happened!"

I slowly nodded as my breathing slowed down "I'm back, I'm back I promise."

I hurried to sit on the opposite side of her on the floor and press my hands again over hers "she stabbed herself with a knife and she's gonna say that I did it. Becks, she's trying to blame me for spiking the drinks too. She said that her father will kill me for this."

I tried to contain my tears as much as possible just until the ambulance arrived.

"I believe you Val. You wouldn't so something like that. You and me against the world. Okay?" She told me with a tight smile and I nodded.

The ambulance was finally here.

The three of us and the other people watched as the medics carried Joelle and placed her inside the ambulance. I explained exactly what happened to the police and the medics as they both took notes.

The police took the knife to investigate further. But they were only gonna find Joelle's fingerprints.

One of us had to go with her to the hospital and Jessica volunteered to do that, saying that I still needed to rest and to take care of my leg.

I didn't protest either.

Rebecca and I walked back inside and went straight to the sink to wash the blood off our hands.

As we did so, scrubbing our hands clean, she asked me calmly "are you okay?"

I didn't look at her, I just couldn't "yeah I'm fine."

No I'm not.

"You know you can talk to me about whatever happened to you out there. You know that, right?"

I nodded as I dried my now clean hands with a towel "yeah, I know. Thank you."

She gave me a small smile and a nod before each of us went to our own rooms.

But before I did that, I went to the kitchen and carried a mop, a scrub brush, and a bucket of water with soap, I made my way outside again and began scrubbing the floor till there was no trace of blood out there.

I tuned out my thoughts and tried my best to pretend that I was cleaning red paint instead of blood.

Once I was finished, my eyes caught something in the corner. I walked over and gathered the scattered flowers of the bouquet from the floor.