Don't Talk About It

chapter two

༻✧ 𝐿𝑖𝑎 ✧༺
𝐽𝑎𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝟶𝟹, 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟽
𝟷𝟸:𝟶𝟾 𝚊𝚖
𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑒𝑢 𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑛 𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙

My eyes flutter open, adjusting to the bright light above my face. I see a blurry figure across from me. I sit up and the person walks towards me.

"Take it easy, honey." The woman puts a hand on my shoulder as her other rests on the small of my back.

"W-where am I? Who are you?"

"You're in the hospital. I'm Nurse Zamora."

"Why am I in the hospital? How did I get here?"

"A young man brought you in. He found you on the street, unresponsive." She sighed, looking down at her feet. "Do you have any recollection of what happened?"

I look at the white tiles. I don't want to tell her. What would happen if I did? Against my better judgement, I decide to tell her. I'm already here.

"I was at Scarlett's Cabaret with my friend. We had some drinks. After being there for over an hour, we decided to leave. He led me through the back entrance and slammed the door."

I feel salty tears fall on my lips. The flooding memories hit me like a brick. "He kept coming towards me. He enjoyed my pain. He wouldn't get off of me."

She laid a hand on mine. "Miss..."

"Lia. Lia Rivas." I sniffle.

"Did he rape you?"

There was a sudden pang in my chest when she had asked me that.

"Of course not. He just got carried away."

"Miss Rivas, there was something that I noticed. When I was changing you into your gown, you didn't have on any underwear and there were scratches on your back."

I felt like I was going to throw up.

"It's just me and you. You don't have to protect him, honey. He can't hurt you here."

"This isn't like him. He's a really great guy."

"Great people don't rape innocents."

My mouth opened to interject, but she stopped me. "Did you want to have sex with him?"

"No." I said slightly above a whisper.

"Yet he forced you into a position that you didn't even want to be in. He forced himself onto you. I understand that you guys might be close and that's why it's hard to come to terms with it, but it doesn't change the fact that he still raped you."

I was quiet as more tears slid down my face.

"I know this is difficult for you. I really am sorry that you're going through this." She sighed before asking, "Who is he?"

I gulped. This is it. "Ian McCoy."

"The quarterback from Sulphur High?"

I nodded. "We're both currently freshmen at McNeese State. He's still on the football team, though."

"He won't get away with this."

"What do you...? You're not going to report this to the police, are you?"

"If there's a rapist walking around campus, by law, I'm required to."

"No, please don't! I'm not ready. I just want to put all of this behind me. Besides, no one would ever believe me over the golden boy, anyway."

"What do you mean? What about your family?"

"He's my brother's best friend, my dad sees him as another one of his sons, and the entire town loves him."