A Selfie to Die For

25)You can't drown demons who know how to swim

Emily sat in the hospital parking lot for perhaps ten minutes while she tried to think of what to do. Her parents were probably worried sick about her. She didn't come home last night. She didn't even call to say where she was. Instead, Emily lay unconscious in a bed as her monstrous ex-boyfriend used her for sex.
Emily didn't cry as she walked inside the hospital's emergency room. She was numb - void of the mental emotion that overwhelmed her. She wanted to yell. She wanted to cry, scream, and maybe even throw things. Before that, there were other things to do. There were brief flickers of thought remembering the proper things she needed to do to get Declan put in jail. She needed that rape kit done.

Emily went to the emergency room - she didn't really know where else to go - and explained in a dull monotone that she needed a rape kit done.
The nurse behind the desk had widened her mocha-colored eyes in wonder as she took in Emily's bruised and battered form. It was her forehead dried over with congealed blood and ripped dress that made the woman nod swiftly before calling someone on the phone. Emily didn't need to call the police - hospital's did it automatically when they had a rape victim brought in.

Emily winced a she overheard the nurse explain a rape victim was brought in. The would've-could've-should've scenarios raced through her mind much harder once. One tiny move of difference, Emily possibly could've prevented Declan from doing this to her. She signed up for stupid dating website, she brought the crazy into her own life, intentionally or not, she felt like this was partially her own fault.

The nurse at the ER desk had sweetly explained what would happen during the kit test and also explained how an officer would be arriving shortly to take her statement. Emily had nodded obediently, barely listening to what it was the nurse was saying. If Emily made once false move and thought about last night, it would break down the mental barrier she built shielding herself from all thoughts of it . Emily couldn't cry just yet. She needed to tell the police not only about the horrible things Declan did to her, but that his admission of killing before.

After last night, Emily strangely didn't think he was above killing someone. She heard his cruel and callous words - his admission that not only has he killed before, but, he's been struggling with the urge to kill even her. He was a monster.Emily knew he needed to go to jail. There was no other way around it. Declan needed to be placed in jail so he couldn't hurt another person.

Emily showed ID and went through the proper standards for going through a rape kit. She dressed in a light hospital gown as she had to do what felt like an embarrassing procedure of a doctor taking swaps for DNA. She was thankful it was a female doctor. Emily couldn't bare the thought of another man touching her after what happened. She felt on edge - determined to never even allow someone to touch her again. She felt gross, used, and violated. Worst of all, she felt broken.

Her parents arrival at the hospital was the very worst part. Emily had called her father first. He was the one who could drive rationally after she told him what happened. Her father was furious when Emily first called. He expected she and Jake stayed out all night and he was angered Emily wasn't respectful enough of either him or her mother to call them last night.

Emily hadn't said anything as her father went on a seven minute rant over the phone. Sickly, she felt she deserved the harsh lecture scolding her. Had she just came home last night, she wouldn't have currently been curled up in a ball position in a dingy hospital bed in a room that smelled sickly of antiseptic. It was those ugly would've-could've-should've scenarios once more.

By the time her dad had finally stopped comparing how Ben always called when he was Emily's age, he finally asked her why she wasn't home yet. In a wooden voice, Emily tried not to cry as she explained to her father that she was at the local hospital getting a rape kit done. She briefly explained what Declan did without detailing the events of what he did and said to her. She explained the police had been called and now she was waiting for a doctor to provide stitches due to the massive cut on the back of her head.