My dad left when I was five. My mum died when I was twelve. Then my dad looked after me until he died a couple of months ago. And then I was adopted and brought here to Karin and Derek, and they broke me. Physically, emotionally, psychologically, whatever. I'm not who I was any more. I was happy, soaring, doing well in school. Now I was a blonde-haired, blue eyed, skin and bone empty shell, losing all of my friends except my closest and true best friend Grace, scraping C's in school and struggling on. I was covered in bruises, always covered up as much as possible or disguised as from a fall or slip, when in reality it was from them.
Karin and Derek were alcoholics, constantly drinking. Derek had a good job but the second he came home he'd hit the bottle with his unemployed wife and they'd probably get high too. I had to make their meals, clean the house, and if I did anything wrong, or even if I walked in whilst they were drunk, they'd scream at me and hit me. And I took it. I don't know why, but I did.
One day, when I accidentally made a little scratch on Karin's car whilst I was washing it, she went too far. She took me inside the house and bent my arm behind my back so hard I felt it crack.
'Hey, kid,' a nurse said as I ran into the ER, 'Are you okay?'
'I... I think I broke my arm,' I said, cradling my swelling left arm which I would have chopped off right then if it would've stopped the pain. I fought back tears. Tears were not allowed, tears were stupid, tears meant punishment. Tears were not good.
'Oh, okay sweetie,' said the nurse, 'Yea, that looks sore. Come on then, I'll get one of the free doctors.'
She sat me down on a bed at the edge of the room and a few minutes later returned with a Latina lady with dark hair and big eyes.
'Hey there, soldier,' she smiled at me. I stayed silent and straight faced. 'We're gonna get you an X-Ray on that arm. I'll take you through to the room, I've not got any surgeries for an hour, fortunately for you. Come on.'
She beckoned and I stood up, still holding my arm and wincing.
She walked beside me in the corridor for a few seconds and pushed my other shoulder gently as we entered the X-Ray room. Instinctively I jumped back and stared at her, scared. Was she going to hit me too?
'Whoa, kid, chill,' said the doctor, 'Come on, in here. What's your name?'
I paused for a moment. 'It's Lola. I'm Lola McCartney.'
She nodded and grinned, clearly encouraging me to talk more. 'Alright, I'm Dr. Torres, and I'm going to have a look at your arm now.'
After ten minutes, the X-Ray was complete and Dr. Torres looked at the scans, which I tried to peek at.
She saw me looking.
'Sorry, I...' I stammered. Why did I always do stupid stuff?
'No, it's fine,' said Dr. Torres slowly, staring at me, 'It looks like you've broken your wrist, and fractured your elbow. How did you manage that?'
'I fell.'
'You fell?'
I nodded quickly. 'Yeah.'
'If you say so,' she said, again slowly as if she was curious. She gently picked up my arm and looked at it. I bit my lip and hoped she wouldn't ask about the bruises all along it.
'Where did you get these?'
'When I fell...'
'No, Lola, these bruises range from a few days to a few weeks old. How did you get them?'
I stayed silent. I wasn't going to tell. I couldn't tell.
'Right,' said Callie, standing up.
I flinched. Was she going to do something to me? Had I said something wrong? Was she going to make me tell her?
'Kid, calm down,' she said, smiling and laughing awkwardly, 'Hang on here a moment, okay? I'm going to fetch another doctor.'
She left the room and I took a heavy breath. I had to leave. I didn't care that my arm felt like it was about to shatter or burst or both, I had to leave before something bad happened.
I was just going to stand up when two doctors entered the room. They were both women, one very pretty and blonde, the other with blonde-brown hair and more serious looking, but still quite nice looking. They stood in front of me, regarding me for a second.
I shivered and leaned backwards. 'I... I'm sorry...' I whispered, 'I didn't mean to say anything wrong, I just...'
They sat down in silence. Then suddenly, the very pretty lady spoke. 'I'm Dr. Robbins, Lola, Arizona Robbins, and this is Dr. Meredith Grey-Shepherd. Now, you wouldn't tell Dr. Torres what happened, so I'm hoping you'll tell us.'