Trigger warning: Eating disorder and abuse.
Kenna's POV:
I'm walking home from school when I hear, "Hey fatty! Why are you so fat? I mean, an elephant is smaller than you!" The school bully, Riley, yells out to me as she and her posse of hypocritical goons come towards me. I've just been put in a new foster care house, and had to move schools this year. So far, this year sucks. The very first day of school, Riley targeted me and bullied me. First it was just emotional and verbal, but now it's also physical. Every day I go home with more bruises and cuts than the last and no one notices. It's gotten so bad that I've actually started believing what she says and started eating less to try to make me not so fat. I've now gotten to the point that I'm eating less than 500 calories a day, however nothing that I do is helping and I continue to see myself as this fat person who's never going to have a better life.
Riley comes up and corners me against a chain link fence. One of her goons grabs a hold of my wrists and holds me down and another holds down my legs so that I can't get away. Then Riley and the rest of her posse lay into me and just start punching, kicking, cutting, and maiming me to the point that all I feel is pain. I try to get away or scream for help, but the people holding me down won't let me. Finally after what feels like hours, but was really about 10 minutes or so, Riley and her fiends stop. They let go of me, and I can see her giving me a smirk as if she's proud of what she just did and thought that I deserved it. She starts to walk away with her goons and I curl up into a ball to try to not feel the pain so much. I can see a pool of blood surrounding me, and soon blackness crowds my vision and I pass out.
Louis' POV:
The lads and I were just walking home from working a grueling 20 hour shift at the hospital. My three best friends and I are all doctors at the local hospital. We met each other in medical school and hit it off really well to the point that we are now all roommates and work at the same hospital. I'm physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted, but at the same time I feel a sense of accomplishment and pride in me. Because of me that woman who was pregnant got to meet her new baby boy. The man who thought he wouldn't live 2 more days is now living cancer free and got to go home today. The little girl who broke her leg is now not in pain and is able to let her leg heal. Because of me and my friends, we save lives and help people live healthier and longer. I love that felling and I'd gladly give up my time, sleep, sanity, ect to be able to continue saving lives.
We are just walking around the corner to our house, when I see a young girl curled up in a ball passed out on the sidewalk. The boys and I run over to her to see what all is wrong. Liam takes her small wrist in his hand and starts checking her pulse, while Niall gets out his pen light and starts checking her pupils for dilation, and Harry and I check to see what all injuries she has "Pulse is really low. She's losing a lot of blood. We need to get her to the hospital now", Liam tells us as Niall finishes checking her eyes. "Pupils reactive, but I agree with Liam. She's almost gone. We need to get her to the hospital immediately". Harry and I agree and he gently lifts her petite figure into his arms, noticing that her face scrunches up in pain. We start running back to the hospital that we came from, more worried about this little girl's well-being and forgetting how tired we are.
We get to the hospital and I grab a gurney to put her on. I grab my coat and stethoscope while I see Niall run off to get more supplies. I start listening to her heart and lungs and I can hear fluid in her lungs. That most likely means that she has punctured a lung and blood is now filling it. We have to open her up and fix her lung, but I'm worried that if we do then she will lose too much blood. She's already lost a lot already, and if she loses too much more, we might lose her. "Harry, get me two pints of blood! She's losing blood too quickly for my liking and if I could try to do surgery to fix her lung right now, I'm afraid that we'd lose her from blood loss alone. I can't fix her lung until she's a bit more stable", I yell out to Harry and he runs off to get the blood from the blood bank.
At that moment, Niall comes back with supplies to stitch her up, IV supplies, and a portable x-ray machine. He and Liam start putting in an IV which will give her something to ease her pain, as well as give her fluids, and start stitching her up. Harry comes back moments later with blood bags in his arms and we start the IV to give her the blood. Once she's a bit more stable, I listen again to her lungs and hear her lungs are worse. "We have to open her up here. There's no time to get an OR prepped and ready. I need a scalpel!" I tell them and Liam hands me a scalpel. I make a precise cut right below her lungs, being extremely careful to not cut anything else in the process. I open her up a bit and I can already see the problem. Her ribs are broken which punctured her lung. I quickly put her ribs back where they are supposed to be, securing them with screws to keep them in place and not puncture her lungs again, then drain her lung of blood, and stitch it up. I make sure that it's in stable and in working order still, then close her up.
Now that the immediate emergency is over, we can see what all injuries this girl has and figure out who she is. Harry grabs the portable x-ray machine and scans it over her body while Liam does a general check-up and Niall and I try to find anything that could explain who she is. I'm going through her clothes when I find a library card in her pocket. I look at the name and tell Niall to run it through our system to see if we can find her medical history. Once Harry and Liam were done with the exams, they turn to me. "She has quite a few broken bones and many of them look old. As much as I hate to say it, but it looks like abuse. Possibly from parents or bullies. I'm going to set the bones, but it's going to hurt so I'm going to up her pain medication", Harry says and I nod my head. Liam then tells me, "Based on what I'm finding, she's extremely malnourished and underweight. Her bones are fragile because of this, and that might be the reason why she has so many breaks. Her heart is working twice as hard as normal, and I can already tell that her liver and kidneys are starting to shut down. We need to get her weight up or she's going to die". I nod my head and start to put a feeding tube directly in her stomach so that we can get some food in her.
Harry finishes setting and casting her brittle bones, being extremely careful to not hurt this young girl that's probably been through more horror than the average 50 year old. Soon, Niall comes in and tells us who the girl is. "Her name is Kenna Queen. She's in the foster system, and going to Iron horse High school", he tells us. We all nod our heads and decide that right now, the best bet for her would be to let her rest and get some much needed sleep in order for her to heal, while we go over her medical file to try to figure out what all is going on.
Kenna's POV:
I start to feel myself wake up and the first thing that I notice is that I'm on a comfy bed and not on the hard ground that was under me when I passed out. I also notice that I'm not in pain, or not nearly as much as I was in. I slowly open my eyes and I can see that I'm in a white room with a bunch of wires and tubes going through me. I immediately realize that I'm in a hospital, and I start freaking out. I can feel my heartrate go up and I try to get my hands to work, but they are incased in plaster. My breathing gets really labored and a loud beeping sound comes from the machines next to me.
Not even a minute later, I see a guy in a doctor's coat run in. He starts trying to calm me down and explain what's going on, but I can't hear him from the pounding in my ears. I feel his hand take mine, and he gives it a gentle squeeze, letting me know that he's here for me and only trying to help. I start to calm down and I can feel him rubbing circles on my hands to help me calm down. Soon, my heart slows to a point that it's in a stable range, and I can hear what this guy is saying. "Love, my name is Dr. Liam. My friends and I found you passed out on the ground near out house. We brought you here and we're taking good care of you. You have quite a few broken bones, and well as you were severely malnourished, but we're getting you fixed up. Are you in pain right now?" he asks in a soothing kind sounding voice.
I shake my head to let him know that I'm not in a lot of pain then he asks, "I know you've gone through a lot, but do you feel up to telling us what happened?" I consider it for a moment and come to the conclusion to tell him. He seems nice and I think I can trust him. "I'm in the foster care system and I just moved here within the last year. I'm not one to want to be noticed, and I tried to blend in, but a girl and her posse have been bullying me since the first day that I got here. I usually just take it because if I don't then they just do worse to me. They had just beaten me up when you found me. They call me fat and mean names, and I'm starting to believe them. I've been starving myself ever since then, but they still call me fat, and I don't see a difference either. I know it's not the healthiest way to overcome this, but it's the only way I could deal with it", I tell Liam and by the end of my confession, I'm a sobbing mess.
Liam immediately pulls me into his chest and gives me a huge hug. He just holds me and rubs my back as I sob into his chest. "Shh, love you're okay. You're safe, and we are going to help you. Let me just call my friends in so that we can help you", Liam tells me and I slowly nod my head in his chest. I feel him press something on my bed, and a few minutes later three guys come in. They look a little confused as to why I'm crying and why Liam is holding me, but Liam tells them what I told him, and soon they have tears in their eyes and we are all in a big group hug. I don't really know why, but I feel like I can trust these guys. I feel safe with them and I know that with their help, I can overcome everything that I've gone through.
2 months later:
Harry's POV:
"Kenna, are you ready to leave?" I ask as I help Kenna pack the last of her bags from the foster home, as she's now living with us. Since we found Kenna hurt that one fateful day a few months ago, the boys and I have been helping her overcome her eating disorder and help her gain confidence in herself. We also decided to adopt Kenna. That way we know that she has a good home, and she will be safe. I don't know what it is about that girl, but something about her has made all of us care so much for her. We treat her like an older brother/father figure, and we are always there for her when she needs us.
We also made sure to get her out of that school, and now she's going to a new school where she has found many new friends and comes home telling us stories and laughing. It's so nice to see her smiling and happy, that you wouldn't think that the sad hurt girl ever existed. However, there are still days where she will get those feelings that she still thinks she's fat, even though she is nowhere near it, but we are there for her and help her through her feeling and reminder her how much we love her. We love her so much and we are so grateful that we found her that one fateful day.
I'd like everyone to remember that self harm and eating disorders are not something to joke about. There were a few comments on my previous update that made it sound like a joke, which it isn't. These conditions and diseases are very serious and are really harmful to not just the body, but the mind and emotions too. We need to help each other overcome these obstacles and be there for each other, especially during this time of chaos and confusion in the fandoms. With that being said, i always have an open ear if anyone needs to talk. I may not be able to be there always, but i'd like to say that i'm a pretty good listener and i try to help others, so if any of you feel like you need someone to talk to or just a friend, i'll try to be there.
Let me know what you think, and I hope y'all have a lovely day/night! :)