Everything was a blur as people did their best to get me to the hospital. Jaxon actually somehow beat Vanessa to the house. He and Patrick worked together to get me to my feet--although, not really since I couldn’t even stand on one of them. But they held up and struggled to get me up the stairs since my right arm was totally out of commission. And the unbearable pain in my ribs proved it increasingly difficult to lift me.
It was nearly a miracle that they even got me up the stairs, but I paid a heavy price for it. It was impossible for them to move me without hurting my upper body, so I had no choice but to endure the pain while they carried me as gently as they could.
By then, Vanessa was waiting with her minivan in the driveway and without even stopping--which actually made it better in the long run--they put me right into the vehicle and shut the door once I was settled in.
Vanessa and Aria were a frantic mess so Patrick rode in the van with Vanessa and me while Jaxon took Aria to the hospital in his own car. It successfully made the atmosphere incredibly calmer. I was too busy trying to steady my breathing while my tears dried that I didn’t do any talking. That didn’t deter Vanessa from asking panicked questions every three seconds or Patrick from cooing reassurances at me.
I was positive my aunt sped because what should have taken over ten minutes to get there only took a little more than five. Vanessa pulled the van up to the front doors where the drop off area was and parked. She was out of the car and running into the hospital to get somebody to help us.
Patrick jumped out of his side of the vehicle and ran around to stand beside me. A minute later, Jaxon and Aria were running hand-in-hand over to us from the parking lot.
Patrick had one of his hands lightly on my knee and the other brushing my hair from my finally dried eyes. “Hey, are you doing okay?” he whispered.
I nodded slightly. “Yeah, I’m alright.”
“There’s my mom,” Aria told me with a wry smile.
“I got the wheelchair!” Vanessa screeched.
If circumstances were different I probably would have laughed at how crazy she looked, pushing the empty chair over to us at top speed. Her hair was flying everywhere and her expression was what made me laugh anyway. Which I soon regretted because it sent shooting pain everywhere. But Vanessa looked hilarious and I loved her for it.
“Oh God, she’s gone crazy,” Jaxon muttered.
I laughed again, the sound quickly transforming into a whimper of regret. That caused Patrick to turn an evil glare at the soccer player on my behalf. Aria snorted in amusement but she smacked her boyfriend in the stomach anyway to show the disappointment her eyes weren’t conveying.
“Sorry,” Jaxon said. He looked at me and offered a pitiful smile. “You’ll be okay, Caise. Hang in there.”
I nodded again and then before I knew it, we were all struggling to transfer me into the wheelchair. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as getting me up stairs, then down the front steps and then into the van, but I could have done without it. However, once I was seated and being wheeled into the building passed the the automatic doors I felt relieved, knowing that soon I would be feeling so much better. Or at least not nearly dying in agony.
After countless papers being filled out, endless amounts of waiting, x-rays, and long and confusing talks with numerous nurses and a doctor, I finally felt at ease and pain-free as I laid there on the crappy hospital bed.
My right arm was in a secure sling, and my left ankle was in a cast. Bandages were over cuts above my eye and on my cheek. A soothing cream was spread over my busted lip, and I was one hundred percent calm due to whatever pain sedative they had given to me.
As it turned out my ankle was broken and I had dislocated my shoulder. But on top of that, I had two cracked ribs. I hadn’t even thought I’d run into the table hard enough to do something, but apparently I had. And it fucking sucked because now I was pretty much a huge mess.
I was actually really lucky that my arm hadn’t been broken because then I wouldn’t be able to use crutches until that was healed. But thankfully my shoulder would be back to normal and I could use crutches after a few days to one week. Until then, though, I’d have to deal with that annoying wheelchair. Just looking at it sitting in the corner of the hospital room made me feel pathetic and consequently irritated.
“It won’t be so bad,” Patrick said, catching me glaring at the wheelchair like a petulant child.
I sighed. “I guess.” I paused, thinking for a moment. “How did you get there so fast? You hadn’t even been gone for more than forty-five minutes.”
Patrick shrugged. “The Johnson’s from next door called me. They saw me leave and told me they heard loud yelling and screaming and fighting coming from our house. So I just rushed home right away.” He looked at me seriously. “I was so scared, Caise.”
I swallowed thickly and looked away. “Oh.”
“We’re talking about this, you know,” he said in a gentle tone. My glare dissolved and I carefully stared at the blanket underneath me. “Caise.”
“What?” I snapped.
Patrick’s gaze turned steely. “Tell me what happened.”
I knew there was absolutely no way I could lie about this. So I kept quiet and pretended I never heard him speak. It was a long shot and after a few seconds it proved to not be working in the slightest.
Patrick sighed frustratedly and waved his hand in front of my face. “Hello...? I asked you a question.”
“I don’t care,” I mumbled.
“Knock it off,” Patrick snapped.
The irritation was clear in his voice and on his face. I knew we were about to fight and I was glad that everybody else was out of the room figuring other things out. Vanessa and Scott were out talking to the doctors. Aria and Jaxon were collecting Kieran and Phoebe and going to get themselves some fast food. And as far as I knew, Kristian and Marck were leaving work early and heading over.
Patrick gestured at my beaten up body. “This is not something normal. There is no way in hell this happened just because you’re clumsy or some shit. I talked to Jaxon while you were getting your cast on. He told me that Rikert’s been beating you.”
Just the sheer amount of venom lacing Patrick’s words had me wincing. Here it comes, I thought. He’s going to lose his mind.
“How could you not tell me?” Patrick demanded angrily. “Do you have any idea how this makes me feel? To see you like this? Fuck, you’re so stupid--I--why didn’t you tell me?”
“This isn’t about you!” I yelled at him. “You’re being so selfish. I’ve been miserable and falling apart for months and the only person I thought was helping was the person causing it. Quit with the ego boost, Patrick, because believe it or not, this isn’t about you.”
Patrick’s eyes widened. They seemed to soften before they went back to being a little guarded. “I’m sorry, okay? But I just--I care about you and--and I don’t even know. This is so messed up. You could have died today. Falling down the stairs? That bastard went too fucking far. I’m gonna kill him.”
“Stop,” I said sternly. “I know it’s wrong. I was going to break up with him after Christmas. I was going to tell you everything. I just...I couldn’t do it yet. And now I can’t even walk.”
“You lied to me,” Patrick said quietly. “I would have done anything to help you. All of this could have been avoided if you had just told me. Yesterday, last week, when it first started--”
I shook my head in disbelief. “When it first started, you hated my guts,” I said. “I couldn’t even ask you what was for dinner without being afraid you’d snap at me or hit me or something.”
Patrick’s anger flared again. “Don’t even talk like that. I never hated you and I will never ever hit you. I swear to God on that one, Caise. You don’t deserve to ever be hit again. Rikert is sick and demented--”
“He’s got his own problems,” I argued. “There’s a difference.”
Patrick threw his hands in the air. “I don’t care! He hit you and that’s all there is to it. It’s wrong. Abuse is wrong on so many levels. If I see him again, I will tear him apart.”
“Please don’t,” I said quietly. “How do you think hitting him is going to make me feel better? It’ll make me feel worse. I trust you, I don’t want to see you hurting someone.”
Patrick softened and sat down on the bed next to me. He grabbed my uninjured hand and looked right into my eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to scare you. If--I guess if it makes you feel better, then--God this is stupid. I promise I won’t hurt him. Alright?”
I smiled sadly at him. “Thanks. How long before we can just forget all of this?”
Patrick scoffed. “Not anytime soon. Jaxon’s told the doctor and Aria’s parents. I’m telling my parents as soon as they get here if they don’t already know, and there’s already been a call to the police.”
My eyes widened so much I thought I was going to lose them. My voice came out strangled and high-pitched. “What?”
Pointing in the direction of the closed door as if some invisible being were out there, he said, “He is not getting away with this. Rikert needs to be charged for something. He can’t just hurt you like this and not suffer any consequences. Abuse is a cycle and it needs to end.”
I shook my head desperately. “No. No, I don’t want anything to happen to him. Patrick, I love him. I don’t want him getting locked up or anything like that.”
The older boy seemed to flinch as my words hit his ears. “How can you even say that? How can you love him after all this? Why do you love him?”
“You’ll never understand it,” I whispered, tearing my eyes from his. “But I’m serious. I don’t want anything happening to him.”
I could feel Patrick fuming next to me. “You’re impossible. I’m here--I am doing so much--Rikert. He’s an asshole, always has been. I don’t get--he beats the shit out of you. He’s not even--and I’m the one--and you still love him! This is bullshit, is what it is.”
I gaped at him, not understanding anything he was trying to say. I could make out his words, but more than half of what was being uttered from his mouth made no sense in terms of sentence structure. I felt more confused than ever.
“What’s wrong?” I wondered.
Patrick got to his feet, letting go of me and pacing around. “Nothing,” he said angrily. “Actually, everything! This whole situation is just so beyond comprehension.” He pointed at himself furious. “And I can’t stop thinking about how goddamn stupid I was to not notice.”
“Nobody noticed,” I said trying to pacify him.
“That’s a lie,” Patrick said. “Jaxon knew. Kieran knew. Why didn’t I? I care about you the most and I didn’t know! And I should have. I just...I should have, Caise.”
“It’s okay, Patrick.”
“No, it’s not!” he said loudly. He saw me jump slightly and quieted down. He came back over to me and twined his fingers with mine. “It’s just not.” His eyes seemed to blaze as he stared at me with a new expression. One I’d never really seen from him before and I couldn’t describe it. “Caise, I--”
Patrick never got to finish his sentence because at that instant the door was opening and people were rushing in. An incredibly tall male officer followed behind the middle-aged female doctor as they walked towards us. Marck and Kristian came striding into the room and I could see Jaxon, Aria, and Kieran poking their heads through the doorway to listen in on everything.
“Oh my God,” Marck and Kristian exclaimed about the same time.
I offered them a consoling smile. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
“That’s the drugs talking,” Patrick grumbled. “He doesn’t feel any of the pain anymore. But he sure as hell did earlier, and once the pills wear off, he’ll feel it again.”
“Brat,” I muttered under my breath. That earned me a tiny glare from the other boy.
The doctor started explaining my injuries and other boring information that I already knew to my guardians and the police officer. The looks on everyone’s faces, Patrick’s especially as he listened to every word for probably the third time, made me feel so awful. It was my fault we were even here. There was so much I could have done so that this wouldn’t have happened, but I didn’t do anything. I pretty much let it happen; nearly welcomed it.
After a while, when the talk died off, the cop looked down at his notepad before looking up at me.
“Mr. Danue-Samuels?” he asked.
I nodded cautiously. “It’s Caise.”
He offered me a small smile. “Caise, there’s a few things we can do here, and a few we can’t,” he said. I watched him carefully and Patrick squeezed my hand. “It gets a little complicated in situations such as these.”
“Such as these?” Marck echoed.
Officer Gerald Forks, I had learned, nodded and said, “Yes. As I understand it was your boyfriend who inflicted these wounds. Is that correct?” I eyed him suspiciously before nodding hesitantly. “Right. And normally this would be a little easier to handle. But, both of the boys involved are legal adults. And they live with their parents, or guardians in Caise’s case. Also, there is that fact that he’s not a United States citizen.”
“So what are you saying?” Kristian demanded.
“Well, it’s hard to judge anything at this point, but it’s probably going to be a tough road from here. Domestic violence of any sort will more than likely be thrown out the door right away. A judge will consider it assualt more than anything,” he said slowly. “So if you want to press charges--”
“He’s definitely pressing charges!” Patrick snapped. His parents responded similarly and I just sort of shrank back against the pillows.
Officer Forks cleared his throat before he continued. He looked right at me and said, “As I was saying, if charges were to be pressed, it would ultimately be in your hands. Now, I’m sure if you contacted a lawyer this could easily be taken care of. But the first step right now would be for me to take your statement, Caise. That’s only if you’d like to press charges.”
Everybody’s eyes were on me and I felt my throat grow tight. And my breathing was getting difficult from the pressure of my injured ribs. I didn’t know how to respond.
“What exactly does that mean?” Patrick asked for me.
“Well essentially, he agrees to press charges, I take a statement to have on record, and then Caise and the other party will possibly have to appear in court. If it goes to court it means he’ll have to testify against this other boy.” Officer Forks looked away from Patrick and back at me.
“I don’t know,” I said quietly.
“Tell you what, kid,” Forks said. “I’ll write up my report and put it on file. I know where you’re coming from. This is a tough decision. We’ll get things wrapped up today and then I’ll give you until the end of tomorrow to decide. If you don’t want to take it to court you can consider a civil lawsuit. It’s not as effective, but it will make sure he doesn’t get away completely. What do you say?”
I thought about it for a minute. I knew every single person in the room, excluding the doctor and the officer, were telepathically urging me to go through with this. So I gave in, going against my heart, and took the officer’s deal. For now, at least.
I told him what happened to the best of my ability and then he went on to interview Patrick, Aria, and Jaxon. He talked to all of the parents and then he was on his way. I should have felt better, but the truth was that I didn’t. I didn’t want Rikert getting arrested or anything. I just wanted to let him go, from assault charges and my heart. I just needed to be done with him. It would be best for everyone in the long run.