I'll put pics up in the next add. Too lazy right now. Didn't proofread, but enjoy!
Ivi stirred awake, her eyes fluttering open. The brightness from the overhead light in the room magnified the pounding headache she had. She lifted her hand to wipe the sleep and crust from her eyes but was restrained. Literally. Ivi looked down to see her hands tied to the hospital bed she laid in.
Handcuffed?! To a hospital bed?!
Ivi's first instinct was to try and free herself and scream. But then it all came rushing back to her. She settled in the bed, not wanting to endure another ordeal. That was how she ended up restrained in the first place.
The first time she came too, Ivi was fighting whoever touched her. The second time, she was restrained, and it scared her. She pulled and yanked at her restrains until she almost snapped her wrists in half. The sedative they gave her each time had to be strong enough to knock her out. Otherwise, Ivi would have caused herself and anybody else serious injury, she reasoned.
She'd done it before.
Now that Ivi was awake, she had time to process everything since it happened. She sighed with a sudden sense of tension but relief. It was obvious everyone knew her rapist was at this point. Ivi wondered what would happen from here, with everything!
Ivi's survey of the room deemed that they, being the doctors and staff, hadn't thought she was completely crazy. The room was all white and padded. That was a good sign. A loud snore from the corner of the room, jarred Ivi from her thoughts.
There, laid out on a seemingly uncomfortable couch, was Tripp. It was weird how she could always miss his bulky frame in plain sight most of the time. Ivi smiled small at him. She was happy that he was there. Ivi had the sudden urge to touch him, hug him and thank him.
She also needed to pee.
On cue, her room door open. A nurse, Ivi guessed, came in and froze with wide eyes when she saw Ivi was awake. The poor woman must have been on the receiving end of one of Ivi's rants. She looked like she had the fear of God in her when she 180'd out of the room. She came back a few seconds later with a room full of people.
Ivi tried to get them to be quiet by shushing them. She motioned her eyes toward Tripp, not to wake him. He looked so tired. One of the men in the room, nodded.
He in turn spoke quietly. "Hello. I'm Dr. Davis. I'm a psychotherapist here and Pensacola Med. How are you feeling, Ms. Nance?" he asked with a polite smile.
Ivi cleared her dry throat as much as possible to speak. One of the nurses moved to grab a cup of water for Ivi to sip to ease the roughness. "I would be better if I wasn't tied down to a bed, but for the most part, I'm well as could be expected."
"That's good to hear. As far as your restrains, it's just a safety precaution until we deem it okay for you not hurt yourself or others."
Ivi nodded. "Can I at least go to the bathroom?"
"Yes. Two of our nurses can escort you.."
"Two nurses to escort me." Ivi deadpanned. "Wow I must have caused some serious damage." Her skin crawled, thinking.
"No need to fret." Dr. Davis said, not wanting Ivi to work herself up. "No real injuries were caused while you've been here. I'm going to let you go to the bathroom, and when you're done, we'll do a little evaluating."
Ivi nodded as two men began to undo her hands. She looked between the two men with concern. Were they the ones who would escorting her? Did the doctor think she would overpower two women if they took her instead?
"I'll take her."
Everyone in the room looked up to see Tripp standing. Ivi's reflexes kicked in and she jumped from the bed, into his arms. She held onto to him, and he her, like their lives depended on it.
"I'm sorry sir, but it's not policy to let someone who's not employed here assist with the patients..."
Tripp cut the doctor off. "Then get my sister in here. She's an employee. I'm not about to let to niggas stand over my girl while she wipe her pu..."
Ivi covered Tripp's mouth, to keep him from embarrassing her anymore than what she'd done herself.
"Uh...we can get Ms. Nakia in here. No problem." The doctor said motioning his head to one of the nurses to go get Nakia. Not to long afterwards, Kia came in. Everyone stepped out of the room for a moment while Kia and Tripp stayed with Ivi.
Dr. Davis came back in to start Ivi's evaluation. Kia and Tripp stayed while question after question was asked over a 20 minute period. The questions were fine when they were pertaining strictly to Ivi and her overall mental and physical state. It was when it took a turn toward...other questions, did things get testy.
"Theron Wright..."
"What about the bastard?" Ivi retorted quickly, angrily.
Dr. Davis tried to tread lightly. "He's been booked on charges of the aggravated rape he did to you all those years ago. He told detectives about everything. How he came to know you from loving with his father..who was dating your mother at the time..the incident. How at first when you told what happened, no one believed you. But when things proverbially hit the fan, his father sent him away to keep your mother from leaving him..."
"That's not why she left him. She left because she didn't want to get the state involved. My mom...that.bitch...was still seeing Theron's dog as pappy, getting drugs from him, even when the state put me foster care. She 'claimed' she was done with him and that Theron would be no where around, but that was all lies!" Ivi ranted, staring to run her hands through her hair.
"Do you need a break, Ivi?" Nakia asked. Tripp was sitting there, rubbing his hands together with anger and anxiousness, but he didn't seem inclined to stop the questions, because there was a big one that had yet to be answered by a vi as of yet.
"..I'm fine." Ivi finally replied after a beat.
"Let's change course for a second." Dr, Davis said flipping a page in his chart. "An Agent Lynn Dawson has been by here, trying to ask you questions."
"I don't have anything to say that conniving skank." Ivi said firmly. "She was trying to use me to ruin Detective Chalmers and Travis' careers."
"Yes, it was brought to our attention the things she was trying to charge Travis Jr and Travis III with. Tampering and falsifying official documents and drug trafficking; respectively." Dr. Davis said.
"Right. All bull. Detective Chalmers didn't do anything to any documents and Travis had nothing to do with any drugs." Ivi replied.
"But wasn't it determined that Travis III company was being used to launder drug money?"
"Yes, but he had nothing to do with that. That was all that bastard Theron's doing..." Dr. Davis cut Ivi off.
"And didn't Detective Chalmers place you in his ex wife's home under the guise that it was an actual group home by using an LLC he and Ms. Adele started years ago? An LLC that was used to help young adults, like yourself, with starting their lives over?" Dr. Davis went on.
"He was trying to help me. Why would anybody want to fault him for that?"
"So you were trying to protect the both of them...when you left. You felt that if you took yourself out of the equation, you'd keep them from getting into trouble."
Ivi looked at Tripp, who stared at her for an answer. "...yes.."
Dr. Davis nodded. "Common reaction. You've done this before." his statement was just that, not a question.
"What do you mean?" Ivi quizzed.
"Protecting someone you love." he responded.
Ivi blinked and few times. "...I..."
"Your mother, when Theron Wright's father was beating on her, you defended her. You took a baseball bat to his head. It's why you went to jail."
"...he...he was going to kill her...I may not like her but I wasn't about to let him do that to her.. " Ivi reasoned.
"Right. But your mother took his side. Said that you started everything and you went to jail for attempted murder.."
Ivi flooded her eyes. "So?"
"So, you didn't defend yourself when you went before the judge. You plead guilty and let the chips fall where they may."
This was all news to Tripp. Why would Ivi do something like that?
Ivi shrugged uncomfortably. "Again..so?"
"So...you chose to go to prison to a: get away from Theron's father and your mother, because b: with the damage you caused with that baseball bat, you knew he couldn't hurt your mother anymore. You may not like her, but you do love her...on some level."
Ivi stared a long moment before slowly clapping her hands at Dr. Davis. No one was lost on the sarcasm. Nakia and Tripp felt so bad for Ivi. The life she'd led so far had not been the prettiest, and farther than what either of them could imagine. They wanted to hug her, love on her. From different ends of the spectrum, of course. And what happened next..magnified the feeling ten times over.
Dr. Davis stood closer to Ivi's bed. "You love your father as well."
Ivi squinted her eyes. "From what I can remember of him, yes."
"You haven't reached out to him since being out of prison...or even over the years?"
"Why do you keep bringing up things that obviously don't matter to me?"
"That's the point I'm trying to make. It does matter. The same way you handled the previous situations I just mentioned, is the same way you've handled this one. Actually, it's the root to the reason you are the way you are. It was the results of your rape, which led to the attacks and the way you treat people you love..."
"You're not making any sense. There is no situation with my father. I haven't seen him since I was 6 years old. Haven't had contact with him since..."
"Since he took custody of your daughter." Dr. Davis said.
You could hear a pin drop in the room. Ivi's eyes frantically looked between everyone present. "...what are you talking about...I...I don't have a daughter..."
Dr. Davis flopped to another page in the chart. "The chart I have here shows that you gave birth to a daughter on March 2, 2010 in Atlanta, GA. After giving birth you had your first attack. The nurse didn't know you had been raped and gave some choice words to you about being a 12 year old with a baby.."
"...no...I was never pregnant...why does everyone keep telling me that..."
Ivi hands were now in her head. Tripp stood and moved to the other side of her. "Baby, just breathe. It's okay. This is a safe place. He's just trying to help you deal and process..."
"This is bullshit!!" Ivi screamed. "I've never had a baby! I've never been pregnant!"
"Ivi, you have to face this. You do have child." Dr. Davis said. "And since you were a child yourself, in foster care at the time, you asked your social worker to find your father. They did. They granted him custody of you and your baby...but your mother fled the state with you before he could take you and.."
"Stop it..."
"We have photos. This is your father with your daughter..." Dr. Davis said trying to hand her some pictures.
"Stop It...STOP IT!!!!"
Ivi leapt across the bed at the doctor, knocking the pictures from his hands, before Tripp grabbed her.
"Call the team in! We need to sedate her..."
"No...no just let her deal. I've got her." he said consoling Ivi. Tears streamed down her face from the shear emotional turmoil and trauma. All these years, she had convinced herself this was all a dream. All the scenarios and factors to what could have been her life, even after the rape...she would never know.
And they wanted her to deal with this? How could she?