Locked Doors

As soon as the sigh left my lips, I heard the floorboards behind me creak, causing shivers to travel up my spine.

“And where have you been you little bitch?” my father asked with vodka fresh on his breath, “I bet you were fucking that boy who was here earlier. Weren’t you?”

“I was not fucking him,” I said clenching my fists.

“Don’t you ever curse at me you bitch,” he said before slapping me as hard as he could across the face, “Haven’t I ever taught you anything?”

Before I could even try to back away, I felt his fist connect with my left eye. I let out a cry of pain, which only caused him to hit me harder, and in more places. I got up and tried to run down the stairs, but he promptly tripped me, making me tumble down the stairs. I felt a pain shoot through my left arm, and I knew there was a high chance that it was broken.

I held it close to my body, before running out the front door, and starting down the street. Just as I was passing Rory’s cousin, Matt’s, house, a pair of headlights illuminated my body. I tried to keep walking, but as soon as I heard the door open, my name followed.

“Gabby, is that you?” I heard Matt say as the other car door opened.

I quickly turned to face him, and watched his face turn from normal, to shocked.

“Please help me,” I said as more tears fell down my face.

“Matt, what’s going on?” a girl said finally stepping out of the car, “Who is this?”

“This is Gabby, Laura,” he said turning to her, “Do me a favor and call Rory and tell her to come over here ASAP.”

“No, you can’t call her,” I said protesting, “She doesn’t know about this stuff, Rian is the only that knows.”

“I’ll call Rian then,” Matt said leading me up to his house, “Laura, will you sit with her for a bit while I call Rian?”

Laura just nodded, and led me into the warm living room, before sitting down on the couch with me.

“Do you mind me asking who did this to you?” she said speaking softly.

“My dad,” I said whispering, “And no, it’s not the first time.”

“I’m sorry,” she said searching for the right words, “Do you think you need to go to the hospital for anything?”

“I think my arm might be fractured,” I said feeling another surge of pain run up it.

“You definitely need one,” she said looking at my arm, “Do you want to go now, or wait for Rian?”

“Let’s wait for Rian,” I said softly, finally stopping crying.

We sat in an almost uncomfortable silence, only hearing a few murmurs from Matt in the kitchen. We heard him say goodbye to Rian, before walking in and offering the smallest smile he could.

“Rian said he’ll be right over,” Matt said before sitting on the recliner, “Do you want to talk about this right now?”

“I’ll let Rian fill you guys in when we get to the hospital,” I said barely looking up.

“Hospital?” Matt asked with a look of confusion on his face.

“Her arm is fractured,” Laura said filling him in, “Did you call the cops Gabby? Or should we?”

“I didn’t have a chance, I ran out of there as fast as I could,” I said looking up, “Could I borrow your phone and call them?”

Matt nodded before grabbing the phone off of the coffee table, and passing it to me. I gave him a small thank you, before calling 911, and waiting for an operator. As soon as I was connected, I explained to them everything that had happened, and gave them my address. I prompted them to come in silent, otherwise he might try and run. They assured me they’d be there as soon as possible, and they would even send an ambulance to Matt’s house to check me out.

Almost as soon as I hung up the phone, there was a knock at the door, followed by Rian quietly walking in. I immediately stood up and walked over to him, before wrapping my one good arm around him as tight as I could. He hugged me back as well, but made sure to not touch my arm.

“Gabby I’m so sorry,” he said looking me in the eyes, “I really thought he would have been passed out. This is all my fault.”

“Rian, stop, no it isn’t,” I said as sternly as I could, “I talked back to him, which I knew was a bad idea before I even did it. I was just so sick of him calling me a whore, and treating me like he did, so I snapped. So it’s my fault, not yours.”

He tried to protest, but I shot him a look, so he shut his mouth. We all sat in silence, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door a few minutes later. We figured it was the EMT’s, so we all stood up, and made our way to the door. We opened it to find a woman dressed in her uniform, holding a medic bag.

“Gabby?” she asked looking at me, “I’m Amanda, I’m here to take a look at you. The person that called in said something about a possibly fractured arm?”

“Yeah, I think my left arm may be broken,” I said taking a step closer to her and holding my arm out a little.

“Alright, let’s go to the ambulance and we can look at it a little better,” she said allowing me to walk in front of her before she followed me.

I noticed the cops dragging my father out in handcuffs, and felt a huge weight get lifted off of my shoulders. He looked over and spotted me, before trying to yell some insult, only to be muffled by a cop’s hand.

Amanda instructed me to sit on the floor with my legs hanging out, and immediately shone a bright light onto my arm, and asking to hold it. I moved it to her, all while in major pain, before she looked at it, and told me that it was definitely broken. She put a temporary splint on my arm before telling me an officer would be over shortly to ask me a few questions.

After she went back into the ambulance and started writing her report, Rian walked over and took a seat next to me. I leaned into him, and he slung his arm around my shoulders, and pulled me into a side hug. We sat like this until an officer came to ask me some questions.

I had to explain my whole story to the officer, and even had to go into details about past events. Rian, Matt and Laura were also being asked a few questions, considering they were with me right after it happened. Once I had finished signing the reports the officer had been filling in, I was told that I needed to ride in the ambulance to the hospital to get my cast.

“Can Rian join us, please?” I said as I waited for Amanda to get everything situated.

“I don’t see the harm in it,” she said motioning for Rian to join us, “Good thing you have a boyfriend who cares so deeply for you.”

“I-uh-we’re not dating,” Rian said as a blush crept up his face, “We’re just best friends.”

“Best friends often become lovers,” Amanda said before walking up to the front where her partner was waiting.

Rian and I just said in a awkward silence, avoiding each others gazes, as we felt the ambulance start off towards the hospital.

When we got to the hospital, I was rolled in on the gurney, and put in one of the emergency beds. I sat up in the not-so-comfortable bed, with Rian on the chair next to it.

“What color cast are you going to get?” Rian asked finally breaking our silence.

“Probably blue, it’s my favorite color,” I said turning towards him, “Man, a cast is going to suck so much! My arm will be itchy, and all nasty.”

“Let’s hope its not a horrible fracture, so you won’t have to wear the cast as long,” Rian said trying to be optimistic.

I was getting ready to reply when the doctor came in and introduced himself, and examined my arm. He then took me to the lab for x-rays, which only took a few minutes, before taking me back to the room where Rian still sat.

The doctor came back in a few minutes later, along with a nurse holding the necessary casting items, and started casting my arm. He told me the fracture was to my radius, and that it was only partial, so it wouldn’t take too long to heal. Once it was all done, he told me I was good to leave, and prescribed me a small amount of pain pills, before heading out of the room. The nurse stayed behind and told me when to come back to get my cast removed, and reminded me to sign out at the desk before leaving the grounds.

“See, only a minor fracture,” Rian said as I finished signing my papers.

“Yeah, that’s the single plus to the whole night,” I said as we exited the emergency room, “Uhm, how are we getting home?”

“I texted Rory and asked her to pick us up, I hope you don’t mind,” he said taking a seat on a nearby bench.

“Not at all, “ I said following suit, “They’ll all find out sooner or later.”

We sat in the brisk night air for almost 10 minutes, before Rory’s familiar black car pulled up to the curb. She immediately bounded out of the passenger door, meaning Alex was driving, and asked a million questions a minute. I told her to breathe, before climbing into the backseat with her, while Rian rode shotgun, and started on my story.