You Call it Misery, I'll Call it Love

Fourteen hours later, I open my eyes. I find myself lying on the forest floor. I feel less pain at first, but then I feel horrible pain in my stomach. I roll onto my back and stare up at the trees. I lay there for a few minutes and think of what to do. I find the strength inside of me and start to stand up. I’m in so much pain that it takes me twice as long to stand. Pain is shooting in and out of my belly that it hurts so much that tears are pouring out of my eyes like I’m at a family member’s funeral.

I stand against a tree for a few minutes as I catch my breath. The pain subsides as I stand. I then start walking through the woods, grabbing one tree and reaching for the next in order to help support my own fragile body.

Hours later, I reach a clearing. I look around and notice a small little house, a SUV parked on the side and construction tools near it. This is all too familiar to me. I’ve been here before. I look around the property and realize where I am. I’m at Darren’s house.

“Mary Kate?” someone calls out my name. I look around and see Tess just standing outside of her door, staring at me. I stare back. “Mary Kate? Is that you?” she asks. I try to answer, but no breathe comes out of my already jaw dropped mouth.

Tess walks over to me and puts her hand on my shoulder. I jump back instantly and stare down at her hand and then back up at her soft face.

“It’s okay! What happened?” she asks. “Are you all right?” I still don’t answer. I look up at her and continue to stare. “Come with me,” she tells me, taking my hand gently and pulling me into her house.

She leads me into the downstairs bathroom and starts the bath water. I find myself sitting on the toilet seat. I don’t know how I ended up sitting on there. I think I’m too far into shock. Tess looks back at me and I can see the worry in her eyes.

“You look horrible, Mary Kate. Why don’t you take a shower and then we’ll talk?” she suggests. “I’ll get you a set of clothes to change into.” She walks towards the door and then looks back at me once more before turning around to walk out of the bathroom. I stand up after she leaves.

I feel so stupid. I shouldn’t have ever walked in the woods and fallen asleep and then walked until I found myself here. I don’t want Tess to find out about my secrets, but unfortunately, I think she’s going to ask. I lean against the bathroom counter and look at myself in the mirror.

My face is bloodied, there are bruises up and down my arms. I slowly take off my shirt and notice three huge bruises running down my sides. I wince in pain as I move. These are what are causing me so much pain. I slide out of my pants and notice bruises on my upper thighs. I carefully walk into the shower and close the door behind me. Once inside, I find myself holding my aching body up by leaning against the wall.

The hot water against my skin is the ultimate relief. I just stand there for minutes soaking up the heat, letting it soothe my aching skin. I find a bottle of shampoo and scrub the top of my scalp until every strand of my hair is covered in shampoo. I rinse it out and stand there yet again to let the heat blast over my bruises. I take the bar of soap and run it all over my torso, my chest and my arms and legs, I rinse it all off and stand under the warm water.

Minutes later and I reach out and turn off the running water. I reach for a towel and dry myself off before wrapping it around my aching body. I step out of the shower and sit back down on the toilet seat. Tess runs in with a fresh pair of clothes.

“Oh my god!” she cries as she notices the bruises that cover my body. “What the hell happened? Who did this to you?” she demands. After I don’t answer, she screams, “Answer me!”

“My father!” I yell at her. Her eyes widen and she looks at me in absolute shock. As if it isn’t shocking enough to me. My own father beats the shit of me and rapes me until I’m a fucking walking bruise. How shocking is that?

“We need to get you to the hospital,” she tells me. I shake my head like a little kid being told that they can’t have the toy that they want. “Yes, Mary Kate! We do!”

“No!” I shout. “I can’t turn him in!”

“You have to! By the looks of those bruises, it looks like he’s done some serious internal damage, you have to go!” she tells me. I start to cry. The tears are streaming out of my eyes at full force. I’m crying so hard that Tess has to help dress me. She helps me into a pair of clean panties and sweatpants. Then a black tank top and a black sweater. She throws her arm around me carefully and helps me into her car.

Before I knew it, we’re arriving at the Emergency entrance. Someone helps me into a wheelchair and then pushes me into the triage station. Tess gives them my name and then begins to ask me the rest of the questions that the paperwork needs. They tell us to wait in the waiting room. So, I am wheeled into an empty room with a television. Tess sits down in the chair next to me and holds my hand.

“I’m so sorry that he did this to you, Mary Kate,” she tells me. I can’t respond. I’m too far into shock to talk to anyone, let alone my boyfriend’s mother. I look over at her. She looks back at me. “You’re so young, how could anybody do this to you?” she asks with tears in her eyes.

“Mary Kate?” someone calls out. Tess stands up and wheels me out of the room and down the hall. The nurse tells us that they’ll need a full body scan. So, I’m wheeled into the radiology department and then into a dark room with a huge table and x-ray machine. I see a police officer waiting in the corner. Thank god she’s a woman, because if a man were to see me undress, I’m pretty sure I’d freak.

They help me stand up in front of a wall. They tell me to stand still. Everyone backs away and the machine closes in on me. A few machine like noises are made. This lasts a total of twenty minutes. Every so often, I’m told to turn in a different direction or pose in a certain way. They then come over to me and help me get onto the table. The machine works again, taking pictures of me from every angle.

Soon, it’s all over and I’m wheeled out of the dark room and placed in another room with Tess and the woman police officer. No one talks to me directly, but in the hallway, I hear voices discussing my x-rays.

“Broken right radius, broken right humerous, five broken ribs, and a severely bruised hip. This poor kid was beaten to a bloody pulp,” the doctor says. “This is absolutely terrible! One of the worst child abuse cases that I’ve ever seen,” he says.

“What are we going to tell her?” the nurse asks.

“The truth,” the doctor tells her. The nurse comes into the room and sits down at the table. I look at her and she looks back at me with a weak smile.

“Mary Kate,” she begins. “I’m afraid you’re quiet broken. You have a broken arm, a few crushed ribs and a bruised hip. You’re going to need a rape kit to determine if you were raped. I would like to set those bones first though, okay?” she asks.

I nod and am wheeled out of that room and put in the cast room. It takes quiet a while to set each of my bones and wrap them in a solid cast. I wince every time they push something back in its original place. They gave me a sedative, but that didn’t help much. Tess holds my hand and looks down at me as if to give some type of mental support. I try to smile as much as I could, but the pain was just so terrible that most of the time, I wasn’t smiling at all.

“All right, you’re all set here,” the technician tells me. I smile and nod. “You’re one brave kid,” he tells me with a chuckle. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” I say as I’m wheeled out of the cast room. We travel down a long and winding hallway until we reach a certain section of the Emergency Room, known as the women’s wing. I’m wheeled into an exam room and am helped up onto a short bed with hardly any room for my feet. A female doctor comes in and explains what they’re about to do. She tells
me that I have to take off my clothes and put on one of those scratchy hospital gowns.

First, they search me for obvious bruising and scarring. I have it, they don’t really need to check for that. They then closed the curtain that closes me off from Tess and that stupid cop lady who keeps following us around. I look around and the doctor explains everything she’s about to do. Before I know it, she’s examining every inch of me down there. Quite frankly, I’m scared of someone I barely know touching me in a place that’s so private. She seems to do what she’s supposed to pretty quick.

Once she’s finished, she lets me get fully dressed. She leaves the room writing something in my chart. I’m left sitting on the table by myself until the curtain pushes open and the cop tells me exactly why she’s been here with me in the first place.

“We have enough evidence that supports your case. But, I will be conducting an interview with you shortly,” she tells me.

“What do you mean you have enough evidence to support my case?” I ask. I am completely confused.

“We’re building a case against your father,” she tells me. “He’ll be served with an arrest warrant soon,” she tells me.

“Wait! Whoa! Whoa! I don’t want that to happen!” I tell her.

“Why not?” she asks me.

“My family will, well, you know, kill me if I do!” I tell her.

“They’re not going to kill you,” she says.

“No, but I’ll be fucking shunned for the rest of my life!” I tell her.

“Mary Kate, please,” Tess pleads to me. “Your father’s done absolutely horrible things to you and he belongs behind bars!”

“She’s right, he’s an absolute nutcase if you ask me,” the cop tells me. “He’s no good!”

“I guess I have no say in the matter,” I tell them.

“You actually don’t,” the cop says. “I’ll explain everything once we’re in the interview setting, don’t worry.”

I sigh as she leaves the room. God! My life’s just been turned upside down today! Not only have I broken my arm and cracked a few ribs and am a walking bruise, but the cops now know everything! This scares the living shit of me! My sister’s not going to believe a word of it! My mom’s going to deny everything and my dad’s going to go absolutely insane and call me a lunatic! I’m turning everyone’s lives upside down! Tess shouldn’t have ever gone out of her way to help me, even if I’m this badly injured. She should have just let me suffer. I would have been more comfortable with that option, if I was even given a choice! My life is never going to be the same now. I might as well just kiss it good-bye!