We Were Barely Seventeen, and We Were Barely Dressed

“I missed you so much, Brylee!” I said, hugging her carefully as to not hurt her.

“I missed you, too, Dee,” she said in her small voice.

I smiled at her nick name for me before sitting back down in my chair and grabbing her hand.

“How are you feeling, baby?” I asked while wiping my eyes with my fingers.

“I’m okay. I’m happy they found me. I was so scared.”

“I know, sweetheart. I kept looking for you. Always. I just wanted you to know that. I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” she responded.

It was silent for a few minutes, but it was comfortable.

“Did they hurt you, Bry?”

“Yes. They hit me a lot. It hurt. The police asked me questions, but they asked me weird things like if they ever touched my privates,” she said looking passed me at the wall.

“Did they?” I asked, trying to prepare myself for the answer.

“No. Why would they do that?”

“You’ll know someday, hon. Did the doctors say when you get to come home?”

“Yeah. They said I have to stay in the hospital for another night. I can’t wait to get back home,” she said excitedly.

“They didn’t tell you, did they?”

“Tell me what?” she said, shocked.

“We’ve moved. It’s a few hours away. There’s a room for you, though. I’ve thought about painting it many times actually, but didn’t know what you would like.”

“We moved?”

“Yeah. But don’t worry. The people are pretty nice. I actually am working at a day care. I’m sure Mom and Dad could enroll you to go there after school. I’d like that a lot actually,” I said, thinking it through.

She just smiled. The first smile I’ve seen from her in over two years.

“Mommy said you have a boyfriend,” she said, changing the subject. She’s good at that.

“No. He’s just a friend who happens to be a boy. No relationship,” I said with a shrug.

“Well, I bet he likes you,” she said with a grin.

“Doubtful.”

“Don’t be so unsure of yourself,” a masculine voice said from the doorway.

My head snapped towards the voice and I saw Rylan standing there.

“Oh, hey,” I said with a smile.

“Hello. I assume this is the ever so famous Brylee that I’ve heard so much about,” Rylan said, walking in to the room and towards where we were sitting.

“Yeah,” she said shyly.

“Don’t pretend to be shy, Bry. We all know that’s not you,” I said with a chuckle.

“Shut it, Dee,” she said angrily. Rylan and I both laughed as she looked away.

“Aww, don’t get mad, Brylee. You know I still love you.”

She smiled then looked in the direction of the TV. It looked like she was watching it, but her eyes never looked at the screen. Odd.

“I’ll be right back,” I told Brylee and Rylan before standing up and going to find my parents or the doctor. I ran into her doctor first.

“Hey, Doc? What’s wrong with Brylee? Like what’s her damage?” I asked him gently.

“Well, she’s blind. We didn’t know this until she woke up today. When the men would beat her up, she would take a lot of hits to the head. It eventually caused her to lose her sight. We’re not exactly sure when she lost her sight, but it appears to have happened before this incident.”

I couldn’t move. How could they injure little Brylee so much as to make her blind? I can’t believe someone could do that to a six year old girl and still consider themselves human.

I don’t know if the doctor helped me or if I just made it to the wall and eventually the floor by myself.

“How—How does someone do that to her? How could they? Did the police get them?” I asked.

“No. I don’t know how, but they didn’t catch them. They did release their names though,” he said with apprehension.

I stood up as quick as I could. I waited for a few seconds and realized he didn’t want to tell me.

“Well, are you going to tell me?” I said in a ‘duh’ tone.

“They were brothers. Lewis and Bucky Richardson,” he said looking away.

“Why do those names sound familiar?” I asked, more to myself than him.

“I don’t know, dear. You should go be with Brylee. She needs people right now.”

“Wait. Just one more thing: is she completely blind?” I asked with a little bit of hope.

“Not 100%, no. I would say if you were to assign numbers to it she’d be a good 88% blind. She can see colors that are in blobs and that’s about it,” he said while patting me on the shoulder.

“Okay. Thanks for your help,” I said before walking back to Brylee’s room.

Rylan had pulled up the other chair and was playing with Brylee. It was super adorable. And hot.

“I’m back,” I announced before taking my seat next to Brylee again and waiting until we could take her home.