Big Black Car

Chapter 2

“What’s her name, Adam?” Dr. George Sherman asked.

They were standing in a deserted hallway on the top floor of St. John’s. Adam had made it to the hospital, and nurses were now taking care of the girl.

He looked up helplessly at his friend. “I don’t know. She wasn’t wearing any kind of identification or anything. I didn’t know what to do. Do you think I should have--?” Adam’s words sped up as he started to panic, afraid he had done the wrong thing.

George put a hand on his shoulder.

“Look, man, you did the right thing. She could have bled for hours if you hadn’t found her and brought her here. Relax. She’s safe now,” George reassured. He looked at Adam curiously.

“Are you sure you don’t know her?” George asked, looking at Adam’s crushed demeanor. “You seem awfully upset about this.”

Adam looked his friend in the eyes. “You didn’t see her, lying there, bleeding. You didn’t hear her scream. If I had just been there 15 minutes earlier…” He trailed off, looking out the window into the city below.

“You can’t do this to yourself. You did what you could.” George patted Adam’s shoulder just as a nurse approached them.

“She’s ready for the examination, Dr. Sherman, but she isn’t coherent enough to give her consent,” the nurse said, her face solemn.

Adam spoke up. “I’ll take full responsibility for her. Please. We have to find who did this to her. I have to make sure she’s okay.”

George looked at him skeptically, “Are you sure you want to do that? It could be risky. She could sue you when she wakes up for acting as her consent… she could sue the hospital when she wakes up.”

“Please, George, we have to do what’s right,” Adam pleaded. “I’ll shoulder the risk. You have to help me.”

George conceded and walked with the nurse to the girl’s room. “Try to get a little sleep, Adam. It’ll be a few hours.”

Adam slept badly, curled up in an uncomfortable chair in the lounge. It didn’t help that he had googled rape kits and the way hospitals conducted them. It made him shudder to think of all the probing the girl was undergoing at this moment.

Three hours later, George reappeared with tired eyes. “It’s finished. We were able to confirm the incidence of rape and provide her with the morning after pill. I gave her some medicine so she would continue to sleep for a few more hours. Here’s her prescription for the pain.” He handed Adam the slip.

It was now around 4 a.m. Adam decided to go fill the prescription before she woke up. Dr. Sherman left with him and the two stopped for coffee on the way back to the hospital.

“So, what are you going to do with her now? Have you thought that far ahead?” George asked, concerned for the situation Adam had put himself in.

Adam sighed, head in his hands, the tiredness starting to get to him. “Honestly, George, I don’t know what other option I have other than taking her back to my house. I don’t know who she is or where she lives or works. But I feel like I’ve already played enough of a role in this that I can’t just abandon her. Plus, it’s not like I don’t have room.”

George rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, I suppose that’s what you have to do. I support you, man. Let me know how it turns out.”

The two headed back to the hospital in silence, lost in thoughts of what was to come.

The girl was still asleep as he entered the room. He watched her chest move in and out, hoping she was enjoying her last couple hours of peace.

At about 10 a.m., the girl’s eyes fluttered open. She rubbed them slowly and looked around her, trying to clear the cloud of haziness around her eyes. She noticed movement in the room, a nurse was unhooking her from various machines.

“You’re almost ready to go home sweetheart,” the nurse smiled pityingly. “Your boyfriend has been taking good care of you.”

“Boyfriend?” She asked, confused.

“The cute guy waiting outside. He’s yours, right? He is taking you home.”

She was too confused to do anything but nod.

The mysterious man entered, a Lakers baseball cap on his head and sunglasses covering his eyes. She looked him over.

“He is definitely cute,” she decided. “But why don’t I remember him?”

He smiled at her, with a look of something like relief. “Ready to go?”

The girl stared at him and tried not to panic. Why didn’t she know what’s going on?

He must have noticed her emotional state. “It’s all right. You’re safe,” he said comfortingly, helping her into a wheelchair. “I’ll answer all your questions when we get home.”

Somehow reassured even though he had avoided her question eyes, the girl slipped into the chair. The sudden pain made her gasp.

“Expect to feel sore for a few days, dear, after what you’ve been through,” the nurse said softly. “I just gave you a dose of medicine and that should relieve the pain and bring you some sleep by the time you get home.”

As Adam drove down the highway toward Hollywood Hills, he kept sneaking glances at the girl in the passengers’ seat. She appeared to be dozing, but her skin looked translucent next to the white hospital clothes she was wearing as her own were beyond repair.

When they arrived at the house, he decided not to wake her just yet. Lifting her carefully from the car, he quickly carried her inside before any cameras could capture the moment. He headed toward one of the many guest bedrooms and laid her in the soft bed, pulling the covers over her body like he imagined doing to a child.

Hesitating, Adam brushed her pale hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. He flipped off the light, leaving her to fall into even more deeply into the medically-induced slumber.