“You’re not in trouble Cara. Let me unstrap you, can you trust me?” There’s just silence. I’m pissed that she’s strapped to the bed. I’m glad for once I can’t see her. Rage courses through me.
“I don’t remember you? I don’t remember certain things, but I would or should remember you. I’m in trouble aren’t I?” This time, there’s more fear in Cara’s voice and sadness. It takes everything I have to stay quiet and not go to comfort her.
“Sweetheart, you’re not in trouble okay. You don’t remember me because you haven’t seen me in this room.” I hear what sounds like buckles being undone.
“You’re new to me and I’m not in trouble.” Again there’s silence. “Can I ask you a question? My boyfriend’s here…I think.” Cara’s quiet for a second and I can hear her hiccup. “They won’t (hiccup) tell me (hiccup)…anything (hiccup)…” She stops talking.
“Your boyfriend, Jordan, why don’t you ask him yourself,” Kim said magic words then the curtain was moved and I was eye to eye with Cara.
Her hair was a mess and she looked slightly pale. Her eyes were a light gray, but heavily bloodshot. I watched her reaction of excitements for maybe a few seconds turn to a look of seeing a ghost.
“This (hiccup)…is (hiccup)… not (hiccup)… real (hiccup)… I’m (hiccup)… dreaming (hiccup).” She looks scared to death.
“Cara Mia, my pretty girl, you’re not dreaming. I’m here and I’m okay.” I carefully stand up so she can see me. I’m very aware of my balance. I watch as Cara moves off the hospital bed in a panic and backs up to a wall. I walk around the bed slowly towards her. I motion to Kim not to help me. I walk closer to Cara; she now has tears falling down her face.
“I’m (hiccup)… dreaming (hiccup)… they (hiccup)… put...” She pauses and wipes her tears away and I catch a glimpse of rope burns to her wrist. I’m now standing right in front of her. All I fucking want to do is wrap my arms around her, but I’m thinking that might not be a good idea.
Cara takes in a very shaky breath. “They put me (hiccup)… back to sleep (hiccup).”
I step closer to her and run my hand down her left arm and take her hand in mine. “Pretty girl, you’re not dreaming. I’m here.” I bring her hand up my lips to kiss the scars on her fingers. Something I’ve done more times than I can count to comfort her. When I bring up her hand I notice a pink tint all over her hand and her fingernails are stained a faint red. The rope burns run completely around her wrist.
Cara pulls her hand away from me quickly. “I asked them. It’s blood, I wanted to get it off and they got mad at me.” She’s sobbing and I wrap my arms around her. I cringe when she touches my left side. The little noise I accidentally made causes Cara to pull away from me.
“I hurt you, I’m sorry. You got hurt because of me. I thought you died, no one told me anything. They just made me sleep.” Her eyes are frantic and she’s rubbing her scars on her fingers as she rambles. I take her hands in mine to stop her.
“Cara, it’s not your fault,” I tell her in an attempt to calm her.
“It is my fault, I’m so stupid. I’m so fucking stupid.” I have never heard her talk like this. I bring her in close to hug her and tap her on the butt hard enough to grab her attention. “Ouch! That hurt…that hurt.” Cara's eyes are on me and then, this time, she pulls hard out of my arms and runs into the bathroom.
Kim follows Cara into the bathroom. I can hardly see her, but I hear her. Cara’s puking. Kim closes the door more and I hear them talking. I take a seat on the bed. I’m exhausted even though I have probably slept for however long.
My heart breaks at realizing the possibility of what she’s been through in this room. I’m pissed, that’s my girl, but what happened to break her.
It seems like forever before Kim walks out of the bathroom. I see her head out of the room and I think about checking on Cara. Kim returns quickly and walks back into the bathroom. I don’t see what she had in the cup she brought back. Fuck, I hate waiting. The door to the bathroom opens and both of them walk out.
“Stop for a second Cara, let me look at your eyes.” I watch Kim search Cara’s eyes. “Cara, do you remember what day it was you were kidnapped.” Cara shakes her head no. “How many fingers am I holding up.” Kim holds up three fingers. I watch Cara stare at the fingers. Her eyes squint as she thinks about her answer. I know Cara can see good. We had her eyes checked after her bruise was fully gone from her face months ago.
“I think three maybe two.” She says unsure of her answer. Kim doesn’t say anything more and motions for Cara to continue what she was doing. I’m surprised when Cara climbs on the bed and sits on my right side and wraps her arms around me.
“I love you, Jordan. I’m sorry, are you upset with me.” Why the fuck would I be upset with her.
“I love you too, Cara. I could never be upset with you. Why would you think that?” I ask her trying to read her reactions.
“I freaked out on you. I…um don’t remember.” What?
“What don’t you remember, Cara?” I’m not sure where this is going.
“All of what happened.” Her eyes fill with tears as a big commotion stirs outside the room. I just hug Cara. “We will talk about it later.” The door to the room opens and in walks Hanna.
“Thank fuck, I’m so glad it took you waking up so we can get to her. Oh hi, I’m Hanna, her cousin and you are?” Hanna is checking out Kim. I don’t know what all went down while I was out. I’m going to need to ask someone for all the details.
“I’m Kim, their nurse.” Kim turns her attention to me. “I will go see about the accommodations of your new room. Will you both be okay with her?” She’s referring to Cara.
“I think we will be just fine,” I tell her. She walks out of the room. Hanna walks around to check on Cara. I don’t think she gets a good view of her since Cara has her head buried in my shoulder. “Cara, Hanna is here to see you.”
“I know.” She wraps her arms tighter around me. “I just don’t want to lose you again.” She whispers to me.
“I’m not going anywhere, pretty girl.”
Cara
I’m confused. I still feel like I’m dreaming, but my head is spinning with crazy stuff. The worst part is my body seems wired. I can’t control it even though I’m trying with everything I have. I carefully let go of Jordan, but I take his hand in mine.
I turn so I can see Hanna. She looks completely different. I think it’s because of me.
“You had us all worried Cara.” She moves closer to me and Jordan. I’m fighting myself again, I don’t understand why I want to fall apart. I feel the tears forming and then they pool in my eyes. I can’t fight them anymore and need to blink, but a tear escapes me before I’m able too. “Cara?” Hanna’s now crying too. I let go of Jordan and stand up.
“I’d hug you, but I still have blood on me and you...” Hanna grabs me and hugs me tight. “I can’t breathe Hanna; you’re squeezing me too tight.” She loosens her hug but doesn’t let go of me.
“You had me so worried, don’t ever do that to me again.” She finally lets me go and I stare at my feet.
“I’m sorry, I know this is all my fault.” I hear Hanna let out a hiss. She then forces me to look up at her.
“No Cara, I said don’t make me worry. This is not your fault. The fault, all the blame, lies on Travis.” Travis. I turn in horror to look at Jordan. My body begins to shake with fear.
“He’s still after me.” Jordan motions with his finger for me to come closer to him and I do. He runs his hands up and down my arms.
“Travis can’t be after you from the grave Cara Mia.” Grave? I don’t understand. Jordan must see my puzzled face. “Ryan killed Travis.”
“He’s gone,” I say those words with a little too much excitement which causes Jordan to laugh and then I see the pain on his face. “I’m sorry.”
“Pretty girl, stop saying you’re sorry. You have nothing to apologize for and I will redden that fucking ass of yours if you
say sorry again.” I can tell he’s mad, but there’s a playful look on his face. I try again to fight my tears.
“Okay, I’ll try not to say it.” Jordan leans in close like he’s about to kiss me and I pull away from him. He gives me a confused look.
“Please don’t be mad at me. I kissed Travis.” I’m more worried about the fact that I kissed Travis than the straight lemon juice I recently washed my mouth out with.
“He made me. I…I had to…” I take a deep breath to help keep myself from the hiccups I feel forming. “He made me kiss him back. I pretended it was you. He was about to.” I pause my words. Jordan looks angry.
“I’m okay with this Cara. You did what you had to do in order to protect yourself. I really fucking don't like that he forced you, but I’m not upset with you about it.” Jordan takes my arm and pulls me to him and lightly kisses my lips.
“I missed you,” I say as I begin to cry.
Jordan
Cara’s just a complete mess. I don’t know what they’ve done to her, but everyone in charge of her care is screwed. This isn’t the same girl from Saturday morning. She has been broken down and scared. I just hope there’s a way to get my girl back.
The nurse returns with a smile on her face. “Your room is about ready. I moved your bag of belonging to it. I’m going to track down another wheelchair and see if I can’t get some heavy duty soap for you to clean up with. Did you show him like I asked?” What the fuck is Kim talking about?
“No,” Cara speaks barely above a whisper.
“Show me what?” I’m looking at Cara and the nurse now.
“I’ll close the curtain; you need to show him, Cara.” I’m now pissed and have no idea what Cara is hiding from me.
“Show me now Cara.” The nurse has placed the curtain so only me and Hanna can see what Cara is hiding. She looks scared to death. I watch as Cara slowly raises the hospital gown. I see the rope burns to each leg, but she keeps raising the gown. I’m expecting to see something terrible. Her knees are stained a light red all the way up to her belly button.
“It’s your blood. They let me go to the bathroom this morning. I think it was this morning and I got mad at the nurse with me. I wanted to wash it off.” That’s the problem. This is what she’s hiding, my blood stained of her beautiful skin. I want to fucking throttle the nurses here, but I can’t. I stand and help Cara put down her gown.
“We will make sure you get to wash it off, pretty girl.” I just hug her again. She’s been dealing with my blood stained on her body and not a single person telling her what happened to me. The thought that not even family could get to her fucking anger's the shit out of me.
The door opens and I wasn’t even aware that the nurse had left. She wheels in another chair. “I need to find someone to help get you two down to your new room and then we can go.” Hanna stands to her feet.
“I can wheel Cara.” The nurse lets out a sigh and smiles. “Let me help, please. I owe her.” Kim smiles and moves the chair to Hanna.
“Cara, I need you to sit in the chair.” Cara looks to me and I just smile as she sits down. Once Hanna has Cara out the door I return to my chair and we are both wheeled to the elevator. I’m thankful to be leaving this fucking awful floor. Kim placed Cara’s file in my hands so she could look them over once we are in our new room.
Cara’s silent on the way to our new hospital room. I honestly can’t tell if she’s scared or excited. I’m the first to enter the new room. I stand carefully, my side hurts like a bitch and I take notice that Kim saw my pained expression.
“I need to take a look at your side.” Shit, not now. “Let me check the bathroom really quick. There’s soap in the bathroom for you Cara to clean off with.”
“I’ll go in with her. Come on Cara.” Hanna helps Cara to her feet. Cara stands in place looking at me.
“Go ahead pretty girl, I will be right here when you’re done.” She walks over to me and kisses my cheek before accepting Hanna’s hand and goes into the bathroom. She looks like a lost child for a moment.
Once she’s out of earshot I turn to the nurse. “What the fuck did they give her?” I know something is messed up.
“I don’t know, whoever wrote her file has the worst handwriting and I can read just about anything. I took a glance at it while I was waiting on the information for your room. I’m going to need to draw a lot of her blood to test it.” This just keeps getting more and more fucked up.
CHAPTER FIVE
Cara
I’m worried about Hanna being in the bathroom with me. I’m extremely ashamed about the blood on my body and the marks on my skin.
“Let’s get you out of this ugly thing.” She walks over to turn on the shower and takes a look around. I watch her pull out her cell phone.
“Who are you calling?” I ask politely, I’m nervous about getting cleaned up. Hanna just sticks up a finger at me.
“Bridgette,” she turns to look at me. “You need some things…hi, Bridgette, I’m at the hospital. No, Cara’s fine and with me right now. We need you to bring some items. Cara needs to get washed and we need better stuff. Just the normal. I think that would be good and definitely that. Really you have to ask.”
I interrupt Hanna. “I want toothbrushes and toothpaste,” I ask. Hanna gives me a funny smile. “Toothbrushes,” I repeat myself because I will need more than one.
“You hear that. Okay, see you soon. We’re on the third floor in room 4214.” Hanna places her phone on the sink and then offers to help me out of the hospital gown. “Cara, I want you to check the water to see if the temperature is okay for you.”
I listen and stick my hand under the shower. I wince because it’s too hot for me and hurts my burns.
“Go ahead and adjust it while I take off my clothes.” Huh?
“Why are you getting undressed. I can wash myself.” I tell her as I adjust the water.
“I know you can, but I don’t trust you not to hurt yourself.” Hanna begins to undress and I still don’t understand her. “I don’t want you to rub your skin raw and cause yourself to bleed. I can safely help you and I don’t have anything you don’t got. We’re family so get that butt in the water.” I frown at her and step into the water.
The water’s warm and feels nice on my skin. I don’t like that it still burns the marks left by the ropes. I’m too distracted by the water that I don’t hear Hanna step in behind me.
“Turn to me and let’s start with your hands first.” Hanna puts some soap in her hands and I watch it bubble up. She takes mine and begins scrubbing them.
“Why are you helping me like this?” I know I’m probably rambling and repeating myself, but I can’t help it. Seeing Hanna naked in the shower with me is weird. She’s absolutely stunning. Her hair is a dirty blond and looks good on her. I mean you can tell her boobs are fake, but there’s something different about this Hanna in front of me.
“You once put me in my place when I needed it. You also forgave me when I didn’t deserve your forgiveness. Rinse your hands. Plus, you’re family and I won’t ruin my clothes if I get in with you.” I laugh and carefully rinse my hands.
Hanna is extremely careful when she helps wash my arms. The soap irritates my rope burns and Hanna is quick to make me wash it off. My skin is starting to turn a light pink color from all the scrubbing.
“I think by the time I’m done with you, your skin will be just about exfoliated.” That’s a funny thought.
She takes her time and helps me with the rest of my body. By the time she gets to my legs I’m starting to feel more like me. Granted I would like to shave my legs and other parts. Hanna takes her time helping me get my legs all scrubbed, before she’s done there is a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Hanna says loudly.
“I brought the items you asked for. What are you doing Hanna?” It’s just Bridgette.
“I’m helping, I think you would agree with me since she still had blood on her that I should help. I was worried she would rub
her skin raw.” Hanna had popped her head out of the curtain.
“True, good idea. I brought one of my nightgowns for her to wear and hurry up I have food.” The sound of food makes my stomach growl.
“Cool, we’re almost done.” Bridgette leaves and then Hanna steps out of the shower to collect some items. She first hands me a bottle of soap.
“I just washed with soap.” I almost question.
“I know, but that other soap even made my hands feel weird. Just rewash and I’ll help with your hair. Oh, you might want this.” She hands me a new razor. “Be careful or I’ll take it away from you.”
I do as she tells me. I’m very careful shaving as my hands shake. Once I’m done I wash my body again trying not to move too much as Hanna works on my hair. I saw what my hair looked like in the mirror. One big mess.
It takes a little longer to correct my hair, but Hanna’s able to manage my mess. Once we’re done I shut off the water after Hanna got out. I’m careful when I dry off, the towel rubbing against my wrists hurts.
“OMG! Really, she brings you this to wear.” Hanna is holding a red nightgown. The gown is dark red and floor length. There are thin shoulder straps, I think the gown is gorgeous.
“This is vintage Chiffon, Cara.” She states and then motions for me to come towards her. She helps me into the nightgown and then begins to put on her own clothes.
I find the toothbrush and toothpaste. “There’s only two toothbrushes.” I wanted more than one for me, but I don’t complain more. I begin to brush my teeth. I want to rid any trace of Travis from my mouth. I’m brushing my teeth hard when Hanna turns me around sharply.
“Stop this. Spit. Now.” I spit into the sink and turn back to Hanna.
“May I have it back?” I hold out my hand.
“No, your teeth are fine, stick your tongue out and I will scrub it.” I stick my tongue out at Hanna and try not to laugh, but I can’t help it. We’re both laughing when we exit the bathroom.
Once we’re fully out of the bathroom the smell of food hits me. My stomach knots and I double over. I don’t remember the last time I ate.
Remember Cinderella (True Loves Fairytale Book 2) Page 4