The Doves of Ohanavank

by Vahan Zanoyan

  “So you think you can outsmart me, don’t you, you silly bitch,” he mumbles under his breath. When he is done, he opens the car door and kicks her out. Anna rolls out, naked, into the dirt. He throws her clothes and purse at her, walks to the driver’s seat, spits in her direction and drives away.

  It still gets cold in the evenings. Temperatures drop by several degrees immediately after sunset, and fall through the night. The cold ground helps bring Anna around. Her face is throbbing with pain, and she cannot breathe from her nose. She pulls herself to her knees and tries to stand up, but feels the ground spinning around her like a tornado, and sits back down. Then she feels semen flowing down her thigh, and realizes in horror that she is naked. She tries to look for her clothes and her purse.

  She finds her sweater and slips it on; as it rubs against her face her nose turns into one excruciating ball of pain. She then finds her pants and slips in a leg at a time, still sitting, then pulls them up to her waist lying down, but a sharp pain in her lower back paralyzes her for a minute. She feels dirt and gravel stuck to her buttocks. She makes a heroic effort to ignore the pain and scrambles on her hands and knees looking for the rest of her clothes and her purse. She finds her shirt and underwear, then her purse. She finds her phone and dials Lara’s number.

  “Lara,” she mumbles, her voice barely audible.

  “Anna, what’s wrong?”

  “Please come. I’m two blocks away from your apartment.” Anna’s nose is full of clotting blood and her voice is so faint and garbled that Lara barely makes out what she said. She figures if Anna is two blocks from her apartment, she is either only a block away from her own place, or, if she is two blocks in the other direction, then she’s five blocks away from her own place. It would save a lot of time if she knew.

  “Are you between your building and mine?” she asks, keeping her voice as calm as she can.

  “Yes, hurry.”

  “Coming. Keep your phone in your hand all the time.”

  Lara runs out of her apartment, flies down the top flight of stairs and calls the elevator. She almost gives up and heads back toward the staircase when the elevator doors open. She runs toward Anna’s apartment. She sees her, sitting at the side of the road. She runs up to her and sits next to her. It is dark, but she can see her disfigured face and torn clothes. She does not have to ask what happened. She only wants to make sure it was not a random attack.

  “Hov?” she asks.

  Anna nods.

  “Let’s go,” says Lara, helping her up to her feet. Anna feels a sharp pain in her lower back and buttocks. That’s when she remembers the car hitting her. It is difficult to walk. “I can’t let you go to your place like this. You’re coming with me.”

  Lara grabs her purse and tries to put her arm around her waist to steady her, but Anna winces. She takes her arm instead, and they slowly manage to get to her apartment building. The elevator is still on the ground floor. Lara sees her in the light and for a second stops breathing. Anna’s entire face is covered with blood. She holds her upright in the elevator, careful to avoid her waist and lower back. Going up the last flight of stairs is more difficult than walking on the street, but they manage.

  “Astvadz im!” Oh my God, exclaims Diqin Alice as they enter the apartment. “Bala jan, what happened to you?”

  “Sorry, Diqin Alice,” says Lara. “This is my friend Anna. She had an accident. She needs a bath, and maybe a doctor. I will have her stay in my room tonight.”

  “Ha balés, what can I do?”

  “Nothing, let her rest a little and then I’ll help her bathe.”

  Lara calls Laurian, and hurriedly explains what has happened, keeping her voice calm and coherent.

  “Just in case, do you know a doctor I can call? It is past nine o’clock, and she is in no shape to go to a hospital now.”

  “I’ll give you a name and a number,” says Edik. “I’ll call him right now and explain everything. I’ll give him your name and number. His name is Dr. Suren, and he is a good friend of mine.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Lara, one more thing. Take pictures of Anna, many pictures. Use your phone if you don’t have a camera. Everywhere you see bruises and cuts, take photographs. Now, before she washes, and also after. Take pictures of her back and even her buttocks if they are severely bruised, don’t be bashful. This will be important evidence later. We’ll go all the way with this. The police cannot ignore something this serious.”

  “Ha Edik jan, let me go take care of her.”

  Lara snaps a few pictures of Anna with her phone, and then walks her to the bathroom. She brings a chair from her room and makes Anna sit in front of the sink. She washes her face as carefully as she can, softening the clotted blood with soap and warm water and then wiping it away. Her nose looks broken and crooked, and there are deep abrasions on her right cheek and the right corner of her forehead. Her head must have been tilted slightly left when she hit the ground.

  There is sticky, clotted blood also in her hair, but that has to await the bathtub. She runs her fingers lightly over Anna’s skull.

  “Does that hurt?” she whispers.

  Anna shakes her head. Lara is relieved that there are no obvious head injuries. She uses cotton swabs to clear blood from her nostrils. That is painful, but she manages to clean enough for Anna to breathe more easily.

  “Let’s see if you can bathe,” she says, and starts filling the bathtub. A doctor will be here soon.” Anna stares at her blankly.

  Lara takes off Anna’s sweater, careful to avoid any contact with her face. Her bra is still on, but her breasts are out of the cups. She undoes the bra and takes it off. She checks her shoulders and arms. The right shoulder is bruised, and both her elbows have deep scratches and cuts. She snaps pictures.

  She gently leans her over and checks her back. There are no bruises on her upper back.

  “I’ll help you stand up for a minute,” she says taking her arm. Anna stands up, falters at first, then steadies herself. “Let’s take these pants off.” Anna reaches for the button, but Lara unbuttons the pants and slips them down to her ankles. They are full of dirt from the road.

  From the lower one-third of her buttocks down to the middle of her thighs, there are black and blue and red patches.

  “Sit back down,” she whispers, helping her. She slips the pants off her ankles and takes off her shoes. Surprisingly, there are only light scratches on her knees. But there is a dark bruise on her left side. She looks carefully, and sees that the bruise has a vague, semicircular pattern right above the hipbone.

  “Did he kick you?” whispers Lara.

  Anna gives her a blank stare. Why on earth should the kick matter, given everything else that he did?

  “I think so,” she mumbles. “I think he kicked me out of the car, when…when he was done.”

  “Let’s get you into the bath,” says Lara. “I did not make the water hot, so it won’t burn your bruises. Just lukewarm. It should feel good.”

  She walks her to the tub and helps her step into it. Anna winces as she sits down, and gasps for air as she reclines. Her back and buttocks are on fire. But she lies down and shuts her eyes. Lara pours water over her head, trying to avoid spilling too much on her face, and washes her hair.

  Her phone rings and she jumps.

  “Dr. Suren here,” says the voice. I think I am at the entrance of your building. Which floor do I come to?”

  Lara explains, and goes back to Anna. She quickly finishes rinsing the shampoo from her hair.

  “I’ll get you one of my nightgowns,” she says. “We need to get you dry and in bed. The doctor is here.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Thanks to Dr. Suren’s tranquilizers, Anna sleeps relatively peacefully most of the night. I borrow an old duvet from Diqin Alice, fold it in half, spread it on the floor next to the bed, and lie down on it, but sleep is elusive.

  Every rape and beating that I have endured, and every horror story that I have hea
rd from other girls returns and plays out in front of my eyes all night. Hov is gone, gotten away with what he did. The anger begins to well in my chest. It must be a Galian trait. This should not stand, my inner voice screams until it deafens me.

  Dr. Suren puts my mind at ease that Anna’s physical injuries are not life threatening.

  “She could have been in much worse shape,” he says. “The impact of the car is actually much smaller than the bruises would indicate. Scary as they look, the bruises are superficial. Had the car moved a little faster, it could have shattered her tail bone, it could have left her paralyzed for life, it could even have killed her. The car hit her under the buttocks, on the back of her thighs. Upon impact, her back jerked backward, and then her body was tossed forward, causing traumatic shock to the spinal column. Once her bruises get better, she’s going to need to see a good chiropractor. I can recommend one, when the time comes.”

  “What about her face?”

  “Her nose is broken. When I sedated her I straightened the bridge, but she’ll need to see a specialist. I’ll give you a name and number to call. The nose will heal. Her face will remain swollen for several weeks. The abrasions on her forehead are deep, but have not affected the skull. She may have a small scar, barely noticeable. Every physical injury will heal in time. She has to have the strength to heal herself emotionally.”

  He leaves painkillers, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory pills. He also gives me two other small pills. “These are strong sedatives. Give her one only if she is in a lot of pain and cannot sleep at night,” he says. “These are not for regular use.”

  As he gets ready to leave, I ask him how much I owe him. He looks at me surprised.

  “You owe me nothing, Miss Lara,” he says. “I hope your friend recovers soon. You have my number. Call anytime if she gets worse or if there are any complications.” And he leaves.

  Then a horrifying thought crosses my mind. What if Anna did not know me? What if I did not know Edik, who did not know Dr. Suren? How many victims like Anna are there, who do not have a friend? How many die? How many are taken away, like I was, but never return? How many innocent lives are destroyed because a handful of criminals can operate with impunity? I remember Edik’s story about his sister Sirarpi. There were no fatal wounds on her body, he said. She had died of repeated beatings, rapes and malnutrition. What a way for a twelve-year-old girl to die. It should not stand!

  The idea of the shelter becomes more real as I think about this. I have not yet managed to visit any of the shelters. But I will. I still hope that I can take Anna with me.

  Anna sits up and sips some tea. She has not eaten anything since yesterday’s lunch, but refuses food. Her face looks gruesome.

  “I am so thankful to you,” she says.

  “Hush, stop that talk. How do you feel?”

  “My face hurts. My back hurts too, but I think less than yesterday.”

  “You have to eat something, because you have a few pills to take. Then I’m going to call a specialist to come and check your nose. Dr. Suren moved it back in place last night, but wants a specialist to look at it.”

  “I’ve put you through so much trouble, I’m so sorry.”

  “Anna, stop that. We still have a lot to do to sort things out, so you can’t say something like that at every step.” I smile encouragingly and go closer to check her nose. “At least it’s not crooked like before,” I laugh.

  I help her walk to the bathroom. She freezes at the sight of herself in the mirror. She had not seen herself since the incident, even though she had been to the bathroom.

  “You’ll be prettier than ever. All this will heal and go away,” I say, hoping that it’s true. “Will you be okay alone in there?”

  She nods. I shut the door behind her and go to prepare breakfast. She walks out after ten minutes, still looking shocked.

  “How can I go to work looking like this?”

  “You’re not going to work for a while,” I say. “I will ask Dr. Suren for a medical slip. The store will continue paying you, at least for a few weeks while you’re on sick leave.”

  “I need to call and let Lucy know,” she says, panicked. “She needs to find a substitute.”

  “We’ll call. The store isn’t even open yet. Come sit. You have to eat something.”

  I have some warmed up bread, honey and cheese on the table. She finds chewing laborious and painful. But she manages to get something in her stomach.

  “I have to go to my place,” she says. “I need to get some clothes, check things there.”

  “We’ll go, don’t rush,” I say. “I want your nose looked at first. I’ll go get clothes from your room. The doctor said you should not move too much until the chiropractor checks your back. ‘She should not walk or go up and down the stairs unless it is absolutely necessary,’ he said.”

  I give her an anti-inflammatory pill and a painkiller, and she goes back to bed.

  Edik calls in the early afternoon. “I’m downstairs,” he says, “Can I come up?”

  I check on Anna. She is still in bed, but is beginning to stir. I have gone to her place and gathered some fresh clothes for her. No girl would want to be seen by a man in her current condition. But I know Edik has a lot planned, and is anxious to see for himself what I’ve been telling him.

  “Give me a minute,” I say. “I’ll call you back.”

  I wake Anna up. “Edik wants to talk to you,” I say. “I have your clothes here. Come, put these on.”

  “How can I see anyone looking like this?” she says in panic.

  “Anna, it is okay. This is Edik. I want him to see you like this. Believe me, if I were you, I wouldn’t mind it. It is really okay.”

  She still argues with me about being seen ‘like this.’ I ignore her. I lay her underwear on the bed. “Get dressed,” I say. “He’ll be up soon.” And I leave to tidy up the kitchen. I return to the bedroom and help her with jeans and a sweatshirt with a wide-open collar. “I’m going to call him,” I say. “Go comb your hair.”

  Edik does his best to hide his reaction. Showing alarm only increases their anxiety, he explained to me later. We sit at the kitchen table.

  “I have spoken with Thomas Martirosian,” he says. Anna looks confused, as if she does not remember the name. “Your lawyer,” says Edik, “the one who’s been working on your divorce. We will give him a signed account of the events of last night, along with some pictures of you. He will file a formal complaint against Hov with the police.”

  “I don’t want to file a complaint with the police,” Anna whispers.

  “Anna, don’t be silly. You have to do this.” Edik is shocked, but he knows that most domestic violence cases do not get reported.

  “I just want him to leave me alone.”

  “Then you have to file the complaint. In the very least, Martirosian will get a restraining order, so if he ever comes near you again he will be arrested. He’ll also push forward the divorce papers. If we’re lucky, Hov will also end up in jail, but I am not optimistic about that, given similar cases.”

  “Why wouldn’t he go to jail for what he did?” I ask.

  “Because we may not be able to prove that it was him. He’ll deny it. It will be his word against Anna’s. I didn’t think to ask you to postpone Anna’s bath until after Dr. Suren had seen her. He could have taken a vaginal swab, which would leave no doubt as to who raped her. Anyway, the judge will meet us half way and issue a restraining order, but he may not go as far as arresting him without proof.”

  Anna sits there, hands shaking.

  “In the meantime,” says Edik, “don’t go back to work, and don’t sleep in your apartment. We’ll have to look for a new place for you. Still close to Lara, but a different place.”

  “Why don’t I leave my place too,” I say, “and we’ll find a two bedroom apartment to rent together.”

  Anna’s eyes light up, and she tries to smile. “Really? We can do that?”

  “I’m sure some of these apartment
s have two spare bedrooms to rent out. We’ll find one.”

  Edik questions Anna and takes notes, going over details of the incident. He spends some time on the identity of the attacker, reiterating statements testifying that she saw his face clearly, heard his voice, and that there could be no mistake about his identity.

  “You couldn’t have seen the person driving the car when it hit you,” he says. “You probably were in shock and couldn’t be one hundred percent sure of the identity of the person who then threw you in the back seat of the car. It was dark, after all.” He notices that Anna is getting agitated.

  “I am one hundred percent sure who threw me in the car,” she says curtly.

  “Anna, bear with me, these are the types of questions that his defense will throw at you. They’ll make a convincing argument to the judge that it was dark and you were just hit by a car and had smashed your face on the hard ground. Now, inside the car, when he was raping and hitting you, you obviously had a clear view of his face from up close. They will still argue that it was dark and you were in shock, but their argument will be less convincing. I want to make sure that your testimony sounds plausible. Because if there is one sentence that does not sound reasonable, the entire testimony will lose credibility.”

  He works with her for over an hour, taking copious notes. Then he questions me as well, from the point where I went to get her. “I’ll pass these on to Martirosian,” he says at the end. “He’ll draft the statement for your signature. Then we’ll add Dr. Suren’s report and the photos, and we’ll have a pretty strong case.”

  On his way out, Edik leans over my shoulder and whispers. “I need to see you alone. It is urgent. Can you leave her for a few minutes and come down with me?”