Chapter 17
Melody
All I hear is beeping and people talking, but I can’t make out what they’re saying. The air has a clean, sterile smell to it. I try to open my eyes but they feel so heavy, everything feels so heavy. It hurts to take too deep of breaths so I try to focus on evening out my breathing. I keep fighting to get my eyes opened, and finally I manage a small peak. The tiny action hurts and it doesn’t seem like my other eye is opening. I take a look at my surroundings but everything is so blurry.
“Hi there, hunny, how ya feeling,” asks someone behind me somewhere. I try to get words out but my throat is so dry. “Oh dear, here let me get you a water.”
I prop myself up a little bit while she’s gone, careful not to pull out my IV. She comes back shortly after with a cup of water with a straw and holds it up to my mouth so I can take a sip. I’ve concluded at this point that I’m in a hospital, but I don’t remember why. Everything is so foggy. The only thing I remember is being out with the girls bar hopping.
“Sweetie, the doctor will be in shortly. Try to get some rest until he’s here, OK?”
“Where are my parents? Has Brian visited?”
“Oh that must have been that handsome fellow that came by earlier this morning. He left that beautiful white rose on your table. Your parents just left a bit ago to get some rest. It’s five in the morning after all, dear.”
“How long have I been here?”
“Well, you’ve been here two days already. Your parents have been taking turns coming to see you.”
Her words shock me. Two days? What in the hell happened to me…
The nurse leaves and I lay down on the bed. I must doze off, because I’m startled awake by a knocking on the door. “Come in,” I say hoarsely. I reach over for the water and take a few more sips.
“Good morning, Miss Harper. I’m very impressed that you are awake so soon.”
“Am I not supposed to be?”
“Well with the… injuries… you sustained, I would have expected the swelling in your brain to take a few more days to subside. Now, that doesn’t mean we aren’t happy you’re awake. Everyone heals differently, and in your case, you’re a fighter.”
“What injuries did I sustain?”
“Well, you had a broken nose and a zygomatic fracture, which is just a fancy term for a broken cheekbone; that is stable and non-displaced. There was also blunt force trauma to the back of your head resulting in a skull fracture. Now the skull fracture wasn’t so serious that we needed to do any surgical repairs, thank goodness, but it’ll heal on its own after a while. It did cause some brain swelling, which is why you have been out for the last two days. You have numerous cuts and bruises all over your body, and significant bruising on your neck and ribs, which is why your throat probably feels very raspy right now and your sides ache…”
He starts to trail off, and I ask the next, more daunting question.
“What happened? I have no recollection past my girlfriends and I bar hopping.”
“Well, to put it bluntly, you were attacked, Miss Harper. Quite brutally if I might add. You had the date rape drug in your system, and from what I have been told, some people leaving the bar heard someone moaning, in apparent pain, in the alley. The good samaritans entered the alley to see what it may be, and that’s when they found your body.
“Now, I want to be very honest with you, Miss Harper. We had to do a rape kit on you. According to witnesses, it was very obvious that you had been sexually assaulted.”
Is this what shock feels like? A ringing in my ears, all other sounds slowly being drowned out, while my vision, or what little I have, starts tunneling and soon there’s nothing at all.
I vaguely feel someone shaking my shoulder and saying my name, but it feels so far away.
“Miss Harper, can you hear me? Miss Harper! Stephanie, please fetch our recovery kit, and bring her an apple juice as quickly as you can. Now, please.”
Everything comes back at warp speed and it all feels too loud. Memories come rushing back to me, and I wince, remembering the most brutal parts. This can’t be happening… I can’t… What if I’m pregnant? Oh my god… I’m slowly falling apart at the seams. I feel so incredibly dirty, like I need a hundred showers and to scrub myself clean a thousand times.
I close my eyes and try to stop the panicking. Just as I’m coming back to myself, I hear a gasp in the doorway and in walks my dad. That’s when the tears let loose. I’ve always been a daddy’s girl and this time is no different. My dad rushes over and gives me a kiss on the head.
“Hi, pumpkin, you had us scared there for a bit, didn’t ya?”
“Dad, I’m so sorry…”
“What in the hell are you apologizing for, Melody? None of this is your fault.”
“Yeah but if I wasn’t out with the girls, or maybe if I hadn’t left my drink unattended… maybe things would have been different…” I trail off knowing I sound ridiculous but also not wanting to come under my dad’s scrutiny.
“Pumpkin, the police officer probably hasn’t been by yet, but there’s a good chance that even if you weren’t drinking, that something would have happened. They think this guy had been following you for more than a few hours. I don’t know all the details, but apparently your car was broken into earlier that night. They lifted a partial print from your door handle that matched a partial print from your handbag at the scene of the attack.”
“I’m not saying it’s right, but I just thank god he didn’t kill you… that you’re still here with us.”
I understand what he’s trying to say, but in reality, a part of me did die that night. I feel it now in my very soul. A part of myself that I may never get back. I had been saving myself for mine and Brian’s wedding night, now that’s been taken from me, too. Oh god, what is Brian going to think?
“Dad, does Brian know what happened?”
“He was here when the police filled us in, yes, but honey… He came by the first night, but since then we haven’t seen him. He mentioned something about being busy with training… I’m sorry, pumpkin.”
My dad visits for a while longer, but leaves once the police officer shows up to ask me some questions. I tell them all I know, which isn’t much honestly. The officer elaborates on the events of that night, stating someone probably put the date rape drug in my water, but they don’t think it was my attacker.
They let me know that my attacker scraped and cleaned my nails before he left, washing away any trace of him I might have been able to get from the damage I inflicted on his arms. Great, that means I crossed paths with two people that night who came with horrible intentions.