A scream woke me up real damn quick. I jump up and run back into the bathroom. The shower curtain was already pulled open. There she stood... with a look of complete terror. Cuts and scratches from the top of her chest to just below her belly button. More cuts on her thighs. I look to her face. Blood coming out of her mouth. I can see no teeth. Little did I know, the injuries went deeper than I thought.
Sensory overload in under 3 seconds.
As much as I hate doctors and hospitals, I knew that was the only option. I take her by the arm and pull her into the bedroom, where I frantically scan the floor trying to find any of her clothes within arms length. I didn't want to let her get too far away from me.
I find the pair of jeans and shirt that she was wearing the day before. I try to put them on her without causing any more damage or pain. I can't tell if she can feel any of the pain over the terror. Getting her dressed, I assume, was a lot like dressing a crash test dummy. All she could do was stand there. I had to lift her legs to get them into the jeans, and raise her arms to put her shirt on. She was still completely conscious, but she wasn't responding to anything I said or did.
After dressing her, and threw on whatever was around me. I didn't care if it was hers or mine. I literally jumped into my boots, took her arm, and reached for my car keys all in the same motion.
At this point, I am shaking, crying, and my mind is running at light speed. I get her out of the apartment, down the stairs and into the car with little complications. Now, my apartment is a good 20 minutes away from the local hospital. I made it there in almost 5 minutes.
We screech to a halt somewhere in the parking lot next to the emergency room... not sure if it was in a parking space or not. I get her out of the car and get her inside to the front desk.
OK, I am going to go a bit off-track here and say that all of the people that were just stupid enough NOT to become attorney's must be employed by emergency rooms across the country. I have never been around such an incompetent group of people with absolutely no common sense whatsoever in my entire life. With that said... on with my story.
I get Sara to the front desk, and the attendant looked at the two of us and said, "How may I help you?" I gave her what must have looked like an empty stare, but I was trying to shut down half my IQ so I could process such a dumb question. "She needs a doctor." was all I was able to spit out. She then handed me a clipboard and asked me to fill out the required paperwork. I honestly don't remember what questions were on that sheet, or even if I answered them correctly, but whatever I did must have been the right thing because they fetched a RN fairly quickly. This woman was very nice. Efficient, and straight to the point. I could tell that Sara still was in the same frame of mind as when I pulled her out of the shower.
The nurse proceeded to ask a series of questions. May of them routine. "Are you allergic to...?" "Ever had this happen before?", etc. Then the question that I wasn't expecting... well, I wasn't expecting it at that time..... "Did he do this to you?" She said no. I could tell if the nurse believed her or not, or just didn't care. The nurse then asked her if she was on any drugs. Sara said yes. I looked at her in disbelief. Personally, I know what drugs can do to a person. For her to say that she was on drugs.... floored me. I didn't want to believe her, but I've never known her to tell a lie either. But my relief came quickly, when the RN asked her what drugs she was on. Sara just stared at her. The nurse started naming 5 or 6 drugs, and Sara said yes to each one. OK... she's not on drugs, but she's not in her mind, either.
Then the nurse needed to see the extent of her injuries. The nurse reached for right arm and looked at her wrist. When I looked to see what she was inspecting, I saw that her wrist was split wide open. But something was odd about it. It wasn't a cut like one would get with a razor blade. It was split, as if the skin was pulled too tight. Then the nurse inspected the marks on her chest, stomach, and legs, and quickly looked at Sara's lack of front teeth.
The nurse turned to me and informed me that with this kind of situation, they are required to notify the police. I didn't care, I just wanted to get Sara in with a doctor that can help her. The nurse brought in a wheelchair from the hallway, and she and I help Sara into it. We were guided to a room in which the nurse and myself removed Sara's clothes and put a hospital gown on her, and helped her onto the bed.
The next few minutes are quite fuzzy to me. All I remember is holding Sara, rubbing my fingers through her hair, talking to her, and still trying to figure out what the fuck happened.
A few minutes pass, (hell, it could have been an hour... I'm not real sure) and a doctor walks in. He asks me if I could leave. Sara doesn't want me to, but I know the doctor needs me to. So I give her a kiss on the forehead and tell her I'll be right outside.
I went outside for a badly needed cigarette, and called her mother from my cell phone. Nobody was home, so I left a message. That was the only number I had for her mom. Maybe Sara's cell was in my car, I thought. I went to check, and sure enough, it was in my center console. I look through her phone book and find "Mom Work". I dial the number, and get an operator at the retirement home where her mother works. But, to my dismay, Sara and her mother do not share a last name and I didn't know what her mothers was. The operator said they were quite a few nurses with the same name as her mother. I said thank you and hung up. I keep digging through her cell phone to find any name I recognize. I find one. A friend of Sara's that I met a few months ago. I call that number, and she answers. I woke her up. I tell her the story. She wakes up pretty quick. She says she'll be there as soon as she can, which is a few hours because she lives in Orlando.
After I realize that there is no one else to call from her phonebook, I go back inside. There is a policeman standing right outside the door that Sara is in. He is talking to another 'official' looking person, but I can tell it's not a cop.