The young man sat there with a hard expression on his face. Worry lines creased his forehead as his eyes bore through her pathetic form on the bed. The seconds ticked on by endlessly in coordination with the steady beeping of the machine monitoring her heartbeat. He chewed at the tips of his fingers to release the nervousness inside of him. When the door opened behind him, he bit down hard on an index finger, cursing the habit he�d acquired as a small child.

There was a gentle thud as the door closed behind the intruder and slow footsteps moved across the smooth floor. Once the man was standing directly behind Justin�s chair, he quietly cleared his throat to make his presence known in case he hadn�t yet been noticed.

�Hey, C.� So he had been noticed. The younger man�s voice was low and hoarse, a definite transition from its normal texture.

�How is she?� As soon as the question left his mouth, he knew they were the wrong words. The horror that she had gone through was more than any of them could have dreamt of, and that was plain for all to see by her battered and bruised appearance.

�Same. Still just sleeping.� There was flatness to his tone, as if he were making a conscious effort not to display his emotions to his friend. It was more likely though that he was trying to hide them from himself. He loved that girl more than anything in this world, JC knew, and something hurting her always disrupted the darkest feelings within him.

The older of the two kept trying though. �When will she be able to go home? Soon?�

�I don�t know.� He paused for a second, and continued staring at her face, and JC thought he might actually turn to look back at him, but he didn�t. �I don�t think they�re finished with her yet. I mean, they already washed the blood off and cleaned up the wounds, and put stitches and everything, but they wanted to wait until she�d rested for awhile before doing an internal exam. Just so.... you know, she would be coherent and they could ask questions. And the police wanted to see her in the morning while she was still in here. So, I don�t know. I just, don�t know anything right now.� It was amazing that he was able to get all of that out and so quickly. He honestly didn�t look capable of processing any sort of information at that moment. A heavy silence fell upon them, and Justin�s dismay was obvious.

JC moved around the chair to be able to see the young man�s face, and then leaned his hip against the rail of the bed for support. Justin�s eyes were red, his jaw was clenched, and it looked rather uncomfortable the way he was practically kneading his knuckles into the skin just beneath his chin. �How�d she look when you saw her?� It was an intrusive question, but with the emotional disconnection that seemed to have occurred at some point, he might not overreact.

�Horrible. She looked awful, C.� His voice began to shake, but he took a slow breath to calm it. �There was blood everywhere; you could hardly see her skin. It was all tinted red. She was crumpled up lying on the ground. Her arm was broken, turned out at this strange angle. You could see the bone torn through the skin a little ways. Her clothes were gone, and you could see pieces of skin ripped off all over her. She didn�t move. She was hardly breathing at all. She...she just looked dead. I really thought she was.� His words faded off towards the end, but they were just loud enough for the other man to understand. The mental picture of just what Justin had seen formed in JC�s mind, and caused horror to strike in his heart. He almost couldn�t bear to imagine the thought of randomly opening his front door one evening to find the woman he loved, laying on the ground, a bloody and beaten mess that was just barely hanging on to life.

It was well into the night and most everyone had gone home when she finally began to stir into waking consciousness. Her eyes opened slowly as the lids seemed to be welded shut, and the only feeling that initially came to her was panic. The room was completely covered in darkness, no light filtering in from the windows or the door. She knew she was inside, but the room was unfamiliar, and that was unsettling to her nerves. All that went through her mind were flashes of her earlier experiences: her arm snapping under the force of his stomp, the sharp blade cutting her skin, his fingers sinking into her wound. For an instant, in the darkness, everything was relived.

A door was opened suddenly, and dim light spilled onto one end of the room. Her eyes darted quickly to the intrusion, however she wasn�t able to see the open door because of the oddly shaped room. A sick feeling seemed to grow large inside of her when no one came into the room. Her ears perked up, and tuned into the sound coming from that direction. The faint noise of whispering female voices drifted towards her. In her state of mind, completely clouded with confusion, it was eerie hearing the gentle murmurs. Their physical existence had been ruled out, and they could only exist as floating voices, taunting her. Telling her how bad she was. How dirty she was. That she deserved this as eternity.

Moments later a form appeared at the foot of the bed. She felt her heart clench as the figure stared at her for a brief time, before making her way around the side of the bed. She was certain that she was in for only more torment when the person stopped just to the right of her bed, and turned on a small lamp. The section of the room glowed with the dim light, and she let out a slight breath of relief when she saw that the intruder was a young woman wearing white scrubs that was standing there. The nurse turned to her with a gentle smile. �Well, I see that you�re finally up.� Her voice was gentle, but her tone was confident, and when her head moved her ponytail of dark blonde hair moved with her, somehow eliminating any fearful aspect of this woman.

�Yeah.� She was alarmed when her words barely came out as a whisper and her throat was lit with an intense burning sensation at her efforts.

The nurse quickly reached her hand out toward the patient in comfort, but refrained from touching her. �Oh, no dear. Don�t try to speak too much just yet. Your throat�s very raw. You�ll only damage your voice more.� The girl looked up at her with a slightly worried face, but the nurse just gave a small smile. �Don�t worry, your throat will be fine in a day or two.� She paused and looked the girl over carefully, wondering what would be the right thing to say. �You�ve been asleep for quite awhile, you know. They brought you in to the ER about fifteen hours ago. You must have been just wiped out with as long as you slept. That one over there has been worried sick.� Her head tilted in the direction of the other side of the room. The girl turned her head, noticing the aching in her neck, and took in Justin�s sleeping form on the couch. Her eyes widened a little bit, surprised that she hadn�t noticed his presence until that moment. She let out a gentle sigh at the sight. �Friend of yours?� She turned back to the kind nurse before managing a half smile and nodding slowly. �Well, he came in with you in case you don�t remember. He was very worried. I assumed he was someone special. He refused to leave the room once the doctors were finished patching you up.� At hearing those words, she looked down at her bandage-covered arms, a thick white cast covering a large part of her left forearm. She tried to move them a little bit to rest more comfortably against her sides, but they felt like hanging dead weights, and the effort was too much for her to accomplish the task. �You all right?�

�I-I think�I feel strange. My body just feels��

�It�s probably the pain killers. It wasn�t too pretty of a sight when you got in here. You were rather roughed up. Your body was undergoing too much stress from the pain. They had to give you something. And I�ve been coming in here every so often to check your vitals. They�re steady for right now.� She turned her head to get a look at the machine that was beeping at a constant rate with her pulse. The young nurse looked at her with an expression of pity, but the girl failed to notice. �I need to go now. But you can beep the nurse�s station any time you need with that button over there. I should be in to check on you regularly though. Are you okay now? Do you feel any discomfort anywhere?�

�No,� she whispered while averting her eyes to look at the far wall.

�Would you like me to wake him up?� She tipped her head, indicating that she was talking about Justin. But the patient gently shook her head in return. �Okay, then. Well, if there�s nothing that I can do for you, I�ll be going.� She gave one last small smile before inching quickly towards the door and exiting the room.

When she was gone, the girl turned her head on the pillow to look at Justin, still bathed in the dim lamplight. From the slightly rumpled appearance of his clothing, it looked like he�d been on that couch for awhile. The features of his face were hardened, and the position of his body screamed out his tension. But none of that took away from his gentle beauty or the aura of purity that always surrounded him in sleep. She tried to keep her mind centered on those simple facts, and not let her thoughts drift to what he was thinking, what he knew. She couldn�t bear to see what that would do to his purity. Her heart trembled in fear that he would be forced to endure something far worse than what he deserved over the next few months. And it would be her fault. No matter how much she wanted to refrain from causing him pain. It seemed she could never escape from being his constant wound.

She turned her head away from him as a tear feel down her cheek. A strong wave of pain continued to course through her abdomen, and she shut her eyes tight, taking it all with acceptance.

Sleep had been a hard thing to recapture. When it seemed just within her grasp, it would only gain speed and flit away before she could grab on with both hands. After teasing her for hours though, it must have finally surrendered because she now opened her eyes to see the warm sunlight pouring into the room through the enormous windows. And if she listened closely, a faint chirping of birds could be heard outside. She glanced over to the couch to see if Justin was still there, but she only saw the small blanket he�d been using folded neatly and sitting on the square cushion. She briefly worried about whether he had left her, but then realized that it wouldn�t be a completely unusual occurrence since he very well might need a shower and clothes.

Her thought was barely finished when the door to her room opened slowly and Justin stepped in, newly dressed and carrying a cup of coffee. A small smile came to his face when he saw that she was awake. �Hey, you�re up.� He wasted no time in walking across the room to take a seat beside the bed. His face was bright, and very relieved. She found it incredible that he could look so collected and well rested when she knew he had to feel like crap inside. He�s being strong���for me. Figures. How could I expect anything less from him?

He squirmed around in the hard chair for a few seconds until he was able to get comfortable, and then lifted his head to give her his full attention. �How are you feeling?� His warm, concerned expression was fixed right on her face, and looking into his eyes, she just wanted to cry. The reasons for which were endless. Because of what had happened about thirty hours ago, because she was going to have to tell Justin everything, because her relationship was going to crumble, because nobody would be able to look at her the same way again, because her life was going to rewind to a place that she didn�t want to go back to, because her body was numb, because she hated herself, and because she deserved all of it. And just when she thought she was going to be able to control herself, two tears managed to slip down her cheeks. Panic appeared on Justin�s face quickly. �Liz, sweetie, are you all right? Are you hurting? Do you need me to get someone?� He started to stand up to get a nurse for her, but she worked up a strangled, �no� before he�d taken even one step.

Her eyebrows knitted in surprise that her voice was beginning to return already. Her throat was healing. And although it still felt pretty sore, it was causing much less stress than it had been the night before. �No, no, I�m ok.� She laid on her back, and closed her eyes for a while, trying to compose herself before participating in anymore conversation with him.

�Are you sure?� He looked at her form with an almost disbelieving gaze, which made sense considering the fact that she was on the other side of the world from �ok�.

�Yea, I�m fine.� She continued to speak softly, partly because she wanted to spare her voice and partly because she wanted to mask her emotions as best as she could. �I-I�m just a little confused, I guess.� She realized she�d given him an opening to question her, so she rapidly searched for something to occupy him with. �Um, do you think you could maybe help me sit up a little more,� she inquired slowly as she turned to look into his face.

He appeared slightly dazed for an instant before shaking his head a little, and beginning to stand up. �Oh, yea, sure.� He walked right up to her side, and gently rested his hand on her lower back, silently debating about how he was going to manage this without hurting her. He tried pulling some of the pillows into a more upright position without rearranging her body at all, but that turned out to be a fruitless endeavor.

She finally decided to intervene. �I�m sort of doped up on painkillers, Justin. If you were gentle and helped me move a little bit, it wouldn�t hurt me.�

He let out a deep sigh as he moved his hand that was on her back up to where it was just under her shoulder blades, and then pushed her up so that the pillows were completely free. With the other hand, he arranged the pillows to create a more supportive cushion for her. When that was done, he slowly lowered her back to the pillows, and gave her a small smile of satisfaction when he saw that she rested comfortably against them.

�See? No pain. I won�t break.� She tried to manage a smile for him in return, but it just wouldn�t come with her words. It was as if her body wasn�t even going to let her pretend with him. But she didn�t want him to see her so weak and shattered.

He sat back down in the uncomfortable chair, and his expression quickly changed back to being serious. �What are you confused about, Liz?�

For a split second, she debated whether or not she should just brush off the question just so she wouldn�t have to add to his stress. Instead, she figured that she was bothered by not knowing all the information about what had happened. And that could be helped if she just stopped being so selfish, and told him. �I just don�t really remember how I ended up here. Like, after everything with�I don�t remember being found......� Her soft tone cracked towards the end, and faded off completely when she simply didn�t know what else to say. Her head felt cloudy and heavy, and her stomach was beginning to turn a little just thinking about the horrible events. All she could do is look at him, hoping that he would understand, and meet her halfway.

His eyes dimmed a little bit as she continued to stare at him. His eyebrows raised slightly, and he appeared to be stumbling for words to give her the information that she was requesting. �Uh, well sweetie, I don�t really know that much more than you do. You�ll have to wait to talk to the police later on, and they�ll be able to tell you more. But, right now, all I know is that someone dropped you off at my house. I just opened the door, and there you were. Lying there. I have no idea where you were or who brought you or how, but you were there. And I called 911, and the ambulance came, and they brought you here. And you�ve been here for about 24 hours now.� It all came out smooth and steady.

She was almost surprised at how calm he seemed. I suppose that it�s a good thing. He�ll need it to help keep his sanity if this is going to last. �Oh, ok.� She looked frazzled, but she just turned her head to the ceiling, and squeezed her eyes shut to block out the light. �Wh-when will I be able to talk to someone.�

�I�m not sure. The nurse mentioned to me earlier this morning that they wanted to do an internal exam today. In a few hours I think. Because they still haven�t done that yet.� The steadiness finally broke in him, and he sounded uncomfortable. �And, um, I think the police want to talk to you this evening. Or maybe even earlier in the afternoon. But they really need to talk to you, and get more information as soon as possible.� He looked down at his hands that were folded in his lap before beginning to pick at the invisible dirt under his fingernails.

�Has anyone else been by?� Her throat was beginning to throb again, and she quickly decided that this conversation would have to end soon.

�Yea, yea. They�ve been by.� He had begun to rub his fingers into the palm of his other hand when he realized that he was being vague. �Uh, the guys came for a little while. And Katie came too.�

Her only reply was a gentle nod before turning her face completely away from him. �You ok, Liz?�

She didn�t turn back to him, only answered softly. �Yea, I�m all right. I just- my throat is hurting again, and I�m pretty tired. Do you think that maybe you could��

�Of course.� He broke her off before she could finish her sentence because he couldn�t bear to hear her voice asking him to leave her alone. � I can go. I�ll see you later, ok?�

There was no reply, so he quietly walked across the room, and went out the door.

Chapter Two

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