Leech - Chapter 3

She awoke this time to a very different scene, a very different feel. Rough cotton rasped her skin, chafing against every inch of it, making her whine in discomfort. It was so much different than the luxurious satin of the night before. She was in the hospital. The beeping and buzzing of machines surrounded her. Her eyes fluttered open. Why did it seem like she was turning into the tragic heroine of a melancholy teenage tale? Her mother's cries for a nurse rung out through the room, and Christie felt the once comforting touch of her mother's hand upon her own and recoiled as though she'd been bitten.

“Mom?” Christie asked hoarsely. “What's going on?” Christie tried to sit up, but found her body unable, unwilling for the umpteenth time that day to obey her. Was it still the same day?

“Honey you've been hurt. You're in the hospital. Don't worry. I'm here.” Her mother's voice, hardened by years of smoking one cigarette after another, tried to give comfort. But somehow it wasn't enough. There was a tension there. “You're in good hands”. Her mother's hand stroked her hair, and Christie burst out crying. Her screams, screams she didn't know she had, brought the hospital staff running.

A young woman in scarlet scrubs rushed to her side, coolly checked her vital signs and guided her to a recumbent position again. “You've been raped,” the nurse checked her chart, feigning some sort of consideration, “Christine. You're fine, physically. There's nothing out of place and nothing where it shouldn't be. But you've taken a big shock, physically and emotionally. You're going to need the support of your family for this.” The nurse glanced over Christie's head to her mother, who looked as though she'd aged several years more for the ordeal. Faded dye gave way to gray roots. There were more of them than Christie remembered.

“You've been in the hospital for two days. You've just woken up. Give yourself some time to recover. You don't have to talk about your experience, but confide in your mother. She's your support. She won't judge you.” And with that, the nurse turned and left. Christie followed her, glaring the entire way. Her bedside manner could use a little work. The nurse turned to make a note on the chart on her door, and smiled at Christie. For an instant, Christie could see the woman for who she really was – voluptuous, green skinned, horns fangs and all. Christie began to sob.

“Does Dad....” Christie's voice trailed off, looking to her mother with pleading eyes, sobs momentarily suspended. Her mother nodded, setting off a new wave of sobs for the both of them.

“I'm so sorry honey. So sorry. I don't know how this happened, and nobody saw anything. But we'll stand by you. It doesn't matter what happens, but your father and I are here for you. This wasn't your fault.”

It was. Christie thought. It was my fault. I made myself a target. She didn't say these things aloud. But her mind was reeling with the numerous things that she could have, should have, would have done differently had she been given the chance. “When can I go home?” Christie asked, unsure whether home would be of any more comfort. Her father would be there. And she had shamed him. His only girl, his precious little girl...no longer. She was more afraid of the hurt she would see in his eyes than anything that could have or did happen.

“I'll call for a nurse and get your things, honey.” Christie's mother leaned over the railing of the hospital bed and kissed her daughter's forehead. Christie wondered, untangling the mess of tubes that ran from her hands, finding her fingers on her stomach. How could someone harbor so much love for a leech that sapped the life from them. Would she love her child just as much? The last words spoken by Daniel, the ones she had not heard clearly upon her departure fronm hell, echoed in her brain and she sighed.

“Life is what you make of it, sweetheart. I'm just here to fuck it up for you”.