I have no fucking clue what I'm doing, I thought to myself as I helped Cara stand with her baby. I looked around for a good place to do this. The lights in the store sucked at night, and the only way to lock the door was the chain and padlock on the outside. Clearly she thought someone was after her, so maybe the open store wasn't the safest place.
"Can we take you back to our boat?" She looked at me with those big, fearful eyes. "It has better lighting, and a lock on the door. If you have someone coming after you, the boat will be safer than the store."
"Okay," she whispered after what seemed like an eternity of silence. The poor girl was scared out of her wits. What happened to you, I wondered. I grabbed my gun off the floor where I had left it when she tried to run and stuffed it in the waist of my shorts. Jess and I walked on either side of Cara across the parking lot to the docks. Again, I couldn't shake the eerie feeling that we were being watched. I scanned the tree line looking for any signs of life.
Could the man who was after her have been hiding in those trees? Watching us? I pulled my gun back out and held it up where it could be seen, as a warning to anyone who might be lurking.
When we got to the boat Jess hopped up first. "Can we hand Jess the baby so you can climb up?" I knew that would be a long shot, but, as wobbly as she was, I didn't trust her to make the step with her arms full. As I expected, Cara looked at me with her big eyes and shook her head.
"Right," I said. "Well then, I'll have to lift you and, Jess, you'll have to pull her up." Jess silently complied. I could tell she wasn't happy about this, but, for some reason, I felt compelled to help this woman.
I placed my hands around Cara's waist, holy shit, this girl was thin. How could she have just had a baby? She had no fat on her whatsoever. As I lifted, Jess received her onto the boat. It felt just like loading any other cargo. "You got her, Jess?"
"Yeah, I got her."
As Jess steadied Cara against the rocking of the boat, I climbed aboard. Gently placing my hand on her back, I led her to the stairs that lead down to the cabin. "I'll go down in front of you, and Jess will be right behind you, so if you fall we can catch you, okay?"
"Okay," she had such a tiny voice. She was still unsure of us, I could tell, but at least she would be safe on the boat and hopefully be able to get some rest. She looked like she desperately needed it.
Once we got down the stairs I gave her the tour. "This is the kitchen," I thought about the skeleton I'd felt through her clothes. "We can make you some food if you'd like." She seemed to perk up a little at that idea. I kept walking. "These are our bunks, you can sleep in mine, and Jess will sleep in this one, across from you."
"I'm sleeping on the…bed?" Her eyes filled with confusion, as if that was a foreign concept to her.
"Yes, I'll sleep on the floor," I said. She looked at me quizzically. What kind of world did you come from, I thought.
"And that door," I pointed just past the bunks. "That's the bathroom. There's a toilet and a small shower."
"Oh," she said.
I reached into the head and grabbed the first aid kit off the wall. "Can I check you out now?" She looked sickly, but she nodded her head and hugged her baby closer. "Here," I said. "Come lay on the bed. You can lay your baby next to you." She was still unsteadied on the rocking boat.
"Jess, could you please lock the door?" She looked at me with her "you're not telling me something" look, but went and locked the door anyway.
I helped Cara sit on the bed. She laid the baby against the wall on the far side of the bunk with her sitting between me and him. Protective, I thought. Then I noticed her shirt. It was one from the store with a corny fishing joke on it. I smirked, I don't know why it made me happy that she was using a shirt from the shop, but it did. Like I was unknowingly helping her before I ever even found her. Then I noticed the blood stain on it.
"Can I...? I mean, can you…? I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound like a pervert, but I'm gonna need you to take your clothes off if you don't mind." I could feel my cheeks get hot. What was wrong with me? I never got embarrassed. Certainly not over naked women.
"Yeah," she said. "That's okay." She thought for a moment. "This is your shirt anyway."
"I'll get you a clean shirt and shorts to wear when we're all done," I assured her.
I turned away as she undressed. It felt weird to watch. When I turned around she was completely naked.
"Oh," I felt embarrassed again. "I'm sorry, I didn't need you to take your underwear off. I should have mentioned that."
"I don't have any underwear." She said matter-of-factly.
"Oh, okay," that struck me as odd. Then I really looked at her body. I couldn't believe what I saw. This girl had to have been starved. I could see every bone in her body. In the light I could see that her eyes were sunken in, and they had dark circles around them as if she hadn't slept in weeks. Her irises were the palest shade of blue I had ever seen, and her hair was a matted caramel colored mess. Her face was small and heart-shaped with a pinched little nose. She had full lips that were chapped, and small chin. Her skin looked thin. It was pale as a ghost and covered in bruises that gave her the appearance of a malnourished Dalmatian.
Her breasts almost looked swollen and hard, as if she'd had bad plastic surgery. Is that normal for having just had a baby? I tried to remember the sex ed class we took in high school. There was a section about what happens to a woman's body during and after pregnancy. I was sure they had gone into such detail in an attempt to deter us from having underaged sex. It didn't work, probably because I didn't pay much attention; I wished now that I had.
Just below her breasts I could see every single one of her ribs, all of which appeared to be intact. Then there was her belly, which seemed very out of place. It was swollen and round, like her breasts, and the skin was stretched out.
"How long ago did you have this baby, Cara?"
"I'm not sure," she closed her eyes. When she opened them she looked up at me, "I think…two days ago?"
I was dumbfounded. "How long have you been on the run?"
She looked at me for a moment and then looked back at her baby, but didn't answer my question. I decided to let it go. She needed to rest, and my questions could wait until morning.
There was a cut on her right hip bone that looked like it had recently bled quite a bit. That must have been where the blood on the shirt came from. The blood from the cut trickled down and mixed with dried blood that covered her groin and thighs. I guess when you give birth on the run you don't have time to shower. Below that were more bruises and scrapes running all the way down her legs, and her feet were covered in blood.
How could someone so tiny have survived so much blood loss?
I looked closely at her feet and saw that they were full of glass shards. I ran my hands down my face, Jesus, I wish she would go to a damn hospital. I'm not fuckin' MacGyver. Part of me wanted to give up on her, but I couldn't. There was something about her that tapped into my protective instincts. I'd never felt the need to protect anyone other than Jess, but this girl, Cara, she had somehow gotten a grasp on my masculinity and I had to protect her. And her baby.
"Alright Cara, first thing's first. I have some Ibuprofen here that you can take. It will help with the pain and the swelling," again, she looked unsure.
"I won't force you to take it, but I have to take these glass shards out of your feet, and it is going to hurt."
"I don't know," she said. Did she think I was going to drug her?
"Look, I'll take some too, okay?" I popped open the bottle and dumped four pills into my hand. I placed two on my tongue for her to see and grabbed a water bottle from the counter to chase them down. Then I opened my mouth and moved my tongue around for her to see that the pills were gone.
"See? It won't hurt you," but I hoped it would help with the headache I was getting.
Cara looked at the bottom of her left foot and flinched as she poked one of the shards. She looked at me and then at the pills, then she reached out to take them. Just as I had, she placed them on her tongue and then reached for the water bottle to take a drink. After one sip she looked at me again, as if seeking permission. It took me a moment to realize that she was.
"You can drink as much as you like," I said. In five large gulps she had finished off the bottle.
"Do you need some more," I asked. She shook her head and handed me the empty bottle.
"Alright," I tried to gather the right words to explain what I had to do. "Now," I paused and waited for her to look me in the eyes. Those crystal blue eyes were stunning. They seemed out of place. Where her body radiated fear and apprehension, her eyes spoke of strength and determination.
"I'm going to get a bucket of water. I'm going to rinse the blood off your feet, and use tweezers to pull out the glass. It might take a while, so you are welcome to cover up with the blanket and try to relax."
She nodded her head and laid back placing her head next to her baby's. I helped her pull the blanket over her, then went to get my fish cleaning bucket. I washed it out the best I could with hot, soapy water, then grabbed a dirty bucket to use as a stool. I filled the clean one with lukewarm water and added half a bottle of peroxide. I have no idea what I'm doing, I thought again.
The whole time Jess the sat on her bunk and watched. I knew she didn't like blood, so I didn't ask her for help. There'd be plenty for her to help with later.
By the time I was ready to start, Cara had dozed off. I had half a mind to let it wait until morning, but she needed to be taken care of. I was worried that if she lost any more blood she might not wake up. "Cara," I shook her shoulder. She didn't wake up. I panicked for a moment and tried to feel for a pulse under her jaw. It was faint, and it was slow, but it was there. Maybe it would be better if I let her sleep through it.
I lifted her left foot first, then her right, and placed them both in the bucket of peroxide water. They immediately began to fizz up, but Cara still didn't budge. Letting her feet soak for a minute, I pulled back the blanket and dipped a kitchen rag in the bucket to use it on her hip. The cut looked deep. It probably needed stitches, but I wasn't about to try my hand at that.
Once I got the blood cleared away I grabbed a large bandage and some antibiotic ointment from the first aid kit. I slathered the ointment on, placed the bandage, and covered her back up with the blanket.
I'll be needing to wash my sheets tomorrow, I thought. I grabbed another water bottle from the counter, lifted her left foot again, rinsed it with the water bottle and let her ankle rest on my knee. I looked behind me to Jess. She reached her hand out to my shoulder and gave me a reassuring smile.
"Here goes," I whispered.
The first shard came out easily. Cara didn't even flinch. I counted four more in this foot that I could see. As they came out, the cuts began to bleed more, and I had to keep rinsing her foot with the water bottle. At last, they were all out. I gave her foot a final rinse, dried it with another rag, and covered the whole surface with the ointment. Then I got the gauze wrap from the first aid kit and wrapped it up to look like a sock.
"One down, one to go."
The right foot was harder. There was more glass and it was deeper in the pad of her foot. Amazingly, Cara still didn't flinch.
Damn, you must be exhausted, I thought as I finished pulling out the last piece. I cleaned and wrapped the right foot just like the left. Then I lifted both feet onto the bed and covered them with the blanket. As I was getting her adjusted, she rolled over, and I couldn't help but notice her backside. Across both sides of her ass were large bruises in the shape of handprints.
"Holy shit, Jess, look at this." Jess leaned around me, but remained planted on her bunk.
"She was into some deep shit, Beck. Are you sure we should be helping this girl? I mean, we're in enough of our own shit as it is." She had a point. We were definitely in enough shit already.
"You're right, we are, but what if this were you," I looked back at the bruises. "If someone did this to you, I'd," I felt my anger rising. Those bruises had to have happened just before she went into labor. Who could beat a pregnant woman like that? "She needs help."
Jess stood up. She always tried to make herself taller when we argued, but it never worked. She was still a head shorter than me.
"But why are we the ones to help her? If we mess up, that very well could become us," she gestured to the broken girl in my bed.
I ran a hand through my hair and sighed, "I know." Looking into her emerald eyes I silently begged her to understand the protective instinct that was raging in my chest. "We'll figure this out, Jess," I said as I pulled her into a hug. "We always do."