She stood there, in front of the mirror looking at what remained of her from the previous night. Soft breaths were all she could afford now, seeming glad to be out of the misery that had befallen her. Her eyes were still heavy and the red imprints of the slaps were ever so pronounced on her face. She touched them and felt the slight bump texture on her face. Flashbacks from the previous night started storming all over suddenly. Her eyes went shut, memories like nightmares taking the opportunity to rush in and remind her. The screams, the yelps, and the cries. She recalled how she had begged for mercy and the horror she received instead. Her breaths were heavy, one struggled to be heaved after the other. But the thoughts kept flooding back.
She clinched at the sink below, her fingers digging into it like a predator on a carcass. Her body shook, trembling like grass in a windy field. Her whimpers followed. They turned into cries within seconds. It was too much! The pain was too much! How could he? I trusted him, she told herself. I trusted him… and he… A loud gasp of air escaped her and she hammered the sink with her fist. Beat after beat the heart rhythm rose, her heart threatening to escape her chest.
"Elena!" Someone called out.
She opened her eyes instantly and whipped around in shock to look at the nurse behind her. She wiped off the tears that had already left a trail with the back of her hand and took in a deep breath.
"If you are ready, they are waiting for you," said the nurse.
Elena looked at her, nodded slightly, and finessed her hospital gown as if she was tidying it up. She walked slowly towards her portraying her walk of shame. It clearly gave off the implication that something was not right down there. All the pain, agony, and horror were making their statement on the young woman's life and even a lazy eye of a stranger could render what had happened to her. She finally reached the nurse after a while and they walked out of the washroom. They took a long walk towards her hospital room where she had been brought the previous night. There were few people today in the hospital being a Sunday but the nurses and doctors present still had a lot on their plates. She tried to hide her shame by walking as normally as possible but that couldn't outwit the tremendous pain that she was feeling. She faced the floor in an attempt to hide her face since she had paved the way for her walking manner to attribute the state she was in. The nurse held onto her and helped her through the walk back to her room, walking at Elena's pace and just being a shoulder for her to lean on.
She opened the door to her room and Elena got in first as she followed behind. There was a bed in the one o'clock corner of the room with two windows on the opposite wall of the room. Two chairs were situated by the far end next to a table on the opposite corner to the bed. There were some fruits on a plate that was on it. It felt cozy enough for a hospital room with all these small little details. She climbed the bed with the nurse's help and lay on her back. Elena stared at the ceiling above her and started to recall those horrific thoughts again. She let out a sigh after a minute of muffling her lips. Suddenly the door was opened. She looked to her left to see her mother enter with a woman in some nice suit that made her look formally appealing. She was a white woman with short brown hair that barely reached her shoulders. She had green eyes and a long protruding nose with a small wart just below her right eye. The woman had a small black handbag and she towered Lynn with the black heels on her feet. She stood a little bit back as Lynn approached her daughter who was lying on the bed. It was the first of Elena that Lynn had seen since she bid her farewell to go to the graduation party.
She came up to her and looked at her forcing the tears inside not to come out. Lynn studied her daughter and could notice the slap imprints on her face. Elena looked hurt– there was no hiding this fact. Lynn panted a little seeming shocked at the state that she had found her daughter in. She let out a soft painful sigh.
"Mom..." Elena cried out, "Mom I-I'm sorry. I-I-he...he...it was terrible. It was terrible." The tears had come again and damn were they so flawless this time. She got up to seating posture as she looked at her mother who was trying to hide her own pains inside.
"Elena...oh my beautiful Elena," she brought Elena's head close to her chest such that Elena was crying into her red blouse.
"I'm so sorry for what happened. As a mother I am... I'm so sorry." She wept softly into her hair.
"I should have listened to you! I should have." Elena mumbled again and again. The trauma got her shaking once more.
"Hey...hey! It's okay, don't worry. It wasn't your fault. You're safe now. The police have him. He's never going to hurt you again. I promise."
Elena kept quiet.
"How are you?" asked dear mom. Elena looked at her as if she was trying to communicate something with her eyes. She then titled her head and looked towards the pain between her legs and fidgeted a little bit. She squeezed her toes beneath the soft blanket and began to cry again.
"It's so bad mom... it hurts! Everything hurts."
Lynn brought Elena even closer. She caressed her slightly messed up hair as she panted soft breaths in her hair.
"It's okay, you are safe. It's okay..."
Elena's cries stopped a minute later and she wiped off her tears. Her breathing got back to normal and she stopped shaking. Lynn released her from her chest and she sat upright with the blanket covering the lower part of her body. Her eyes landed on the stranger her mother had walked in with.
"Oh, this is Attorney Geena Weiss. She will be our prosecutor in the case."
"Case?" asked Elena as they shook hands with the lady. She stepped back again and stood there as if she was waiting for some instructions from Lynn.
"Yes," answered Lynn, "Do you think I am going to let that son of a bitch walk around free with all that he has done to you? We need you to testify against him."
"Mom, I can't...no I can't." She burst out at her. "I can't go before a court mom...I can't! I won't! It's too embarrassing."
Lynn took Elena by her chin. She looked at the terrified woman beneath her and could notice the fear in her eyes.
"Elena, look. I know you're sacred. I know you are frightened. And it's okay to feel that way. What he did to you... has brought shame in its wake among other major things, I know. But if you let that monster walk free someone else might be his victim and you won't be able to forgive yourself."
"Mom, I can't. Please don't make me do this...I can't. I just can't. Don't make me do this...please!"
Lynn took a deep breath. She looked around the room as if gathering words from her deepest thoughts to put across.