Lexi awoke in a hospital bed, feeling as if she’d been hit by a bus. She looked

around and saw her mom asleep in the corner. She went to call out for her, but it felt like

her throat was filled with razors. Then all the memories of what happened to her came

back, her throat was torn from all the screaming. Her mom woke up to the sounds of a

whispered cry and saw her daughter was sobbing with her head in her hands.

She rushed over to her daughter and put her arms around her, she then began to

cry with her. The doctors had told her about what had happened and it broke her heart

into a thousand pieces. Her mom thought about how unfair it was for the monsters to do

this to her beloved daughter because of the sins of her father.

But in that moment of seeing Lexi finally wakeup after these past few days of

watching her lying unconscious, she was just happy that Lexi was alive. She would move

heaven and earth to get her through this horrific time.

Lexi looked at her mother, both of their faces were wet from the tears they shed.

“Don’t say anything honey, you’re safe now. Just rest.”

After a few more minutes of crying, Lexi went back to sleep and her mother

called in the doctors who were followed by the police. “We need to talk to her, so we can

catch the psychos who did this.” One of the officers said.

Lexis's mother quickly answered him “What she needs is to rest.”

“Ma’am, we understand. But- “

The Doctor interjected “We understand that in order to catch whoever did this you

need to talk to Lexi, but right now she is in no condition to even speak. Come back in a

few days and she should be in a better condition.”

The officer sighed and agreed.

“Thank you, Doctor.” Lexis's mom said and went back in the room to be with her

daughter.

The days passed in the blink of an eye for Lexi, who was asleep more most of the

time. But for her mother it was grueling having to sit and see her daughter in such a

terrible condition.

Finally, when she was healthy enough to speak and she called back the police so

they could get the information they needed to catch the men who did this to her.

Her mom entered the room with the 2 police officers, “Lexi, I know this is going

to be hard, but please tell these men everything that you can remember from… that

night.”

Lexi’s heart was racing and she was afraid, she nodded one of the officers over

and had him lean in close to her so she could whisper in his ear. The officer looked over

to Lexi’s mom and put his hand on her shoulder. “Mrs. Arlington, we need you to step

outside before we begin our recount of the events.”

Lexi looked at her mother, both had tears in their eyes. Lexi’s mom nodded in

agreement and stepped into the hall, closing the door behind her. She knew why Lexi had

her step outside and it broke her heart even more. Some part was relieved though, she

didn’t know if she could handle knowing the details of what happened. She put her hand

over her mouth as she began to cry, trying to be quiet as possible and not let Lexi hear.

The officers began to have Lexi recount every detail of that night, the men there,

the place she was, and the vehicle they abducted her with. Every detail was like a knife

through her chest, she wanted to be done with this as soon as possible.

The officer’s were writing down everything word for word. “Alright, we just have

one last question for you. Is that okay?” The officer asked.

Lexi wiped the tears away from her eyes and tried to calm her breathing, then

nodded in agreement.

“Do you remember how you got to the hospital?”

Lexi shook her head.

The officers then exchanged looks and closed their notebooks. “Now Lexi, I’m

going to tell you some things and if it becomes too much for you to handle then we can

come back another time. Okay?”

“Okay.” Lexi said, her throat was still scratchy and all this talking hadn’t helped.

The officer then pulled up a seat beside her and began to speak. “One of the men

turned himself in, he gave us the names of all the others and the details of that night all

lineup with everything you just told us. Tobias led the men to get some sort of twisted

vengeance against your father and used his wealth to bribe the other men into joining

him. We have all the men in custody, besides Tobias.”

The feeling of fear in Lexi skyrocketed knowing that the one who incited all this

wad still walking around out there.

The officer continued “We’re doing our best to catch him, but for now we’re

going to give you 24/7 police protection until he’s in custody. Just in case he tries to

retaliate again.”

Lexi felt some relief from knowing that she wasn’t left completely defenseless.

“We’ll keep you updated on the situation, for now just get better.” The officer

stood up and joined his partner, the 2 went to leave the room but were stopped by Alice

who asked if they could send her mom back in. They gave her an empathetic smile and

nod, before the door closed behind them Lexis's mother reentered the room. Her arms

were crossed and she had a tissue in her hand. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

Lexi went to answer but was stopped by the sadness that overwhelmed her and

she began to cry. Her mom rushed over to hold her once more. This time she refrained

from crying as best she could and did her best to comfort her daughter in any way that

she could.

Hours went by and the Nurses brought Alice her dinner on a tray. She still had no

appetite and left it on the table next to her. Her mother tried to persuade her to eat but was

unable to. Finally, the day had come to an end and Lexi fell asleep in her bed and her

mother slept on the couch in the room.

When the sun rose up, Lexi stayed sleeping until finally the doctor came in to

wake her.

“Good morning, Lexi. It’s your last day with us, how are you feeling?” The

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doctor asked and Lexi just shrugged.

Lexi’s mom stepped in and spoke for her “She’s doing a lot better, Doctor Arthur.

She’s just sick of being cooped up in this room.”

Lexi looked at the doctor and nodded in agreement with her mother.

The doctor had a look of concern for a brief moment “We all can understand that,

but before we let you go, there is one last step.”

Lexi spoke up “Whatever it is, can we do it? I just really, really want to be home

and start having everything go back to normal.”

“Alright, Lexi. We're going to have Mrs. Arlington step out for a moment and so

will I, then we’re going to have Doctor Fox come in and ask you a few questions if that’s

okay with you.”

“Why can’t you ask me the questions and why does my mom have to step out?”

Lexi asked.

The doctor went to speak, but Lexi’s mom spoke first “It’s because Doctor Fox is

a specialist, honey. Don’t worry, we'll be right outside and promise that you’ll be as

honest as possible with the doctor. Okay?”

Lexi sighed and agreed with her mother. The 2 stepped out and Doctor Fox

entered the room. She was a mid 20’s woman who was a bit taller with short brunette

hair, at first her looks surprised Lexi. This woman looked as if she should be a runway

model and not a doctor with her bright blue almond shaped eyes and high cheekbones.

“Good morning, Lexi. I’m Doctor Fox.” She pulled up a chair and sat beside

Lexi’s bed with a clipboard in one hand. She then put out her free hand for Lexi to shake.

Lexi shook her hand and said, “Nice to meet you.”

“You have very beautiful hair, Lexi. Do you do it yourself?” Dr. Fox asked.

Lexi smiled and shook her head “No, my mom has been doing it since I’ve been

here. She used to be a stylist.”

Dr. Fox smiled back and said, “We’ll she did a really great job, maybe I should

get her to do mine sometime.”

Lexi let out a slight chuckle “I’m sure she would love that, she sometimes talks

about missing working at her old salon.”

“Good to know, now did they tell you why I’m here today?”

“No, my mom just said you were a specialist.”

“That’s right, I specialize in helping people like you and make sure you can get

back to living a good and happy life. I do this by being someone that you can talk to and

work on moving past certain traumas.”

Lexi figured out what kind of specialist she was “Like a therapist?”

Dr. Fox gave her a smile, then pulled out a pen. “Smart girl, so before we start. I’d

like to get to know a little bit more about you first.”

“Like what?”

“Let’s start simple, how do you like school and how are your grades?”

“School is good, I guess. I’m top of my class right now.”

“That’s amazing! Sounds like we have a future Doctor here.”

“Kind of, I’m going to school to become a vet. Being a veterinarian always

seemed interesting and I love helping animals.”

“Don’t we all! Do you have any pets?” Dr. Fox was slowly getting Alice to open

up.

“No… my dad always said they were too much responsibility and I should spend

my youth enjoying my freedom.”

Dr. Fox started writing on the paper on her clipboard. “Your dad’s the mayor,

right?”

Lexi nodded.

“There’s a lot going on with all that right now, would you mind telling me how it

all makes you feel?”

Lexi thought for a moment and answered, “Angry and sad.”

“Is it because you feel like you didn’t really know who he was?”

“Yeah, I’ve always looked up to him, he was always such a good person, I

would’ve never expected he could do such terrible things.”

The doctor wrote on her paper some more, “I’m sure anyone else in your position

would feel the same way. Now I’m going to ask you some questions that may make you

feel not so great, but I need you to be as honest with me as possible.”

Lexi understood where this was going “Okay, I will.”

“Since the night of your incident, have you had any thoughts of harming yourself

or others?”

“No.” Lexi was firm in her answer.

“I’m glad to hear that, now how have you been feeling since it all happened?”

“Tired. Very tired, I don’t want to do anything, and I want my life to go back to

normal. I just want to go home and be with my mom. I’m afraid that I’ll never get to have

a normal life again.”

“Lexi, I promise that you will get through this and I along with your friends and

family well help you make it through this.” Dr. Fox put her hand on Lexi’s shoulder

“Lexi, I want you to know that everything you say stays behind us. So, if there’s anything

else you want to say, you can. This is a safe space.”

Lexi felt tears start to well up.

“Is it okay if I tell you something about me, Lexi?”

“Yeah…” Lexi was trying her best to stay calm and keep this conversation

moving forward.

“When I was about your age, I had something similar happen to me.” Dr. Fox

revealed.

Lexi was surprised “Really?”

“Yes, it devastated me. The fact that someone could do something so horrible to

another human being. Thankfully, I had people in my life to get me through the tough

times.”

“Did they get the person who hurt you?” Alice asked, wondering how similar

their situations were.

“One of them, they didn’t get the other 2 until many years later.”

“They didn’t get one of the one’s who hurt me either. I’m scared he’ll come

back.”

“I understand, I felt the same way. I was always worried that one day I’d see his

face again. But when they caught him and put him in prison, it didn’t undo what he'd

done for me. I was still just as scared someone else would hurt me. It wasn’t until I let

someone in and worked through my trauma did everything start to look brighter again.”

“What if they never catch the man who did this to me?” Alice was worried about

the possibility of her living in fear and thought it would be too much too handle.

“Then that is a burden you will need to live with, as hard as that may be. He

already hurt you once, don’t let him ruin the rest of your life and have that hold over you.

It will take time, but eventually you will heal from this.” Dr. Fox didn’t want to sugarcoat

her words and told Lexi what she needed to hear.

Tears started to roll down Lexi’s cheeks and Dr. Fox held her hand. “Lexi, look at

me please.”

Lexi looked up at her and saw the Dr. Fox’s kind eyes looking into hers.

“As someone who has been where you are, you will make it through this. It might

not get easier, but you will get stronger from this and learn to carry this burden.” Dr.

Fox’s voice was filled with compassion.

Lexi gripped Dr. Fox’s hand tight “Thank you.”

“Now when you get home today, I want you to do something for me.” Dr. Fox

handed Lexi a tissue

“Alright.” Lexi began to wipe away her tears.

“Do you keep a journal?”

“I used to a while ago.” Lexi thought back to her days in middle school and early

high school.

“I would like for you to start writing again, anytime you can I want you to write in

it. It does not always need to be about anything serious, even if it is just as simple as

describing your day just write it all out. Use your journal as a way to reflect and get out

of your head whenever you start to feel overwhelmed.”

Lexi had stopped crying and set the tissue down on the table beside her bed.

“Okay, I will.”

“Do you promise?” Dr. Fox wanted to emphasize the importance in getting all of

Lexi’s negative thoughts out in any way possible.

“Yes, I promise that whenever I feel like it’s all getting to be too much or I just

need a distraction I’ll write in my journal.” Lexi assured Dr. Fox.

Dr. Fox gave Lexi a smile that helped calm her, she felt like Dr. Fox really

understood her and what she was going through. “Thank you, now on top of that, I want

you to come see me whenever you want or need someone to talk to. But be sure to come

by at least once a week. I’ve already worked out all the details with your mom and I will

give you the number to my personal cell too. If you can’t come see me for whatever

reason, then give me a call and I’ll come to you.”

Lexi felt some relief, that she was going to get to see Dr. Fox again.

“Now I’m going to get out of your hair and we’re going to get you home.” Dr.

Fox got up.

“Thank you, Dr. Fox.” Lexi said feeling as if some of the weight on her chest had

been lifted.

Dr. Fox gave Lexi one last compassionate smile “No, thank you for taking the

time to talk with me and opening up, Lexi. And please, call me Kate.”