She shot up. It must have only been a dream again. She made to get off her bed, but she was stopped by her mother's warm touch. Her African beauty, beliefs and morals made her always look up to her Luna. Her mother her saviour, her queen and she broke down crying and her mother hugged her.
"Miss Marx. This is detective Collins. We have assigned him to your case."
Grateful she sat up straight, but her mom just gently pushed her back. She faced the scene in confusion. Clearly her mother would want her abuser to pay for his transgressions. Maybe she already handled it. Surely Parker was executed for breaking countless laws of the pack. She looks up to her mother who refuses to meet her gaze.
"Doctor, I told you this is a family matter."
"Mam. Your daughter came in her with multiple fractures throughout her body, she's probably concussed and we have evidence of forced entry."
"Mrs Marx. The marks and scars on her body are yet to heal. Her body suffered severe malnutrition and dehydration which caused her to faint. Whoever is responsible for everything your sixteen-year-old daughter has been through is still out there."
"I have heard your complaints doctors. Allow me to speak to my daughter first."
"Mrs Marx-"
"I wasn't asking."
The doctors who tried to plead her case and the detective bowed before they left. What is her mother doing? Common her mother would never allow anyone to harm and degrade her value in such a fashion. She smiled at her mother praying that she will finally choose her. She's not been a great mother in the past given she abandoned six- to seven-year-old alone in the house. When she did not die from that she began leaving her for days, weeks, months and all she asks is that she choose her.
"Honey, Parker is family..."
Everything after that sentence is irrelevant her mother chose her new family over her, again. She pulled away from her touch and stared at her as she would a stranger. The detective entered with her mother in the room of course to monitor everything. It is useless, although there is evidence if the Luna testifies his innocence... Parker will be deemed innocent. She said nothing to the detective for so long he left only giving a sad pat of her shoulder.
She sobbed for all her life is worth. Is it not enough that they stalled her life for a year because of her mother's decision to abandon her at age seven, to 'find herself.' Her father abandoned her; mother is abandoning her again... her parent time after time again never considered her and her needs. Is it not enough that she is hated for merely just existing, as if it was her choice to be brought into this world.
Her mother tried to comfort her, but she stiffened holding onto her aching body. She's protecting a monster she does not deserve to levitate her guilt by her teary dependence. She's on her own and she has to get out of this world, and she relaxes one the nurse came to announce that visiting hours are over. Almost an hour later the two doctors that stood up for her entered her private ward. They comforted her as she hyperventilated.
The fingers are numb, her chest feels like an organ is covering a void, her toes feel like picks and needles. She has this agonising ache in her chest and stomach. Once one of them got up to inject something to her drip. They comforted her empathising with her situation. She fell asleep after crying so hard on their laps. Only the doctors had enough humanity to know that she did not deserve everything that happened. They promised to come back once she wakes, she did not want to let go but she can't prevent them for performing their daily responsibilities nor can she fight the drug.
.
She came to slowly, her world swirling back into focus like a tide retreating from chaos. As promised, the two doctors were at her side. Before she could gather enough strength to sit up, they gently helped her, one supporting her back while the other offered a cool glass of water. The first doctor had hair that flowed like a river of midnight silk, cascading over her shoulder and even resting lightly on the edge of the bed. The strands shimmered under the sterile hospital light, catching glints of violet as if kissed by stardust.
The second doctor was no less captivating her presence marked by an ethereal glow. At the centre of her smooth, deep-brown forehead sat three faintly glowing diamond-shaped marks, arranged like a constellation, pulsing softly with a calming light. They weren't tattoos or paint they were alive, shifting subtly with her emotions. There was a serene power in her gaze, as if she saw not just the body but the soul.
Both women were breathtaking in their own right, but Alexandria only focused on what made them different. Perhaps it was because she herself was different. Her eyes burned with a rare amber hue that swirled with flecks of blue intense, unnatural, and often whispered about. Strange for a black girl, they said. Strange, yes but she sees the beauty in their strange.
"You… you're a healer."
"Listen, Alexandria," the one with the glowing diamond marks said gently, "we want to help you get away from here."
"You do not deserve to belong here."
She said nothing. Mute. But they continued, unbothered by her silence. They just wanted to help her.
"Tomorrow," the other doctor said, "just pretend to be in pain… uh, more pain than usual."
"Nay and I, we'll think of something. We'll help you."
Were they sent by God? She planned this moment time and time again, she knows how they help her. She drank more water allowing the cool moister to most her try dry throat, she does not know why she believes them, but she does. They have this unspoken connection like they were supposed to be here, she feels like Cinderella and these are her fairy guardians. She was so good at being quiet that when it was her turn to speak, no words came. They gently coached her to breathe, told her that anything she said mattered even if it felt small or irrelevant.
"L-lap… top-p," she finally croaked out.
She needed access to a laptop. Her access on the computer was monitored so she couldn't check her results online for weeks. All the doctors had with them were their phones and without hesitation, Nay handed hers over. They were patient, their energy calmed her nerves enough that she trusted them with her only plan out of this hell. She tapped slowly at first, fingers trembling, but the more she thought about being free her fingers flowed more confidently. She turned the screen toward them.
"Does anyone know about this?" Nay asked.
Alexandria shook her head.
"Good. Wow… are these your grades?"
She nodded.
"Wait, you're turning seventeen and a senior?"
Another nod. She had skipped a grade and dropped out one year and half a term which meant she had repeat. She excelled in school, not because she's good at remembering but because she also applied herself.
"These are amazing. Perfect grades. What do you want to apply for?"
Alexandria pointed at the screen. Her first choice: Art. Second: Law. Third… she paused, then tapped again to change her first choice. Medicine. She looked up at the doctors, her eyes wide but hopeful. She wanted to be like them the ones who saw her, the ones who tried to save her. She smiled faintly and hit submit on her final, perfected draft. It was the first time she followed through with her multi part plan. She always thought of her escape and though of building her own life far from here, but this time actually took the first step. She saved her application to the cloud, just in case. So, she could reach for it… whenever she finally gets free. She looked at the doctors, eyes shimmering with a tear she didn't let fall.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"I'm Nay and that is Mich, we will try everything in our might to help you."
"Rest we will come back tomorrow."