Hi there angels!

In this chapter we'll see Erika getting caught up in a different situation... Show her some with a ! She'll need the extra carriage.

This chapter contains, with mentions of and . Beware and continue at your own volition. (Our girl is safe, don't worry.)

a mental state where you feel detached from your surroundings; a disconnection from reality.

I was sipping my cold tea, reading the different case files with all sorts of diagnosis, when I felt my eyelids getting heavier. Exhaustion had caught up to me, and I allowed myself some minutes of sleep.

The obnoxious sound of my pager startled me, creating the worst feeling in my stomach when the code came from the emergency ward on the ground floor. Leaping out of bed, I run to the elevators, that were, just like my luck, out of order. Cursing under my breath, I took to the stairs, skipping a few steps at a time all the way from the fifth to the ground floor. I run as fast as I could, finally reaching the nurse's front desk.

"No running allowed, Dr. Ricci." Savi's unimpressed voice startled me, and I walked by her desk without another word. "Examination room 6," she said with a yawn, her attention never leaving the monitor.

This was odd behavior for her. Emergency situations usually called for the help of a team of doctors and nurses working together, but she was pretending I wasn't even there. Maybe this wasn't a life-or-death situation. Feeling utterly confused and neglected by the senior nurse, I turned on my heel towards the emergency ward.

I felt numb, the bagging warning at the back of my mind pulled me towards the opposite direction, but I couldn't just walk away from my job.

It had been a while, but once I stepped foot in the emergency ward, chills travelled down my spine. The corridors were empty, and the lights were unusually dimmed. The motion sensors didn't detect my movements, leaving me in the dark, the hallway unusually quiet and empty.

Feeling anxious shivers to my core, I gripped my pager in my hand tightly. The obnoxious beeping noise scared me once more and I gripped my shirt over my heart, an attempt to slow down my erratic heart. Examination room 6 was illuminated on my pager and I took slow footsteps towards my destination, each step echoing loud off the dark walls around me.

When I stepped into the room, I turned the lights on to find it empty. I was ready to walk up to Savi, furious at the games she played, until movement from my peripheral caught my attention before exiting the room.

A woman, in her early twenties, dressed in a tiny dress, was hugging her body tightly, streaks of mascara running down her wet cheeks, red lipstick smudged on her lips and neck. After a quick inspection, I saw how ripped the fabric of her dress was, revealing bruised collarbones, arms and legs, with strikes of red on the inner side of her thighs. I felt goosebumps rising on my arms.

With slow movements I reached for the paper cups in the corner of the room, filling one with cold water and giving it to the shaking woman in front of me.

"What's your name?" I whispered, afraid she would cower even further away from me.

"Anya."

"Anya, how old are you?"

"Twenty-one."

I sighed at her answer. She was so young. Nobody should be in this position of pain and fear. Nobody!

"Can you tell me what happened to you?"

She didn't answer, instead more tears run down her cheeks as she drowned her sobs by gulping on some water. "Can't. I... They said, I need to keep quiet. They have my three-year-old son. I can't, I'm sorry." Her words were broken as she continued to sob.

"Anya, it's fine, listen to me.... Anya, look at me."

"They have him. He's three. I can't be here."

"Wait. You're hurt. At least let me tend to your wounds."

I wasn't familiar with a situation like this, but it explained why the lights were dimmed. I suspected from her broken English and accent, that she was a foreigner, probably with no health insurance. Without one in the US, no doctor would provide her with the right medical attention. This also explained Savi's behavior; she knew this woman, this girl, in front of me needed medical attention. If someone was hurting her, holding someone dear to her hostage, then she would avoid the cops, wouldn't press charges, or tend to her wounds, if it meant harm would come to her child.

It was worse than I thought; lacerations and bruises littered her skin, with bite marks on her breasts and neck. Her ribs were also an angry violet color, from a fracture, I presumed, but she didn't want me to touch her. The blood on her thighs was coming from between her legs, but she didn't want me to look any further. Deciding I should tend to her with utmost sensitivity, I gave her ointments and medicine to apply on herself, since she was so afraid of my movements close to her.

She was ready to leave, when I gave her pain killers and contraceptive pills. She didn't have to tell me what happened, but still, I couldn't ignore what was right in front of me. She thanked me and disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.

"What the hell was that?" I demanded from Savi the minute I was out of the door.

"What do you mean, Dr. Ricci?" She was avoiding my gaze, looking at whatever was on her computer.

"That girl has been violated and beaten up," I was on the verge of tears, Savi's eyes indifferent, as I felt the anger poisoning me from the inside. "We need to take this to the police, we can't just send her off, back to whatever hell that's responsible for that. She has a little boy, Savi, she needs help and we-"

"Savi, Ricci, what's the meaning of this?" Dr. Marshall's voice startled me; I didn't even hear him approaching. "You should have paged me, Savi."

The nurse avoided Dr. Marshall, and turned her gaze to me. "We are going to keep quiet, Erika." Her voice was stern, law, a knowing look on her face that filled me with uncertainty. "That girl is scared beyond belief. If we do anything, they might do something worst. Her life, and her son's, is in our hands. If they find out she talked about them while seeking medical help, next time she's gonna come in a body bag."

"Who's them? Wait... Has she been coming here frequently? You knew about her? How long has this been happening?" I knew I was hyperventilating by now, the adrenaline making me tremble. "How many of these women are there?"

"You will keep your mouth shut, Dr. Ricci, and let me and Dr. Marshall handle this."

"Then why did you page me, instead?"

"I didn't!"

I was confused, my mouth opening and closing a couple of times, but no words came out. Somehow, I felt betrayed by my colleagues. How could they handle this on their own? And what would happen to that girl now?

"Go rest, Dr. Ricci." Dr. Marshall's tired voice caught me by surprise; he looked calm, but his eyes betrayed his frustration at what was happening in his hospital. "Come find me, if you need to talk about his."

Numb, I nodded in a trance, as anger and disappointment rendered me speechless. I exited the emergency ward, derealization overtaking me. In an attempt to feel my detached body again, I bolted up the stairs to the fifth floor of the on-call rooms, ignoring completely the now working elevators, as adrenaline pumped through me.

Once in the safe space of the on-call room, I shut the door soundly behind me, only to wince in fear when I collided with a tall muscular back.

"Dio mio!" I said, holding the patient-files tightly against my chest, taking in a deep breath. "Damn it, you scared me."

that will be ready very .

Until then, take care angels!!

Xo J