Page 43 of Sugar Coated Secrets

I nod. “Yes,” I say hoarsely.

“But that he didn’t pick you up.”

I grip the blanket under my chin. “That’s right.”

“Who did?”

My lip quivers. “C-Chris Ellis and Trent Walker. T-they left me.”

They started an IV and drew my blood, but I refused everything else. I want to go home. I cannot afford another hospital bill. The cost of the ambulance that brought me here is probably already in the thousands.

The door opens. A nurse and the police officer who found me walk in, but I’ve been sitting on the bed in this cold hospital room for hours, wearing a gown and wrapped in a blanket.

“Detective Fisher, are you done here?” the young police officer asks with eyes the color of his black police shoes. His hair is expertly combed to the side without a hair out of place. “The doctor is asking for you.”

Detective Fisher straightens. “I’ll be right out.” He turns back to me. “Miss Webster, this is preliminary. I know right now isn’t a good time, but I need you to try to remember how you were attacked.”

“Detective, she was assaulted, and she’s in shock. The questioning can wait,” the officer declares with a frown.

Detective Fisher’s eyes cut to the police officer. “I’m aware, Officer Mays,” he says in an annoyed tone. “According to the statement from Mr. Ellis and Mr. Walker, they were at the Airy High School prom with their dates around the time the attack happened. We have no suspects. Even if she agreed to take therape kit, we cannot test it if we don’t have a suspect in the state of North Carolina until the law passes, and she doesn’t recall if she was assaulted or what exactly happened.”

“She’s scared,” the nurse asserts, angrily raising her voice.

They both pause and cut her a glance.

The nurse looks at me with a soft expression before glancing at them. “Can you give her a minute?”

My hands shake. The dirt stuck under my fingernails stains the white blanket. “They left me…”

The nurse places the tray in front of me, causing me to pause, and then she glares at the detective.

“I don’t disagree,” Detective Fisher says, “Maybe I can get statements from the boys. I’m sure they already have their lawyers on their way. If you could answer one last question before I go, Dulce.”

“I’ll try,” I say darkly, having a good idea what he is going to ask.

“Were you sexually assaulted by Chris or Trent?”

I turn away. My mind tries to search for anything. A clue, a memory—anything. But there’s nothing. It’s dark.It burns. The blood. You know what will happen, Dulce. They will make you pay. It’s now or never.I shut my eyes. The little voice in my head won’t stop. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. No name. No witness. No description. Nothing. Maybe I just made it all up? Or maybe it’s a nightmare, and I’ll wake up in the morning and realize it didn’t happen.

“Miss Webster,” Fisher calls out.

“I don’t…NO…”

Be careful what you say, Dulce. It will be used against you. Trust no one.

“Even if they didn’t assault her, they abducted her, broke her phone, and left her in the middle of nowhere?—”

“I understand, Mays. I was trying to get them on a personal property charge, but the phone is less than two hundred dollars. I checked,” Fisher says. He isn’t wrong, but it was the way they left. Why they left me. What they said to me… “I’m trying to find out what happened as much as you are. All we have is a high school prank gone wrong and a broken cell phone. Keeping her in the car against her will is a crime, but she told them she wanted out of the car when she realized she got in the wrong car. They did pull over and let her out but broke her cell phone. Unless we have evidence of anything else, there is nothing we can do.” He looks at me. “Is there anything else you can remember? Something, an animal, or someone.”

“I don’t know. I was hit on the head and blacked out.” I tuck my chin in as two tears run as my chest tightens, hating that I have to say it. “I woke up like this. My clothes missing and…”

“Dulce, I’m so sorry. I know it’s hard. But an examination would help us find out what happened to you and who did it.”

I shake my head. “No, please. I need to go home. My grandmother…”

“We already notified her nurse; Mary is with her now. Your grandmother is fine and asleep,” Officer Mays says softly.

“Thank you,” I say softly.

---