Page 60 of Life To My Flight

“She’s in the blue room,” Mona said quietly.

I nodded. The blue room was good.

It was the furthest away from the main ER as it could be without actually being off the floor.

“Are the things I need already in the room?” I asked.

Mona nodded. “I put them in there myself. Let me know if you need me, okay?”

I nodded. “Absolutely.”

I walked into the room not knowing what to expect, but the defeated, beaten woman in no way, shape, or form resembled the Audrey I knew.

“Audrey?” I asked.

The beaten woman looked up, and I met Audrey’s beautiful green eyes.

They were on fire.

Rage. Turmoil. Helplessness. Sadness. Disgust.

Those were only a few of the emotions playing in her eyes, and I knew that she’d fight.

She’d never give up.

Not our Audrey.

“Hey, sweet girl. Are you ready?” I asked softly.

I gave her room, knowing that was one of the things that assault victims had trouble with: invasion of their territory.

She nodded and croaked, “I’m ready.”

I closed the door softly behind me, locked it, and moved closer to her at an extremely slow pace.

“You just tell me if I do anything you don’t want me to. I’ll try my best to explain each and everything that I’m doing, and if at any point you get uncomfortable, just let me know, okay?” I told her.

Her eyes never left mine. “Yes.”

“Okay, sweet girl. Let’s get started. What I want you to do is leave your clothes on. I’m going to start on the outside and work my way inside, okay?” I asked.

She nodded but didn’t say anything.

Part of a SANE nurse’s job was to collect evidence, collect the statement, and document the injuries that he or she observes.

SANE exam protocols were set in place for the safety and comfort of the patient. We didn’t want to make them any more nervous than they already were. The rule was that there was only one person collecting the evidence and doing the invasive procedures, which made it more tolerable for the patient.

The only good thing that came out of this was that Audrey knew me. She trusted me. She cared for me.

Otherwise, I’d have spent a lot longer trying to calm her down.

I was doing well, too, until I got to the point where I was uncovering Audrey.

The mass of purple bruises on her legs made her flinch from the sight.

“I’m going to start taking pictures again, okay?” I asked.

I wanted to hug her so badly, but I knew there wasn’t a place for that right now. She needed me to do my job, and that was what I was going to do.

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