Twilight Fan Fiction / Twilight Fan Fiction ❯ Incubus ❯ Finding ( Chapter 3 )

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Finding

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Charlie Swan came home weary but triumphant. They had finally managed to put the fires out without losing much of the buildings. Walking into his house, he immediately expected Bella to still be in the kitchen, finishing up the dishes, so he could tell her the good news, but was dismayed to discover that she wasn't there.

Wondering where his daughter was, he headed upstairs to her room. Upon hitting the landing, he was already able to tell that something was wrong, feeling it. Quickening his pace to his daughter's room, a sense of foreboding entered him. Swallowing hard against the lump that had somehow entered his throat, He turned the doorknob, taking a deep breath as he entered his daughter's room.

The oxygen that he had just inhale rushed out of his body as if he had been slammed into my a Mack truck when his eyes laid upon his daughter. He felt his back hit the doorway behind him, his eyes wide with horror as he stared at the scene in front of him.

Blood, there was so much blood, at least, to his eyes. His precious little girl was on the bed, almost completely still that one would have thought she was dead except for the sobbing breaths that she took that showed movement, as well as the white knuckled grip on the sheets in her hands that were curled around her body.

Blood covered her entire neck and left shoulder, as well as the bedding where the area between her legs would be if she wasn't curled up into a ball on her side, facing him. Dark, bloodshot eyes rimmed with tears stared up at him, silently begging for something. In the light that spilled from the hallway, he could see the outline of a hand print over her mouth, as if whoever had done this had held her head down by her mouth, keeping her silent at the same time.

He rushed forward, wrapping his arms around her as he gently picked her up, whispering “Sorry, honey. I know it hurts” as he did so. Bella moaned in pain, her shaking increasing for a moment before she registered the scent of her father. Clinging to him, she sobbed harder, her tears finally being heard as he carried her out to the police vehicle, grabbing a spare blanket on the couch as he passed it, throwing it over her one handedly before placing his arm back under her knees.

She stayed clinging to him, her sobs shaking her with enough force that he felt a few of them shake him as well. Opening and placing her into the passenger seat of the cruiser, he had to fight her a bit in order to get her to let him go. He had to reassure her that he was only going to be gone for less than a minute to get her to let him go, and even then, she didn't do so fully.

It was only when he wrestled himself from her and ran to the other side of the car that he was able to drive them towards the hospital.

Once there, he once again picked her up, though she didn't show any much recognition of where she was at; her eyes were glassy and unfocused, still filled with tears though she was no longer shaking with sobs. He could tell that she was giving into the fatigue that had been surround her since he saw her, as well as the shock that was just waiting to happen.

The nurse immediately let him go through the doors when she saw them, knowing that it wasn't the best time to go through protocol, especially since, unknowingly to Charlie, Bella was still bleeding. Bella didn't protest when Charlie set her down, not longer conscious at that point. Her face was even paler than normal, and sweat was beginning to bleed through her forehead.

“She's lost a lot of blood. Get her on an IV now,” the nurse who met them ordered, grabbing the bed that she was on, and wheeling it towards Intensive Care. Another nurse appeared right beside it, hooking up an IV with quick efficiency despite the fact the first nurse didn't bother to slow down.

Charlie was left behind as they entered the Employees Only section of Intensive Care.

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It was an hour later that the doctor came out and towards him. Charlie stood up.

“She's asking for you,” the doctor said. They began to walk down the hall toward the room where she had been placed. Charlie looked at the doctor, wondering if he would need to wait any longer to discover what had happened to his precious flower. Luckily, the doctor knew what he wanted, though he was unsure whether he should tell him. However, one look at Charlie's face told him that he better, otherwise he would be in trouble.

“You daughter suffered from extreme blood loss. She has a wound on her shoulder, just at the curve to her neck. She was also sexually assaulted. There was some tearing on the inside of her vagina. We've collected a rape kit. She's also has multiple bruising on her wrists, legs, and on her face around her mouth, as well as on her breasts. Most of them are in the shape of handprints.”

The doctor sighed.

“Whoever did this is one sick bastard,” he said, allowing emotion to taint his voice as they got closer to Bella's room. Charlie nodded his head automatically, already thinking of things that he wanted to subject the one who had harmed his daughter to. They stopped in front of her room, and he was about to enter when the doctor stopped him.

“She on heavy pain killers, and will be sedated later to help her sleep tonight. We will be administrating it soon, so don't rile her up with questions. While I know that it's good to get all the facts while there fresh in her mind, I do not think that she is in any condition to answer anything,” he said before leaving Charlie there.

Charlie hadn't needed to tell him that. He already knew not to. As much as he wanted to find out who it was that had done that to his daughter, he knew that - at that moment - Bella would just need him to be there.

Charlie took a deep breath, and entered the room…and almost turned right back around once again, only stopping when he heard his baby's voice calling out for him in a weak tone.

“I'm here,” he said, his gruff voice soft as he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her as best he could. It was hard to do, though, because of the many machines she was hooked up upon. He gave her a quick hug, and backed off, grabbing a chair and bringing it nearer to the bed.

He sat down in it, grabbing her hand and studying her. She had machines hooked up everywhere, as well as the IV that they had originally put her on when she first got there. Now cleaned, she looked pale, paler than she usually was, and sickly. The bruise around her mouth stood out in stark contrast to her pale skin, almost black in color.

Her normally lively brown eyes looked dull, as did she. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought someone had sucked the life from her…and then he remembered that someone had done that, in a way.

He wished that he could ask her who had done this to her, who had taken her light, but he kept his mouth shut. It wasn't his place. There were several things stopping him. One, he knew that she wasn't in a state to answer any questions, and trying to dredge up the memories could cause more harm than good. And two, he was too close to the victim, which could have disastrous results.

Being close to a victim when you're trying to figure who hurt them was the main problem. Charlie felt murderous towards the person who had raped his little girl, and he knew that - if he was the one who had to deal with the suspects - he would most likely shoot first, question later…whether or not they were guilty.

No, he couldn't ask the question that he so wanted to so badly. Instead, he sat there, watching as she fell asleep from the drugs in her system, while a feeling of helplessness overtook him.