After fifteen minutes, they rolled to a stop in the hospital parking lot, and Fiona, once again, bolted from the car at the first opportunity, leaving Gage in the dust. She ran into the emergency room where she saw Mrs. Greenwood crumpled over in a corner in the waiting room, sobbing quietly.
“Mrs. Greenwood, where is she? What happened?”
“The doctors took her,” Mrs. Greenwood said, forcing the words out in between silent crying fits while tears skidded down her face and neck and disappeared into her shirt. “They said they needed to do a rape kit.”
Fiona nodded, reaching over to take the mother’s hand into her own, rubbing the backs of her knuckles with her thumb. “Okay, that’s normal. That’s just procedure. It’ll be okay. They might knock her out for it, give her a sedative so that they don’t hurt her again.”
Her words didn’t seem to help Mrs. Greenwood very much, as she just used her free hand to cup her face, sobbing more loudly as the seconds went by. A minute later, Fiona felt Gage walk up behind them. She knew it was him just from the sound of his feet, without turning around. He didn’t say anything, just stared down at them—Mrs. Greenwood in a chair, Fiona squatting to look her in the eyes.
“Can I tell you something I haven’t told anybody in a very long time?” Fiona whispered, clutching the mother’s hand a bit tighter within her own to make sure that she got her attention.
Mrs. Greenwood looked up at her but didn’t say anything in response.
Fiona decided to interpret her silence as a “yes.” She cleared her throat and looked down at the ground, summoning up whatever courage she had to tell the truth. It was the hardest thing for her to do, but she had to do it, for this woman, for this family. For Tori.
“When I was your daughter’s age, I was stolen by a very bad man.” That seemed to get Mrs. Greenwood’s attention, as her eyes suddenly focused, her pupils going wide as she looked at Fiona. “A very bad man. He took me and he put me in a cellar somewhere, and he put handcuffs on my wrists and ankles to keep me in place. And he’d come by at night, when the sound of the traffic faded away, and he’d…do things to me. And he’d always clean me up after, wipe me off. He’d torture me, cut into me, hit me, call me names. I still hear him sometimes, in my nightmares,” Fiona confessed, the words spilling out of her like they had been waiting, perched on her tongue for years, ready to launch off at the first opportunity. Mrs. Greenwood’s face had crumpled, obviously picturing all the same things happening to her daughter, but Fiona persisted, continuing the story. “He was stupid, though. One day, he forgot to lock the handcuffs back up after…well, after doing things to me. I managed to hop over to the window, and I pried it open with a stick he left in the room, and I climbed out, and then I hopped all the way to a road and screamed until a cop came to pick me up.” She cleared her throat. “I wasn’t as strong as your daughter is, ma’am. I didn’t make it all the way home by myself. But I did get home. I did make it home. The other girls…the other ones didn’t.” She reached over for Mrs. Greenwood’s other hand, bringing them both close to her chest so that the older woman could feel her heartbeat. “I’m alive. That’s got to count for something, right?”
Mrs. Greenwood was still crying but the tears came out faster, without the same choking sobs as before. “Are you…okay?” she whispered, pressing her hand harder against Fiona’s chest.
Fiona smiled, feeling tears pool in her own eyes. “Yes, yes, I’m okay,” she whispered. Somehow, it felt like a lie, but she repeated it again. “I’m fine. I’m totally okay. I survived. Just like your daughter. Just like Tori.”
Mrs. Greenwood nodded, the tears slowing down in the path down her cheeks. Fiona reached up and wiped a few of them away with her thumb, smiling as brightly as she could manage at the mother. “It’s a miracle, Mrs. Greenwood,” she whispered, cupping the side of her face. “Your daughter. She’s a miracle. Cherish her, no matter what.”
“Mrs. Greenwood?” a nurse said on the other side of the emergency room. “Mrs. Greenwood? Your daughter is ready to see you.”
Fiona pulled Mrs. Greenwood to her feet, holding on to her hand as they walked forward towards the nurse, following her down the hall to Tori’s room. “I’ll give you a minute alone,” Fiona whispered, staying out in the hallway with Gage as Mrs. Greenwood walked in to see her daughter.