"Miss O'Donnell, thank you for meeting with me. I'm Dr. Samantha Davis, I'm a physical therapy doctor. I specialize in rehabilitating patients who suffered physical trauma," she introduced speaking calmly and softly.

Beth just sat there in silence not daring to make eye contact. Dr. Davis could tell that something was off right away. Patients who had suffered from physical abuse typically were more vocal, angry, emotional, and anxious. However, Beth seemed more with drawn, isolated, and depressed which led Dr. Davis to believe something more serious had happened while Beth was in foster care.

"How long have you been a patient here at Memorial General?" Dr. Davis asked mostly testing to see if Beth would talk to her at all.

"...uh si...um seve-, no six, six months" she answered no louder than a whisper. She still avoided eye contact, but had at least looked up from the floor for a moment.

"I understand Dr. Hearst admitted you even after you recovered from your injuries, correct?" Dr. Davis asked hoping to keep the conversation going.

However, the moment Dr. Davis has mentioned Hearst, Beth had visibly tensed up. Noticing the change in posture Dr. Davis found it odd. Though she assumed the reason was perfectly understandable. For instance Dr. Hearst was her psychology therapist and she could associate him with the trauma she had suffered.

"Yeah..." Beth answered even more quiet than before and it sounded more forced.

Seeing this reaction Dr. Davis decided to take the conversation in a different direction. "The nurses here are very kind, don't you think? I heard that they threw a little celebration for your birthday last month," Davis reminded offering a smile.

For the first time during this whole conversation Beth had displayed a remanence of a positive emotion, she smiled just barely and seemed more eager to answer the question. "Yeah, Nurse June is really nice"

Then the attention of both Dr. Davis and Beth turned to the office room door as it opened. Dr. Hearst had come in, uninvited. Dr. Davis didn't think anything of it until out of the corner of her eye she could see Beth's silent panic. Her fists tightened, her whole posture had changed and she sunk lower in her seat as if trying to hide. Again, this behavior struck Dr. Davis as odd. She had seen countless cases of physical abuse and the emotional symptoms. The symptoms Beth was displaying were of a different kind of abuse.

"Dr. Davis, I see you have invited dear Beth to converse with you." He said with some sort of passive aggressive behavior hidden under a fake friendliness as his hand slid onto Beth shoulder as he mentioned her name.

It was hard to miss the discomfort on Beth's face, though it was obvious she was trying to hide it. Dr. Davis could tell something was very wrong here, but was hesitant to assume what the signs were telling her.

"Yes," She responded in efforts to not raise suspicion. "Miss O'Donnell is one of your patients that I haven't seen yet. After all you know that patients such as Miss O'Donnell should have physical rehabilitation and integration that I specialize in," she pointed out still trying to connect all the dots. She had to be sure of her suspicions before she made any accusations.

Dr. Hearst further entered the room, imposing himself on the once private conversation. He even sat down in the chair next to Beth's as if he deserved to be apart of the discussion.

"Beth isn't ready yet," he answered quickly, then looked over at the patient placing his hand on her knee "are you Beth?" He then asked.

Beth moved away from Dr. Hearst's touch as much as she could with out causing a scene. She didn't answer verbally and only offered a head shake indicating that she wasn't ready.

Immediately after this interaction Dr. Davis's suspicions were confirmed.

"I see," Davis said looking down for a moment trying to figure out what to do next. What she said next nearly killed her. "I apologize, I shouldn't have over stepped," the words were agonizing now that she knew what was going on. She could barely believe it. How did no one else see it?

"Ah, a simple misunderstanding Dr. Davis. After all you are such a recent addition to this hospital. You may not be familiar with our protocol yet." He said the the same fake kindness and passive aggression as earlier.

But his statement... That concerned Dr. Davis even more. Not familiar with the hospital protocol? What if others saw what she saw, and said nothing because of protocol.

Dr. Hearst stood and beckoned Beth to follow and as they left Hearst placed his hand on Beth's lower back guiding her out of the room.

Samantha day in her office now with more questions than ever and genuinely condemned for the welfare of one of the patients.

Sincerely, Anonymous