Skaii?" A voice called out to her. She couldn't tell who it was, it was muffled by a long beep that seemed unending, one that grated on her soul. Her body tried to move, but it couldn't. She pulled her hands more forcefully and was met by an almost burning sensation in her upper arm. A whimper escaped her lips.

"Skaii open your eyes." The person spoke again and it was clearer. Her eyes slowly cracked opened and were met by a blinding light. All she could see was white and found herself squinting.  .

"Skaii?" She felt a sudden jolt through her body, her eyes now, more clearer than they were before. A woman in a white scrub was standing over with a defibrillator in her hands. She placed it on a table when she saw that Skaii was looking up at her. The background noise leveled out, there was now a beep slowly stabilizing- the hospital monitor.

Skaii grunted and tried to shift her neck to look around the rest of the room but it was stuck. Her brows furrowed.

"Your neck is clipped in one direction so you can't see anywhere else." The woman answered her unasked question, stepping closer with a strained smile.

"Is it?" She croaked out as tears welled up in her eyes, the nurse's smile made her uneasy, this was something more than just good bedside manners.

"Yes, it is broken, along with your left hand." The nurse pointed out flatly. Skaii couldn't understand this woman's cold attitude. The room fell quiet, but Skaii knew there was another person moving around in the room. "Do you remember anything about what happened?" The  woman spoke again.

"No." Skaii blew out sharply and closed her eyes, allowing the tears to freely slide down her cheeks. Even though she didn't want to remember, she did. She remembered every second of it. But she dreaded the thought of saying anything other than that to this woman. So she fell silent, and allowed herself to feel what Matthew did. Every limb on her body was throbbing in unbearable pain, her teeth sank into her lip forcefully, so that it wouldn't hurt as much.

"Skaii, someone found you at the bottom of the steps. They said you were all the way up when they left you." The woman asked, louder than the first time. Her eyes didn't open though, not this time. "You must have been really stoned to be so clumsy at that height. Did you trip?" Her words sound more like an accusation. Something was off about this whole scenario.

"I don't know!" Skaii finally sobbed out, "Why are you badgering me?"

"Hey, can't you see that she's in pain, you're supposed to be treating her. What is wrong with you?" The other person in the room finally spoke, the nurse froze. Skaii snapped open her eyes. She knew that voice somehow.

"Who is that?" She inquired, hoping that the girl would come closer. The first was staring in the direction of the voice Skaii heard, she had a flat expression, one that told Skaii she was not impressed with those words.

"It's Emma, you probably don't know me, but I was the one who found you in the gym." The girl's voice was uneasy, she took a step closer to the bed, she was now in Skaii's view. Her face instantly registered in her head.

"You're the new girl, we spoke on Monday." The one who I had been a complete bitch to, she wanted to add, but instead she smiled.

"Well, I was doing most of the talking." Emma chuckled out nervously. Skaii's face fell at the reminder.

"I'm so sorry, I-"

"That's okay." Emma interrupted while inviting herself to the free space on Skaii's bed. Emma seem to have no troubles making herself comfortable around new people, or maybe it was because this girl was someone she worshipped for almost three years. Skaii welcomed her blatancy. No one has ever been this close to seeing Skaii this faceless, and so broken, but she noticed that this girl wasn't seeing her as broken, even though she was. Emma didn't attempt to speak again, instead she smiled and shifted herself on the bed.

"Ah!" Skaii grunted in pain, the slight movement triggered a nauseating pain down her arm. 

 "Sorry, sorry!" Emma quickly stood, her eyes wide as she apologized.

"Okay, I think you should go now Miss Emma. Skaii needs some rest for the medication to work quickly." The woman joined them, Emma nodded with understanding and Skaii eyes narrowed. Emma literally just appeared. Why should she leave?

When Emma rose from the bed, Skaii didn't question the nurse's intention anymore further because the only person who thought of showing up at her bedside was now leaving, someone who might have even saved her. "Emma, thank you."

Emma turned to Skaii and spoke softly, "Goodbye."

Instead of saying returning that word, Skaii said again, "Thank you." Skaii stared after her as she stalked to the door and disappeared from her view. Then she frowned as a thought came to mind, what if Emma didn't find her? What was Matthew telling everyone?

------------

Light shone through the crevices of the windows, illuminating the hospital room. It was the only thing that made it evident to Skaii that it was dawn. She was lying on her bed for as long as she could remember. She was in the hospital room for a week now, with no calendar or a clock. She had only one gathered information from Emma, since she was the only person who visited her. So each day Emma came, Skaii would ask the date. It really didn't bother her that her mother didn't show. In fact, that made the situation easier for Skaii to handle.

But she wished that her father and brother were able to come. It was a possibility that they didn't even hear that she was admitted in a hospital. Besides, no one really knew that she had a brother or that her father was alive. Ian secretly visited her sometimes under the guise of a librarian from Marshall's, a book store that she frequented. They both lived separate lives because of their mother.

Her mother changed.

Drastically.

She changed since the day she went to a job interview at one of the many companies that Matthew's father owned. Skaii did not notice what was going on then, she remembered Sophie would come in late at nights and leave early mornings, claiming she was going to work. The memory of her father finding out that Sophie had fallen in bed with this Washington Tycoon and confronted her was still fresh in Skaii's mind. Sophie had left him, taking Skaii with her when Skaii was only thirteen. Since then, Skaii was exposed to a family of evil men that hit her just because they felt like it. But it was the first time Matthew tried to touch her so- sexually?

Her neck was still immovable and her doctor told her that it was broken in two different places. She still found it shocking that she was lying here, alive and not in the morgue.

That was a hell of a fall.

Suddenly clips of that moment started flashing through her mind, fear started flooding in, warping her sanity.

"Good morning," the doctor range as he walked through the door, causing Skaii to gasp. "Did you sleep well?" He walked over to her with a clipboard and a small object that looked like a pen, he switched a light on at the end of it and brought it to her right eye, then the left. He was a tall middle aged Asian man with a piercing blue gaze, she noticed this much because he was always subtly glaring at her.

"Did you sleep at all?" That glare was still there, his mouth was scrunched up as he looked down at her with folded his arms.

"Will I be able to sit up straight anytime soon?" She ignored his question and asked while trying to using her right hand to position herself more comfortably.

"As soon as your neck starts healing better." He replied and started scribbling something on the paper.

"Well I am feeling better." Skaii argued.

"It has been a week since you fell off almost thirty rows of seats. Your neck and arm are broken and you are possibly brain damaged. You are far from feeling better. After a few days I will talk you. Do you understand?" His voice rose as he gestured vehemently with his free hand.

Skaii waved her hand to disagree. "How would you know how I'm feeling? It has been a few days!" Skaii pointed out a matter of factly. A dull pain started developing in her arm, and she slowly creeped up her shoulder, but she ignored it.

"No wonder your family never came to visit. You're an angry little girl, but I'm not the one you should take it out on." She raised an eyebrow as the man finished his sentence. She admitted his words were hurtful, but the family he referred to wasn't the one Skaii wanted. His words though, they had a double meaning, Skaii wondered what was making this man spit at her in disgust.

"What do you mean?" She inquired curiously.

"Your brother Matthew, told me and the police that you and your boyfriend had a fight the night you fell. He said he heard you guys arguing like you always did but he didn't think anything of it, until you screamed. He ran to help you but Emma found you before he got there." The man explained as if these words were gold and Skaii could see that they rung true in his eyes.

"No that is a lie, nothing like that happened, I don't even have a boyfriend!" Skaii screamed at him.

"Your parents said that you stay out late with him, do drugs and drink." He continued, "They are paying for the expenses but they won't be coming here. I don't blame them. It seems like I'm not the only person who finds you repulsive." He growled out the last word; it should have insulted her but Skaii was more focused on the ridiculous story Matthew and his father fed this man.

"I see you're not denying it."

Skaii scoffed and gave him the finger. "Repulsive," she chuckled out. "F*k you." She muttered and laid back on the bed. No other words followed hers and she was glad, it gave her some time with her thoughts. She had never had a boyfriend in her 17 years of existing. She could not believe this damn spiel about her, she knew it did not stop at just him. And just like him, the entire Trinity Vale were stupid enough to believe them. But she should know by now that there is no way for her to speak her truth; anyone that did ended up completely ruined. Like her father.

Hot tears rolled down her cheeks. There was some comfort in knowing that Matthew didn't get a chance to do what he had planned. He would've scarred her for life. But sooner or later he will get another chance as long as she was living under the same roof with him. She just had to make sure he wasn't the one who got to take her virtue away from her.