Chapter 17

Chapter 171

“Where is she?!” I hear Mom’s voice come from behind me in the waiting room. Turning around I can see the frightened faces of Mr. and Mrs. Costa.
“She’s in that room in front of us.” I nodded.
“Can we go in?” Dad asked.
“I don’t know…” I looked down at my feet.
Dad walked up to the desk beside the room, “That’s my daughter in there. I need to see her.”
“Oh, sure, one moment please.” The doctor left the counter to unlock the doors of the room.
“Come on,” Dad waved Mom and I over as the man opened the doors.
The first thing we saw as we walked into the room was Arianna in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV with bandages up her arms. I broke out into tears and ran over to her.
“Arianna…” I breathed, hugging her the best I could.
“Hey,” She replied, opening her eyes. I got off as Mom and Dad walked over.
“Baby… why?” Mom cried as she went to hug Arianna, being aware of the different tubes that were bringing Arianna back to good health.
Dad just stood there, silent. I guess he was confused and maybe hurt in some way. I think we were all hurt.
“Uh, could I talk to the parents for a minute?” A doctor came from a small office we hadn’t noticed in the room.
“Sure.” Dad said and then walked over after pulling Mom off Arianna.
“Go listen!” Arianna whispered, shooing me towards the door.
“Okay.” I said, tip-toeing over and then sliding down the wall next to the door.
“She’s not okay…” the doctor started. Well no duh, smarty-pants.
“Well, no shit.” Dad growled.
“What he means is our daughter kind of ended up in the ER and we still don’t know why! What happened? What’s going on? What’s wrong with my baby…?” Mom sounded like she was crying.
“What’re they saying?” Arianna whispered.
“Shhh!”
“Fine.” Arianna breathed.
“She’s self destructive and there are visible signs of physical abuse, would either of you know about any of that?”
“Self destructive? What do you mean self destructive?” Mom fretted.
“Abuse? Are you implying that I hit my child?” Dad snarled.
“Self destructive, I mean that her arms are pretty cut up… and I am not accusing you, sir, it could be a boyfriend, perhaps.”
An angry noise escaped dad’s lips, “I’ll kill that boy.”
“You don’t think it’s him, do you? Such a nice—”
“Nice boy my ass.”
“Please, calm down, I have more news…”
I heard something hit the wall; either dad sat down or punched the wall, or both.
“Well, what else is there?” Mom asked.
“She lost the baby…”
“The what?” Dad didn’t sound angry, he sounded confused as hell.
“The what!” Mom didn’t sound too happy.
“Baby? Little baby girl…” The doctor sounded confused too, “Oh, you didn’t…”
“Know? No we sure didn’t!” Mom screamed.
“Uh oh.” Arianna’s eyes got wide.
“Just be chill.” I told her.
A few seconds passed and then, “THAT BOY IS FUCKING DEAD! I SWEAR!” Uh oh…
“Sir, please, calm down.”
“THAT’S MY DAUGHTER! THAT’S MY BABY! YOU DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!”
That’s when mom and dad sped out the door to Arianna.
“I can’t believe you did that.” Dad snarled.
“I didn’t…” Arianna whispered, tears rolling down her face.
“You didn’t? So the baby just magically appeared there?” Mom folded her arms.
“It was my fault… I’m sorry.” Arianna turned her head away from her parents.
I gasped, I knew that was a lie, but I stayed where I was.
“Did you know about this?” Dad turned to me.
I turned and looked over both of my shoulders—which was pointless because there was only wall—and then shook my head yes.
“No, she didn’t! No one knew… not even Donnie. He didn’t wanna do it. I asked him to. It’s not his fault…”
What a freaking liar! God. I sat against the wall with my legs curled up to my chest, my arms wrapped around my legs and my face buried in my knees. I heard footsteps and lifted my head. The doctor had come out of his office.
“Excuse me, but there are more important things to be discussed right now.”
“Like what!” Dad yelled.
“Like the fact that your daughter is extremely depressed and needs help.” The doctor looked Dad straight in the eyes. What a brave man.
Dad turned away and left the room in long, quick strides as Mom followed after him with a short yet quick step.
* * * *
“Really, Arianna?” Mom’s Italian accent was more prominent when she was angry… or worried or shocked or scared. And I think she was all of them. Maybe not angry so much as she was disappointed. “How could you do this to us… don’t you understand how much we’re hurt?”
“How much you’re hurt. What about me? What about how I feel? You don’t care at all!” Arianna yelled, tears streamed down her face.
“Of course we care! But how can we care when you don’t tell us anything?”
“How can I tell you anything when you’re never home!?” Arianna’s face screamed hurt.
Mom’s face went blank. Well not exactly. It looked like she was in deep thought. Maybe about when the last time she was actually home was.
I couldn’t remember, personally.