Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,156

she said and Elise could hear the hesitancy in her voice. There was clearly something else.

“Please Celeste,” she said, “Just tell me everything.”

“Okay...” her friend said almost reluctantly, “If you’re sure you want to hear this?”

Elise nodded and then watched as Celeste drank some more before finally placing the cup back on the table and reaching out to hold Elise’s hand.

“Dr Edwards needed to examine you and so he asked if I would help him, me being the only female present I guess. He started by looking at your head injuries and he could tell from checking your eyes that you were concussed although he said he didn’t think it was anything more serious than that. The fact that you had passed out was likely a combination of all of the injuries plus the stress that you had been under and so he was happy for us to just monitor you for 48 hours. Your wrist was in a pretty bad way and had swollen up, so he applied a cold compress bandage, which we had to keep changing so that it gave your wrist the best chance of healing. He knew that it wasn’t broken but he was almost certain there would be some nerve damage which is why you still have a little bit of numbness there.” She paused, absently rubbing Elise’s wrist.

“That was all fine and I was happy helping out and then Dr Edwards asked me to help undress you. He needed to check you for any other injuries and so we began by cutting off your sweater, which is when he found the damage to your ribs. After that we slowly removed your jeans and Christ Elise, I will never forget what I saw. Your legs were bleeding, there were scratches all over them and when we got to your feet, we found the ripped remains of your stockings. The thought of what you must have gone through made me feel ill and then the doctor said that he needed to examine you internally so he asked me to help move your legs a little. As soon as he said that, I looked up and I realised that you didn’t have any underwear on and there was blood. Elise....” Celeste stopped and she was now breathing heavily, as if reliving a nightmare. “The blood. It wasn’t coming from the scratches on your legs, Elise. I couldn’t cope anymore and I dashed from the room and was violently sick.”

“As soon as Vaughn saw me leave the room in that state he charged in and the next thing I knew, the flat was filled with the most heart-wrenching and anguished sobs I have ever heard as he realised exactly what Dale had done to you. The doctor banned anyone else from coming in after that and from that moment until you woke up, Vaughn never once voluntarily left your side.”

Celeste finished speaking, her voice now wobbling with emotion, and rubbed at Elise’s hand again. She cleared her throat.

“That’s pretty much it really. It was just a case of waiting after that and so Cole and I took it in turns to sit with Vaughn and talk to you. You woke a few times but you were really disorientated and pretty much went straight back to sleep. The doctor had told us it could take a few hours so we just made sure there was someone with you all the time.”

“It was scary, Elise – proper, proper scary, I can’t tell you how relieved we all were when you finally woke up.”

Tears started to form in Elise’s eyes and she dashed them away with her hand, overwhelmed at what her friends had done for her over the last few days. She couldn’t believe that they had all put their lives on hold - over Christmas no less - to look after her and keep her safe and she knew that she would never forget this for as long as she lived.

“Thank you, Celeste. You don’t know how much it means to me to know that you are here for me and I’m so sorry that I turned up on your doorstep like that and that you had to see...what you saw. I just didn’t know where to go that Dale couldn’t find me and yours was the only place I could come up with.”

“I’m glad you came to me Elise – really I am. We are friends and friends are there when life sucks. I’m glad that you