“Somebody. Help. Somebody help,” I shout, hoping to get someone’s attention. Fifteen minutes it took to get here. For fifteen minutes my girl was in pain and there was nothing I could do to help her.
One of the nurses comes up and brings a wheelchair over. “What happened?”
“She's been raped.” The nurse looks at me, but says nothing, and takes Olivia to one of the extra rooms and shuts the curtain. I hear her telling one of the nurses her dad's information.
I promised him I'd keep her safe, and I didn’t. I start pacing the waiting area. It feels like I've been waiting for hours for one of the nurses to come out and tell me something. All I need to know is if she's okay, even let me go in to see her. But I know they won’t because she's a rape victim and she can't be speaking to anybody until the police speak to her.
Hello, let me talk to them. I can tell them who did it, I can point them out. I can tell them where they fucking live.
I stop pacing the moment I see Olivia's dad. What the hell is he doing here already?
“Sir—”
“Her mom had to come for a quick treatment. I was already in the building.”
“I'm so sorry I didn’t protect her. I'm so sorry I let someone hurt her.” I stop talking when he places his hand on my shoulder.
“Hayden, I know with you, my daughter is the safest. You can't go to the girls' restroom with her.” His words still don’t make me feel any better.
“I'm sorry, Mr. Banks.”
“Hayden, go home, get yourself cleaned up?—”
“No, I want to stay here.” Mr. Banks doesn't say anything, tilts his head and stays quiet for too long. “Sir, is everything okay?”
“Hayden, you've been a good friend to my daughter?—”
“Friend? I'm more than her friend. Now I'm a boyfriend, sir.” He shakes his head, as if this information is something he doesn’t want to hear. Does he not like me? I thought over theyears I had won him over. Why does something feel off to me? Something doesn't feel right. “Sir?”
“Go home. Hayden, get yourself cleaned up, and Olivia will call you.”
“But—”
“Hayden, go home. Let the doctors do what they need to, and she'll call you.”
Before I can say anything, or even look into the room, he walks into the room that Olivia's in, and I stand there, baffled, confused, what's just happened?
I take a deep breath, shaking my head. I want to stay, but why the hell do I feel like I'm not welcome here?
Knowing I’m not going to win this, I leave but each step is so heavy, and my heart aches with each one.
Getting into the car. I go home. What else am I meant to do?
Thirty minutes it took me to get home, I could have got home quicker, but I wasn’t focused on the road, I was thinking about Olivia, and Mr. Banks words. There was something wrong with him, maybe Mrs. B isn’t well and what’s happened to Olivia on top of all that has him acting the way he was.
The moment I walk in, my mum and dad and my brothers are all there, and they all turn to me, because this is too early to be coming back from prom.
“Hayden, what happened?” My mom looks at me, then at my hands. My dad grabs my face and turns it to him so he can have a look.
“Your nose isn't broken. What happened?” His tone is calm, which I honestly did think it would be, but maybe he sees me broken as his tone is soft.
“Hayden. You're scaring me. You've got blood on you. What happened?” My mom cups my face. I haven't spoken for a while, and one look into her eyes, I break down. I cry, holding in the anger has become too much.
“I didn't protect her mom. I didn't protect her.”
“Olivia. What's happened to Olivia?”
“We were dancing, and she said she needed to go to the toilet, she went, she was in there for too long, and I was worried, so I went over. The bathroom door was locked, and I started kicking it, and—” the words got stuck in my throat, I should have looked after her.
