“Hello, can you hear me?”
Rose struggled to open her eyes, and her vision wavered. Her head ached like a hammer had been taken to it, and everywhere else hurt so bad. Finally, her vision cleared, and she saw a dark-skinned middle-aged woman with warm eyes in a white uniform hovering over her. Rose tried to sit up, but her body refused to cooperate, and she collapsed back on the white sheets. Where was she?
“It’s okay,” the nurse said. “You’re in the hospital a county over from your school. You’re safe now.”
Safe? Then the memory of the assault came roaring back at her, and Rose let out a whimper.
“Shh. You’re going to be alright,” the nurse said as she sat on the hospital bed beside Rose and wiped away the tears that had trickled down Rose’s cheeks.
Rose tried to turn away—she didn’t
