Okie-dokie, here's some Nancy and Ted for you guys:
July 21, 1986- 5:56 pm- County Hospital
Josh had sat by Sara's side for hours. He didn't even leave to get a drink or some food. He promised Sara he was going to stay with her so he would stay. For the past few hours, Sara had been lying sound asleep in bed. Josh was happy she was no longer having any nightmares...at least for now. The doctors told Josh that they had notified her foster parents and that they were on their way. Josh couldn't imagine how they must've felt when they got that phone call. It's not everyday someone from the hospital named Julia calls you up on your cell phone and tells you that your foster daughter was raped.
And in her own home.
By her own foster brother.
So, Josh waited in Sara's room for Ted and Nancy to arrive. He sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair with his hands folded over one another, every now and then changing his sitting position because his legs would get numb. All Josh wanted to do right now was kill Matthew. He could barely keep the anger inside of him. He had even snapped at a few nurses and doctors because he was so angry at him.
But, Josh was not about to leave Sara, so, he sat. And he waited.
Ted and Nancy burst through the doors of the hospital. They didn't bother to shield themselves from the rain outside, so they were sopping wet. They ran in and pushed people out of their way as they ran to the front desk. One woman was shoved to the ground and she started yelling at them in spanish, but they could not hear her.
All they were focused on was Sara. When they got the call from the hospital, nothing else mattered. All they wanted to- all they needed to do was see her.
Nancy picked up her cell phone as she was in the kitchen of her parent's house helping her mother fix dinner. "Hello?"
"Mrs. Wilcoff?"
"Yes?"
"This is Dr. Chan from Tamales Bay County Hospital."
Nancy tilted her head a bit in confusion. "What can I do for you?"
"Mrs. Wilcoff, is Sara Sidle your daughter?"
"Well...yes, she's my foster daughter, but what's this about? Is she okay?"
"Mrs. Wilcoff...she was brought in earlier today around noon."
"What? Why? Is she okay? Please tell me she's okay."
"Mrs. Wilcoff...I...I don't know how to tell you this, but...your daughter...has been...she's been raped, Mrs. Wilcoff."
Nancy's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. She forgot to breathe and she dropped the spoon she was using to stir a batter for a cake.
"No...this...this can't have happened..."
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Wilcoff."
Nancy dropped the phone. "TED!"
Ted came running in the room. "What's wrong, Nance?"
"We have to go! NOW!"
Nancy ran into the front desk, panting with Ted by her side. She looked as if she hadn't slept in days, though it was all from stress. She stared the tiny woman sitting at the front reception desk in the eye.
"Sara...Sidle..." she said panting. "She was...taken in...earlier today...around noon..."
The woman looked up from her tiny glasses and nodded. "I'll check the files." She flipped through the files casually and slowly. Nancy wanted to slug the woman in the face for taking so long, but she refrained from doing so. Instead, she spoke up.
"Listen sweetheart- we need to see our daughter. Now why don't you look a little harder?" Nancy said.
The woman looked up. "She's in room # 302..."
Ted and Nancy were already gone. They had blown the doors open and ran through the halls of the hospital looking for the room. They ran down each hall looking for the correct numbers.
"Damn, where is it?" Ted muttered.
"Upstairs, come on!" Nancy said grabbing his arm and shoving him into the elevator as the doors closed. She pressed the buttons and they went to the second floor. When the doors opened, they ran out, knocking over some elderly people who were waiting for the doors to open to use the elevator. They didn't apologize because they were already half-way down the halls.
"302! Over here!" Ted called from across the hall and Nancy ran over to the room he was standing outside of. They slowly opened the door. When the door was fully open, they saw a sleeping Sara lying in the blinding whiteness of the hospital bed tucked in tightly. Josh was sitting by her side holding her left hand, his head lowered but raised when the door was opened.
Nancy and Ted walked slowly over to her bed. The color drained from both their faces when they took the scene in in front of them. There in front of them lay the limp figure of their foster daughter. She looked a bit pale, though some color was returning to her cheeks. Ted and Nancy both assumed it was from what had happened. All they could see was her face. Her arms and legs were covered by the blankets and sheets. They didn't know if they really wanted to see the rest of her. They weren't sure if they were ready to see the angry bruises forming on her body.
Sara's eyes fluttered open when Nancy bumped into a small tray table. She looked around, frightened, trying to find the source of the noise, hoping deep inside it wasn't who she feared it was.
"Sara, it's okay, it's Ted and Nancy," Josh said rubbing her hand. She turned to him momentarily and looked around the room until she made out their figures.
"Ted...Nancy?" she whispered.
"We're here, Sara," Nancy said sitting down next to her in another chair by her bed. "We're here, honey, everything's okay," she said grabbing her other hand. "How are you doing, honey?"
Sara looked at Nancy with wide, still frightened eyes. It was heartbreaking. Here she was in the most vulnerable state they had ever seen her in, shaking like a little chihuaha. Her eyes were as wide as could be, fear and confusion plastered all over them.
Slowly, she nodded. "I think so," she whispered.
Nancy sniffed a little as tears formed in her eyes. She couldn't stand to see her so scared. Nancy looked down at the hand she was holding. She slowly slid the blanket and sheets off of her arms so she could see more of her. She gasped when she saw the bruises forming on Sara's wrists and upper arms. She could see their angry red and purple colors, the dark black that was spreading around each area of her arm. She choked back the sobs as best she could but she finally broke down and buried herself in Ted's chest.
"Ted...how could this have happened? Why?" Nancy cried, clinging onto the loose ends of his shirt.
Ted had an arm wrapped around his wife, rubbing her back softly as he tried to calm her down. "I don't know, Nancy...I don't know..."
Nancy turned to look at Sara, eyes red and puffy from crying. "Who, Sara? Who did this to you?"
Sara felt her stomach drop. She couldn't tell them that her own foster brother- the person they had welcomed into their own home had done this to her. That they had left her alone with the very person that raped her.
"Josh..." Sara gasped, turning to look at him.
"Sara? What is it? I'm here," Josh said grabbing ahold of her hand.
"Josh...I...I'm going to be sick..." Sara said, grabbing his arm.
Josh grabbed a plastic waste bin to the side of the room and held it close to the side of her bed just in time. He rubbed her back slowly and gently as she continued to throw up, his other hand holding her hair out of her face. Tears ran down her face when she was and when she finally finished. She collapsed back onto the bed, her body racking with sobs. She buried her face in her arms.
Josh rubbed her back again. "It's okay, Sara."
"Josh..." she said in between sobs. "Tell...tell them, please..."
"But Sara..."
"Please, Josh...I can't do it..." she said.
Josh sighed. "Alright, Sara. I'll do it for you."
"Thank you," she whispered.
Josh nodded and stood up. "Mr. and Mrs. Wilcoff..." Josh started. "It was...it was Matthew."
Sara began to retch again as the name filled her ears. Josh ran back over to her and held the trash bin up and pulled her hair away from her face.
"No..." Nancy said, eyes widening in shock. "No, that...can't...be...right..." She collapsed into the chair. "That's...impossible..."
Ted had kneeled down beside her. "Nance? You okay?"
Nancy looked at Ted in fright before her eyes closed and she fainted in his arms. Sara looked up from getting sick to see her limp form fall into Ted's arms.
"She's okay, Sara," Ted reassured her. He moved Nancy back onto the chair gently.
Sara looked up at Josh. "Why is this happening, Josh?" she whispered, crawling into a tiny ball holding her knees.
"I don't know, Sara," Josh said. "But like I said- I'm going to get him. That I promise you. He's not going to get away with it again, I'm going to make sure he never hurts you or another person ever again."
Sara nodded slowly. "Thank you," she whispered softly as she drifted back off to sleep yet again.
but still.. it could have been avoided! .. sorta