First, Penelope was at work. Then, she was in an ambulance. She heard the beeping of a monitor. Then nothing. She awoke again surrounded by doctors and nurses. Then she was being wheeled down a hall. Then she was laying underneath a big white ring.
At some point, she awoke in a room. Derek was sitting across the room playing a game on his phone, and a nurse was standing at a computer. "Why am I at the hospital?" She asked.
"Oh! You're awake again. It looks like you took quite a tumble at some point. Let me get your parents and the doctor."
The nurse disappeared and Derek came over to her. "How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Like a train wreck." She admitted. "How long?" She asked.
"Just a few hours. You've given us all quite a scare! They won't tell me anything because I'm not family, but they did let me stay when you begged them to earlier."
"Thank you." Was all she could muster.
The doctor came in, followed by Penelope's father and Mary. "Hi Penelope. I'm Dr. Jordan. Do you recognize me?" When she shook her head, the doctor continued. "It looks like you took quite a fall. Can you tell me what happened?"
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Well, your CT scan shows that you're suffering from a traumatic brain injury, which we also refer to as a TBI. It means that you've got some bleeding on your brain caused by a big fall. Do you remember falling this morning?"
Penelope shook her head. "No. I didn't fall this morning." She replied.
The doctor sighed and turned to Penelope's dad and Mary. "And neither of you know what happened, either. You didn't see her fall."
"No." Her father said. "I never saw anything." He looked like he was about to fall apart. Hidden underneath it all was his nervousness. Not just because of Penelope, but because deep down, he knew...
"She's just faking it!" Mary bellowed. "Those images are someone else's! There's nothing wrong with her. She just wants attention!"
The doctor looked at Mary with astonishment. "Mrs. Marks, there is no faking a TBI. Those CT images were connected to her profile as they were taken. There's no mistaking them for someone else's."
"Well then the machine must be broken then because there is nothing wrong with h-"
"She did it!" Penelope tried to yell, pointing to Mary. Although she wasn't very loud, everyone could hear her as if she was. "The Witch did it!"
Jaws dropped as Penelope's finger remained pointed at Mary. "She woke me up by pulling me out of my bed by my hair. She hit me multiple times. And then she threw me down to the floor. I hit my head on my bed when I landed.
" And it was all because of a stupid towel I put in the hamper after taking a shower. One stupid fucking towel, after I stayed up until after 1 AM cleaning her house- including everyone's laundry- while the rest of the family got to go out to dinner and have fun. Without me. One piece of paper. Filled out on both sides. For no reason other than The Witch hates me.
"And after doing all of that, I was beaten. For taking a shower using a towel. The one piece of laundry that was put in the hamper after everything else that was cleaned." Angry tears were now streaming down Penelope's face. This was the most she had ever said to anyone about the way Mary treated her. "Because heaven forbid I take a shower without permission and leave one piece of laundry in the house unwashed."
Derek's face was red with rage. "You did that to your own daughter?" He growled.
"That thing is not my daughter! And no! She is a lying little brat! Did you see how she just cussed at me!? Why are you evenin here. Get out, now!" Mary bellowed some more. Derek didn't budge.
Dr. Jordan gestured to Mary. "I'm sorry Mrs. Marks, but I am going to have to ask you to leave the room. Not Mr. Fillmore."
"I will not! She's not going to lay there acting all helpless while she slanders me!"
"I'm afraid I must insist. Since you are not her biological mother, and there is an accusation of abuse, I am required to follow the law in order to ensure her safety. Please don't make me call security."
Mary pushed past the doctor and started towards Penelope. "This is all your fault! You-"
Derek made to cut her off but instead she was stopped in her tracks by Penelope's father, who had firmly grasped her by the arm. His face, too was red with rage. "Get out." He said calmly yet forcefully.
"Babe, you know I didn't- I wouldn't! Shes-"
"I said GET OUT!" he bellowed back at her. "Now! Before I do something I might come to regret later on."
For the first time in her life, Penelope watched her dad stick up for her. He had always made excuses for Mary's behavior, never taking anyone's side. Never standing up for her. But today, he did.
Without farther argument, Mary left the room. Derek sat back down in his chair, sniffling his anger for the time being.
Dr. Jordan turned to direct his attention to Penelope's father. "Mr. Marks, just so you know, I am going to have to report this to child protection services. Your daughter's condition is pretty serious right now. We're going to have to run more tests to find out how severe the bleed is. She may have brain damage that could cause her lifelong effects."
"I understand. Please, just do what you can to help my baby girl. I'll do anything!"
Dr. Jordan nodded and approached Penelope. "Now, sweetie, can you tell me what happened between the incident last night and today?"
Penelope told the doctor everything she remembered from the night before and that morning. She told him how she had awakened dizzy, and how hard it had been to function.
As she spoke, Dr. Jordan examined her, checking her brain functions so he could gage what to do next. By the time he was finished, Penelope was tired again.
"Can I go back to sleep, now?" She asked.
"No, sweetie. Can you try and stay awake for me?"
"Mmm-"
The room faded around Penelope. The last thing she heard was "She's siezing!... CODE BLUE!"
~~~~~~
Awake again. This time, in a different room. Lots of machines were making noise around her. Again, in a corner, there was Derek. It was getting dark and he had fallen asleep. A large tube came out of her mouth and went down across her body. Her chest was moving, but she wasn't telling it to. A machine was.
What happened?
She looked around for something to throw at Derek to get him up but there was nothing. There was a square button on the bed with a nurse's hat on it. A call button, perhaps?
Penelope pressed it, and a short time later, a nurse came in. This one was different than the one she'd seen before. "You're awake! Thats great! You've had quite a day today! Given all us hospital staff a run for our money."
Penelope put her hand on the tube that was breathing for her. "Oh, no honey don't try to pull that out. We need you to stay on it for now, ok? The doctor wants to keep an eye on you overnight and if we can make it without anymore seizures we can look at taking it out, ok?"
Penelope nodded and started pointing at everything else around the room, wanting to know what it all was. What had happened to her.
"Are you trying to ask what it all is, sweetheart? Do you want to know what's going on?"
Penelope nodded. "Well you got to the hospital earlier this morning after you fell at work and started having seizures. The doctor's ran some tests, and found that you have a really bad brain injury, ok? You were awake for a little bit earlier and were able to talk to the ER doctor. Do you remember that?"
Penelope nodded.
"Well while the doctor was examining you, you began to have another siezure. They had a hard time getting it under control, so you were sedated and put on a breathing tube. You came to us just a couple of hours ago. Your friend over here has refused to leave your side. There's an hour left before visiting time is up. Would you like me to wake him up? Or do you want to rest?"
Penelope looked over at Derek. He was sleeping so peacefully. She didn't want the nurse to wake him after he had spent his entire day worrying about her. The nurse misread her queue and gently nudged him. Derek's head sobbed as he began to stir.
"Heya hun. Your friend is awake. She's asking for you." She said quietly to him.
He immediately sat up straight and looked at Penelope, who waved her hand weakly at him. She smiled at him through her eyes, and he lept up and over to her bedside, taking her hand.
"Hey!" He smiled at her. "I'm sorry glad you're awake!"
"There's an hour left of visiting time. I've gotta take her vitals real quick and then I'll leave you be."
The nurse then turned to check at all of the IVs that Penelope was hooked up to before gathering her vitals. Penelope kept her attention on Derek, though.
"I am so sorry that all of this has happened to you. Child protective services came with the police earlier. The hospital had footage of the incident earlier. They replayed it and she was arrested. Your dad was questioned too. I don't know what happened with that, though. He had to leave to go take care of your stepbrother, so I offered to stay with you."
Penelope squeezed his hand in thanks. She was grateful that he was there."You were so brave earlier. I can't imagine how long you were holding all that in. When you get better, I want to know why. And I want to know everything." He said, getting angry again.
Penelope's heartrate started to go up as fear lit her eyes.
"Oh, no! Please don't be scared! I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me anything until you're ready, ok? I want you to know that you are safe with me. I'm not going to let anything happen to you in my presence." Derek had allowed his facial features to soften, and Penelope calmed down.
"You are so quiet, you know that? Even earlier today, when you told everyone what happened. You are voice was almost as quiet as a mouse. But you still made sure that everyone heard you. You may be tiny, but you are mighty. Little Mouse.