Page 30 of Watch Her Bleed
“What? No,” he says. “They shouldn’t be told anything. The person on your file is your primary?”
“Yeah. Dr. Steven Harris. He’s been my doctor my entire life,” I say.
“Did you sign anything giving him permission to release information to your family?” he asks.
“Uhm… No… He’s just always told them when I came in. I went to a clinic to get the birth control so they didn’t know I got it,” I say.
“Aurora, that's illegal,” he says. “That’s a violation of HIPAA.”
“Oh. I didn’t know,” I say.
“That’s not your fault though,” he says. “That’s entirely on that doctor.”
“I assume you are reporting that?” I ask.
“Absolutely,” he says. “I’ll have one of my staff call you in the morning so we can get your stuff switched over. Okay?”
“Okay,” I say.
When Dr. Williams leaves I get off the bed. “I don’t know what to do,” I say.
“About?” Matt asks.
“Well, apparently I can’t go home,” I say. “I don’t want Kaia staying with me there considering he threatened to rape her too.”
“Does he know where you live,” Milo asks Kaia.
“Yeah. He does,” she frowns.
“Neither of you need to be staying at either place,” Matt says.
“Of course not. Who needs a place to sleep?” I say sarcastically.
“Hey,” he says, stepping closer to me and gently squeezing my shoulder. “I have room. You two can just come and stay with me.”
“Ah. Pity. Just what I needed,” I say as I pull away and grab my bag. I go to walk toward the door and Kaia steps in front of me to block my way out. “Move.”
“No, Rora. I won’t,” she says. “Get mad at me all you want. Yell, scream, or do whatever you need to get it out, but you are not going back to that goddamn apartment. I sat here for fucking years oblivious to the fact that he was hurting you. You were alone with that trauma for years. I will not sit here and let you go back there just for him to come in and do it all over again.”
“You don’t even know if he will go to the apartment,” I say.
“Then tell me he’s never done it before,” she says but I don’t answer. I can’t because he has come into the apartment. I avoided it for so long because I worked a lot and stayed away. If I saw his car, I didn’t go up until he left. “Go on. Tell me he’s never come into that apartment and hurt you.”
“He has,” I sigh.
“How often?” she asks.
“A lot,” I admit. “I learned to look for his car before going up. I kept the chain on in case he came in the middle of the night.”
“Exactly. You’re not going back there unless he’s dead or in jail. I am not letting him hurt you again,” she says. “So get mad at me, but don’t take it out on Matt. He’s not the one who is deserving of your anger.”
“I’m not taking it out on anyone,” I sigh.
“Yes you are, Rora,” she says. “You are blowing him off because you are scared.”
“Because every man in my life has hurt me,” I say, raising my voice. “How the fuck am I supposed to trust people? How am I supposed to let people help me when every time a man says or acts like they’re going to help me I get raped or beaten for some stupid ass reason?”
“Aurora, do you trust me?” Kaia asks.
