Four or Dead by G O A

Asher POV

The man I am  was Emma’s father stocked toward Emma’s bed to pull Leo away from her, but Jayden stepped in front of him blocking his way.

“Move.” The man said through gritted teeth, but Jayden stood his ground with his arms crossed against his chest.

“We aren’t letting you near her,” Jayden said pushing the man away. The guy must have been drunk because he stumbled back awkwardly almost falling to the ground. He stammered to his feet and launched himself straight at Jayden, and my friend easily sidestepped and let the old man fall face first.

“Hey! What’s going on in here?” A bulky man asked rushing into the room.

“Sir you need to calm down!”

The big guy grabbed Emma’s father and pulled him back while the man thrashed pointlessly in his hold.

“This is Emma’s father, and he isn’t supposed to see her until the police have spoken to him,” I said firmly while standing in front of Emma’s bed to block the old man’s view of her. The bulky guys who I can now see was a security guard dragged Emma’s father out an d the room fell silent again.

“Thank you.” A soft voice said from behind me, and I turn quickly to see Emma’s eyes looking in my direction.

I know she couldn’t see me, but she must have heard where I was because I could swear she was looking directly at me.

“As I said, no one will hurt you again,” Leo reassured her as he stroked her hair softly.

“But Emma, we need you to tell us, is your dad the one that has been hurting you?” Leo asked her.

She visibly recoiled into herself, but Leo was right, we needed to be sure she was far a way from the people who hurt her.

“Please Emma,” Leo asked softly.

She nodded and sat up in the bed with her head low.

“Yes, he was the one who cut me and beat me but…” She swallowed hard and a single tear fell.

“It’s okay, take your time,” Logan said resting his hand gently on Emma’s hand.

His voice was softer than I had ever heard it, something that seemed to be contagious because we had all noticeably softened around Emma.

“The other stuff…wasn’t my dad…he never touched me in that way. He let his friends touch me though then over summer when I turned eighteen, one of them raped me.” She said letting out a small cry.

Leo immediately wrapped his arms around her and held her as close as possible. I had an intense urge to do the same thing but I resisted. Jayden cursed and stormed out of the room. Logan stood frozen in disbelief. Needless to say, we had no idea how to act after hearing that the girl we had tormented for three abuse at home and worse had been raped. We were monsters who had only added to the nightmares that plagued her sleep every night. We were part of the darkest places in her mind, and she had every right to hate us for what we had done.

A moment later another doctor entered the room and glanced at each of us with curiosity before turning her attention to Emma.

“Hello, Emma! My name is Doctor Long, and I am the therapist your doctor requested to speak with you. Can I sit with you for a little while?” The doctor asked.

“Yes,” Emma replied just above a whisper.

The doctor smiled at her and stepped closer pulling a chair as close as she could and rested a hand on Emma.

“Now I know you can’t see me right now but I am right here to your left, okay? Now boys I have to ask you to leave so I can speak to Emma alone.” She said turning to give us all a stern look.

“No way! We are not leaving her. Not alone.” I said shaking my head.

The others crossed their arms standing their ground, but the doctor simply shook her head.

“Look boys, Emma is going to have to talk about some very painful things that she may feel a little embarrassed by. Do you want her to feel unable to speak freely because you all will be here listening? Besides therapy is private between a patient and their doctor, so shoo!” The doctor gently pushed us toward Emma’s door and we reluctantly allowed her.

She was right, and Emma needed her help.

“Emma we will be right in the waiting room, okay?” Leo called out to her.

“It’s okay Leo, just go home. All of you.” Emma said as the doctor closes the door in our face.

We stood there for a moment debating whether to listen to her and leave or stay in case she changed her mind.

“I guess she doesn’t want us here anymore. Not that I can blame her.” Logan said with a sigh.

“I don’t want to leave her when her father is somewhere in the hospital,” Leo argued.

“Me neither but she said she doesn’t want us here, what more can we do? If she says as much to the nurse we won’t have another chance to come to see her.” I said as frustration built deep in my chest.

My urge to protect was off the charts and it didn’t sit right with me leaving Emma without at least one of us close by.

“Miss? We need to go for today but can you call me when Emma is ready to have visitors again?” Leo asked stepping up to one of the nurses near us.

“Of course! Write down your name and number and I will call you if she asks for you.” She said handing Leo a pad of sticky notes.

“Thank you.” He replied quickly writing his information down and handed it to her. She gave us all a sympathetic smile.

“Just to let you know, she asks for you when she is sleeping. She has nightmares and the one person she asks for…is you.” She rests a hand on Leo’s arm before walking away, leaving my friend in shock.

I watched the information process and his expression changed from disappointment at being asked to leave to one of anguish. My own emotions were on a roller coaster because we made him cut her out of his life, and now she was the one asking him to leave. Guilt had been the main emotion I had been feeling since we watched her pull a gun to her head. Right then and there though I made a pack to myself that I would make it up to them, to my friend and the girl who held his heart. Now I knew why he was never very interested in other girls no matter how much they threw themselves at him. He wouldn’t push them away but he also didn’t show any wish to take anything further with them. He had one girl in his heart all this time and he was losing her all over again, and I couldn’t let that happen.

“Come on bro, let’s go home and wait for her call. Something tells me it won’t be too long.” I said throwing an arm around his shoulder and pulling him toward the exit.

Once we were in the car I watched him through the rear view mirror as he watched the scenery out the side window.

“I want to do something to make sure she knows we don’t wish to hurt her. How do we prove it to her?” Logan asked his voice sounded strained and desperate. I turned to him for a second and saw the same emotions that had plagued all of us recently. We were overwhelmed with unusual emotions from guilt to regret. He was the type to act like nothing in the world bothered him, but we knew that wasn’t true. We had been with him through the worst moments of his life, and he always played off how much he felt. This was the first time in years that he was letting his true emotions show, and that meant something. He felt regret just like the rest of us and hated the thought that he could have had Emma’s blood on his hands for what we had done.

“Emma isn’t like other girls. She doesn’t want anything from anyone. All she would talk about was silly things like reading in the park. Taking walks along the river, things that you can’t buy. She never told me how bad things were at home, but if it’s what I imagine, she was never allowed to do those things.” Leo said keeping his eyes fixed on the world outside the window.

“So, what do we do?” Logan asked with a sigh of defeat.

“We be there for her. We come back tomorrow even if she throws us out, we keep coming back. We be there so she isn’t alone.”

We all fall silent but nod in silent agreement. Emma was going to be the center of our world now and we were okay with that.