I opened my eyes carefully, but my heavy eyelids weighed them down.

I moved my arm, finding that it had been hooked up to an IV.

What?

A hospital?

My instincts flared, and my eyes flashed open, despite the pain.

I sat straight up, ignoring the throbbing pain in my chest, arms, neck and head.

I was ready to escape through the window on the right wall.  If they had me, they'd ask for my information.  And I'm not the most clean person in the world.  

I remembered almost nothing after Bing had captured me.  The only thing I remembered was pain.

Excruciating pain.

I remember hearing my own screams.

But right when I was about to yank the IV off, a nurse walked in.

"Oh, hello, Miss. Charlotte.  You're awake!" she said cheerfully.

I felt like I had been caught stealing a cookie from my mother.

"We're going to take some tests, draw some blood! You okay with that?" she said, obviously hinting it was a rhetorical question.

I shook my head.  "No," I croaked.

She looked up at me in confusion.

"No tests," I said, clearing my throat.

"Ok, just let me-" she said, unwrapping a needle.

I let out a cry, despite my damaged vocal cords.  I scrambled off the bed and onto the ground.  I tried to stand up, but my leg was wrapped in plaster.  The hospital gown started to slip down my shoulder but I didn't care.  The IV scratched my skin.

A man in a uniform smashed open the door, looking around in confusion before spotting me on the ground.

"What happened?" he asked.

The nurse started to stammer.  "I-I don't know!  I was going to draw some blood but she go-"

She was interrupted by a slam of the door.

"George-" a familiar voice called. 

My eyes froze, finding a distorted vision of Peter.

"Why is she on the floor?" Peter asked lowly.

"Peter, let us figure this out, can you step out for a minute?" the officer commanded.

Peter shot me another look before walking out. 

It wasn't disgust.

It was concern.

The officer sent the nurse out the room respectfully before leaving the room himself.

It was odd, and I was very confused, but for some reason, it felt good.

It felt good to be left alone.

I crawled back onto the floor yanking the sheets to the floor.  

My head throbbed with exhaustion and pain.

I closed my eyes tightly, trying to erase the idea that somehow, I had been broken.

I screamed in pain as the cold metal knife sliced through my arm, just with the right amount of pressure.  

Bing smiled from the corner.

Such a coward he couldn't do it himself.

Then he came over to me, and I knew what was coming next.

A knock on the door woke me up.  I moved my good leg, finding that I had been transferred to the bed again.

"Charlotte, can I come in?" a masculine voice called.

Well, had to get it over at some point.

I answered in a meek voice, the door opening slowly.

"Hello Charlotte, I'm Sergeant Madden," he introduced.  "I've been assigned to your case."

"Madden as in?" I asked in a husky voice.

"Yes, I am your tutor's adoptive father.  Actually without Peter, you'd still be down in that hellhole." he reminded.

Peter?  How?

"Yes, I know you are confused," he started.

No you don't know.

"But we need to have you answer some questions.  We also have some tests we'd like to perform, just for your sake."  he finished.

My heart dropped.

"No, I want my right to remain silent," I said quietly.

Mr. Madden sighed.  "We'll send a nurse in to take your blood," 

"No thank you," I interrupted. 

The sergeant looked dumbfounded. I stifled a chuckle. 
"I'll leave you to get some rest," he said, leaving the room.

But when he was leaving, a familiar boy walked in. 

Sergeant Madden whispered a few words in his ear, and Peter sat in a chair beside my bed.

He had my backpack in his hand, and he put it next to me.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

I rolled my eyes before turning my head away from him.
"If it helps, I wasn't there when you were rescued?" he started.

I didn't help.

"You owe me an explanation," he said, adjusting the chair.

"No I don't," I said turning my head towards him.

"I practically saved your life!"  he said, his arms outstretched.

"You want a reward for it?"  I asked, my eyes cold.

"No- it's just I'm so confused."  he tried.

"Well, I'm confused too," I said, before closing my eyes.

"You already slept hours," he whined.

"I'm tired again," I shot back.

Peter muttered something under his breath before pulling out his cellphone, tapping away.

But he was right.  

I didn't really want to sleep.

"My parents died when I was 13.  They were murdered."  I started to say.

At first, I saw that Peter had stared at me in shock.

Peter glanced up at me.  "Not now, tell me later,"
I started to stammer. "W-what?  I thought you wanted me to tell you!"

"Not like this.  I don't mean to be rude or anything and I certainly don't want you to feel forced into anything." he said quietly.

I looked at him in shock.  "Ok," I whispered.

Peter settled back into his chair, scooting it towards me.  He loaded up YouTube and started a video, showing it to me.

Soon, we were both laughing about a ninja doing tricks in public.

We were both interrupted in the middle of our binge session when a nurse came in. 

"I'm so sorry to have to say this, but we have orders to run some tests," she said, walking towards me.

I stiffened.  "No,"

"Miss, it's very necessary.  We can't treat you until we know what you need, the vitamin c running through your IV is not enough," the nurse explained.

I opened my mouth to protest, but Peter interrupted.  "You cannot do anything without permission,"

The nurse walked out without hesitation, clearly frustrated.

"You know, you probably should take those tests," Peter told me.

I looked away. "I don't want to,"

"I know what you probably went through was really, really, traumatic, but I'm really worried about you.  You've got cuts and bruises everywhere, your leg in broken in 2 different places, you've been through water torture, you've gone through more than a POW!"  Peter argued.

"Fine," I said.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

I rolled my eyes at him annoyed.

I mean, I had to take them at some point.

Peter rushed off to tell the nurse.

But by the time he came back, I was gone.