Bruised Innocence

Chapter 16

Some voices shook him awake again after some time. His stomach stung with pain and a tear trickled down the side of his cheek.

"Doctor, how is he? Will he be alright?"

He heard his father ask the doctor in a concerned voice.

"What happened to him, was it an animal?" His mother enquired, a little more insistently, sounding out of breath.

"Well his feet were sprained and we had to stitch the stomach up. He had bruises all over his body and unfortunately, there's more but before I get to that, this is Mr. Smith, he will be investigating the case."

Then, someone else spoke in a very professional deep baritone.

"It is not the work of an animal, Mrs. Fern. Judging by the bite marks over his body and injuries in-- well we suspect he had been assaulted sexually but we couldn't find any DNA."

He heard a pained gasp and more sobs.

"I reckon it must have been a seasoned offender who cleaned the--er--evidence off Arwin after assaulting him."

"What monster would do such a thing to a boy?" His mother cried out hysterically. It somehow felt worse than being punched in the guts.

They knew. There was no hiding it now. They knew what happened.

"We will find out who did this and they will be brought to justice. I promise you. I am sorry that this happened to your son, Mr. And Mrs. Fern. I really am but I need to fulfill my duties too. There's another thing that you need to know." quipped Mr. Smith.

His words felt foreboding to Arwin. He knew he wouldn't like what he was going to hear in a few seconds before Mr. Smith said anything.

"What would that be?" asked his father sombrely.

"It was Arwin who stabbed himself,"

"No!" His mother whisper shouted.

"Yeah. We found only his fingerprints on the stick and judging by the angle he was stabbed, It is fairly certain he did it."

He heard his mother sob still louder and imagined his father consoling her.

"There's still a possibility that he might have been forced or blackmailed. Did he ever tell you about any such thing?"

"No! Arwin is a strong bo--" his father started,

"The school! He mentioned that he was being bullied at the school!" His mother supplied.

He heard the scratching of a pen. Perhaps Mr. Smith was taking notes.

"Has he ever cut himself or any history of self harm?"

"My son IS NOT a head-case!" His father shouted.

Arwin winced.

"I didn't mean to insinuate that Mr. Fern but you see, he might have stabbed himself, so we need to investigate if he had any suicidal feelings earlier. "

"You think--he tried to ki---kill himself?" His mother asked in a horrified voice. A pregnant pause took over and then,

"It might have been because of the trauma of the assault but we wouldn't know unless Arwin tells us or we catch the offender." Mr. Smith said it with a finality.

Arwin understood that Mr. Smith had said all he needed to. He became very aware of his ragged breathing.

"You need to be strong for Arwin, it doesn't matter why he did it but he did go through that and he will need you guys to heal from it, you must show that there is more to life, reasons for him to live. The physical wounds will heal. It will take time but they will but the emotional ones need your love and attention, the--

The voices grew fainter and fainter until Arwin could barely hear and fell asleep again.

*Do you have family members who make you feel unseen? Like you somehow feel looked down upon by them or worse that you aren't worthy of their attention or affection? Updated on 24/08/20*