Healing

Chapter 14

Spencer was back in Audrey's hospital room holding her hand as she slept. Morgan quietly walked in as he softly knocked. Spencer looked up at him with distraught eyes.

"Hey kid." He spoke softly sitting next to him, "how is she?"

"She's. . . .broken." Spencer answered with a quiet sob, "she told me that Austin has broken her, scarred her, and ruined her. She doesn't believe that she can be healed."

"Kid, look at me." Morgan told him, "as long as you're by her side, she'll get through this. Audrey is strong. She may not believe that she is right now. . .but you need to remind her how she was before Austin tore her world apart. Can you do that?"

Spencer nodded as he wiped his tears, "yeah."

He tightened his grip on Audrey's hand as he looked up at her, "I just can't help but feel so helpless against the pain she's feeling. I'm starting to believe my mother was right. . . ."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what did your mom say?" Morgan asked.

"You can't take care of a 6 year old, Spencer. . . . .it's out of your league to care for children."

"She told me that I couldn't take care of Audrey and that it was out of my league." He answered, "all these years I thought I was doing a great job. But that was only because nothing bad ever happened."

"Spencer, you can't blame yourself for this." Morgan spoke, "this was not your fault. . .neither was it Audrey's. All you need to do is be there for her, love her, and care for her. She needs you. . . . .big time."

Spencer's vision blurred out by the tears flooding his eyes as he looked at his little sister. A couple days pass by, Spencer and Audrey were back home. Audrey was in the living room drawing in her sketchbook and Spencer was in the kitchen cooking dinner. Her legs shook with anxiety as she drew.

"What are you drawing, Audrey?" Spencer asked.

"Just. . . . .a butterfly portrait." She answered as she closed the sketchbook.

Spencer turned off the stove and walked to her, "lemme see."

She opened the sketchbook back up and handed it to him. Spencer held the book and looked at the drawing. A smile grew onto his lips.

"Audrey this is amazing." He told her, "when did you learn to draw so good?"

She hugged her knees as she scrunched into a ball, "I watched tutorials on YouTube in my spare time."

He ruffled her hair, "it's amazing, Audrey. You're really good."

"Thanks." She mumbled.

Spencer sat next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, "hey, I made your favorite meal. Steak, green beans, baked potato, and garlic bread. How does that sound?"

"Good." She answered as she slowly licked her lips.

"Come on. Let's eat." He smiled at her.

They started eating dinner as the sun slowly set. Spencer caught on that Audrey was taking small bites of her food. He left it alone since he didn't want to trigger any bad moments that would pop into her mind. And luckily he didn't, because even though she took small bites, she still finished her plate.

"Thanks for dinner, Spencer." She spoke softly as she rinsed her plate and placed it in the dishwasher.

"You're welcome, Audrey." He replied.

She reached up for the medicine cabinet and Spencer quickly bolted up from his seat.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?" He asked rushing to grab her incase she would fall.

"I have a headache." She answered, "I was going to take some pills before taking a shower."

Spencer grabbed the bottle of Ibuprofen and took out 2 pills.

"Here." He said placing the pills in her hand, "I'm going to be in charge of your medicine now."

" . . . .Swallow. . . ."

Audrey shook her head viscously. Spencer cupped her cheeks so she wouldn't hurt herself.

"Audrey I'm doing this to protect you." He spoke looking into her eyes, "I know that Austin's voice is haunting your mind. He forced you to do things that you didn't want to. I'm trying to stop his voice from forcing you to bring harm to yourself."

Audrey took a deep breath and nodded. She grabbed her drink and took the pills. She wrapped her arms around Spencer; sighing into his shirt. Spencer hugged her back.

"I love you so much, Audrey." He told her as he kissed her head, "I would be so heartbroken if you were gone."

"I love you too, Spencer." She replied.

He released her from the hug and she went upstairs to take a shower and he began to clean up the kitchen.