72Setting *Pipers room, Piper is alone *
Piper was sitting on her bed cradling her bad arm in her lap. She hadn't been to sleep all night. But she wasn't tired. It must be the adrenaline she thought, the fight or flight thing- why hadn't she put up more of a fight? This was all her own fault, she thought, if she had just tried a bit harder then heard a noise and jumped, it was just someone knocking on the door.
"Piper", it was Prue, "Can I come in?"
Piper took a deep breath,
"Umm yeah" Piper said, covering up her arm so Prue wouldn't see.
"Piper, do you wanna talk" Prue asked
Piper avoided Prues eyes.
"No, uh, why would I wanna talk?"
"Because, when you came in last night, you were really weird and you looked really upset and now today you've been shut up here. Did something happen at work?"
"Oh no, no, nothing happened, I'm fine" Piper replied, trying to sound as cheerful as humanly possible.
"Are you sure, 'cause Phoebe and I were worried about you, are you sure you're ok sweetie" Prue asked, taking Pipers hands in her own. She caught Pipers bad arm, which made her flinch. Prue looked surprised.
"Honey are you hurt?" She asked, concerned.
Piper stayed silent and let her head drop down. Prue sensed that something was wrong. Prue got up and sat on the bed next to Piper.
"Piper let me see your arm" Prue said gently.
Piper held it out for her to see, knowing that Prue wouldn't give up if she didn't show her now. Prue gently pulled up Pipers sleeve and gasped when she saw her bruised, swollen wrist.
"Oh", she said, feeling the swelling, Piper flinched.
"I don't thinks it's broken" Piper managed to say, whilst trying to hold back tears.
"Nor do I" replied Prue, pulling Pipers sleeve down. "But I wanna know how you did it"
"I just, I just fell" Piper knew it was a lame excuse and that Prue wouldn't believe her, but it was worth a try.
"When?" Prue asked, knowing full well that her sister was lying to her. Piper shrugged, she hated lying to Prue, but she didn't want her to know. She was too ashamed.
"Piper, you're a terrible liar," Prue said seriously, " Now I want you to tell me the truth". Piper was on the verge of tears.
"I can't, Prue, I cant" Piper said, turning away from Prue and sweeping her hair out of her face with her left hand.
"Why can't you..." Prue noticed the grip marks on Pipers other wrist. She gasped and Piper knew that she had seen it.
"Oh my God, honey, did someone hurt you"
Piper started to hyperventilate.
"It's ok. Piper, you're ok" Prue comforted, "You have to relax ok"
Piper continued to breathe faster then normal. Prue pulled her sister into her arms, carefully minding pipers bad one, and held her tightly. This hurt Piper a little but Piper didn't care.
"Ssssssh", Prue comforted.
Piper was curled up in a tiny ball in her sister's arms and Prue had never seen her sister so afraid. Prue continued to hug her sister until her breathing was back to normal.
"Alright", Prue said, stroking Pipers long, brown hair, "You need to tell me if you are hurt anywhere else"
"I'm ok" Piper said shakily, mentally telling herself that lying wouldn't work now. Prue saw the look in her eyes.
"Please tell me the truth Piper, I only want to help you"
Piper didn't say anything; she didn't want Prue to see. Prue remembered that Piper had flinched when she was hugging her, she didn't know whether it was because she was hurt or because she didn't want to be close to anyone. She decided that she would check anyway. She lifted Pipers top up at the back to see if she was hurt. Piper panicked and started to struggle, she really wanted to be alone, she wished she'd never shown Prue her arm.
"It's ok sweetie" Prue comforted, in her most calming voice, "I just need to see ok"
Piper stopped struggling, it was no use she thought, she's gonna find out anyway. She nodded her head and Prue continued to lift Pipers shirt. She drew a sharp breath when she saw the cuts, bruises and scratches going all the way up pipers back. They needed cleaning and were obviously painful. Prue guessed that Piper was hurt in other places as well, but decided not to check just yet.
"Ok", Prue said, and she knew that Piper was not going to like the next bit, "We have to go to the hospital"
Prue could see the panic dancing in Pipers eyes.
"No, no, please Prue, please, I can't, if I go they'll make me go to the police and I can't tell them Prue, please don't make me" Piper pleaded.
The tone of Pipers voice broke Prues heart, Piper was talking like she did when she was little, when she fell over and scraped her knee, and didn't want it cleaned. Prue decided that as her wrist most probably wasn't broken and because she could clean up Piper s cuts and scratches herself, they could afford not to go to the hospital.
"Alright, alright" Prue said, trying to calm Piper down, "But the cuts on your back need to be cleaned ok?"
"Ok" Piper replied, the relief in her voice was evident.
"I'll be back in a minute yeah," Prue said
Piper looked up.
"Where are you going?" She asked in a panicky voice.
"Just to the bathroom, to get some stuff to clean you up and I'll be straight back"
Piper managed a weak smile. When Prue was out of sight she shivered. Prue knows, she thought, oh my God, what does she think of me?
Prue was in the bathroom, gathering medical supplies. Why didn't she tell me before, she thought to herself. Doesn't she trust me? I could've helped her sooner.
Prue re-entered Pipers room. Piper was sitting in the same position as she had been sitting when Prue went out, like a doll. Prue set out the supplies and poured out some antiseptic into a bowl. She looked at Piper and said gently,
"This is gonna be easier if you take you shirt off"
Piper's eyes darted around the room. She felt uneasy, even if it was just her and Prue in the room. Prue sensed this and drew the curtains and locked the bedroom door. She sat down in front of Piper. Piper started to take off her shirt, but caught her arm, yelped in pain and stopped. Prue helped the rest of the way.
"Oh, Piper honey", she gasped as she saw the full extent of Pipers injuries.
She had to hold back her own tears. As well as the injuries on her back, there were big red bruises on her shoulders, scratches across her chest and large purple bruises all across her stomach. Piper brought her knees up to her chest and grimaced in pain. Tears were welling up in both sisters' eyes.
"Ok" Prue said, as she moved round to Pipers back. "This is gonna sting a bit"
She soaked the cotton wool in antiseptic and dabbed one of the biggest cuts with it. Every time she did this Piper jumped and drew in a very sharp breath. Tears were silently rolling down Prues cheeks; she wiped them away with the back of her hand. It was hurting Prue because she knew that she was hurting Piper, but she also knew that if she didn't clean her up, Piper would be hurting a lot more.
"I'm sorry sweetie", Prue said, as Piper flinched again, this time she yelped in pain and tried to pull away.
"I know this is hurting you, but there's only a couple more to go" Prue said, gently pulling her sister back down.
As she did this, she noticed the bruises up Pipers arms. They were purple and looked like little butterflies. They were almost pretty, in a sinister kind of way. She finished cleaning up the cuts and scratches. She put the bowl of antiseptic on the floor, but kept the rest of the supplies on the bed.
"All done" she said, moving round to face Piper. She began to gently pull Pipers knees away from her chest where she had them, Piper wasn't co- operating.
"Can I look please?" she added gently. It worked; Piper nodded and put her legs down. Prue cleaned up the scratches on her chest. Only and animal could do this, Prue thought, someone with no feelings whatsoever. The bruises on Pipers stomach were a little swollen, but they were probably just surface bruises, Prue thought.
Ok, my arms aching now, so this can be part 1 of chapter 2, if you get what I mean. So I hope you like it, it will get better. Oh and thanks again to everyone who reviewed (
Leanne x-x