The Guard To My Sanctuary - Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Marco
Elm look scared as hell as he held my hand in front of the hospital. We all had to stand and wait for him to mentally prepare himself to walk inside the white building.
"It's going to be fine I'm not going to leave your side," I said quietly.
"What if they say I have cancer or send me to an asylum," he asked frightened. His hand was getting sweaty in my palm.
"Look at me," I said using my military voice and he obeyed.
"They aren't going to cart you away, they just are going to run a few tests to so exactly what is wrong with you if there is anything wrong physically in the first place, okay," I said.
"Okay," he responded.
"He's ready," I said to his family who I told to stand back when he started to have a panic attack.
"Alright," his Dad said and grabbed his son's free hand and we walked inside the hospital where around a dark-skinned man with a bald head stood waiting.
"Hello Elm it's been a long while I'm so glad to see you again," he said holding his hand out to shake. Elm didn't reach out to touch him.
"Sorry, he's... Anxious," I said.
"Oh that's fine," he looked up at me.
I'm Dr. Nisbalm and you are," he asked. He seemed kind enough.
"Marco, nice to meet you," I said and held my hand out to shake. He shook it with his cold hands and looked at the group.
"I'm going to perform a lot of exams some minor and some major that will take maybe four or five hours. I can only bring two of you back so I suggest those of you not coming to go to the food court or take off for a while," he said.
"Alright, who's going," Elm's Uncle asked from behind us.
"Well I'm going," Elm's Dad said sternly.
"Can Marco come with me," Elm asked his father his voice barely audible. His dad looked at him then back at me and nodded.
"Alright then I love you Elm but I'd like to get out of here. I hate hospitals," Pine said.
"Yeah, we'll go get Elm something to wear and eat. Also, I need to call Thalia and tell her everything is alright. Oh and Cartier wasn't feeling well this morning so I want to make sure she's alright," Alder said holding his hand out. John tossed him his keys and they all walked over and kissed Elm on the cheek before saying they be back in a few hours.
"Who's Thalia and Cartier," Elm asked his father.
"Oh yeah you have a sister in law and a niece," he said pulling us along after the doctor who brought us to a room and told Elm to stand on a black dot on the floor and told me and John to sit down. Elm looked a little nervous but followed the directions the doctor was giving and looked at the lines of letters and tried his best to say what he saw. It turned out he couldn't see that well far away and would need glasses. The doctor then made his way to the scale next and took down his weight height and BMI. We then went into a room that was really quiet and he took his hearing test which came out perfect. We then followed the doctor to the x-ray room where a physician was waiting. Elm had to change into one of the gowns before the test was done which caused him some anxiety but I managed to calm him down from freaking out. Everything was fine in both the X-ray and MRI which surprised me since those kicks looked hard as hell. We were all also happy when the doctor said that Elm had no signs of cancer.
"Alright Elm this is going to be the hard part of the exam. What I'm going to do next is do a rape kit followed by checking to see if there had been any damage to your uterus."
"He's a guy he doesn't need that test," I said ready to go on a tirade about the doctor's incompetence. Just when I was about to go off John rubbed my shoulder. I looked over to him who had a straight face and looked down at Elm who had his head down in shame.
"What am I missing," I asked calming down. The doctor didn't seem phased since he probably sealed with patients and their guest's emotions all the time.
"Do I have permission to explain," the doctor asked Elm who shyly nodded his head.
"Elm was born with a male external and internal anatomy but he also has female internal sex organs. Elm is intersex and his body produces more estrogen than it does testosterone. What's unique about his condition is that unlike the vast majority of people who are intersex he is seemingly fully fertile meaning he is able to get pregnant and his body has periods along with being able to impregnate. It's a rare and new form of intersexuality that has been donned the name 'fruitful intersexuality', he started having a period at the age of eight where his body sheds the uterine lining via secreting into the stomach. His body has adapted in order to allow impregnation but not delivery. So technically he's both sexes but practically he has a male gender. We still have a lot of research to do on the subject since there have only been thirty-seven cases of this in the past thirty or so years," the doctor said so seriously that even as I was about to laugh I could tell he was being truthful.
"Oh wow," I said not knowing how to respond. I looked down at Elm who looked like he was about to cry.
"What's wrong," I asked in a soft voice.
"I d-don't want you to know that I'm a freak now you're going to hate me. London would get drunk and mad sometimes and tell me I should be burned," he said and tears fell. I got on my knee and whipped the tears from his face.
"There is nothing wrong with you Elm, do you have a clue just how amazing you are," I asked truthfully.
"You're just saying that you can leave if you want to," he said now crying his dad braced his shoulders.
"I told you I keep my promises on the train and I meant it. I'm not going anywhere till I know that you are okay," I said lifting his head making him look in my eyes.
"Understand," I asked he nodded his head and I grabbed his hand and me and his father helped him to the exam table. John and I sat down on the hard plastic seats in the room and looked on. John looked at me and said, "Thank You."
"No problem I made him a promise," I said turning back to focus on Elm.
"Alright, I knew it's been a few days but there may be trace evidence on you," the doctor said and went to touch Elm who started breathing heavy. I shot up at my seat before John and grabbed his hand.
"Calm down Elm he has to examine you," I said holding him.
"I need you to lay back and part your legs," the doctor said. I looked at Elm in the eyes and saw tears flowing. John wasn't in the position to help since he was trying to hide his face as he silently cried.
"Look at me okay, how about we count down from one hundred," I said and slowly began counting. He started following my words and I signaled with my free hand for the doctor to start. I looked at his face that was bandage free since the wounds healed and we're only fading red marks that led me to think that maybe that Manny guy wasn't as strong as he made those hits look. The doctor moved around as I continued to get Elm to focus on me. John continued to cry and I had no idea how it must have felt for him to have to watch his son get a rape exam.
"Alright now I have to check to make sure everything is alright with your internal reproductive system. First I'm going to have to ask questions," Doctor Nisbalm said his tone getting really somber. Elm nodded and John whipped his face but the tears kept coming.
"Alright, I have to ask do you know how many men," the doctor asked.
Elm shook his head no causing tears to fly off of his face and land on the paper covering the exam table. The doctor wrote that down.
"Have you been tested for any sexually transmitted diseases and or infections?"
"Y-yes every month he'd take my blood and I have been on t-the PrEP pill. I'm clean and they w-were told a-and forced to u-use condoms when they raped me" Elm said trying to gather his words. I silently thanked God that they at least made sure he didn't catch anything.
"Alright," the doctor said.
"During the course of your abduction have you ever became pregnant," the doctor asked sadly. Elm remained silent for a long while and I knew the answer. A tear fell from my eye as he leaned over to me and cried into my shirt like a baby. His father got up and had to leave the room which I understood. It was at least ten minutes before Elm spoke again with a dry cracking voice.
"Yes, five years ago they made me abort it and put me on birth control," he said looking hollow. The doctor nodded and did an exam with ultrasound and some other machines before finishing with a sigh.
"Alright Elm I'm done with all my test," the doctor said patting his leg. Elmer closed his legs and lay back closing his eyes.
"Okay," the doctor said and motioned for me to walk out of the room with him. The moment the door closed he looked at me and John who was trying to get himself together while leaning on the wall. I threw my arm over his shoulder to give him support which was hard since he was so wide.
"Look physically there is nothing wrong with him despite some bruising that's healing normally and him being nearsighted, but psychologically there is a lot he has to work through. The psychiatrist assigned to his case will be meeting you at the police station as requested so he won't have to say his story so many times," the doctor said.
"Okay," John said after exhaling looking just as hollow as Elm.
"I can have your son's back here now if you want."
John nodded and the doctor made his way down the hall to get the rest of Elm's family.
"Thank you for... I just couldn't," he said placing his hands on his hips while he gathered his emotions
"I couldn't imagine," I said.
"I had one job as a father and it was to protect my children. Alder got into so many fights after Elm was taken that I thought he was going to get himself killed. Pine got cancer, and Elm had gotten pregnant by his abductor and rapist," he said punching the wall which startled a nurse I didn't even notice was there.
"You can't blame yourself right now, your son needs you to be strong for him because like I told you on the phone he's only dealing with the surface issues right now," I said clapping his shoulder.
"I know," he said wiping his stray tears and walked into the room. I waited outside so that he and his son could have their moment.
"It looks like you guys are going through a lot," the startled nurse said walking up to me she had a flirty smile on her face and was walking funny in order to arch her back.
"Yeah," I deadpanned her and backed up as she took a step closer to me.
"Who's in there, your girlfriend or something," she asked playing with her hair.
"No I like niggas," I said bluntly.
"Oh," she said and walked away with a red face and I rolled my eyes. She walked past Dr. Nisbalm and Elm's family. The doctor stopped her and said something just out of earshot to the family who nodded their head and walked to me. All I heard was the doctor direct the nurse to a corner.
"Hey umm, here's some clothes for him to change into," Alder said handing them to me, "Umm thanks for."
"He needed help and I stepped up no thanks necessary," I said palming the bag to feel what was I side and failed to identify the things inside.
"It's just jeans and a sweater we guessed his size was small or extra small," his Uncle Kunaal said.
"Yeah," Pine said uncomfortably moving from one foot to another. I guess he developed quite a distance for hospitals during his treatment.
I nodded at everyone before turning and walking into the room where Elm sat on the table with his dad who had his arm over his shoulder hugging him. They both were crying but they had smiles on their face. After a few seconds, they noticed me and Elm's eyes seemed to shine.
"Here they brought you something to wear," I said handing him a bag with the words Zara on the plastic in large white font. He pulled out a pair of dark denim skinny jeans that I saw were in the smallest size I thought they made for men. Then there was a plaid shirt and a black t-shirt along with a matching black beanie.
"Alder picked this out," Elm said rolling his eyes which caused me and his Dad to laugh.
"Daddy could you," he said pointing to the door.
"Okay," his dad said getting off of the table and rushing to the door. I could tell he used to and was going to treat Elm delicately like he would a daughter instead of being rougher like most Dad's were with their sons. I turned to leave before Elm spoke up, "can you just stand in the corner I don't want to be alone."
I turned and nodded before walking to the corner next to the door and closing my eyes. I heard the sounds of him removing the gown and started getting aroused knowing that he was naked just feet away from me. I repositioned myself and thought of football stats to calm myself.
'Be cool dude you're here to help with his recovery not cause more damage.'
I pulled my phone out and saw that my friend Corey had sent my car to the shipping spot with the spare key I gave him for emergencies. I learned to give a duplicate of things to trust people when I joined the military all alone. My mother was a heroin addict that started to get clean too late and died from injecting herself with a bad batch. My dad couldn't handle the stress and jumped off the Brooklyn bridge in a drug-induced stupor. It was just me and my brother at the age of nine and four. We were put into foster care and eventually, Tyler was adopted by a great family and moved to Miami, we stayed in touch but lost contact after a few years and me moving around in foster care since I was older than most families were looking for didn't help. When I turned eighteen I had nothing to look towards since I didn't do well in school and was always in trouble. So with no options, I joined the air force and ended up with a great job and started my life. I met Corey in basic training and we ended up in Okinawa together and had been friends ever since even when his four years were up we stayed in contact.
"I'm done," Elm's small demure voice appeared from behind me and I turned around to see him looking good. His hair was a little messy but looked more international with the beanie on his head. I walked over to him and held my navy blue t-shirt out for him to hold. He smiled faintly and grabbed it then we walked out of the room to where his family was standing in wait. They looked at me weird for a second.
"He didn't want to be alone so I stood and faced the corner," I said. They looked at me for a second longer before they relaxed and we walked to the car. When we were all finally inside the vehicle it was starting to get dark I saw that it was around six at night here which meant It felt like it was nice to me since I was on Eastern time and so was Elm who was leaned over on the car door. I went inside my duffle bag that I always traveled with and dug around finding a button up since I was underdressed compared to everyone and found a breathable red sweater that complimented my jeans and brown shoes. I quickly slipped off my shirt and I heard someone whistle like a catcaller. I turned to see Alder laughing and Pine giggling.
"Leave him alone before his tall ass breaks your neck," Kunaal said from the front seat. I giggled then reached for my toiletries bag and grabbed my deodorant and swilled it under my arms then put it away. I slipped my sweater on knowing that it wasn't quite cool enough for it so I rolled up my sleeves. I looked up and saw Elm looking at me with red cheeks which caused me to turn red. He turned his attention to the fries that his brothers had bought him when they went out. We arrived at the police station and all of the jovial energy that was building in the car seemed to disappear. We all got out and I went and grabbed Elm who shaking.
"Hello," an older dark-skinned woman walked up to us. Her hair was pulled into a pony and she was wearing a gray dress that with white diamond patterns on it that caught the light from the sunset.
"Hello, you must be Dr. Shelby," John said.
"Yes sir that's me, I'm guessing this handsome young man is Elm," she said to Elm who looked at her nervously.
"Hello Elm I'm Dr. Shelby Brown, I will be the psychiatrist that's here to help you cope with your experiences," she said holding out her hand. Elm looked at her for a second before nervously shaking it.
"I'm Elm, but you know that," he said rolling his eyes at himself.
"You're fine, I'm here to listen to your statement that way I can hear what you went through along with the police so you won't have to repeat it," she said in this kind voice. She had this calm energy to her that made it easy to tell why she went into psychiatry.
"Well, my first question for you is, do you want to make a statement today if at all. I understand that you may have been prohibited from expressing your right to choose what you want, but I want you to know from this day on you have the agency to pick what you see fit as best for yourself and your recovery," she said looking into his eyes. John shifted uncomfortably at the thought of his son not making a statement to the police and letting this London person go free. Everyone was on edge waiting for him to answer except for Shelby who seems as cool as a cucumber.
"I want to make a statement," he said and I let go of a breath I had no idea I was holding.
"Alright then, well let's go in. Just know when I take notes it's not to use to send you away or anything of the sort unless it necessary for your health, understand," she asked.
"Yes," he said and we walked into the police station where John seemed at home. When we got into the back office's people looked and started speaking. Some of the middle-aged men and women had smiles on their faces and one woman had a tear running down her face.
'Elm must have grown up around some of those people prior to the incident'
We walked into an office where a female detective was sitting. She had a warm smile and kind eyes that matched her brown hair.
"Hello Elm you probably don't remember me."
"I remember you, Mrs. Espinoza," he said with a small smile.
"Aww you still have that cute little voice and smile," she said.
"Well, I'm going to have to ask you to tell me your story in graphic detail. Anything you remember can help in the apprehension of the criminals that abducted you," She said.
Elm nodded and grabbed my hand tightly after removing it from my shirts hemline. I noticed Dr. Shelby write something down but ignored it. Elm grabbed his dad's arm and began to speak about the things he had been through in heartbreaking detail. He had to stop a few times because of panic attacks and I managed to calm him down to continue. Everyone in the room had cried at least a little but no one left. Alder's legs were bouncing up and down in anger and Pine was pacing in the corner humming some song. Kunaal was biting his nails to the bed and John had tears falling from his eyes and had to look ahead so he wouldn't break down. The things that Elm was saying was so vile and disgusting I was surprised he even made it. The man named London had hell to pay if I ever met him. By the time Elm was finished the detective had about twenty pages of notes and the psychologist was doing her best to get her pen to push out the little ink was left. Elm seemed out of it and tired from speaking. Nobody was talking or breathing loudly it was just silent in the room.
"Umm I'll take your statement where it needs to go, Elm, that's all I have to ask you today. I've asked this to be kept quiet so you won't have reporters at your door and your captor won't try to leave the country or do anything stupid. All I can say is that I'm sorry for everything you have been through and you guys should get some rest this has been... A lot," she stood up. We all got up emotionally drained. We walked all the way to the car and Elm was the first to get in then his brothers. It was just Kunaal, John, me and the psychiatrist standing outside.
"So young man I never caught your name," she said to me.
"Marco," I replied.
"It seems that our young survivor has imprinted on you," she said with a soft smile.
"That means," I cut her off, "I was there emotionally in a critical period of his life and he's latched onto me in order keep him sane. I've been through the PTSD cycle before."
"Oh, well then you know he may need you at any time of the day, it's a daunting task I prefer to be the one my patient relies on but I can't change that now," she said.
"I understand and am willing to take on the task," I said shifting under the gaze of Elm's male role models.
"I have to report to my base in Monterey I'm starting as a linguist instructor till I decide if I want to reenlist or not but from here till now I plan on being there to help. When I get back to base I'll drive back and forth every day if need be," I said honestly.
"Okay I just need you to know that you are committed to his recovery it is going to be a long road for him but he seems strong. I'll see him on Tuesday in two days for our first session" she said then shook everyone's hand and walked away.
"I guess I'll be seeing you a lot more," John said, "I don't know how to repay you honestly if there is anything you need don't hesitate to tell me."
"Well I need somewhere to sleep tonight I'm kind of homeless and careless at the moment," I said and laughed.
"Well he has a whole bunch of empty rooms since the boys moved out," Kunaal said.
"Or you could take the guest since I have to leave in the morning," he corrected himself after John shot him a look.
"Alright," I said getting into the car. We sped down California listening to the radio but nobody spoke. I could feel Elms anxiety like a wave of heat. John parked in front of a Target and everyone got out since John forgot to buy food. I didn't realize how hungry I was till he said something. I was about to go with them until I saw Elm still in the car. Everyone was standing around waiting but I knew he wasn't ready to be out in public for the rest of the night and maybe tomorrow.
"You guys go without me," I said and climbed back into the car where Elm had started sobbing. They waited until I waved my hand and gave them an urgent look. All of them reluctantly walked into the store and kept looking backward to see what was going on.
"Hey, can I touch you," I asked instinctually knowing he was in a sensitive state. Instead of speaking he crawled over to me and I opened up my arms for him to cry like a baby. I was surprised he had enough water in his body to cry as much as he did.
We just sat in the car in the middle of a Target parking lot while he cried all of his sorrows away.
"It's fine I got you," I said over and over again while rocking him.