Poor Little Teen

By Rondabunny

Chapter Four (the last chapter)

It is a crossover on the book "The Girl Next Door" by Jack Ketchums. The main character's name and age is changed.

Thirteen:

Dark and so cold. Where is the light? What is it? A room? I walk along the wall. It is hard maybe made of concrete and it is so cold. I come to a door. The steel door. I try to open it but it is closed. I take the doorknob in my hands and they become wet. The moisture drops from my hands to the floor. Is it the blood? Oh, know. I'm cold. I stay barefoot in the puddle of blood. There are my clothes? I hear voices, they are approaching me. They are laughing. Male voices are coming closer and closer. Blood is dropping on me from the ceiling. I feel bloody tears on my face running down to my breasts. I hear them right behind me, calling me dirty names. Don't' turn around, Remy, don't turn around. I need to get out of here. The door is closed. I'm in panic. I smash my hands against the damn door to open it. Please, somebody help me! "Open the door! Open the door!" – I howl hysterically. I know nobody comes to rescue me. I feel a man's hand on my shoulder… "Want to have some fun, bitch?"

Thirteen woke up with a gasp. For some seconds she didn't understand where she was. Then she saw Dr. Cameron gripping her by the shoulders: "It's OK. You're in the hospital. Everything's all right, Remy."

She looked at Thirteen with that unbearable sorrow in her eyes trying to soothe the patient.

"Yeah… Yeah… I'm fine," – said Hadley and pressed her head against the pillow. She realizes that it was just a dream, a nightmare but she also knows that could happen to her after the accident. Her abdomen hurts as well as her head. The light is too bright for the eyes. She screws them up. Cameron arranges the pillows and makes an injection of a depressant.

"Let me guess. Relanium, right?" – Thirteen asks.

"Yes…" – the blonde doctor answers.

"What an irony!" – Hadley smirks.

"Why?.. I'm sorry, Remy, for that what happened to you…" – Cameron looks sadly at her co-worker.

"Call me Thirteen. This number just fits," – Remy says roughly.

A nurse came with a tray. It was evening, dinner time. Cameron put the meal on the table and pushed it towards the bed.

"I don't want to eat," – Thirteen pushed the table away.

"It is evening already. You haven't been eating since yesterday," – Cameron insisted.

"Just do me a favor, disappear!" – Remy said harshly.

"Sorry, but you have to enjoy my company this night," – the doctor replied.

"Oh, yeah! How could I forget your leading part?! Playing mother Teresa today?! I said I'm fine! You can go find another pathetic and wounded. If I need somebody to tuck my blanket I'll call the nurse!" – Hadley hissed back.

"I won't leave you, Remy. You're on the suicidal watch. I'm so sorry," – she answered calmly.

"Shit!" – Thirteen stroke her hands on the bed.

Two days passed. House's office:

Cuddy came in with a sullen look on her face.

"House, please, go talk to her! I can't do anything. She doesn't eat. She signed the form where she refuses medical assistance. I send psychiatrists to her, but she doesn't talk. She lies there as if she's a rock, a stone, I don't know. I ordered to give her glucose intravenously. She doesn't show any feelings," – Dr. Cuddy reported.

House nodded and continued to play with the yo-yo.

"House, did you hear me? She's dying!" – Lisa shouted.

"Hey! Head's aching of you screaming here every day!" – he said irritated.

"House, two days passed and you didn't even show up in her ward! Go, talk to her!" – Cuddy insisted.

"To tell what?! Don't be such a milksop, forget about those stupid bastards and what they've done to you, forget that you have Huntington, enjoy your life!" – he stood face to face with Cuddy shouting at her as if it was her mistake but not his. Cuddy turned around ready to leave.

"Wait!" – House asked taking control of his emotions. "Move her to another ward maybe it will work."

Cuddy stopped to listen…

Cameron asks Thirteen to sit in a wheel chair. She says that they have to move. Hadley obeys. She is too pale and too tired to resist. She sees two beds in the ward. One is for her and a girl of 10 maybe 11 years old lies in the other bed. The girl's right eye is swollen as well as her lower lip. Thirteen notices bandages on her wrists and bruises on her neck. Her fair-haired head lies on the pillow. She is asleep but she moans from time to time in her sleep. Cameron helps Remy to lie down. She makes sure all the IV tubes are working well and she leaves the room.

Thirteen:

Wow! Has she just left the room or am I hallucinating? I won at last. They have left me alone. Great! No more stupid questions, no more soothing discussions. If they moved me to another patient it means that they've given up on me. I can lie here in piece till I die.

She closed her eyes to have a little rest. Thirteen woke up to the noise of somebody's weeping. It was the girl, she sobbed behind the curtain that divided one patient from the other. Dr. Hadley lied in her bed for several minutes listening to the poor girl's crying, until it bothered her. She stood up maybe too quickly because everything went dark before her eyes for awhile. Her ribs hurt and the abdominal pain was acute. She felt herself dizzy, though she made two steps and opened the curtain. The child was crying hiding her face in the pillow.

"Hey, are you OK? Where does it hurt?" – she asked in an usual doctor's tone.

"I'm fine. Sorry to wake you up," – said the girl.

"My name's Remy. What's yours?" – she asked looking into the dark brown eyes.

"Joel," – the girl answered.

"Who beat you?" – Thirteen studied the marks on girl's face.

"Nobody."

"Don't lie to me I'm a doctor. I've seen a lot of swollen eyes and bruises in my life," – Remy replied waiting for the reaction.

"I wasn't beaten, I was raped," – she said in a soft voice and started to cry again.

Hadley couldn't believe in the words she's just heard. It was a child. What kind of pervert could have done that to this innocent girl? Where is the justice? She sat down on the side of the girl's bed and took her little palm in her hand. Thirteen noticed how skinny the child's arms were. To be this skinny the girl mustn't have been eating for weeks. Suddenly Joel started to suffocate. Remy immediately took the pillows under girl's head to lower the position. She called the nurses and started the intubation. After few minutes the girl lied unconscious but stable. Dr. Cameron was already in the room asking Thirteen to lie in her bed. Hadley took the girl's records and began to read them. Alison covered the patient with the blanket making attempts to get the file back. Finally she managed to do that.

"Give it back! I need to know what happened to her!" – Remy asked firmly.

"You are not her doctor. You're a patient, so behave like a patient!" – Cameron scolded her.

"Listen, if I know the case maybe I can help," – she said looking pleadingly at the blonde doctor.

"You'll have the file after you eat your dinner."

"Manipulator!"

"No file then," – Cameron said taking the records with her.

"Wait!.. Fine!.." – said Remy sending poor doctor a killing look and plopping on her pillows.

Dr. Cameron came with a tray of food. Everything looked really delicious, especially for the patient who hasn't been eating in days. Alison put the tray in front of Hadley and sat on a chair near her bed.

"You may go, I remember how to use a fork," – Remy said sarcastically.

"Good for you. I remember not to trust the depressive patients," – Cameron screwed her eyes staring at Hadley.

Thirteen took a deep breath and began to eat: "Maybe you'll tell me about the girl if you are watching anyway."

Cameron shook her head: "Believe me, it is not a table talk."

"Try me. I can handle anything," – she said taking another bite of salad.

"Funny to hear such words from the woman who is destroying herself," –Cameron smiled.

"Yeah, hysterically funny to know you're dying," – Remy told in a soft voice.

"Remy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" – she wanted to apologize.

"Tell me what's happened to the girl," – Hadley demanded tired to hear other people saying they know how she's feeling and how they are sorry for her. Nobody could understand the pain and loneliness she was in.

"The police called the ambulance which brought her here. They found the girl in the basement where she was hanged by the hands to the ceiling. Her toes were barely touching the ground. According to her utter exhaustion they didn't give her any food. She has been raped but the most monstrous thing that her insane aunt did to her was…" – she took a deep breath because she didn't know how to end the sentence. "The police came when her aunt was cutting out the girl's clitoris," – Dr. Cameron concluded. Remy looked at her with eyes full with tears. Then she got up and rushed to the bathroom. She was vomiting.

"Yes, that was my first reaction too," – told Cameron watching Thirteen getting out of the bathroom as pale as a ghost.

"How old is she?" – Remy asked.

"Eleven. Come on, you need to rest," – she said setting the IV tubes to their places again.

"Give me the file," – Hadley asked in a whisper.

"Remy, she is Dr. Simon's patient we can't interfere in the medical treatment," – Alison notified.

"We are here for 30 minutes and I haven't seen any doctor checking her yet. She had a problem with breathing. It has nothing to do with what has happened to her," – Remy replied.

"Or it was an asthmatic assault which is connected with her depressive state and especially her nervous system," – Cameron concluded.

"Maybe we stop guessing and you'll give the case to Dr. House?" – Thirteen asked.

Cameron took the records and went to House's office.

House's office few minutes later:

House sat at his computer watching something interesting according to his facial expression. Cameron came into the room throwing the file on the table.

"You was right, she became interested in this girl. The problem is the girl is dying," – she spoke.

"OK, go, give the file to Dr…" – he looked on the file, - "Simon, oh, the best gynecologist in our hospital."

"House, the patient was choking. Thirteen made the intubation. Dr. Simon hasn't even come to check on her," – she waved her hands.

"You know doctors. They are always busy," – he said staring at her for a long time.

"What!" – she asked.

"Do you think I'm going to check on the patient, who isn't mine patient at all only to see how Thirteen is doing?" – he asked cleverly.

"House, I've worked for you for three years, do you expect me to be stupid? You have Foreman and Taub to do the examination and tests." – Cameron fired back tired of this game. She left the room leaving Dr. House deep in thoughts.

House's office five hours later:

Foreman reported on the patient: "X-rays showed cysts in lungs. She has Pneumocystis pneumonia. I've given her trimethoprim but with her anorexia. She can't eat at all. And the loss of the patient will be dead in two or three days."

"Does Thirteen know about it?" – House asked his co-worker.

"No, we ran the tests twice to be sure. I haven't told even the patient yet," – Foreman said feeling himself really exhausted.

"Fine, go home. It's midnight already," – House replied looking at the results.

After Foreman left the office House went to the ward. He came silently into the room making as less noise as possible. Thirteen and the girl were sleeping. He sat on a chair near Thirteen's bed. House watched her sleeping. He was sitting there till 4 o'clock in the morning when Hadley woke up from a nightmare as usual. She sat in her bed trying to calm down. The effect of the painkillers was over and she was in pain again. Thirteen turned on the light and saw House staring at her.

"What are you doing here?" – she asked hiding herself under the blanket.

"Sitting," – was the answer.

"How's Joel?" – she asked wanting to see girl's face hidden from her by the curtain.

"Who?" – he asked again.

"The patient you've been diagnosing," – Remy replied irritated.

"She's dying," – House said tiredly.

"What? No, she can't… What's wrong with her?" – she asked getting herself together.

"Pneumocystis pneumonia, her CD4 positive cell levels are less than 200 cells/μl, I think you know what that means." Hadley nodded.

"Don't tell her," – she said and lied back on her pillows. House left the room without any word.

Joel was awake. She breathed hardly and a tube went right to her lungs to ease her breathing a little. She couldn't talk to Remy so she wrote in a notebook given her by the doctor.

"Know any fairy-tales?" – the girl wrote.

"Fairy-tales? Hm... Let me see," – Remy tried to remember at least one but medical university erased all the fairy-tales from her mind. "Ok, listen..." – she thought maybe she could make one for the dying girl.

"Once upon a time in a small town lived a girl and her mother. Girl's mother was ill and she couldn't give her little child as much attention as she wanted. The girl grew up arrogant and cruel. People called her Demon. No matter where she went she left a trace of ruined lives and lost hopes. She was born to get on everyone's nerves. Demon made many bad things. Her mother was long gone and she did whatever she wanted to. One day people got angry at her and captured the girl. Furious crowd was ready to tear every single piece of life from Demon. She was completely taken aback. One man of the crowd said that if anybody would stand up for her she would be free. Demon was wringing her hands and eyes full of horror and sadness begged for help but the blunt crowd made a fair division. The girl who brought only sorrow and anger must die. Thousands of ruined lives for the sake of her ambitions and victories were too much for the suffering people. Suddenly somebody took her by the hand and that very moment Demon knew that she saved herself a trouble to fight the duel alone. Mother looked into the eyes of her child and hugged her. She came on Earth to save her daughter and she took her away from the furious crowd," – Hadley finished the story.

"Great story," –Joel wrote. "Don't leave me..." – was the last phrase of the girl.

This night Joel died and after few hours when the girl's corpse was taken into the morgue Dr. Hadley died in her bed because her heart stopped beating...

"There are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret, Spilt on the ground like water, an can never be gather together."

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow