Auribus Tenere Lupum: Confiteor Paeniteor: One

Reno had finally convinced Rude to journey out of the room the day after the incident and every day thereafter things returned a little more to normal. They’d both been having nightmares, Rude’s worse than Reno’s, and they’d been a rock for one another when the other needed a shoulder or a strong arm. He couldn’t convince Rude to see the counselor, however, until nearly a week later. The big man had agreed to go with him to his next appointment. They strolled through the door as soon as the secretary let them in, not bothering to knock.

“Good morning, Re- uh… Reno? You brought someone with you today?” The counselor looked up from her stack of pages that made Reno’s file and the young blonde beside her took them to look over.

“Yea. Me an’ Rude gotta lot t’tell ya today.”

“Reno, I was going to turn your case over to a new counselor. Will you be okay with that?”

“Yea, I’m cool with it but is she gonna wanna take it?”

“She’s sitting in today on the session. I’m going to be mentoring her and then she will be taking over the Turk program. This is Doctor Ashleigh Xeell.” The young woman nodded in their direction.”

“Nice t’meet ya. Okay, docs, no use beatin’ ‘round the bush, yo. Rude’s gonna need t’come t’sessions with me for awhile an’ you’re gonna have t’take on a new one. Trust me on this one.”

“You sound so certain,” the older woman commented, looking at him with concern. “Reno, what’s going on?”

“Rude’s buddies thought—“

“They’re not my buddies,” Rude growled, hands balling into fists on his thighs.

Reno patted his hand and continued. “Rude’s ex-friends thought it’d be funny t’come in an’ hold Rude down while they took turns rapin’ me.”

“WHAT?! Reno, please tell me you’re joking! It’s really not a funny joke.”

“Nope. Serious as a stroke, yo.”

“What did you do? Did you contact anyone? Did you have a rape kit done? Were they using condoms?”

“Nothing, no, no and no.”

“How long ago did this happen?”

“Last week.”

“We’re going to the medical wing and you’re having the kit done.”

“Look, I don’t wanna cause trouble. Heard ‘bout what happens t’the ones who cause problems. Not doin’ that, yo.”

“It’s confidential. We won’t do anything until you’ve had the test and the results have come back.” She was already up from her chair and moving for the door, the young woman following along behind her. “Come along, Reno. We’ll go to the medical lab first and then we’ll come back for our session.” She locked her elbow through Reno’s and led him out, calling to her secretary, “Reschedule the next three appointments today. I need extra time today. Also, have a set of new files ready for me when I return.”

Rude followed along behind, staying in step with the young blonde woman who occasionally looked up at him. Rude didn’t feel like saying anything, though. What could he tell her that he didn’t already know himself and beat the shit out of himself over every day. He saw it when he slept at night. He saw it when he closed his eyes. He saw it when he blinked.

“They gonna be able t’do it? S’it gonna do any good? S’been a week ago.”

“You still should have been checked out. They can at least make sure there wasn’t any damage or tearing or… anything. Reno, why didn’t you go to someone?”

“Look, we’ll talk about that when we get in the office, okay? Until then, let’s just shut the fuck up about it before somebody overhears us.”

She nodded and they continued the trip to the lab in silence. When they got to the lab, the woman spoke silently to the nurse and Reno was taken back to a private room with a door instead of the little curtained partitions.

A short female doctor entered the room, speaking in level, even tones. “We’re going to have Reno in the room by himself for the examination.”

Rude audibly growled and took two steps closer to the woman. “Sir, I’m going to need you to step outside,” she demanded, not backing down one step.

“Rude, s’okay. Down boy. Just wait outside the room an’ make sure nobody else comes in, okay?”

“Reno…”

“Rude. S’okay. Swear. Go on. Let ‘em do the job.”

He didn’t move immediately and it took Reno giving him the eye and sitting up straighter for him to actually leave the room. The doctor had to tell him to move up a step so she could even close the door and he growled again when she pulled the shade so Reno could have privacy. She locked the door, which made Rude extremely uncomfortable but he pressed his back against the door to listen in case something happened.

“Reno, have you ever had the procedure done before?”

“No. What all y’gotta do?”

“You have a choice rather or not to have an HIV test. Many times when you are infected with—“

Reno cut her off. “Do the test. What’s next?”

“Would you feel comfortable with someone of the same gender or the opposite gender doing your examination?”

“Um. Prefer as few people as possible doin’ the test. Any men come in here an’ Rude’s gonna be bustin’ down the door. Bad ‘nough when a guy bumps up ‘gainst me in the lunch line. People get outta the way real fast when they got a nearly six foot tall dog barkin’ at ‘em.”

“Are you comfortable with a female doctor?”

“Yea.”

“Is he…?”

“No! Hell no!” Reno laughed, shaking his head. “Nah, was some friends’a his, yo.”
“He’s very protective.”

“Yea. Has been since it happened.”

“I’m going to have you undress. Are these the clothes you were in?”

“Nah. Those’s back in the room.”

“Have they been washed?”

“No. Why?”

“You’ll need to bring those in, okay? The lab will need them for testing. Let me just pull the curtain and you can undress. You can put on this gown.” She pulled a hospital gown out of the drawer under the exam table and laid it on the table behind him and pulled a curtain around the table. Once he was ready, he called out to her so she could come back in and begin. She was quiet as she began documenting the rope burns, scratches, bruises, and any other skin abrasions or marks they could find and photographed each of them. She then drew blood for STD and HIV testing before she began the exam. She swabbed Reno’s fingernails and cleaned underneath them in case any debris might contain evidence of his assailants. Then she began the exam, checking both the anal and oral areas for any evidence and collected any hair or fibers she found. The area was swabbed and then she retreated again to allow Reno to redress behind the curtain. As before, when he was finished he called out to her and she came back inside, pulling back the curtain.

“This might seem like an odd thing to say, but we did take a sample of your pubic hair to compare against the hair found during the exam. I’ll also need a sample of your hair to be sure they are not the same. Does that make sense?”

“Yea. Rude says ‘e gave me a shower after the attack because he couldn’t stand it.”
“Where did this happen?”

“In m’room.”

“Do you still have the sheets on the bed?”

“Ah, fuck, yea! Gross! I been sleepin’ in that shit?? Fuck!”

“No, no. Reno, it might contain evidence of the attack and who the attackers were.”

“It will. They were all over it.”

“We’ll send someone from the lab with you to collect the clothing and the sheets. We need that information so the lab can run tests.”

“Okay.”

“We also need to give you a tetanus shot unless you’re current.”

“They gave me one in that battery of tests when I applied.”

“Excellent. Then the only other thing we’ll need is to give you an antibiotic to prevent infection and we’ll contact you as soon as the test results come back from the STD testing.”

“Okay. So are we done?”

“Just as soon as I get one of the techs to go with you for those sheets. You can wait outside with your friend if you want.”

“Think I better.”

She nodded, opening the door, and Rude nearly fell in on top of her. He apologized sheepishly and let her through, closing the door as soon as she had gone.

“Y’okay, Reen?”

“M’fine. They just took a lotta cultures or somethin’ an’ some blood. M’fine.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t bring you to the doctor, Reno.”

“It’s alright, Rude. Wouldn’ta gone anyway, yo.”

“So now what?”

“They’re gonna send somebody t’take me back t’the room an’ collect sheets an’ m’clothes I was wearin’.”

“Shit! I forgot to change the sheets!”

“S’okay, Rude. Yanno, they say it’s good we didn’t get rid of ‘em. Said there’s evidence or somethin’ on it. They were all drippin’ all over it so there should be.”

Rude cringed at the mention but toughed it out. If Reno could speak of it, Rude would take it like a man.

The doctor had to knock when the door didn’t open immediately and Rude let her pass, putting himself between Reno and she and the tech. The doctor didn’t appear to mind.

“This is Avery. He’ll go with you to your room and get the sheets. Then he’ll come back to the lab with them.”

He gestured to a bag under his arm. “I already have fresh ones in the bag.” His powder blue uniform told anyone passing by that he belonged to housekeeping. “We’re keeping this between you, me, the doctor and the nurse as far as the med lab goes. Your councilors know, obviously, and your friend. Have you told anyone else?”

“No. Nobody.”

“Then we’ll keep it that way. Shall we go?”

“Yea. Better ‘fore Rude beats somebody t’death.”