I watched as my now unconscious daughter slumped down onto the cot, her face as white as a ghost.

I run across the small room over to her, "Eve!"

The nurse quickly rolls her onto her side, "She was just telling me how she doesn't do well with blood. She sat up too quickly and her blood pressure must've momentarily dropped. Evelyn will be fine, Mr. Way."

"What even happened in the first place?" I ask, brushing hair from her face, wondering how this lady is so calm when a girl just passed out in front of her. Evelyn has a bad scratch under her eye and a trail of dried blood coming from her nose.

"She was found in the bathroom by a student," The nurse explains, putting a cold cloth on her forehead and wiping the rest of the blood away. "We're not sure who did it; no one witnessed anything."

"When I figure out who did this..." I mumble not loud enough for anyone to hear me. Then, I see Eve's eyes flutter open. I need to stay calm for her. "Hey, Eve," I say gently.

"Help me sit up," She says hoarsely. The sound of her voice, so weak and defenceless, breaks my heart.

As she takes my arm, the nurse warns us, "Slowly. Very slowly."

When she's sitting up, she turns to the nurse. "Ms. Lee, can I just go home now?"

"Can you stand?" She asks.

Evelyn counters this by turning to me and asking, "Can you carry me?"

I nod and pick her up effortlessly in that way a groom carries his bride, "I already signed you out."

"Wait, Evelyn," The nurse, Ms. Lee, speaks up again before we leave the room. She pauses, crossing her arms, a mixture of sadness and anger clear on her face. "Who did it?"

"I- I don't know her name."

• • •

We're quiet on the way back home, with only the radio keeping us from sitting in complete silence.

Thinking everything over, as Evelyn sits curled up in a ball in the passenger seat next to me, I need to stop myself from hitting the steering wheel in a bout of anger. I don't understand how someone could do this to my daughter. I can't imagine her provoking anyone. I'm sure she must have some idea of who did it. She didn't do it to herself, thats for sure.

I'm also really hoping this hasn't happened before. She hasn't mentioned anything of the sort in the past, but she keeps a lot to herself, I've learned.

When we get home, I carry Eve up the stairs and set her on her bed gently. She winces at the light impact.

"Tell me what happened, Eve." I say, as I lay a fuzzy blanket over her. She's shaking a bit.

"C-can you get me some water first? Please?"

"Yeah, of course." She wasn't even this nervous the first time we met. She's really shaken up. These questions play over and over in my head: Who would do this? Why would they do this?

I go down to the kitchen and fill a glass with cold water. I put three ice cubes in it like I usually see her do for herself, and then quickly deliver it to her without spilling any on the way.

She takes a couple small sips before placing the glass on her nightstand and taking a deep breath.

"So, I was in the library and this guy, Nathan, comes up to me. He's like "hey can I talk to you?" so we go out in the hall and he starts going on about how I stole Emerald from him and how he doesn't like me."

I don't say anything, but shake my head, letting her go on.

"Then, his... girlfriend, I guess? Came along a couple minutes later and dragged me into the bathroom and basically called me a bitch and then, you know..." She points at her face.

"Yeah... what'd she fuckin' do to you, Eve?"

"Well, first she slapped me which was simply shocking," Hey, she's getting some sass back at least, "And then she kicked me in the shins which made me fall. And, that seemed like a pretty good place to end it to me."

"But..?"

"That's when she kicked me in the face, and then she fucking laughed about it! Then, right before leaving, she kicked me in the ribs."

I'm getting mad again, but I can tell that Eve is noticing, so I force myself to take a deep breath and keep listening.

"So, right after that the bell rang, and some girl came and found me. Blood was, like, gushing out of my nose and so she takes me to the nurse and gets the secretary to call you. It took forever to stop bleeding by the way, and I was getting lightheaded, cause, well my own blood was all over the place! It eventually stopped and I think that's when you got there, but I was still all dizzy and I just passed out, I guess."

"Yeah, that I saw. How are you feeling now, are you alright?" I ask, sitting next to her on her bed and putting my arm around her shoulders.

She shrugs lightly, taking another sip of water, then leans her head on my shoulder. "My face kinda hurts..." She mumbles.

"She got you pretty good," I sigh, brushing some hair out of her face again. It never seems to cooperate. Then I say quietly, "I love you, Eve, you know that?" Then I kiss the top her head.

"I- I love you too, Gee," She says even more quietly.

I was hoping she'd call me Dad again, but I guess she doesn't remember saying it earlier. Everything is pretty fuzzy the seconds before you pass out. Still, hearing her say this now is making me feel all warm on the inside. But, there's one more thing I need to ask.

"Who did it, Eve? What's her name? You must have some idea." I know now by the way she looks down at her lap, chewing on her bottom lip, that she lied about not knowing the girl's name.

"Some prep girl, Charlotte," she says finally.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Because, she- she's vicious, Gee. I know that now. And she'll only get madder if I rat her out."

"She deserves to be punished, Eve."

"I... I know."

"She hasn't given you any trouble before... has she?"

To my relief, she shakes her head, "No. I'm surprised she even bothered to learn my name."

"Look, you should turn her in. And if you don't, I will."

"I don't really want to..." She mutters.

"I'll call the school later." I see her nod hesitantly, then I say, "You wanna maybe go change your shirt?" Her once black and white T-shirt is now black, white, and red.

She looks down, "Oh! Yeah, I guess." She sits up, wincing slightly.

"What is it?" I ask worriedly. Instead of saying anything, she lifts her shirt up a little to reveal a painful looking bruise on her right side. I breathe in sharply, "Shit, Eve."

"Uh, yeah." She drops her shirt. "I'm just gonna go change now."

"Alright, be careful." Before leaving her room I add, "I guess you missed lunch, though. You want me to go make you something to eat?"

She shakes her head, "I, uh, I have a headache and the last thing I wanna do right now is eat. I'm just gonna nap or something," She says apologetically.

"Hey, it's okay. You could use some sleep after all that, I'm sure." I hug her carefully then go back downstairs.

Charlotte. I'm gonna make sure she gets what she deserves.

• • •