Ten year old Emily Marshall rushed into the clinic with her three siblings in a panic, tears welling up in her eyes. She'd just been held at knifepoint by her own father and feared for her safety, as well as the safety of her younger siblings: Sierra, age 8; Jordan, age 7; and Eva, age 3.
She immediately rushed up to the receptionist's desk.
"Please!" she said in a panicked whisper.
"We need help."
The staff was about to dismiss her, citing the "no-kids" policy, when Emily said
"Our dad just put a knife to my throat and threatened to kill us!"
The receptionist blanched. The only loophole to the "no-kids" rule was in dire situations such as this.
"In through that door now," she said, pointing to a door on the right.
The four of them wasted no time. They rushed right in and were ushered to a room specially prepared for situations like these. Luckily a specially-trained doctor was already waiting for them.
The door shut and locked when all four of them were safely inside.
"Put these on, quickly," the doctor told them, handing them red hospital wristbands.
"These will make sure you don't get kicked out."
Having had to take herself and her siblings to the ER on more than one occasion, Emily was no stranger to hospital wristbands. She worked on Eva's first, then helped with Jordan's, and finally Sierra's before putting on her own. Each of the wristbands. The doctor had a form prepped for each of them. In their case, they didn't have to do a transformation if they didn't want to. The clinic also served as an impromptu adoption center for abused and/or neglected people, particularly young children.
Once they were finished, the four of them burst into tears, their hearts racing as they tried to process what just happened. After about half an hour, they had calmed down enough where they were able to speak.
"My name is Doctor Penny," the doctor greeted them kindly and calmly.
"I'm specially trained in cases like yours. Would you please tell me your names?"
The four of them nodded.
"I-I'm Emily Marshall," Emily sniffled.
"These are my siblings, Sierra, Jordan, and Eva."
"Biological?"
Emily nodded.
"All four of us."
"Would you be willing to state who your abuser is?"
"Our dad," Jordan gulped.
"He's an alcoholic and a drug addict."
"Would you be okay with telling me some of the things he's done?"
The siblings froze, uncertain. But Emily, being the eldest, felt it was her responsibility to make sure the facts were covered without revealing anything that could trigger any sort of trauma in any of them.
"W-well, he's almost always drunk," she began.
"He makes us steal money to fund his addictions. If we don't get enough, he hits us until we're bruised all over. He never buys food or cooks us meals. I've had to hide some of the money we've had to steal just to buy a day's worth of food for all four of us. He refuses to let us go to school anymore. He's thrown Jordan against the wall a few times and carved horrible words into our arms and legs. He's done....terrible things to women he brings home. We hear them screaming and crying to get off of them. And just today.......he put a knife to my throat after......after I tried to keep him from hurting Eva. H-he...he said....'I'm gonna slit your throat, you little......b-word! I'll slit it right now and make them watch!'"
Doctor Penny carefully took down every single word. These kids had gone through hell and back.
"How long would you say this has been going on for?"
Emily tried to count.
"None of us can remember when it began," Sierra piped up.
"But I know it got worse after our mom died last year."
Hearing all of this, Doctor Penny knew that there was no way she was going to let these kids go through transformations yet. These kids first needed to feel safe and stay at the clinic, and she just so happened to be one of the night staff. She practically lived at the clinic, as her degrees in social services, medicine, and child psychology were coming in handy. The only downside was the hallucinations that she had begun to see after countless sleepless nights.
"A-are things going to be alright?" Eva asked in a small voice.
Unfortunately Doctor Penny couldn't give a straight answer. She didn't want to give these kids false hope, but she'd be damned if she wasn't going to do her best to make sure they were safe.
"Don't worry," she assured them.
"You four are in good hands."