Sam Davis: Hung up on incest

He only shook his head. Seeing Ray, Frank called the man over. "Take these two into my place – keep them there!"

Ray nodded and immediately forced Connie and Alice away. Frank started to go into the apartment when another white-suited man pushed past him, carrying a stretcher. Frank followed and immediately spotted Dee Compton sitting alone on the sofa, doubled over, and crying hysterically.

Going to her side, Frank lifted the young girl's head. "Come…" Frank started.

Dee didn't budge at first, but when he took her small hands, she stood awkwardly and Frank took her outside.

Dee turned, screamed, "I've gotta go to him! He's dying!" Frank restrained her then, as firmly as possible, he slapped his hand back and forth across Dee's face.

"Come with me!" he ordered, almost dragging her away.

Dee turned to him, scratching with clawed hands. "Leave me alone… alone!" Frank grabbed Dee's wrist, then violently dragged her screaming all the way to his apartment.

Ray greeted them at the door. "Another!" Frank simply announced, turning to see a stretcher, with a bundled up form on it, being carried out of Connie's place. Blood was splattered over the white uniforms and blanket.

Turning, Frank stared at Ray.

"I… don't know," Ray said. "He ran into the bathroom, then screams sounded… we smashed open the door… he'd slashed his waist… and…"

He shuddered and added, "It was pretty sick! If Bill lives… he'll…"

"He'll never fuck a cunt! Never! Never!" Dee's scream finished the statement.

The blood rushed from Frank's head, leaving him weak, suddenly sick.

"Cut himself several times… I don't know how bad… his cock was… slashed and…" Ray said.

"Take care of the girls – I'll be back!" Frank interrupted.

The last ten hours had dragged like a lifetime for all of them. Frank stood in the hospital waiting room next to Alice Compton. Dee was beside her father and mother, all three white-faced. Doctors had given both sisters sedatives and now they were outwardly calm.

Roger Compton looked strained, older than his years, his eyes hard, but clouded, staring at the wall in front of him.

Frank had learned a lot since the first minutes of panic after finding out about Bill's attempt to kill himself. Connie had related most of the details about the party, also confessing what she and Dee had done to Alice. Frank had listened without comment. The shock of events before learning about Bill Compton's suicide attempt and the aftermath of that, left little room for more than numb acceptance of what Connie told him. The information fed into his subconscious mind while driving Alice and Dee, who sat in the back seat in stone silence, to the hospital where Bill had been taken.

It was less than fifteen minutes later that Roger and Sylvia Compton arrived. Alice's mother had taken tranquilizers before leaving home, and her two daughters were already under the effects of what a doctor had given them. The family reunion was a quiet one. Only Roger Compton had shown any emotion, ignoring all objects from nurses until he'd been able to find the doctor.

In an office Frank and Roger listened to the report. Bill Compton had lacerations of the penis, fairly deep, but hadn't lost enough blood as yet from that or his slashed wrists to be in critical condition.

"Luckily," the doctor informed them. "The razor cut across the wrists, not hitting the main arteries. He's being taken to the operation room. We'll do what we can… if he has the will to live, there shouldn't be anything to worry about other than…"

Roger Compton asked if Bill would be normal and the doctor flatly stated he wouldn't know.

"Your son mutilated himself pretty badly," he said.

When the doctor left for the operating room, Roger turned to Frank, apparently recognizing him for the first time.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked, as if discovering that a stranger was prying into private family matters.

At that moment everything Frank had been able to put together – the full implications of what had happened between himself and Alice and what Connie had done to her – took on a new significance.

"I'm with Alice."

Roger Compton stared at him and said, "Sure, sure." Without another word the older man, left the doctor's office. Frank followed silently behind. When they returned to the women, Roger told them Bill was being taken care of that there didn't seem anything much to worry about.

Frank went to Alice's side, gently touching her shoulder. They waited several hours without saying anything.

During that time, Frank managed to do a lot of deep thinking about the future. All the plans and neatly worked-out schemes that flashed through his mind faded away. It was a little after five when Alice suddenly stood, took his hand, and started walking down the corridor. Not until they were at the far end did she turn to face him.

"What's going to happen?" she asked.