Ava twisted her hips and smacked the pad. “Ow!” she squealed, hobbling away and sitting quickly, holding her shin. Ruben bent over her and held her leg, pressing his fingers along the front of it.
“Don’t! Don’t! Something’s wrong.”
“Babes, it’s nothing—”
“No! It’s not!”
“Ava! Listen to me. It’s just shin splints, if anything. But we have uncovered a bigger problem. This,” he said, tapping his finger on her forehead. “This will destroy you before you even start. You have to get that last fight, and what happened after, out of your head. I know how hard that is, more than you know. I had to. Just like you do. The body heals faster than the mind.”
“How can I? What am I supposed to do?”
Ruben looked around them at the sand, the water, even the sky. He focused, though, on the dune to their right. The largest sand dune at Wanda. “That. You need to climb that.”
“Climb it?”
“Professional athletes have been trying to conquer that for years and only a handful have. It goes almost straight up, and it’s almost thirty feet of soft sand. You get over that? You’ll know you’ve overcome your fears over your leg. You’ll be ready.”
Ava made her way to the base of the dune and looked up, drew in three quick breaths and began to climb. Within three steps, her feet sank into the hot sand and she slid down to the base. She tried again, faster this time, but ended up in the same place.
“Jesus, this is like running through hot water.”
She kicked her feet as hard as she could but succeeded only in spraying it everywhere, then cried out in frustration as she face-planted into the dune and slipped again, rolling down the hill. Breathing through clenched teeth, she made to get up again but was halted by Ruben.
“Enough. You won’t do it like this.”
“I have to. You said this was all in my head.”
“You won’t do it angry. Frustrated. You need a clear head for this and the fight too,” he finished, a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t force it. The fastest way to a destination is a straight line and that includes defeat.”
“I don’t feel right... This... it just doesn’t feel right.”
“Let’s get through today, and we will figure out tomorrow, tomorrow.”
Ava glanced at her father several feet away. Near enough to observe but not too near to feel as if he were in the way. “I don’t know how I’m going to do this.”
“One foot in front of the other. Like you do everything else,” Ruben said.
Ava entered the courthouse, wearing large sunglasses, after braving the media circus outside, but she fooled no one. The story itself was national news, but her role had increased it ten-fold. It was the very thing she didn’t want, to distract from the reason they were all there, but there was no help for it. The other patients had recanted their stories and she was the only one that could stop Dr. Van Gould from continuing his antiquated treatments.
She made her way to the sitting area, flanked by her boys and dad, and tried to calm her nerves. Breathing deeply, she looked around and was thankful cameras weren’t allowed inside.
“Ms Beckinsale this won’t take long. I won’t ask you to recount in detail your version of events with Dr. Van Gould as it's already been submitted for evidence and both sides have agreed that he did in fact touch you. What treatment, and I use that term loosely, did he give you?"
“He attempted to get me sexually aroused.”
“And how did he do that?”
“He drugged me and fingered me.”
"Did you ever want to go to Dr. Van Gould?”
“No, it was my parents’ choice.”
“Did you ever believe Dr. Van Gould could cure you of being gay?”
“No.”
“Would you still classify yourself as gay?”