Try And Stop Me (Girlxgirl)

Seventeen

Taylor felt partially responsible as she sat beside her lover, who's tears had not stopped flowing since they'd arrived. She felt like she broke her. She felt so hollow even her bones felt cold underneath her skin.

Michelle hadn't looked at her. Hadn't really spoken either. Taylor didn't know if she wanted her to. If she wanted to find out what was in her brain.

The police station was busy. They had a lot to do in a city like this. Triple homicides and robberies. Did they have time to catch a rapist? Taylor hoped they did, but she knew what police could do. Knew they couldn't catch them all.

Neither could she.

"Michelle, Taylor, this is detective Hanson." Taylor looked up at the two officers that had approached them. Michelle looked at the ground and sniffled, her nails red and short, bitten down to their beds.

"She will be handling your case." Taylor stood and shook the detectives hand. "Hello detective. Thank you for seeing us." She smiled and looked to Michelle.

She hadn't moved.

The detective bent down and kneeled in front of Michelle. "Sweetheart, we're going to help you. No one should have to go through this. I promise you we'll do everything in our power to bring you justice."

Michelle finally looked up at the detective and shook her head. "You'll try. You really will. But at the end of the day, he's not going anywhere. I'm not his first victim. I won't be his last. You haven't done shit about him before,"

"Michelle, cut it out," Taylor tried but the anger was then turned on her as Michelle looked at her with a fire in her eyes.

"Butt out, Taylor. Don't you think you've done enough?" Taylor pursed her lips and looked at her hands, clasped at her waistline. She felt tears coming on but pushed them back.

"I'm so sorry," she croaked. "I'm...Its my fault." She took her seat and put her head in her hands. She felt arms go around her.

"No, I didn't mean that. I'm sorry, it wasn't you. It wasn't." She rocked back and forth, tears falling into Taylor's hair.

"Ladies, I can help you in my office if you'd just follow me," detective Hanson said after clearing her throat.

Michelle stood and held out her hand to Taylor, who took it with her own. They followed the woman back into a small office and took their seats in front of her desk as she shut the door.

"Now, how did you get your hands on this video?" Taylor looked over at Michelle before realizing she wasn't going speak and spoke up. "It was sent to my phone from a blocked number. I don't know who took it or why."

"Victoria," Michelle whispered. "It had to be her." She had been mumbling on about Victoria all morning. Taylor thought she was in shock still. She took her hand and squeezed it.

"We called the agency. They don't have any record of a Victoria in their system." Michelle looked destroyed. "What about the check? Is it linked to an outside account?"

"A private investor, but the check bounced and the accounts were emptied." Taylor shook her head. "Their fucking with us, Michelle, that's all." She seethed.

"Did you know this woman well?" The detective asked. "Well enough to trust her? The reason I ask is this; in some of these cases, a pattern has emerged. The victim is betrayed by a trustworthy person who leads the victim right into the arms of a sexual predator. It happens in human trafficking cases and it is beginning to emerge in sexual assault cases as well." Michelle shook her head. "No. I didn't trust her. I don't want to think about her grooming me to be raped. I mean, she was always hitting on me and trying to get me to throw away my relationship with Taylor. She was a snake. I didn't like her, but I was so happy I was being noticed. I'm so stupid." Her voice broke.

"You aren't stupid, Chelle. Its not your fault."

"Taylor is correct. In this city alone there is a total of about 13,000 reported cases of sexual assault annually. Of those cases, 11,000 are taken to trial and justice is served. We will catch your attacker and he will pay for his crimes. We just need your help in finding him."

Taylor's phone started to ring and she pulled it out of her pocket as the detective began asking more questions. It was the storage company, probably calling to confirm the auto-pay. Taylor stepped out of the room and took the call.

"Hello?" She breathed into the phone, leaning against the wall. The wall was cold and she felt it seep in through her thin hoodie. Her skin was flushed, her hair a mess.

She remembered reaching for clothes in the dark of their bedroom as Michelle sobbed her heart out in the bathtub, curled in on herself and broken. She remembered clawing at the skin of her chest because she felt like her heart was going to burst. She remembered not eating all day because Michelle would have puked it all up and Taylor didn't want to eat if her girlfriend couldn't. Didn't even want to breath without her. 

"Taylor Larson? We got report of a break in about an hour ago. Your unit, unit 47, was broken into and robbed. We are still trying to see if there was any other incidents, but it seems isolated. Could you be available today to come take a look at the damage and speak with our lawyers about seeing what you are insured for?"

Taylor couldn't speak for a minute. Why was everything falling to shit today of all days? Why had someone stolen their stuff and not the next unit over? Why was it isolated in the first place? She couldn't even remember what they had storage for.

"Um...today is a busy day, sir. I can try to make it down there but I'm not sure when. Do you know who it was, at least?"

"Our cameras seemed to malfunction during the robbery. They caught nothing. We are very sorry." She rolled her eyes. Of course the camera would malfunction during the robbery. Or course something else had to go wrong as well.

"Great." Taylor snapped and hung up, trying to keep her cool. They didn't keep much in storage to begin with. She couldn't remember the last time she even went there. Maybe they had a few boxes of old clothes and dishes in there. Nothing urgent. Nothing to go running to look at. She had to stay here, focus all her attention on her girlfriend.

Why was it one thing after another? Why couldn't they ever be happy? Taylor peeked through the window of the detectives office at her girlfriend, sitting deflated in a chair, an unused tissue in hand and tear tracks on her makeup free face.

She was beautiful, even in tragedy. Even when nothing was going right. She looked up at Taylor through the window and cocked her head, beckoning her back in the room with a tiny smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Taylor sighed but entered the room again, taking her seat next to Michelle and taking her outstretched hand in hers, leaning over to peck her cheek and tuck her fading red hair behind her ear.

She would keep the storage unit to herself, just for a little while. Until Michelle showed her a real smile again.

****

Sorry if this is like shorter than my other chapters, I've been having a hard time writing since I don't have my computer right now.

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