Breaking Free

Chapter 23

Sitting on the couch between Seth and Anna in one of the interrogation rooms, I feel my courage slip. My heart is racing in my ears, and the familiar feeling of nausea takes over.

The whole ride over to the police station, I didn't say anything to Seth or Anna. I knew they were wondering what happened in the locker room.

The conversation keeps playing over and over in my mind. "At first, it was like a game."

A game? What Joshua was doing to his victims was toying with them until he had an opportunity to strike. In the beginning, when the GHB made the girls forget, he knew he could continue to do it with no one ever finding out.

And to think, after all this time, I lived in fear he might come back to do it again. At the party last year, he thought the GHB didn't work on me, but he took the chance anyway. He thought he would have so much power over me that I would be too scared to go forward.

And he was right. I was.

He made sure of that.

The door opens, but I don't look up to see who walks in. It was like Joshua was suddenly in the room with me. His hands around my throat to where I can't breathe. The floor seems to waver in front of me.

"Paige?" I hear Anna say above me, but I can't look up. My whole body is shaking. "Paige, are you okay?"

I try to shake my head, but a force of some kind keeps my head from moving.

"Put your head between your knees." A hand touches the back of my head, forcing it between my legs. "Take slow, deep breaths."

I do as I'm told and feel my heart slow down to its normal pace.

"When you're ready, you can look up."

I took a few more deep breaths before looking up to see a woman with a kind face and brown eyes. Standing behind her is a man with a grim expression.

"Hello, Paige," the woman says. "We were told you wanted to report a rape. I'm Officer Grace Cunnings, and this–" she points to the man behind her, "–is Officer Brian Combs."

Officer Combs nods his head but doesn't move forward from his spot.

Officer Cunnings looks on either side of me at Seth and Anna, who have been sitting silently. Seth is staring at me, his face pale, and I notice then that his hand is clenching mine tightly.

"Who are you?" Officer Cunnings asks, looking down at our joined hands.

"We are friends of Paige's. I'm Anna Frazier, and this is my brother, Seth," Anna says.

"Would you mind leaving the room so we can talk to Paige alone?"

"No," Seth and I reply at the same time.

I glance over at Seth before looking back at Officer Cunnings. "They know most of what happened."

"Was Seth the first one you told?" Officer Cunnings asks.

"How did you know?"

"Whenever a victim tells a person, they tend to seek comfort with them."

Officer Cunnings gives me a weak smile before sitting down on the other couch across from us. "So, when did this rape happen?"

Swallowing hard, I look down at the floor. "On the fourth of July—"

"That was several months ago. Do you have any proof?" Officer Combs asks, finally speaking up.

I feel my body tense at his question. My head snaps up to glare at him. "My memories."

"Memories won't hold up in court," Officer Combs states.