comfort fics

finally safe (Joel Berghult)

"Oh honey, come here," he cooed. His arms circled around me once again and I leaned into him as I cried. He rubbed gentle circles on my back and held me tightly. "It's okay now, he can't get you anymore."

Joel laid back on the couch, and pulled me slightly on top of him as he continued to hold me and comfort me. We stayed like that for a while. I eventually stopped sobbing so violently and wrapped my arms around him as well.

***

At some point we must have fallen asleep, because a loud bang at the door woke us both up. The two of us rose from our huddled position on the couch. I fell to the floor as Joel stood up quickly. "I KNOW YER IN THERE YOU LITTLE CHEATING BITCH, YER CAR IS IN THE DRIVEWAY." I shivered in fear.

I panicked. "How did he even find me?!"

"It's okay, just calm down." He pointed down the hallway. "Go to my room, I'll handle this," Joel said with a reassuring smile. I was too scared to give it a second thought, so I ran down the hall and hid barely out of sight, just in case it went south.

The door opened, and immediately my ex was yelling at Joel. "Where's that stupid bitch?" he slurred.

"I'm not sure who you mean," Joel calmly responded. I started to worry how long this would last.

"The bitch who parked their car right there," he clarified.

Joel chuckled. "That's my car," he lied.

I could hear him punch the wall. "It's fuckin not."

Joel's gonna get hurt, I thought as I listened. I pulled out my phone and called 911, telling them where we were and what the situation was as quietly as possible.

"Would you like me to stay on the line with you?" the operator asked.

"Yeah, just in case it gets worse." I started shaking and my stomach churned. "Can you hear them?" I whispered.

The 911 operator was silent for a minute. "Faintly, but I can't make out what they're saying."

I was about to ask if she needed to know what they were saying before another thud rang through the house. I yelped as I ran down to Joel's bedroom and crawled under the bed. "What the fuck was that?!" I heard my ex yell. He must have heard me.

Joel tried to hold him back, he was grunting with effort. "Stay out of my house you alcoholic bastard!" Joel yelled back.

"What's going on?!" the operator asked. I started to explain before Joel screamed my name and I saw the bedroom door burst open and slam into the wall.

As quietly as I could manage, I said "He's in the room, I think my friend may be hurt." Luckily he didn't hear me and eventually walked out the door again.

"The cops should be less than a minute out from your friends house," the operator said. I breathed a sigh of relief as I heard him start yelling again.

Sirens came soon after, and I decided that then was the time that it was safe to come out from under the bed. I walked cautiously out of the room, looking for Joel, but there was no sign of him. I bolted for the door and was met by an officer asking if I was hurt.

***

The cops and the ambulance had already left, and I was tending to Joel's wounds a bit more. He had a busted lip, a knot on his head and some bruising on his chest.

"I feel bad," Joel said, frowning as I dabbed his lip with a paper towel.

I scoffed. "For what, getting beat up?" I asked. "I feel bad for bringing this to you. I should have just kept driving."