Trials and Consequences of Love

Chapter 11

"It's Emily can you let me in?" I knock again.

"Val, I know you're here I saw your car outside. Open up" I say turning the doorknob and to my surprise, the door opens.

Valentina-Rosa never leaves her door unlocked, it doesn't matter who she's with or what time it is her door is always locked; she's so paranoid, she thinks that once the door is unlocked then someone will just walk in and rob her or something worse. So, finding her door unlocked now doesn't sit well with me at all.

Did he kill her? Or something worse.

"Valentina? Are you in here?" I call out, pushing the door open.

"Why does it smell like someone died in here," I ask as I step inside; the only sounds in the apartment apart from my soft footsteps are the sounds coming from the tv in her bedroom.

"Valentina-Rosa?" I call out softly but she doesn't answer.

"Valentina-Rosa, why haven't you been answering your..." my sentence dies in my throat when I see her.

What I see is all too familiar, she is curled up in a ball against the wall behind her bed; the red sheets on her bed covers her lower half and a once white t-shirt covers her upper half. She looks over to me and the look in her eyes breaks my heart; he did this to her, he finally broke her. Her eyes are empty and her face is bruised; the Valentina-Rosa I met all those months ago is not in this room. There is no sass, there is no fire, there are no witty remarks, there is just a broken, lifeless form curled up under a set of dirty sheets in an even dirtier apartment.

"What happened love?" I brush some wrappers off her bed and sit beside her.

She doesn't answer she just turns away from me. Her long hair is in knots and her pillows are tear-stained.

This is depression.

Carson induced depression.

She doesn't deserve to be suffering like this, I've been there before and I know it is worse than hell; she's been with him longer than I have so she might have been there before as well, -as alone as I was-. 

I'd rather eat an entire human than allow her to go through this on her own ever again.

"You don't have to tell me what happened and I know you might want me to leave you alone but I can't leave you here like this. Come on, let's get you cleaned up." I whisper, stroking her hair gently.

"I-I don't want to" she croaks out, her voice is hoarse, which means she's been crying for a while.

"I know you don't and that's okay but you have to love, this is not good for you" I whisper still stroking her hair.

"I can't," she says after a few moments of silence.

"That's okay too, I got you" I rub her exposed arm gently, getting up off the bed.

I gather cleaning equipment and a large garbage bag; I take all the wrappers off her bed, I wash the dirty dishes in the sink, I open all the windows and curtains, I clean the floors, I clean the tabletops and the countertops. I clean out her fridge, I clean her bathroom, I dust every surface and I empty the trash.

"It's your time now Val, let's go" I pull the sheets off her, turning off the tv.

"Vamos Mamacita" I pull on her leg but she only groans.

"You'll feel better once you take a shower, I promise," I say grabbing her two ankles gently, pulling her to the edge of the bed.

"But Emily I don't want to" she mutters under her breath.