For What It's Worth

Chapter Thirty Six : Achingly

A C H I N G L Y

Thomas

After a series of knocks, I answer the door to David Wayne who greets me with a friendly smile.

"Thanks for coming at such short notice." I say, stepping back to let him in.

"Well that's what I'm paid for." He chuckles, joining my side as we move on through. "She's here?" He pats my arm.

"Yeah. She wanted to talk to you straight away." I answer, lowering my voice because she's sat in the kitchen. "Come on in."

I lead him in to where she's sat at the island on one of the stools. She's done her best to scrape her hair off of the purple, discolored skin of her face. Her lips are dry and split but she's washed off the fresh and the dried blood. The sight of her scares me, I've never seen her like this before.

"Hi Isabelle. I'm David." He politely nods, noticing that her hands are firmly sat underneath her legs, not wanting to shake his hand.

"Hi." She gives him the best smile she can manage.

"You ready to do this?" He sits himself down across the island.

"Yeah. I just want to get this out of the way as quick as possible." Her voice is deep and raspy, almost to a point where I wouldn't be able to recognise it.

"Do you want me to stay?" I check with David who subtly gestures to Isabelle. She looks up to me and lightly nods.

I give her a flicker of a smile to encourage her before settling down in the stool beside her. I glance at her hand, wanting to take it in mine but she doesn't offer it to me.

"Let's go from the beginning shall we? So just let me know whatever you feel comfortable enough to say. Nothing is off limits then afterwards we can have a look at figuring this all out officially." He prompts her.

She lets out a sigh in preparation, covering her frail hands with the sleeves of a jacket that, now on second glance, is not familiar.

"At first, I wanted to leave and it to be a clean break. I thought if I cut all ties it would keep everyone safe but Thomas stopped me." She clears her throat out, her voice almost unrecognisable.

"We went to bed and I decided that the next best thing would be to make Nate talk. I went to his apartment which I can give you the details for but they'll have packed up everything and gone if you're going to check it out." She struggles to continue.

"We'll most likely have to go and do a sweep regardless." He jumps in.

"I had my phone ready and recording but he realized. He smashed it up and got me inside. He locked me in the bathroom." I wince at her recalling the story, folding my arms over my chest. "I don't know how long for. I think...erm." She trails off struggling and then tips her head back. "I think he did... touch me... I was in and out of it."

At that point, she briefly looks down and I notice the long tear down the inside of her pants. My whole body stiffens at the thought, making me feel violently sick. She keeps her eyes trained to the counter, not looking at either of us.

"He was leaving me there with different guys and one of them left the door unlocked so I took my chance. I stole a pair of keys and used their car. They shot at me, only once I think. Then I got caught in traffic so I got out and I ran. Until I got here."

For the next few minutes, she adds in extra details that she forgot the first time while David notes it all down. It breaks my heart to see her like this, vulnerable and scared.