No Rules Here

Chapter Six

Adeline rolled into her side, her eyes fluttering open. That's how it had been most of the night, an hour of sleep followed by an hour of sleeplessness.
She sat up and ran a hand through her tangled hair.
Every morning was the same, she would wake up, sit downstairs and then go back to bed. Same routine. Different day. And everyday she waits for news that her father has been found. But, that news never comes. He is still after her.
Adeline switched clothes, pulling on an oversized set of tracksuit bottoms and an old t-shirt before she moved downstairs.
"We need to find him!" She froze on the staircase at the sound of Jack's raised voice "Addie can't take much more of this! What have you found?" He bit.
"He's a ghost-" Mike started but Jack cut him off.
"That's not what I asked"
"We have a name and a past, but nothing after his arrest. He escaped and disappeared" Sarah told him.
"Fuck. Sorry" he apologized to someone, Adeline guessed it was her mother "She's going crazy. She barely sleeps. She barely eats-" Adeline pushed open the door to the living room, forcing everyone into silence.
"I eat. And I slept better last night" she admitted with a small shrug.
"Did you sleep more than an hour at a time?" Jack studied her.
"Maybe" he gave her a look "An hour at a time through the entire night is better than just sleeping an hour" she shot back earning a shake of his head.
"How are you feeling?" Eleanor asked.
"Better, for the moment. Just hungry"
"I'll make you something" Eleanor moved to get up.
"No mom, I can cook for myself"
"No, I can-"
"Mom, you don't need to compensate with food. I can make myself something, I still love you, you're good" she offered a small smile before she moved into the kitchen.
"Adeline, I hate what he did to you" she froze at her mother's words.
"You don't know what he did to me, mom" she continued making her breakfast, loading bread into the toaster.
"I listened to what you said in court. I know what he did" Adeline avoided her eyes.
"That wasn't everything that he made me do" she admitted, tying the top bread.
"Addie?"
"I only told them about how he made me a woman, not what else...happened"
"What else happened Adeline?" Eleanor asked but the question seemed to bring it all back to her.
The hand stroking down her cheek. The rumpled fabric he threw into the basket. Those childish pink walls.
"Addie?" Jack's voice was close, it startled her back into the present, back to the smell of burning toast.
"Shit" she cursed, popping the burnt toast up, only burning her fingers slightly.
"Where did you go? Where do you go when he comes back to you?" Jack looked down at her, their eyes studying one another's.
"I'm tired, I zoned out" she shrugged, reloading the toaster.
"You could never lie to me Addie"
"What do you want me to say? You want me to tell you I think of that room where he raped me? Those pink walls that remind me of a childhood that I never had. When I'm taken back to him, I go to that room. The bedroom where I lost everything" she went to move when Jack caught her arm.
"You didn't lose everything"
"I lost everything that I knew was certain" She pulled out of his grasp and went back upstairs, the door to her room slamming behind her. Jack ran a hand over his face.
"He wins. Every time she remembers, every time she gets taken back there, he wins. It's not fair" he sighed deeply, popping up the toast, buttered it quickly "I'll try and get her to eat" he grabbed the plate and left the room, his footsteps echoing as he moved upstairs.
"Twenty One years. For more than Twenty years that man has plagued her" Eleanor rose from her seat to meet the eyes of the officers "You end this. Because if you don't, he will"

Jack knocked gently on her bedroom door, the knock bouncing off the walls on the other side of the door.
"Go away Jack" she ordered, but he entered anyway, accepting the glare she gave him as he did.
"Your toast. You left it behind"
"Yeah, I did" she replied sarcastically, but she took the plate from him anyway.
"I got a call this morning, the girls are doing fine, they hate the safehouse of course, but they're safe"
"Good" she muttered through her mouth full. She ate as they sat in silence, she managed to finish the entire plate, placing it to one side before the silence began to feel uncomfortable.
"Will you take me there?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the floor.
"Where?"
"The house where it happened" she met his eyes again.
"Why do you want to go back there?" Adeline looked away and took a breath before she met his eyes again.
"To show you the truth. So that I can remember what he did"
"You don't remember?"
"Not like that. I want to remember who I was before him, and what I wanted to be. I want to remember twelve year old untouched Adeline Thompson. Please, Jack"
"What if it's too much?"
"Then I'll have you to lean on" his look suggested that he was less than willing to take her "Please, Jack. I need this to help me understand who I was before, who I can be" he studied the look on her face and thought for a moment.
"Okay" he nodded. She lay her head on his shoulder and let out a contented sigh.
"Thank you"
"I would do anything for you, Addie. Don't you know that by now?"
"I do. I do" she repeated, letting out another contented sigh.