Mirrors

Chapter Twelve

The next week it was Niall who "psst" her into the restroom.  He had brought a bag of gummy bears and two lollipops, "So the effects will last," he said as they ate a few of the gummies.

"Actually, I kind of have an idea, if you're up for it?" Edie asked.

"Sure.  What is it?"

"Let's play hooky!"

"Okay, I'm down."

So they peaked out the restroom and made a run for the back exit.  By the time they got to the bottom of the fire escape stairs, they were both out of breath.  So they sat down on the ground and finished up their gummy bears.  They sat there quietly waiting for them to kick in.

Once they did, they decided they needed to get some food.  "I haven't done this in so long, I forgot about the munchies. I got home last week and ate nearly everything in my refrigerator," Niall said, standing up from his spot and turning to help her up.  She momentarily hesitated but took his hand in hers to help pull her up.

"I usually don't get the munchies.  But, I am kinda feeling it tonight.  There's a pub around the corner.  I bet we have enough time to get something quick and get back," she said.

"Cool."

They got to the pub, where Edie insisted they sit in a dark booth so as to hide her face.  They ordered their food and then just kind of sat back and enjoyed the feeling. When they got their food, Niall began eating at record speed, even for him.  But he stopped when he noticed Edie looking at her plate and then looking around her.  She was scared to pull her scarf down.

Trying to lighten the sudden mood shift, Niall said, "You can't very well eat with that thing in your way.  But, if you feel exposed we can take this to go?"

She looked at him, shock and fear on her face.  "No, I, uh, guess I should start somewhere, right?"

He watched as she scooted as far into the seat as she could get and slowly pulled down her scarf.  Niall could see why she kept that portion of her face covered.  The portion of her scars she couldn't completely hide weren't all that bad, to be honest.  But the lower section of her face had several deep ones and he was able to better see one that went down across her eye.  Clearly, these scars had something to do with why she was at these meetings.  Someone did something to her and he suddenly felt a desire to hide her; to protect her from the intruding world around them.

Without thinking, he stood up and went to her side of the booth and scooted in before pulling his food to him and continuing to eat.  He hoped his shadow would help hide her some more, to make her more comfortable.

She watched all this in silence but didn't protest or say anything to indicate to him that he made the wrong decision.  She picked up her fork and began to eat.  Niall smiled over a bite of his burger.

When they finished, they walked outside and saw two men getting into a drunken argument.  They stopped and looked over at the two of them.  "What are you two looking at, eh?"

"Nothing, sorry," Niall said before turning to head back in the direction they needed to go.

"Yeah, I'd worry more about who's looking at your girl there.  Phew, buddy." One said, laughing.

He looked over at Edie who looked close to tears.  Niall turned around, "You don't know what you're talking about.  So back off."

"Or what?"

Edie grabbed Niall's arm before he could say anything else, "Let it be, Niall."  He looked at her as she brought more of her scarf across her face.  He nodded.

They walked off as the two men said some awful things to them both but they soon went back to their own argument.  When they got back to the building, they sat on the stoop. 

"I think we need a refresher.  Got that lollipop?" Edie asked.  Niall dug them out of his pocket, handed one to her and opened the other for himself.

They didn't say much while they sat there.  Niall attempted a few of Harry's corny jokes to ease the tension with a few genuine laughs escaping from both of them.

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Edie watched as Niall got up and walked to the edge of the sidewalk.  She had actually had a decent evening.  Probably the best therapy she could've gotten at these meetings.  She took a tiny step towards trusting someone and it seems to have panned out, so far. 

"Niall, I wanted to thank you for sticking up for me tonight and being considerate."

She watched as he took a deep breath before turning back to face her, "You're welcome.  The very least I could do." He paused for a second.  She could tell he was thinking something over in his head.  "Hey, uhh, Edie?" he started as he walked back up to her.

"Yeah?" She said looking at him.

"You know, I know it's not my place, but I really do think---"

Niall didn't finish his sentence.  Just then they heard what sounded like gun shots.  They both turned their heads in the direction of the sound.  But before she knew it, Niall had grabbed her by the arm, pulled her into the alley, and slammed her against the wall, her head hitting the wall, his body landing on top of hers, as they fell to the ground.

She heard what sounded like one more pop but she barely heard it over the sound of screaming.  Who was screaming?  She felt Niall push himself off of her and look down at her.  A look of horror appeared on his face.  He quickly got up and tried to cup her face in his hands but all she saw in front of her was the man who raped her. 

She blinked her eyes as blood trickled down into one.  She thought she felt rain and burrowed herself further into the wall.

"Oh shit, are you okay?  I'm so sorry, I was just—" Niall started to say as he tried to take a look at her but he was stopped as two guys came from around the corner.

"Hey!  What are you doing?!" One of them shouted.  They ran towards him, grabbed him and pulled him away from Edie. She could barely register what was happening in front of her as the two guys began to hit him.  Her vision went back and forth between Niall getting his ass kicked and the vision of her rapist above her.

"Think you're some kind of tough guy trying to rape a woman?"

"I wasn't trying to rape her!  I was trying to keep her safe!" Niall screamed as he tried to guard himself from their blows.

"Whatever, pretty boy." 

Edie just remained there. Frozen.