It was Wednesday, when Fernando received a phone call from Alice. He had no intentions of picking it up, as they had not left on the best of terms, after he had cancelled her involvement in tomorrow's karting event. But perhaps he owed her an apology, at the very least. "Alice... hello?"
"Fernando... I need your help," her voice was very low and rough.
He had rarely heard her voice like that, but the memory of it gave him the strangest feeling, "What is the matter?"
"Can you come?"
"Alice, I am in Spain. I have the karting event tomorrow." He couldn't just drop everything, but hearing her explicitly ask for his help in that tone, made him want to.
Her voice was shaking, "Okay. I'm sorry. Please, just forget it. Bye."
"No, Alice, wait! What is wrong?"
She was still very quiet, not exactly whispering but rather strained, "William came by again."
"Are you okay? ... Alice? Alice?", his concern skyrocketed, knowing what that bastard had done to her before.
Her voice cracked as it sounded like she was holding back tears, "I don't know..."
"Where is Sebastian?"
It sounded like she had to push every word out of her throat, "Milton Keynes..."
"Alice. I will be there as fast as I can."
A few of hours later, Fernando arrived at her front door. In a rush, he didn't bother knocking but just grabbed the handle of an unlocked door and walked straight in. Continuing his rush, his eyes searched through each room until he found her on the floor of the bedroom, covered in blood. Her eyes were closed but she was not passed out as they went open the second his hand touched her and she jumped, but her eyes were still distant.
"Alice. Alice, what happened?", he rapidly examined her body, "Are you injured? Where did he hurt you?", looking to stop the blood.
"It's not my blood."
"What?"
"It's not my blood," her head fell to the side and his eyes followed her direction, finally noticing a body lying across the room.
He saw the little knife in her hand, her knuckles were white from the tightness of her grip, and he grabbed a shirt from the drawer on the floor, wrapping her hand in it to tangle the knife free of her fingers, until he could pulls it loose. Hiding behind the knife was a rather large cut in her palm, so not all the blood was indeed his. He grabbed another shirt and tied it around her hand.
"Alice, come," he tried pulling at her arms to get her off the floor, but she was sat still as a rock and instead lifted her up in his arms, "Let's get you cleaned up."
He went with her to the bathroom and put her in the bathtub, turning on the warm water for her, as is turned pink by the blood on her shirt. "I need your shirt, it's covered in blood. I need to burn it." She didn't react. "Alice, please," he gave a cheek a slight smack but she was completely checked out, her eyes didn't even react. He went to the cabinet and grabbed a scissor, sat down on the edge of the bathtub and pulled at her shirt, "Alice, I'm sorry, I have to get your shirt off, it's drenched in his blood."
Just as he was about to cut the fabric off her, she grabbed the scissor and tried to wrestle it from his hand, "I'm going to cut his dick off!", trying to leave the bathtub with the scissor.
"No, stop!", he pressed her back down by her shoulders, "There isn't time for that! You need to wash, we need to clean this mess up before anyone finds out!"
She let go of the scissor and sat back down, pulling the shirt over her head and handed it to him, sitting naked in the bathtub with her knees covering her chest.
"Where are your underwear?" She had been at least half-naked this whole time.
She began rubbing the hot water slowly over her arms, seemingly more calm and returned, "In the living room."
Going for the search of her underwear in the living room, he found them near the kitchen, lying near a smear of blood. Not just on the floor, there was blood on the kitchen table as well. He found some cleaning supplies in the kitchen counter and did his best to clean it up, just as the front door went open and a police officer walked through.
"Who are you?", the police officer commanded.
"A friend. Is there a problem, officer?"
The police officer walked up to him and noticed the blood he had attempted to clean up, "Hands where I can see them. Turn around." A few seconds later, Fernando found himself handcuffed and unable to think of a reasonable explanation to get out of the situation, but mostly he was concerned about what was coming next for the police officer to see in the bedroom.
"Alice? Alice? What did you do to her?", he forcefully grabbed Fernando by the arm.
"Do you know her?"
"I am a friend," pulling Fernando with him through the house, "Where is she?"
"In the bathroom."
The police officer knew the way, dragging Fernando with him and didn't let go until they reached the bathroom, just walking straight through it and not noticing the body lying face down in the bedroom. And then he saw Alice sat in the bathtub, quietly washing herself in the pink water.
"What happened to her?"
The police officer was going to find out eventually, so Fernando suggested out to the bedroom, and he turned to see his colleague on the floor. He put his palm to his forehead, stroking his eyebrows for a moment before uncuffing Fernando.
"Alright. You are going to tell me what happened," pointing at the bed for Fernando to sit down.
Thinking for a moment where to start, he realised he didn't know where it began, "Truth is; I don't know what happened. I came to find the place like this. I know Alice, so I can guess what happened. If you know her and your friend over there, maybe you can guess too."
"A neighbour called in about a possible disturbance. I just came here from talking to the lady. She didn't have much information to offer, but her worries were enough for me to be suspicious about the scum still not leaving Alice alone... after everything he put her through, he still couldn't leave her alone," shaking his head.
There was a hint of being apologetic, but it wasn't enough for Fernando, "You knew and you didn't do anything?"
"I'm going to now."
He went back to the bathroom with Fernando right at his heels, and as Alice saw him, she covered herself up, "Liam?!", looking back and forth between the police officer... this 'Liam', and Fernando. She was seemingly shaken by his presence.
"Alice, you need to leave!", his voice was slightly raised and she was startled, making Fernando cut in between.
"Hey, easy!", sitting himself by the bathtub, putting his hand on her cheek, "Alice, is there a place you can stay while we take care of things?"
Her eyes went around her head a bit before a thought appeared, "Betty. My neighbour."
They let her sit for a moment, and Fernando went to get a bathrobe for her, before helping her out of the bathtub. She had gotten the blood properly off her and washed it down the drain with the rest of the water.
She walked slowly with him to the bedroom where Liam was waiting, and Fernando found some clothes for her to bring with her to Betty's house. As he handed it to her, she instead walked over to William on the floor and gave him a massive kick in his ribs, making him groan, and both Fernando and Liam rushed to his side. Liam first, he checked his pulse, "I thought he was dead!"
"So did I!", Fernando went back to Alice, who had covered her mouth in the shock.
Liam held William's body down and commanded at them, "Alright, get her out of here, now!"
Fernando put his arm around Alice, and ran with her to the front door. Her legs were so unsteady underneath, it almost felt faster to carry her.
"Alice. You need to pull yourself together, okay? We need to cross the street without raising suspicions, you need to look sound. Can you do that? One step at a time."
She nodded and they ventured outside together. He kept his arm around her and she guided him to Betty's house.
"I think... it will be best... if I knock...", her voice was shaky and she fought to get the words out. She moved in front of him by the door and knocked.
The door was answered by an elderly woman, who put her arms around Alice, making her wince, "Alice, are you alright? I was worried," she gave Fernando a look up and down.
"This is my friend... uhm, can I stay here for a bit?", Alice was avoiding eye contact, it looked as if she was shy but felt more like she was hiding.
"Of couse, come on in. Oh, you must be freezing in that bathrobe, hurry on inside, dear," she rubbed Alice's shoulder comforting.
Alice wrapped herself in her arms, "Is Jakob home?"
"Yes, he's by the TV," Betty put her hand on Alice's cheeks, seemingly noticing the red handmarks on her face, "Do you need help?"
"I think so," her voice lower than a pin dropping.
"Why don't you wait in his office down the hallway, and I'll go get him."
Following her instructions, they went to Jakob's office, which looked more like a doctor's examination room.
Alice moved to remove her bathrobe and Fernando handed her the clothes he had brought, before quickly swirling around to give her some privacy to get dressed.
Betty entered with Jakob shortly after, holding some steaming mugs in her hands, "I assumed you would rather have some hot chocolate than tea?"
"Thank you." Alice took the mug and held it close to her chest by both hands, using it to warm herself rather than drink it.
Jakob sat down across from her, "What can I do for you, Alice?"
"Uhm...," she placed the mug on the table and hesitated for a moment before getting up from the chair, "My ribs hurt," suggesting to the specific area. She reached her hand forward to him and removed the shirt covering the cut, "My hand..."
He quickly interrupted her, "That is going to need stitches. And you need a new bandage for the stitches on your head. Now, will it be okay if I have a look at your ribs?"
She slowly pulled up her shirt and revealed her wounded body. Betty covered her mouth, shocked from looking at the pale skin bruised and battered. Fernando as well, could feel her pain inside, looking at her so damaged, all he could think about was that she should have killed him when she had the chance.
"Alice... I called the police earlier, did you talk to them? Shall we call them again? Who did this to you, dear?", Betty was rushing through her words, sounding more scared than Alice. Maybe it was too much for Alice to go through, as she just shook her head and frowned.
Fernando felt he had to step in to not cause Alice to strain herself from explanations, "There is a police officer at the house right now. I should probably go back to check in, will you be okay here?", she nodded, "Then I will come back and get you later." He kissed her on the cheek and walked out as Jakob began examining her injured ribs.
As Fernando reached Alice's house, there was another car parked next to Liam's police car. Again, he walked straight in and to the bedroom, to find William cuffed and Liam standing by him with a woman by his side.
"This is Anderson," Liam threw his neck at the woman, "She's gonna help us out."
"Fernando," he shook her hand. Clearly another police officer, albeit not in uniform, they were colleagues of William — and these were the people he was supposed to trust with Alice's life?
William had been gagged and tied with duct tape, they had covered his body in some as well, and Fernando looked their work over, using the tape as bandage on the cuts.
"So, the bastard passed out, but he only got cut across the collarbone and stabbed in the ribs. Lucky piece of shit," Anderson snarked at him, resisting the urge to punch him just as much as Fernando wanted to, after seeing what he had done to Alice.
"We came up with an agreement, right?", Liam stared at the aforementioned piece of shit, "He's not going to say anything. And why?", he ripped the tape off William's mouth, and William continued the agreement, "Be cause then I will never see my son again."
Anderson followed up, "And then we won't report what he did to her."
Fernando grabbed the tape and put it back over William's mouth, and pulled Liam and Anderson to the side, "You are negotiating with this maniac?! Why can't you just arrest him? It was self defence! He deserves to rot," almost turning back to spit on him.
Liam crossed his arms with an attitude of stating the obvious, "We would have to arrest Alice as well, do you want to put her through that?"
"I have seen this before," Anderson keeping her voice low and outside William's reach, "Abuse that only gets worse and worse until it is too late. Now imagine if the abuser is a police officer. Evidence gets 'lost', accidents happen and then suddenly... the victim is deceased." She was very firm but underlined a tone of empathy, "You want my advice, you are going to get Alice out of here and as far away from him as possible. Somewhere he can't reach her, somewhere he can't find her."
Fernando nodded, "I'll see what I can do."
They got the blood around the house cleaned up, and Liam and Anderson took William to the hospital under the guise that he got mugged. It was probably for the best that they did not leave Fernando alone with him or he would have finished the job. Now he just needed to take care of Alice.
He went back to Betty and Jakob, they had gotten her stitched up, but there was still some concern about her ribs, "She needs to go to the hospital, I can't do more for her, I'm positive she has some fractures."
"I am taking her home with me, then I can get her to the best hospital. Is that soon enough or is it an emergency? Does she have to go right now?", Fernando was watching Alice's reaction but she was giving none.
It looked difficult for Jakob to not call an ambulance for her straight away, but from the concern felt from Betty, he presumably knew there was something else at stake, "The broken ribs could puncture her lungs. You would need to hurry."
"I have a private plane wating, there will be no delay."
Jakob grabbed some pills from a cabinet and handed them to Alice, "Take these." She swallowed them quickly with the hot chocolate that was probably just chocolate milk by now. "Those are the strongest painkillers I can give her, but you really need to get her checked at a hospital."
Fernando helped Alice up from her chair, she was feeling rather frail, "Let's go."
She freed herself from his helping hand and walked over to Betty, wrapping her arms around her, "Thank you for everything." She held her while tears were running down her cheeks. "You are lovely people. Thank you." Alice let go and walked away before she couldn't let go of some of the comfort she had known in her life. Fernando shook both their hands and walked a limping Alice back to the house.
The cars in the driveway had long disappeared, but Alice still looked a bit around inside the house, before Fernando helped her sit down gently on the couch. "It's good that you have already packed. Will you need more before we leave?"
"My camera...," she winced from her ribs, "My camera bag." As if she was going anywhere without her camera.
"Where is it?"
"Sebastian's office...," she grabbed his arm before he could walk off, "Fernando... where are we going?"
"Alice," he sat down in the couch next to her and took her hands, "Do you trust me?"
"What do you mean?...", her voice still raw.
He enunciated every word for her, "Do you trust me?"
"Of course," she nodded repeatedly.
"Then we have to leave."
She sounded on the verge of tears again, "Why?"
"Don't worry. I will take care of everything," he touched her cheek softly to comfort her.
"But Sebastian... I don't want to leave..."
"You have to!", he had raised his voice and made her jump, lowering his tone immediately again, "Alright, look. If you want to stay, of course you can stay. But I don't know what is going to happen and I can't protect you. If you want to stay here with Sebastian, then I can't help you. What do you think they are going to do to you when they find out what you have done? You don't think that will have an impact on Sebastian as well? If you want my help, you have to do as I say, or else I am leaving and you will be on your own." It was a big ultimatum he had put to her, but she needed to make a decision now and looked to be running it back through her mind.
"I don't want to cause trouble for Sebastian... if he won't know... he won't be impacted by what I have done? I don't want him in trouble... so he shouldn't be involved...", she wasn't asking a question, but her voice went high as if she were. Maybe she was asking herself the question to decide what to do.
He took her hands again, holding a bit tighter, to state it firmly and not pleading, "Then do as I say."
"Can I write him a letter? I... I want to say goodbye," her voice finally broke and so did she.
He grabbed some paper and a pen from the couch table and placed it on her thighs, "Hurry up. We need to leave and you need to get to a hospital."
Fernando went to grab her camera bag, but stayed back in Sebastian's office for a moment to give her some privacy to write the letter. Sebastian had some photos of Alice placed on his desk. She looked happy. Was that what she looked like when she was in love? She would never look at him like that, but he couldn't abandon her when she was in need of his help, to save himself from his own selfish heartache.
He returned to her, her eyes teary. She handed him the letter and he placed it on the kitchen counter for Sebastian to find. Her body felt reluctant to pull itself out of the house, or rather away from being close to Sebastian. Fernando had to help her every step of the way, even putting the seatbelt around her seemed to cause her pain, but she never said anything, she seemed completely helpless and hopeless. She hadn't felt this quiet since... the last time.
Fernando got Alice on the plane, and the flight attendants knew better than to ask questions. She managed to rest a bit on the plane, as he sat next to her and held her hand.
At home in Spain, he got her checked into a private hospital without any objections from her. He had to leave for the karting event, he didn't want to leave her alone with strangers, but he had no other choice. Her mind didn't seem to be completely there anymore either, maybe she wouldn't even notice he was gone. And how long would it take for her to snap back, he wouldn't be able to take care of her forever, if she never did return to her own self.
Trauma was probably always going to be a part of her, it was just going to be a question of to which lenghts, how much she was going to recover. She had been hiding for so long and now the cup ran over, now she had been pushed so far she had to act in self defence, and even then it wasn't enough. She had to leave everything and everyone behind to protect herself.