Chapter Forty-Eight
JULIE
They took me away from there. Out of my home. Out of the place I once thought was safe. The woman went with me. She wouldn’t leave my side. She was pretty. I couldn’t focus on anything real. I was cold, so cold, that I couldn’t stop trembling. And dirty. I felt so dirty. I wanted to be clean, but I would never be clean again.
“We’re going to a private clinic, Julie. The Bennetts have arranged everything.”
I stared at the pretty blonde lady. “I like your hair.” I whispered dumbly, and she frowned.
“Julie, you’re going to be okay, I promise.”
I pulled the blanket tighter around me, feeling the cold filling me, like I’d never be warm again.
“He hurt me.”
She nodded, taking my other hand, and squeezing it. “I know, babe. But he’s never going to do that again. You’re safe now.”
“Where’s Adam?” I hadn’t seen him since he came in. He saved me. Adam saved me.
She kept my hand. Why did she keep my hand?
“Marco will bring him, Julie. Just focus on that okay? He’ll be there, waiting for you.”
“He hurt me.” I whispered again. I could still feel him. His touch. His… his body. The tears started again, but it didn’t feel like I was the one crying them. They were just pouring out of my eyes, and they wouldn’t stop. Why won’t they stop?
The doors to the back of the ambulance suddenly opened, and I jumped. I hadn’t even noticed the vehicle had stopped.
“Let’s get you inside.” The man at the door said, and I stared at the woman I’d travelled with. I needed her to understand that I couldn’t let him near me.
“No.” She turned and looked at him. “Jeffrey, we need female staff only.” His face dropped, and he nodded, muttering a curse.
The doors were pushed closed again, and the woman turned to take my hand.
“Who are you?” I finally whispered, and she smiled, just a tiny one.
“I’m Lenore.” The name permeated. It was such an unusual name, that I remembered he’d mentioned her. The monster.
“You’re Lenore? The Lenore?”
She shrugged. “I’m here to help, Julie. Let me help, please.”
“He mentioned your name.”
She nodded. “I knew him. I never knew he was capable of this. He always seemed so… I don’t know… fatherly.”
I shuddered then, the blanket suddenly not enough to keep the chill out of my body.
“He’s a monster.”
Lenore smirked suddenly. “Dead monster.”
I blinked at her. “Huh?”
The doors opened again, and two women stood there. They both looked solemn, and spoke quietly and calmly, like they didn’t want to scare me. I let them take me into the posh clinic in a wheelchair, and on to a private room.
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ADAM