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I close my eyes and try to block out everything, but it’s impossible, because every time I do, I see this faceless man forcing himself on the woman I love. I see him hurting her, taking her in ways that clearly hurt her. I just don’t understand men that get off on hurting women like that. I’d love to live in their heads for a few days just to see what makes them tick. I’d love to invent some gadget that picks up weird traits in a person. I think I’d lock them all in one cell and throw away the key, saving innocent people from the heartache and misery they endure. Let’s face it, it would save everyone a whole lot of pain.
My phone rings and I know it's Clay before I even pick it up. He'll be finished for the night and checking in.
"Hey," I answer.
"How are things going?"
"It's going. That's all I can say tonight." I sigh.
"I've left Aria's clothes and stuff on your porch. I didn't want to knock because the house was in darkness."
I’m the brains of this trio, but I forgot all about Clay saying he was going to stop by tonight. I can’t even remember what I did this afternoon. It’s like my brain is shutting down. I can’t think clearly at all.
"Thanks, bro. Aria's in bed. I'm working on the laptop in my room. I'm going to call it a night soon. How did it go tonight?"
"Mike said same old shit. No hiccups, and the princess is back in her abode. Get some sleep. I'll speak with you in the morning."
"Night." I hang up and throw the cell down on the bed. I don’t want to think about work. I know Clay and Chris are more than capable of running things in my absence. We’ve become a good team over the years. What one of us lacks, the others make up for.
A light knock on the door makes me sit up. It was so quiet I nearly missed it. "Come in."
Aria leans against my doorframe, looking worn out. "I saw the light under your door."
"Are you okay?"
She shrugs.
"Come and lie down." I move my work off the bed and wait for her to join me. She looks at the bed warily, but I leave her to find her own bearings. She hasn’t been in here yet. When I showed her to her room, she was exhausted. I said we would have the guided tour in the morning.
We used to spend hours talking throughout the night when we had sleepovers as kids. I have a lot of fond memories of Aria and me. We used to put the world to rights, talking about school, the cool kids, and what we wanted to do with our lives. It's just a pity that must be jaded because of this shit storm.
“Your room is very…”
“Different,” I finish for her.
“I was going to say grown-up.” She smiles.
Aria settles down on the bed and lies on her side to face me. I see the pain cross her face as she winces. I lie on my side and watch her closely.
“Have you had pain meds?”
She nods. “Not that it helps much.”
I move the hair out of her face and run my hand through her silky locks. "What's going through that head of yours, honey?"
"Too much. I just want one night for everything to stop. One night to forget. I’m not asking for much, am I?"
I have a thought. "Tell me about your travels. I've missed out on so much of your life. Help me get to know you again."
Maybe if she’s distracted for a while it will stop her from overthinking things.
"I worked a lot in orphanages, in places like Kenya, Africa, India... amongst many more. I came home to finally settle down into early education. Well, that didn't work out. What about you? What changed to get you out of the police force? I thought you would have been there until you retired."
I smirk, because ten years ago I probably would have thought the same thing.
"I made my way up the ranks to detective. I worked amongst major crimes, kidnap, murder, rape..." Shit! I want to slap myself for being so stupid. "The detective you met, Al, he was my partner. We went through the academy together. I think when you get to a certain point in that line of duty you need a change before it buries you. Clay got out of the army and brought up this idea. Chris and I didn't need to think about it for too long, and here we are now. We still work some difficult cases, but we get to pick and choose what. Regular hours. More sleep." I smile awkwardly.
"I feel safe here, with you both being around. I... in that hospital, I had this constant worry that someone could imitate a doctor and get to me." She closes her eyes at that thought.
