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“Henry.”
“What?” I ask, confused.
“My cat. I have a cat, Henry. He’s all I have and I'm probably never going to see him again because I'm never getting out of here.” She starts crying.
“Look, I don't know how this is all gonna go, but I promise I'll keep working on my brother and try to figure something out, okay? Just please, in the meantime, don't attack him again.”
“Am I just supposed to let him rape me and not fight back?” she asks incredulously and honestly, I'm not sure how to answer that.
“All I'm saying is, I know it's worse if you fight back.” I learned that lesson at a young age.
With that our conversation ends and I leave her so she can get some sleep.
Sometime in the middle of the night I hear Cole come home. Thankfully he goes straight to his room and I imagine passes out for the rest of the night. Morning arrives and we’re both up getting ready for work, not saying a word to one another. I bring Lana down some food and empty her bucket outside. I could see her embarrassment when I took it.
Cole and I head to work in separate trucks. As the day stretches on, my mind keeps wandering back to Lana, and it's becoming apparent enough that my coworkers are asking me if I’m alright. On the other hand is Cole who has perfected the act of everything being just fine.
I arrive home a little after Cole. I walk in and head to my room but I glance down the other end of the hall and see the basement door open. I walk over to it and listen. Sure enough, I hear the muffled cries and pleas of Lana. I drag a hand down my face.
There's no point in me going down there and starting a fight that’s not gonna change anything. This is how the rest of the week goes. We go to work, Cole gets home and pays Lana a visit, eats and drinks and then usually goes down to the basement one more time before he drifts off to sleep in the old recliner or his bed.
Friday night while he’s down with Lana, I sneak into his room and find Lana’s fanny pack she was wearing that first night we took her. It's just sitting out on top of his bureau. Inside of it I find a phone, ChapStick that smells like watermelon, her ID, keys and mace. Oh how I wish she used the mace that night and got away. I grab what I need and head out for a drive.
I'm back home within two hours. Cole is done in the basement and he’s now asleep in the living room with a near-empty bottle of whiskey next to him. I quietly walk past him and go downstairs.
“Lana?” she quickly wakes from sleep.
Her hair is in a tangled mess with darkness under eyes and half her face still shows traces of the bruise left by Cole fist, as well as new bruises on her arms. There's probably more bruises hiding under the blanket too. I kneel down next to her and hand over what I'm holding.
“Henry!” she squeals. She's full-on sobbing while holding him tight. The cat begins to purr. “Oh my God, thank you Callum! Thank you so much. I was so worried about him.” It's the first time I've seen her smile and my God is it beautiful. I feel my chest warm and tighten.
“No problem. Figured you could use a little company. I brought some of his other stuff to put down here. His litter box, some cat food and I found a couple toys. Sorry I had to go through your place a bit.”
“I can't believe you went to my apartment to get him. Weren’t you worried you could have been seen?”
“Ah, it was late and pretty easy. Besides, it was worth the risk to finally see a smile on your face.”
Lana stares at me with her soft green eyes like I said something outrageous. They begin to fill up with tears again. She looks away and wipes at her eyes.
“Thank you,” she says again, not looking back to me. I stand and leave.
By the end of the weekend Cole had noticed the cat. He gave me shit for it but eventually let it go. It's not like the cat is going to help her escape.
Over the next week, I continue to be the one to bring food and water down to Lana and empty her bucket. We don’t say much to each other and I never stay long. I feel like such an asshole. I might have reunited her with her cat but I'm still one of the bad guys here and I'm sure she sees me that way too.
It's Friday night again and Cole heads out. I wonder if he’s still picking up women out there, fucking them and coming back here and still paying Lana a visit. I shake my head at the thought, disgusted. I walk down to the basement to bring Lana some dinner. She’s sitting on the thin mattress with Henry curled up on her lap, petting him.
“Hey,” I say.
“Hi.”
“How’s he been doing down here?” I ask.
“Probably no better than me. Probably misses home just as I do. At least we have each other I guess.”
She’s looking a bit more down than usual.
“You hungry? It’s ham and cheese,” I say as I hand her the sandwich. She takes it but sets it down.
