by Bella Lamour
Her questions, however, went to the back of her mind when she made her way down to the kitchen and saw the veritable smorgasbord that was laid out.
“You're up. Good. It's not healthy to sleep the day away. Eat up. Xavier tells me you've dropped weight since you came into his care.”
Yuki sat at the table, eyes wide at the waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, coffee and glass of water already set for her. “I have?”
“Don't worry. It's common after a trauma for weight to fluctuate rather wildly. Between comfort eating, being unable to eat at all because of night terrors, and the stress putting your body into survival mode, it's almost to ask someone who's recovering to try to keep a responsible diet. So I'll be doing that for you. All you have to do is eat when you can, and tell me when you can't.”
“You know a lot about this,” Yuki said, picking up her silverware to dig into the delicious food. During her first week after the...event... she hadn't been able to choke down anything other than the meal replacement drinks the nurses brought her. Anything else made her stomach churn so violently, she thought she was going to pass out. She had gotten much better about it, but she hadn't realized that it had made her lose enough weight for Detective White to notice.
“Forty years on the job. You have to learn something if you want to be any good.”
“And you were good?”
“I helped my fair share of people. Ruined the days of a lot of bad people. Now stop with the talking and get to eating.”
She was already on that, cutting through the tantalizingly crisp waffle encompassing most of her plate. Within seconds, it was in her mouth and she was in heaven. She didn't have a lot of things going for her, but in this moment, she had fluffy, warm, sugary carbs filling her with comfort. And that was a nice change.
McAnany finally sat across from her, and Yuki noted that his plate was loaded up with two waffles, three over-hard eggs, and a sizable pile of bacon. She eyed him warily. He was so thin and grandpa like, she wondered where he was planning to put all of it.
“Something wrong, Miss Kobayashi?”
“Uh, no. I just, uh, that's a lot of food.”
“I'm hungry.”
“Oh. That makes sense.” She cut off her staring and returned back to her food. It was too delicious to waste time talking anyways.
Sure enough, when she finished, she was full to bursting, and the satisfied feeling was taking the edge off the raw void within her. Somehow, McAnany had finished before her, and was already up and washing his dishes. Yuki slowly sipped at her coffee, before setting her plates beside him on the counter.
“May I help?”
“No, that's fine. I've been the master of this kitchen for ten years now, I'm used to taking care of things on my own.”
“Are you sure? I don't mind helping.”
“It's fine. What I need you to do is pick out your hobbies.”
“Hobbies? What?”
He turned and gave her a serious look. “You're about to be stuck in the house of a crotchety old man for who knows how long. Xavier tells me you're the brainy type, so you're going to go crazy if you just sit around stagnant. Most likely aggravate your PTSD as well. So you need to learn some new things. There's a sewing machine in the closet upstairs if you think you want to pick that up. Gardening in the back. Cooking, if you warn me ahead of time. Maybe martial arts if being physical helps, I can always clean out the study. I never use it anyways.”
Yuki was amazed at the amount of thought that he had put into what was essentially a strange girl dumped into his life. “I-I'm sure that I'll be fine-”
“I wasn't asking you. I was telling you. Xavier wants to hide you away here, that's fine. But that means you're in my care.
And that means you get some hobbies to keep your mind active, and set goals for yourself. You obviously don't have to start today, but I would recommend starting researching. See if there's anything interesting out there. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Nothing. Just wondering how much different my life would be if even half of the people down at the police station were like you.”
“Sorry, only had time to train one good one. And he's the one who brought you here.” The older man finished the last plate and wiped his hands. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to mow the lawn in the back. The wifi password is on a note on the fridge. Please stay off my desktop unless it's an emergency.”
“Oh, I have my own laptop.”
“I thought as much from a future doctor. You probably had homework coming out of the ears. If you need anything, or if being alone is too much, just give a holler. I'll be in the back.”
“Alright.”
He strode towards the back door before turning back to her, his bushy eyebrows drawn in a concerned expression. “And by holler, I don't mean scream. I mean come get me.”
“Yeah, I figured that.”
“Good. Carry on.”
And then he was the out the door, leaving Yuki to her own devices. Well...she guessed she had some research to do. Her mother had always wanted her to learn origami or calligraphy and those would help keep her hand muscles in shape since she couldn't exactly go and practice on cadavers down in the lab.
She grabbed the note off the fridge and headed back up to her new room. She wasn't sure how McAnany knew so much, but she was willing to believe him that this was the best for her. After all, it wasn't like she had anything better to do.
Buck had made sure of that.
“Oh, Xavier dropped off some paperwork for you.” McAnany called when she was only a couple of stairs up. “Something about college?”
“It’s my medical leave package. I…I kinda don’t want to deal with it.”
“If it’s about your schooling, it’s best to treat it like a band aid and rip it off so you can focus on your healing. Once last thing to worry at your mind. It’s on the mantle if you want to grab it and take it up to your room.”
She looked to the stack of papers, then to the top of the stairs. She was sorely tempted to just retreat to her new haven, but he was right. The sooner she got the paperwork done, the sooner they could process her leave.
She stepped back down to the ground, grabbed the neatly stapled stack, then retreated back to her room.
Her vision was blurry as she perused the first page. It wasn’t until the second paragraph that she realized it was tears pooling at the edge of her vision.
Sighing, she rubbed at her eyes angrily. This was so stupid. She couldn’t even get paperwork done without blubbering like some baby. It wasn’t like she was in any shape to go to school anyways, so why was she acting like this was such a tragedy? If she tried to force herself, the anxiety was going to make her gpa drop. And then she would never be a surgeon.
Granted, not that she was going to be one now unless her hand healed property. Buck might have managed to even steal her future too.
She didn’t have an answer to that and she flopped backwards onto the mattress. How was she ever going to be whole again?
*
Every 107 seconds, another sexual assault occurs
“I think Detective White just pulled up!” Yuki called.
“What's that?” McAnany called from where he was getting himself a beer from the kitchen.
“I said, I think Detective White just pulled up, you old man!”
She had been at her new accommodations for a little over a week, and she and the retired Detective had slipped into a teasing sort of cohabitation. He was grumpy, and she knew nothing. He was dying and she was a baby. Despite how it may have sounded, it was quite fun and she trusted him entirely. She felt safer than she had since she left the hospital.
“I'll get the door then, you spoiled brat.”
She laughed, and closed her laptop. Xavier visited about every other night, and she enjoyed the dinners they would have together before he would inevitably pass out from exhaustion on the couch. He was working so hard, and all for her. She would never forget it.
<
br /> “Dammit, White, what happened?”
That sent alarm shooting through the woman, and she was on her feet and moving before her brain could process exactly what was going on. She reached the door and nearly gasped. There stood Xavier, but he had a busted lip, and one of his eyes were swollen shut. It looked like his eyebrow had been bleeding as well, but there was tissue stuck to wound.
“Just let me in. I'll explain.”
They moved aside and he staggered to the couch, where he sank with a pained sigh. Yuki was willing to bet from his stance and how he was holding himself that he was nursing several other impact injuries under his coat. Judging from the points that seemed to be troubling him the most, she had definitely been hit with something hard, and knocked into something even harder.
It took everything in her not to swarm him to triage his injuries and make sure he was alright. But she knew that was the last thing her Detective friend and guardian would want, so instead she excused herself to the kitchen to grab ice packs and a glass of water.
“Here you are,” She stated calmly when she returned, handing him the items.
“You're dealing with this rather well.”
“That's because she knows you must be a bloody idiot! What happened? Why did you come in here like a half dead corpse?” That was McAnany, of course, as he crossed over to his favorite armchair. Yuki folded herself into a sitting position on the floor, watching the two men.
“Please, you've seen me take a lot worse. Old age has made you over dramatic.”
“And your incompetence has gotten you nearly killed again! What happened?”
“I was jumped walking to my car from the station.”
“The station?”
Xavier nodded. “I stayed late to talk to one of the lawyers on our side who's trying to pressure them into making a mistake.
Before I knew it, there were seven of them surrounding me.”
“At the precinct! At the precinct! These guys are spitting on justice!”
“I called for backup. It never came. I realized someone was jamming my channel. So I got in my car and drove to the impound lot. Had one of the deputies on guard there drive it back to the lot, and commandeered another car.”
“Not bad. That should have thrown them off you're trail if they were following you.”
“I thought so. Drove to another car place, rented from them, and then I came here.”
“You really should have sought medical attention.” Yuki interrupted.
“I've had worst and been fine.”
“These cretins have their hands so entrenched in our city that they were able to attack an officer of the law in him home turf. What are you going to do? File a complaint? Do you have any proof that could link it back to this trio?”
“Not as of yet. But, I have faith that I can find something. After a night's rest.”
“Well get your ass into the kitchen. The least you can do is shove some food into that beat up mouth of yours so you're ready to fight tomorrow.”
Yuki stayed rooted to the ground as the two men left the room. Buck had gone after a police officer? That was insane. If he wasn't willing to leave even a Detective alone, what hope did she have? It was clear that Buck was never going to give up. He didn't just think he was above the law, he thought he was the law.
She was beginning to get the idea that he wouldn't stop unless he was stopped.
But who on earth could possibly halt the powerful avalanche that was Julian Warbucks?
*
Only twenty six percent of rapes are perpetrated by a stranger.
Yuki didn't want to get out of bed. Detective White had already left at the first crack of dawn to report to his Sergeant, but his assault had sapped the energy from the Asian woman. How was she supposed to get up and keep living when someone so powerful wanted her very, very dead and silent?
“Get up.”
She rolled over to see McAnany standing in the door, his wizened, wrinkled face pulled into a stern glare. “I'm fine.”
“I didn't ask how you were. I said get up. It's past noon and there's no point and rotting in that bed.”
“There's no point in getting out of bed either.”
“Bullshit.” She was startled by the loud swear. “Now come on, I made burgers and spinach salad for lunch. Get up, get your pajama pants on, and come downstairs.”
“Just leave me alone, old man. I need to think.”
“You can think downstairs. Where there's light, and fresh air. This is a bedroom, not a tomb!”
“God, just go downstairs and yell about liberals.”
“Not an option.”
“Why do you care?” Yuki spat, sitting up and throwing a pillow at her tormentor. She was stuck at a crossroads of whether to roll over and die or try to soldier on and his yammering was not helping her in her decision.
“Because I'm not going to stand here and let another girl die because of some monster!”
“...another girl?”
“It's nothing. Just... get out of bed and get downstairs.”
“No.”
“No? This isn't open for negotiation.”
“No, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me exactly what you mean.”
He stood there, glowering at her, but she held her ground. She had lost so much, so so much in the past month. She wasn't about to lose this argument.
“Fine.” He grumbled with a sigh. He stepped into the room for the first time since she had met him, and sat on the corner of the bed facing away from her. “This was never a tenant's room.”
“Who's was it?”
“My daughter.”
His words hung heavy in the air for a long moment. “Your daughter?”
“Yeah. She was a real firecracker. Kinda like you, but with an actual personality.”
She let out a surprised laugh. “I wonder who she got that from.”
“Right? She got her smarts from her mother though, bless her heart. I...I didn't think I would make it when her mother passed away, but my baby helped me through. She was so strong. She was going to law school, and she took an entire semester off to live with me and make sure my sorry ass ate, and got back and forth from work. I was a wreck.”
“She sounds amazing.”
“She was.” Silence fell again, but she didn't rush along his story. He would continue when he was ready. Yuki could feel the pain radiating from him, but surely there had to be a bit of relief as well. Humans were pack animals, they were not designed to keep grief and loss bottled up all to one's self. “And by sheer will, she got my head on straight. She still lived up here, but she decided to go back to school. She would always tell me that I would book the crooks and she would cook 'em in court. I missed her, but I knew she needed to be in school. That girl's mind was always running. But then...”
“Then?”
“One night she didn't come back. I waited up for her. She always texted me when she was going to spend the night at a friends or go out partying. Heck, she made me text her every night before I went to sleep to make sure I did actually try to get in bed.
“I knew something was wrong as soon as I called and her phone and it went to voice mail. I immediately called the police and we started the search.”
“You didn't have to wait forty eight hours or something?”
“That's just a movie myth. You can report a person missing the moment you think they are. The only catch is if they are an adult that hasn't committed any sort of crime, they can request that the police do not inform you when they are found. That really only happens in stalking cases.”
“Did you find her?”
He shook his head. “Not me. Xavier did. He had officers hold me back. She was-was-” His voice broke and although his back was to her, Yuki knew he was shedding bitter tears. They were so close to each other, both sitting on either corner of the small bed, but that space might as well have been a continent. “He found my little baby pants-less, face down in a storm drain. He wrapped her up in h
is coat and we called an ambulance.”
He took a deep steadying breath, but Yuki felt like her throat was squeezing too tight to do the same. The pain, the torture in his voice was just awful.
“It turns out she had been on a date with some well-to-do politician's son. On the ride back to campus, he beat her, knocked her unconscious, violated her, and dumped her out of his car like she was trash. My baby, my little Gwen. She wasn't even human to him.
“I brought her here, and this time it was my turn to take care of her. I tried. I tried so hard. But all she wanted to do was sleep. So I let her. I let her have whatever she wanted. But she wanted nothing. It took me two months to figure out that she wanted to be nothing.
“And that bastard, the smarmy little monster who hurt my baby? His dad flew him to france before we could get out hands on him. Back then, people were even more biased against victims than they are now. If her daddy's a cop, how could this have happened? She must have just regretted it the next morning. She shouldn't have been out so late if she didn't want to get hurt. That's the issue with women attending college. My little girl was wasting away in this room, missing teeth, part of her vision gone because he beat her skull in so violently with a trophy, but no, it must have been her fault. Not some self-entitled rich bastard who thought he was above the rules.”
“I'm sorry,” Yuki murmured. “I'm so, so sorry.”
“So am I. I was stupid then. I still believed in happy endings. I thought I could somehow make her better by filling her world with all the nice things I could get my hands on. A puppy. Flowers. Her childhood friends to visit for talks where she just stared out the window.
“And then, on Saturday, the twentieth of April, at approximately three pm, when I was taking a nap, she snuck into the medicine cabinet and swallowed everything she could. The doctors told me she would have passed out within fifteen minutes. She never woke up.”
