Her Vigilant Seal

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  Margie placed the food in front of her, and even though she’d been so hungry, she couldn’t seem to bring herself to eat.

  “I’m so sorry about your mama honey. But after she passes you’ll be able to take in Billy and that’ll be a blessing,” Margie said kindly as she patted her shoulder.

  Sophia looked at the icing on the cinnamon roll and felt like she was going to throw up. It was all too much. She didn’t know what she was going to do. As soon as her mother passed away the pension would stop. Sophia needed a job like yesterday, but she couldn’t leave her mom, but no more than a month after she died she wouldn’t have a place to stay.

  Dammit, how had this happened? She’d been going to college, had scholarships, and a part-time internship. She’d even had a boy who she thought loved her. She’d been normal. She’d been making it. It all stopped when her mom needed full-time care. Now she needed to find a job fast. She’d already started to contact local women’s shelters, so she’d have a place to stay until she could afford first and last month’s rent. She didn’t know if she would be able to get a good enough job to be able to pay for an apartment that would pass muster with DCHS, so Billy might have to continue in foster care. What was she going to do?

  “Honey, you have to eat.”

  “Don’t you like my food?” Margie asked as she topped off Frannie’s coffee.

  To Sophia’s absolute horror, Frannie explained Sophia’s circumstances to the owner of the diner. She had no idea Frannie knew every little detail, and here she was gossiping about it. Sophia wanted to crawl underneath the table.

  “I am so sorry to hear that. I remember when my mom died, it damn near broke my heart,” Margie said as she sat down next to Frannie. “But perhaps you could do me a hell of a favor when the time comes.”

  Sophia looked at the older woman in confusion. She was still considering sinking beneath the table, except Frannie was looking at her with love.

  “What kind of favor do you need?” Frannie asked.

  “I need someone to start opening the diner for me. I promised my son I would move in with him and his wife, and stop the early morning openings. I’ve been looking for someone reliable that I could have takeover the apartment above the diner, start the morning baking, and then open.” Margie stopped and turned red in the face.

  “What Margie?” Frannie asked. “What the hell are you doing looking like you swallowed a golf ball? It sounds like a perfect set up for Sophia.”

  “Do you know how to bake?” Margie blurted out. Sophia nodded and Frannie laughed.

  “I used to bake all the time.” Sophia’s eyes lit up.

  “Well all right then. When the time comes, come talk to me and we’ll set it all up.” Margie nodded her head and smiled.

  “Look Margie, I couldn’t possibly. I don’t even know your last name. I haven’t filled out an application. This just isn’t right.” Sophia was appalled the woman was making such a big decision after barely knowing her an hour.

  “It’s right. I believe God sends us who and what we need when we need it. The apartment over the shop probably won’t be good enough to get custody of your brother, but it should be a start to get you back on your feet.”

  “I can’t,” Sophia said, but Margie smiled and left the table.

  “Well that went well,” Frannie said.

  “She can’t possibly be serious,” she said looking at her friend in amazement.

  “Oh, she’s serious.” Frannie chuckled.

  Chapter Three

  Five Months Later…

  Downtown San Diego at three in the morning was scary and Sophia couldn’t imagine how frightening it would be for a twelve year old boy. The police were on the lookout for Billy, but she had to try to find him herself. This was the fourth time he’d run away. Last time he had been found near Encanto Park so she thought looking for him there made sense.

  She’d been walking up and down the streets and checking out the different hidey-holes. Last time she’d found Billy huddled in an alley with a homeless man. He wasn’t in the same place so she looked even further afield. She had brought a flashlight with her and turned it toward the sounds coming from a Mercedes parked on an empty industrial street.

  The back door was open and a man was standing beside it. She heard the sound again and realized it was a girl’s voice crying the word, “No.” As she got closer she saw another man with his pants around his thighs bent over the backseat of the car. It was obvious what he was doing.

  “Come on hurry up, I want my turn,” the man who was standing said. Sophia grabbed her phone out of the front pocket of her hoodie just as the man looked up and saw her.

  “Well hello, nice of you to join the party.” He leered.

  She got the phone unlocked as the man rushed her and batted the phone to the ground. She heard the girl scream again. Ducking her head around the side of the man in front of her she yelled, “Quit hurting her.”

  “She’s on the clock. We paid for her time. She knew what she was getting into.” The man grabbed Sophia by her hair and dragged her over to the car. The girl was sobbing. Sophia screamed for all she was worth. The man backhanded her, and she fell onto the hood of the car hitting her ribs hard against the steel.

  “Look at me, bitch.” Sophia looked at the man who held her hair, he had crooked teeth and an evil smile. “This is nice we each get one.” Sophia opened her mouth to scream again but he put his hands around her neck and started to squeeze.

  “Scream again and I’ll strangle you.” Sophia gasped for air when he let go and he laughed. She heard the girl crying even harder.

  “Please let her go,” Sophia begged. Suddenly the second man was beside the first.

  “What will you do if I stop? Will you cooperate?” He was holding his pants up with one hand and a broken beer bottle in the other. He turned to the man who kept her shoved on to the car. “I like them when they’ll do what I want, and you know the things I want.” He and his friend laughed uproariously.

  “Yes, anything. Just don’t hurt her anymore.” Sophia meant it. She could survive this, just as long as they didn’t hurt the poor girl anymore. The girl was sobbing quietly.

  “Now that sounds like fun. I vote for a little two on one action. I like ‘em willing. The other one might be a pro but she sure isn’t acting like one.”

  Sophia hoped the girl would take this opportunity to run. Sophia forced her hand into the front pocket of her hoodie and pulled out the can of mace. She held up the can of pepper spray and depressed the trigger.

  “Bitch!” The first man screamed as it hit his eyes and the second man grabbed her arm and held it backwards. “On your knees bitch or I’ll break your arm.” Out of the corner of her eye she finally saw the girl scrambling away. Thank God.

  She was pushed down to the ground and two sets of hands worked to pull her hoodie over her head. The second man used the jagged edges of the beer bottle to cut her bra off. Sophia kept kicking, until one of the two men sat on her legs.

  “Give me the bottle,” the first man said. “She needs to pay,” he said as he rubbed at his streaming eyes. He held his hand over her mouth, and then pressed the tip of the bottle into her flesh cutting a line down her shoulder.

  “There, that won’t interfere with the good parts.” He laughed. Fire burst down her arm from her shoulder. She felt blood pulsing from the cut, hurting with each heartbeat.

  “Pay attention. We’re going to teach you some tricks.” Evil gleamed in his eyes.

  Her breasts were groped and twisted. Then she heard a girl yell, “Over there, please mister, you’ve got to help her.”

  The man holding her turned around at the sound of the other girl’s loud voice. Distracted, he let go of her mouth and Sophia screamed at the top of her lungs. A fist slammed into the side of her head and face. She saw a shadow above the two men. Oh God, not a third one. And then she heard one of the two men screech as he was pulled off of her.

 
; “Use my phone and call 911,” the shadow yelled to the girl.

  That was the last thing Sophia heard as pain engulfed her.

  ****

  “Ah hell, it’s Sophia,” the cop said as he crouched next to the woman in Mason’s arms.

  “How do you know her?” Mason’s head jerked up and he eyed the cop.

  “She’s been looking for her brother again. He keeps running away from his foster home. She’s been searching for him the last four nights. I told her it wasn’t safe.” Mason looked down at the unconscious woman and agreed with the patrolman’s assessment.

  “How much longer before the ambulance arrives?” Mason clipped out the question.

  “How bad is she? What happened?” The cop nodded to where Mason’s jacket was covering Sophia’s torso.

  “They just got her top off, but they cut her pretty badly on the arm. I’ve got her bandaged and most of the bleeding stopped. She’s going to need a shit-load of stitches. What’s the ETA on the ambulance?” Mason shifted her gently as he again gave the cop a penetrating stare.

  “It’s about fifteen more minutes. There was a bad pile-up on the Five Freeway with fatalities. You did good work tonight. You military?” the cop asked as he assessed Mason.

  “SEAL.”

  “I was Navy too,” the cop said. “You okay with her while I work on getting these two assholes taken care of?” The cop nodded towards the two thugs who were sitting handcuffed in the alley and being looked after by his partner.

  “I’ve got her.” Mason looked down at Sophia again ensuring she was okay. “What about the girl who made the call?”

  “What girl?” the cop asked.

  Mason looked around and realized the girl and his phone were long gone.

  “There was another girl who looked like she’d been beaten too. She got me to come over here to help.” Mason gave the information like he was reporting to his commander.

  “She must have taken off after she called for help,” the officer said.

  “Oh no,” came the soft words. Mason looked down and saw green eyes clouded with worry looking up at him.

  “What? Did you say something Sophia?” he asked.

  “The girl is gone? She’s hurt.” It was hard to understand her through her bruised mouth.

  “Settle honey, you’re hurt. You need to stay calm and rest until the ambulance comes.” Mason watched as she struggled to get up, and then cried out in pain. She collapsed against him. Fuck, it had to be her shoulder. He’d already taken off his shirt and used it as a bandage and a tourniquet earlier. He eased back the leather jacket that he had placed over her to see if it had come loose.

  “Don’t move again, okay Sophia.” God, when will the ambulance get here?

  “You’ve got to find the girl I think they cut her too. I’ve got to get up, I need to look for Billy. Please don’t hold me down. I need to get up, let me up,” she damn near screamed the last few words. Mason realized she was delirious. The cop looked over at him and he shook his head.

  “Sophia, my name is Mason. We’re going to get you to the hospital. Do you understand me, honey?” He waited to see if she was tracking. She finally nodded. “Good, after they’re done taking care of you, you can come look for Billy again.” She relaxed a little, and he relaxed a little as well.

  “And the girl? Can I look for the girl too?” she begged him with big eyes.

  “Yes, you can look for the girl too.” He stroked the hair from her forehead.

  “Do you promise Mason?” She tried to lift her arm to grab the front of his jacket and let out a small shriek of pain. “Why does it hurt?” He saw her start to tremble and wrapped his jacket closer around her ensuring it was snug so she couldn’t move her arms any longer.

  “Are you warm now?”

  “Yes. Will I be able to go to work and then look for Billy tomorrow?” It took a moment for him to understand her, and when he did it took him a few seconds to formulate a response other than ‘Hell No’.

  “I think you’re going to be in the hospital for at least a couple of days.”

  “No, I hate hospitals, don’t make me go to the hospital.” He watched as tears dripped down her temples into her silky blonde hair.

  “Honey, you have to go you’ve been injured. A doctor has to help you.” She was trembling so bad he was worried she was going into shock.

  “I can’t afford a hospital. Can you take me home?” God, she was breaking his heart.

  “Let’s see what the doctor says first.”

  Mason heard the siren and Sophia must have heard it too. Somehow she pushed off the heavy leather coat. “No, no ambulance, no hospital. I have to find Billy.” She tried getting up one last time and groaned as she put pressure on her cut shoulder.

  “You’ve got to stay still.” He couldn’t believe the compassion this woman had, here she was bleeding and bruised, almost raped, and her entire concern was for her brother and the other girl. She was beautiful inside and out.

  Just then she gripped her head where he saw a large bruise and lump forming. He saw her green eyes begin to glaze over. “Honey, stay with me.” He brushed his fingers tenderly along her cheek willing her to stay awake.

  “Mason’s a nice name,” her words were slurred.

  Just as the EMTs arrived she passed out.

  Chapter Four

  A second patrol car picked up the two perps. Mason asked the cop who knew Sophia if he could catch a ride with him to the hospital.

  “Sure. Stan already took your statement?” Mason nodded. “You just want to check on Sophia, right?”

  “Yeah. I’d drive myself, but my car is over at my house in Lincoln Park. I was out for a walk.”

  “What the hell are you doing walking in this neighborhood?” Officer Duffy asked giving him an incredulous look. Mason rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Look. You and I both know there are a lot of homeless vets out here. I bring them some sandwiches on some nights when I can’t sleep. Sometimes I talk to them.” Duffy didn’t say anything for a while, just looked at him and finally nodded.

  “Lucky for Sophia.” He clapped Mason on his shoulder. “Yeah, I’ll drive you over.”

  The ER was a mess. Duffy was able to get them into the back where they finally found Sophia in a curtained area. She was holding Mason’s shirt to her shoulder and wearing Mason’s coat. He was wearing a spare T-Shirt the officer had in his duffel bag.

  As soon as they spotted her the cop veered off and went to find someone to see about her treatment. Officer Duffy brought back an intern.

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Anderson, we’ve had some critically injured people come in with the car wreck on the Five Freeway. Let’s get you situated where I can take a look at your wound, shall we?” Mason was liking Duffy more and more.

  “Doc, I’m going to have to ask her some questions,” Duffy said apologetically.

  “After I get her settled,” the doctor said. He shooed Mason and Duffy away, and then a few minutes later opened the curtain. Sophia was lying down. She looked alert but in pain.

  “Who are you?” the doctor asked Mason.

  “I’m her fiancée,” Mason lied easily. Sophia’s eyes fluttered open, but then she closed them again. Officer Duffy went to the head of the bed.

  “Sophia, are you up for answering a couple of questions?” the cop asked her.

  “Doctor Jefferson? We need you STAT,” a nurse called.

  The doctor looked at Sophia, and pulled some gauze and handed it to Mason. “Keep that on her arm and apply steady pressure. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “Officer Duffy?” Sophia whispered.

  “What Sophia.”

  “Get a nurse,” Sophia sounded desperate.

  Duffy looked around, and it was clear everyone was really busy.

  “No one’s available is there anything I can help you with?” he asked kindly.

  “I’m going to be sick.” Duffy found a
pan underneath the bed, and held it up. Sophia tried to grab it, but failed. Mason helped her to lean over and pulled back her hair while she threw up. She fell back weakly against the pillow, and then immediately tried to sit back up.

  “Just lie down,” Duffy insisted.

  “Can’t it’s making the room spin.” Mason found the remote and brought the bed up into a sitting position.

  “Thanks, boyfriend.” She gave a wan smile.

  “Fiancée. You need to get these things right for when the doc gets back.” She took a deep breath in through her mouth.

  “I’m going to go get a fresh pan.” Duffy darted out of the cubicle.

  “Why are you here?” she asked him.

  “I’ve got to hold the gauze.” She arched an eyebrow.

  “To tell you the truth I don’t really know. I had to come.” She looked at him in confusion, like nobody had ever been there for her before. Her next words proved it.

  “Seriously, you didn’t need to. I’ll be fine.” She gave a guilty look to his jacket sitting on the chair in a corner. “I’ll have that dry-cleaned.” Was she out of her mind?

  “Honey, it’s fine.” She reached up and grabbed the gauze.

  “I can hold it you don’t have to.” It was clear she didn’t want to be a bother.

  “I’m your fiancée. What would the doctor think if I left?” She laughed. “But seriously Sophia, I’m fine to do this tonight.”

  Duffy came back with a new clean pan. “So do you feel up for questions?”

  “Not really, I’d prefer to put this out of my mind? Is there Clorox for bad memories?” her voice sounded so forlorn.

  “Ah sweetie, I wish there were.” The cop was one of the good guys.