CHASE
39

'Miss Corleone, I thoroughly apologise for having to question you under the circumstance but I'm afraid I'm going to need your statement.'

I chose a spot on the table before me and decided to stare at it. The sound of the police Officer's voice was barely reaching me as my mind was under the attack of the many waves of flashing images that I wanted to delete from my memory permanently. I don't think I was even breathing at this point, I was just.. alive.

'Do you need a drink of water before we start?' His voice.. it was agitating me. I wanted it to stop. I wanted everything to stop. I couldn't bare the pulsating pain in my chest anymore, I wondered how long it would take before I became one with the crazy in my head.

My eyes traced over the blood that had dried up on the skin of my hands, his blood. I could still see his pale face before me. No. I mentally groaned. I couldn't find my voice to speak, I couldn't find my words to form. I needed space, was it too much to ask for?

'Miss Corleone.' The Officer cleared his throat, earning himself a lift of my head. I stared at him for a long moment. His dark facial hair covered up his chiseled jaw. Light green eyes and dark brown hair. He looked awfully formal sitting in his chair, staring back at me. I wanted to wrap my hand over his mouth and shut him up. I needed to think. I needed to feel. I was too numb.

'Please work with me.' He spoke out again, fiddling with the files laid out on the table before him. He seemed to be deep in thought as he scanned over the pages then picked up his pen and looked back at me.

'Can you tell me from what you can remember, what exactly happened?' Pulling up his sleeves, he watched me intently, waiting for me to give him the answers he was seeking for. I licked over the dry cuts on my lips. My mouth felt like a desert.

'That water you offered.' Is all I said before he quickly stood up and handed the bottle of water he had placed on the table, as if he predicted that I'd be drowning in dry thirst.

When he sat back down and I swallowed down the cool liquid, I looked back up at him. My gaze distant, my mind farther.

'I thought I was free.' I watched him scrunch up his face in confusion as I spoke the words out, almost whispering to him. But he listened nonetheless, maybe he was even intrigued by my short but vague statement.

'So I drove, I drove to the place I always drove to when I needed space. Air. Freedom.'

'And maybe for a moment, I did feel free. But to my dismay, that feeling left as soon as it had came. He was there with me. He had come for me. Come to take my freedom.'

I watched him jot some notes down then his eyes traced back up to mine before his mouth moved and the question fell out.

'Who was there with you?'

'Luke.'

He wrote down my response and urged me to continue with my story.

'Then the world became dark again and I found myself suffocating in the house I had been trapped in for three months.' His puzzled expression told me that this was news to him.

'He took you back to Ashworth's house?'

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'Yes. I woke up there, blaming Chase all over again. Hating him for putting me there once more but yet again, I was blaming him for something he hadn't done. I knew that when it was too late, when I set eyes on his beaten and unconscious body that was tied to a chair.'

At this point, I was just rambling on, surely what I was saying wasn't making sense to the cop sat before me. But I couldn't keep back from spilling out my guilt. For the third time, I'd blamed him for something that was in no shape or form his fault. I knew he had hurt me, I knew he had done so much worse than Luke had but none of that mattered anymore.

'Then Luke, did things and..' he cut me off before I could continue.

'What things Miss Corleone?' I wanted to ignore his question but I knew I couldn't dodge the bullet, this time.

'He hurt Chase and me.'

'How exactly did he hurt you?'

'He beat him up, then hit him with a gun.'

'How did he hurt, you. Miss Corleone.'

'He..' I looked down at my bloody hands. Images of the event greeted me and instantly my heart rate increased. Swallowing down the nagging ache in my chest, I blinked several times to slow down my breathing. I felt like I was hyperventilating and I couldn't stop it.

'Are you alright?' He leaned forward, checking to see if I was still alive in there.

Forcing myself out of the depths of my panic I looked at him and said.

'He raped me.'

And with that, he nodded and sat back in his seat. 'I'm sorry.' Is all that he said before he noted down my response.

'How did the police find us?' I thought back to when I heard the sirens, I was confused. Bewildered that finally, they had showed up, although, it was too little, too late.

'Your father, Mr Corleone, when he contacted us when you went missing again, he informed us about the tracker he had put on your phone. We tracked down your phone, although we found it in the middle of no where, we searched the premises and all around the area until we came across Ashworth's house.'

I nodded and looked down again, I wish they had made it to us sooner. My heart clenched and my breathing ceased for a short while as I thought about my last moments in that house. I couldn't quite remember the very end seeing as I'd been in so much shock but I knew what had happened and my veins throbbed with pain at the memory.

It was then that I saw his face again, tears clogged up my vision and I let my head fall. No longer capable of fighting the despair inside me. I let it all out as I let my tears spring free, while I swam in the ocean of guilt.

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