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Her hand continuedthe back of her head My mind tried to play catch up as she talked

“‘I knohat you were doing,

Ginger I sa you looked at hier,’” she said in angry whispers

I’d never said those things to her I’d never talked to her like that But she wasn’t repeating words I’d spoken to her It was hi, she kicked the small seat that was under the vanity It scraped loudly across the floor before coht in front of me

“‘You need to be reer!’” she hissed

She fingered the scar, her eyestowhere I feared it was My ears were hot, pulsating My stomach twisted My hands balled into fists at my side

Tears ran down her face She gripped the towel tighter “Hehe started cutting me out of the dress II didn’t even knohere the knife came from There was so much blood And pain I triedI tried to block it outbutbut hehe…the grip he had in ht The way he pulled my neck back I couI couldn’t close my eyes II couldn’t scream I couldn’t” She started to hyperventilate

Ginger leaned forward, but lost her balance, I rushed to catch her

I held her tight She buried her face in , but I wasn’t going to try to get her to stop She had to get it out It was clear she’d been holding this in for way too long, and like a cancer, it had been eating away at her She needed to release it

Through broken cries, she told the rest of her story He’d raped her, and he’d made her watch in the er during the ordeal

The ry at hih, for the hell she’d had to live, and apparently was still living I was sickened over the knowledge I reht each time I called her by that name

I tried to never waste energy thinking about that asshole, but as I held her trehdinner He’d asked me about the name I recalled how she’d tensed and tried to deflect the question I’d taken the shift in behavior as her being e to him, barely made eye contact—I’d missed it Fuck! I’d ran my damn mouth and she’d paid the price

“There was so in him that he had to let out His eyesthey were so dead, so cold My sonmy son has those eyes…” Her words drifted off She leaned her weight againstsoftly

I picked her up, carrying her from that room I took her upstairs The first door I came to was ajar; I pushed it open with my foot The towel caain In that short ti over to the dresser, I was thankful to find I’d picked the right room Pictures of her and Shawn sat atop it

I hated going through her things, but she needed clothes on After et her dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top, without exposing her too ot her tucked in bed She turned her back toto whiined Ginger…no fuck, not Ginger I couldn’t even think of her by that nained Calida to be the type of person that would ever want a tattoo, but as I looked at the design so S-D-J Shawn’s initials, but ut told h me like wild fire