The Void Between Stars: Book 4 Of The Orion Series

Aftermath

[Trigger Warning: Character dealing with sexual abuse and trying to cope. Reader discretion is heavily advised.]

"Are you alright, Orion?" my therapist said gently.

I had stopped the story. I was shaking pretty badly.

Was I alright? I just relived my father molesting me, what a stupid question! But I knew what he meant. So I sucked in a deep, shaking breath.

"Y-yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"I got the worst of it out, s-so."

"Alright, if you're sure."

I nod my head in determination. "I'm sure."

"What did you do then?"

~

I watched in disbelief as my father turned his back to me. Not saying another word, he sat down in his recliner, picked up the TV remote, and started watching TV.

I was still trembling. He was completely ignoring me now. It was like I was invisible. Oh, how I wished to be invisible.

I don't know how long I stood there, brain trying to muddle through what had just occurred. I couldn't believe he had felt me up. I couldn't believe he had touched me until I had a—completely unwanted—physical response. But then it suddenly hit me when he chuckled along with the laugh track of the TV show he was watching. He had just molested me, and he was pretending I wasn't still standing in the same room as him, laughing?

I was going to be sick. I clamped my hands over my mouth and propelled myself towards our small bathroom. Even so I barely made it, vomit leaking out of my hands.

I got sick until I was dry heaving, and I dry heaved until my stomach was a horrible knot that felt like my entire stomach had turned itself inside out. It was shortly after that I heard my mother come home.

I listened, cheek pressed against the toilet seat, staring blankly at the shut door. I couldn't tell why I was crying still. Was it my pounding head? Was it my puking? Was it what my adopted father did to me? Was it still the fright of losing my guitar?

Was it all that? Was it my life?

"Where's Orion?" I hear my mom ask, accompanied by the sounds of crumpled paper bags and groceries being put away.

"He's sick," my dad says plainly. "He's in the bathroom. Stomach bug or something."

I wish was all I could think.

A second later, a soft knock on the door.

"Orion? Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

"N-no. I'm going to take a s-shower s-soon."

A pause, and then, "Alright."

I had made a mess of our small bathroom. Still crying, I cleaned up the mess. When that's done, my skin begins to prickle and crawl. I turn on the shower, making it on the cold side, and step in.

I hadn't even bothered to take off my clothes. Time lost all meaning to me, but when I got tired of standing I sat down. Pulling my knees up to my chest and burying my face into them, I thought about what I should do.

The creepy crawly feeling was getting worse, and I knew it was because I felt trapped. I had to get out of the trailer, stay away from my dad for a while. But how?

Eventually the hot water shut completely off because I had used it all up. My dad shouted at me how we weren't millionaires, and I was wasting a lot of water with my unusually long shower.