Let Me Down | John Murphy

Know Your True Enemies

I'm back!!!!

Sorry for my absence, but as you know, it happens. I really want to share what I have planned for my beloved Quirphy!

Please enjoy the journey with me. Even if this chapter may be triggering, I promise there is some hope to come. Just trust me :)

TW: Sexual Assault

Chapter 36

After dinner, I found myself wandering around aimlessly.

I wanted to go. More than anything, I just wanted to leave with John and Dawn. But I knew from the moment Mr. Stone approached me, my time here was far from over.

"Quinn, may I have a word?"

My heart begins to attack my ribcage whilst my palms sweat uncontrollably.

"Uh- yeah. Sure," I nod nervously, praying this isn't another attack from the Stones.

That would truly be the icing on top of the cake.

I take a seat across from him and anxiously play with the ends of my dress.

In moments like this, I wish I had Rory with me.

"So about what Evelyn said-"

"Mr. Stone, I'm sorry. For dinner and everything else," I say quickly, due to his nerve-wrecking pace of speech. "I know I shouldn't have ambushed you guys tonight, and I definitely shouldn't have brought John with me. I just got scared and I-"

"Quinn, relax. Breathe child," Mr. Stone says so calmly, dragging me away from the panic attack I was having and onto a more peaceful path.

I take a couple of breaths, trying to remember my good friend, Oxygen, whom I often neglect.

"My child, you have nothing to be sorry for," he informs, confusing my already scrambled brain.

Since when has this been the case? I always have to be sorry.

"It is, I, that must apologise to you."

Now when has an adult ever said that?

"Mr. Stone I-"

"Quinn, you've known me for long enough to call me, Tobias."

Now why do I want to laugh when I think of calling him by his first name?

"Tob-"

Nah, I can't do it.

"I don't see why you need to apologise," I tell him. "I mean, Rory-"

"Rory loved you, Quinn," he says and I can't help but gasp as he admits the 'forbidden' love his daughter and I shared. "She really loved you."

I hope this isn't where my tears start to form.

Please don't do this to me, T.

And yes, that is what I am calling him now.

"After Rory died I realised something." He pauses, and I know it is because he said his daughter's name and 'died' in the same sentence.

Reaching over, I place a hand on his to bring him some kind of comfort.

I know how hard it is to talk about Rory. I know his pain all too well.

"I made a mistake before," he says finally. "When you and Rory came out together... I should've done something; anything. Instead I just sat there and watched my only daughter feel hurt and abandoned. Like... like she wasn't good enough."

You can just tell how frustrated he is about the wrong he committed not so long ago.

"And I'm so sorry, Quinn," he tells me, looking me in the eye. "Quinn, I failed you. I failed Rory. I... it was me."