The Way Things Change

Chapter 5

“We have enough evidence to put them in prison for a while, don’t worry about that.” The assistant said. After I was done crying I had told her everything. She said she was going to help me, all I had to do was give her the names of the attackers.

The police had been there in the morning to take my statement. They collected the DNA samples, to make the search easier, and then they could easily make a profile and make a match, when they caught the offenders.

I had decided to take up the boys offer to stay at their place while I was recovering. The hospital had contacted them and now I was waiting for someone to pick me up. The assistant had giving me a set of clothes, since mine were now taking by the police as evidence, and I hadn’t been able to get any. She had also given me her number with the comment: “If you need anything, just call me. I’m here to talk and help you, so don’t hesitate to call.”

After about 10 minutes I saw Liam and Niall approach me. Great, they were the ones I really needed to talk to.

“Hi” I said, feeling a bit awkward.

“Hi” they responded and I could see they felt uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry-”

“We’re sorry-” We started talking on the same time. I smiled shyly and they did as well. “Lady’s first” Liam said.

“Look guys, I’m really sorry for snapping at you. I just couldn’t cope with the fact that you knew, I’m not used to being the weak one.” I knew I needed to be honest with them, and somehow they made that very easy for me.

“No, we are the ones that are sorry and have to apologize” Liam replied. “We shouldn’t have attacked you like that. You should have told us in your own time, and you were right. We had nothing to do with you before, so it was wrong for us to try and control you and making you speak. That’s not fair. But we were just angry that someone would actually do something as horrible as that.”

He was so nice, I just needed to give him a hug. I couldn’t help myself; he had said all the right things. “Thank you.” Liam seemed surprised by my sudden display of affection, but he hugged me back.

“Hey, I want a hug too” Niall said when I let go of Liam. I gave him a hug too and we started walking towards the car.

***

“Please don’t tell the other boys” I said before we went into their house. It was really big. I couldn’t believe that 5 teenage boys were able to afford this.

Liam and Niall looked at each other.

 “Uhmm…” Niall started. He looked guilty trying to avoid eye contact. “They kind of already know.”

“What do you mean ‘kind of’? Do they or don’t they?”

“Well… They know that you were… You know… But they don’t know the extend of it, or that it was your boyfriend who was responsible.” Niall said.

“Yeah. We didn’t want to keep them in the dark, because you are going to live with us for a while, but we wanted you to tell them when you were ready” Liam continued. That was actually kind of sweet of them, even though I didn’t like the fact that everybody would know about it.

“Fine” I sighed. I guess there was no way back now anyway. “But I just don’t want any pity party.”

The three other boys surprised me by giving me a welcoming hug. After the awkward polite chit chat, I was given a quick tour of the enormous house and I was shown to my new temporary room, so I could settle in. The house was quite modern, and it had a garden with a pool. I liked this place a lot. Well everything was better than my, well our flat. Which reminded me, I had to get my stuff. I couldn’t stay here with absolutely nothing and I REALLY needed my running shoes. Oh, and I had to contact my landlord to stop the contract. I sure as hell wasn’t going to pay for that place anymore, so he could stay for free. So I decided to call first thing in the morning and go to the flat in the afternoon. I just hoped he wouldn’t be there.