Breaking

Chapter 5.

Arabella anxiously picks at the socks I loan her. They're big on her but they keep her sore feet cozy. We're seated on the couch, trying to regroup ourselves to offer a recap of last night to each other. I'm exhausted, I probably got three hours of sleep but I'm up. I have to be. I'm not sleeping until she's fine or at least okay. I can't sleep until I know someone didn't touch her.

"Do you want me to start?" I ask her, then my phone starts ringing. I grab it only to send it to voicemail but she sees it's her mother calling her.

"Does she knows I'm here?"

I nod. "She's been going on and on about sending her a photo of you. I think-" Arabella snatches my phone from me, declines the call, and takes a picture of herself. "I don't understand," I tell her as she sends the picture to her mother. Chris told me to keep Arabella, but why ask for pictures of her if she doesn't care about her?

"She takes a picture of me once a month then gets money for it," she explains. "It's money from my dad."

"Your dad...?"

She nods, handing me my phone. "Momma says he knows she doesn't want me so he pays her to keep me. The pictures are like proof I'm still around."

"She told you this?"

"No. One month she didn't send a picture and my 'uncle'-" she air quotes the word uncle "-stopped by and he told me. I was young so he asked me to write it down then gave me a stuffed dog when I was able to repeat it without messing up."

Every story she tells me gives me an anxiety attack. She talks about them so calmly like it was a regular Monday too. It makes me sick. I scratch my growing beard and try to breathe without letting her notice and worrying her. "Okay..." I try to speak. "I...um..."

"Nothing happened with my fake uncle or with the asshole last night, well, not exactly. I'm not sure what you're thinking-"

"The worse actually so please talk to me."

She nods. Then she gets this look on her face that I can only make out as numbing herself to speak about what happened. "I was doing my homework when momma came home with some guy. I heard a noise and I thought she got hurt or he must've done something to her so I rushed into the living room. She was on the floor but she was also drunk. She constantly falls and my first thought is to help her up so I did. That's when I caught the guy's attention. I tried to go back to my room but he tried to stop me. And that's when I kneed his dick and shoved him to the floor. Momma flipped out. She pushed me to the wall and that's where I got this-" she lifts her arm, bending it to expose her scratched-up elbow "-I think that's when I ran away. It's all a blur but it makes sense to run then."

I shudder, trying to breathe while her words sink in. Crap, I guess it's my turn. "Um, Chris came to my place, banging on my door and screaming my name. She told me you were gone. She thought you were here. I kicked her out then found you by my car."

"So she knows I'm here," she notes.

"Yeah..."

She blinks rapidly, drying her pooling eyes, then releases a heavy breath. "Can I shower? Or should I...you know what? Momma should be passed out actually, won't be up for hours. I can shower back at my place."

"No," I say firmly. "You can shower here. And if you want, I can give you some clothes."

She nods. "Yeah. Thank you."

Arabella waited on the bed, nibbling on a single strand of bacon while I went through my closet and fished old clothes. They almost fit me, a little tight especially around the arms, which means they're big on Arabella but she doesn't seem to mind. I gave her clothes, towels, and an extra toothbrush I had. It wasn't until I went to the kitchen and started cleaning up when I realized there was something I had to do.