Desirable

~70. Regret

Emily's spirit was defeated as she sat in the blank room. There was a steel table, a matching chair, a large mirror and two cameras in the opposite corners of the ceiling. The kind policewoman, whose name was Lisa, had apologised for the depressing room, but their 'nicer' one was being used. 

Opposite her from the table was Lisa, neatly scribbling down notes on a thick wad of paperwork. Emily had just finished telling her a handful of stories about Mason, as well as the current situation they were in. Lisa had listened intently with wide, and fairly horrified, eyes.

"Okay.." she finishes her sentence and dots the end, "that's great, thank you Emily. You've done a very good thing, giving us this information." Lisa meets the girl's tired eyes with empathy.

Emily nods, "Yeah, I know. I just.." 

She pauses, "What?"

"Saying it all out loud.. I should have done more as her best friend. She told me about some of the stuff he did, but I barely did anything. I never knew just how bad it got, until she had left him. It just.." she shuffles in her seat, "it makes me feel sick, that's all." 

Lisa listens and nods, putting down the pen and neatly folding her hands on the table. 

"A lot of people in abusive relationships are afraid to reach out, in case their partner finds out and reacts badly. I've seen it many times. You shouldn't feel guilty or blame yourself at all, Emily. Nothing about this is your fault, the only person truly to fault is him. And in my opinion, the length you've gone to find Clementine tells me just how amazing of a best friend you are," she softly smiles at her, earning a smile back. 

The blond girl wipes her eyes, "Thanks, Lisa." 

"Now," she picks up the paperwork and slides it back in to the folder, "I have to go process this, do you have somewhere to stay?"

"Will and Louis will be here in a couple hours, I was thinking I could stay here and see if Clem comes in?" she looks with hopeful eyes up at the woman as she stands up. 

"Oh, are they coming straight here?" 

"I've asked them to, yeah. Is that okay?" 

"Of course it is, my love. I'm afraid I can't keep you in this room, though. You can stay in the waiting room until they get here?" she walks around the table and stops in front of her, Emily stands too. 

"Thanks.. what about Lexi?" 

"The dog?" she asks, Emily nods. "She'll still be in the shelter room."

"Can I take her?" she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, suddenly aware of how messy she must have looked. 

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, she'll be comfortable with me." 

After thinking for a few seconds, Lisa shrugs. 

"Sure, I'll ask Cleo to bring her down to the waiting room for you. You go make yourself comfortable and if we need anything else, I'll let you know." She smiles and rubs Emily's arm, offering a supportive hand. 

She smiles back in response, "Thanks."

The uniformed woman leads her to the open area full of dark blue cushioned seats that were all arranged in a line order. There were only a few people in the area, they were sat sheepishly with their eyes directed at the floor. Her mind wandered as she considered why they were all there. 

One of them was a woman who was no older than forty, she had wispy brown hair that looked like it hadn't been brushed for a few days. She was wearing a brown leather jacket and dark blue baggy jeans with black combat boots on her feet, she had a black leather bag clutched in her lap. Her face looked tired and there was a small smudge of mascara under both of her brown eyes.