Echoes of Resilience

2

Three days have passed since the last time Derek visited, she doesn't know when he'll be back but she knows that he will be. When he first took her, she worried that he would never come back and she would rot in the tiny room he had her trapped in, now she knows that while he may be gone for a few days in between, Derek won't let her waste away to nothing. He always comes back. Meredith always wanted someone who would keep their promises, but not like this. Derek always comes back but sometimes she wishes he wouldn't, sometimes Meredith wishes that Derek would just forget about her and leave her to wither away to nothing, at least then the pain would end. No more beatings, no more rape, no more yelling. Yes she would be dead but she would be at peace.

The bruises on her skin have begun to fade, ready to be replaced by new ones when Derek comes back. Her broken ribs hurt with every little movement she makes, but she knows how much worse things could be. She should be starting her internship and treating patients but right now she is her only patient and the only treatment plan she has is to stay alive, no matter the circumstances. All she has to do is survive.

After cleaning up the room she sits back on the bed and waits; waits to see if Derek shows up, waits to see if tonight is the night she misbehaves so badly that he just kills her. She's tired of waiting. Meredith is just tired. The door beeps and she knows that he's had a bad day just by the look on his face, a bad day for Derek never bodes well for Meredith.

"Get up. Every single time I come in here you're in the bed, lazy cow. I didn't put a chair in here for you to sit in bed all day." Derek pulls her up by her hair before roughly depositing her in the lawn chair he brought in after she had been here for a month. He pets her hair as her body shakes, tears threatening to escape her eyes. "Good pet. I know it's not the most comfortable chair, but be grateful that you have the option between the chair and the bed."

Meredith swallows harshly before looking up into his eyes. His eyes held such warmth and such mirth in the bar but now they are nothing but cold and calculated. "Yes Derek, thank you for the chair. I'm sorry I don't use it more, you're right I should be grateful that you even brought a chair for me.". The tears she fought to keep in steadily begin to fall as he smiles at her submission, feeling disgusted at the joy he seemingly gets seeing her so broken down.

"Finally some appreciation from you! I don't have to come here and bring you food and make sure you're still alive, I could live right now and never come back. I could just leave you here to succumb to your hunger, but I don't. I am good to you Meredith! I take care of you and I make sure you're alive. You are not my responsibility, but I still show up and take care of you!" Derek punches her in the face as he screams, not stopping even when her nose breaks. Everything inside of her is screaming to fight back, to stand up for herself, but is it worth it?

"I'm only here because you drugged me and forced me here against my will. I do not choose to be here. You are not the good guy for making sure I don't starve to death." Tears are pouring down from her eyes while blood streams from her nose to her mouth, she keeps her gaze locked on the floor, not daring to look into his eyes while she talks back. "Just let me go. I won't tell anyone that you kept me here. I'll just say I was scared of exams so I took off, no one has to know the truth."

"Well maybe this will teach you that you shouldn't take alcohol from strangers. It's too easy to drop a pill in there that makes it impossible for you to fight back. I told you, I feel a natural pull towards you and when I feel a pull towards something I don't fight it. This is your life now Meredith, you belong to me. You're never going back to the life you once knew, this is it for you. It can be easy or it can be hard, you can listen or you can disobey. What you make of life here is up to you, it is the only choice you get. Understood?"

"Yes Derek." She now knows for sure that he never intends on letting her go, her life is now in this room and he has the power to end it at any time. Sometimes she wants to act out in hopes that he'll just kill her but there's this part of her that is too stubborn, too determined to survive that she doesn't. She goes along with what he wants and hopes that when he leaves she's not too injured to take a shower and wash away all traces of him. It's been six months of this and she doesn't know how much more she can take, but she doesn't have any other choice. "You own me Derek, I'm nothing without you." It kills her, but she knows it's the truth. Without Derek she is dead on the floor of the shed he's managed to keep her concealed in for half a year.

Derek slowly walks around her as if waiting for her to act out and defy him, but it doesn't happen. She sits and she waits for him to make his next move. "I'm glad that you seem to finally be learning that. You're reckless Meredith, I took you in order to keep you safe. You just left the bar to go to the bathroom not even considering the fact that a stranger could slip something in your drink, you don't think Meredith and when you don't think you get hurt. Had you waited to order your next shot we may not be in this situation, but you're a dumb slut and you provided me with the perfect opportunity to slip something in your drink so I took it. You put yourself in this situation Meredith, you're too trusting. You trusted the bartender to watch your drink while you were in the bathroom and now you live in my work shed, at least there's basic plumbing." Derek smirks as he watches Meredith break more with each word he speaks, deep down she knows this situation isn't her fault but she can't help but wish she didn't leave her drink unattended. Maybe then she'd be running around the hospital as an intern instead of locked in a shed fighting for her life.

Once he's sure she doesn't have a response to his sadistic monologue he lays her back down on the bed and rapes her before he leaves, just like he does everyday. Only this time something inside of Meredith has broken. The thing that has kept her sane for six months has finally snapped and she only has one thought as she drifts to sleep after her shower.

"I need to get out of here, even if it kills me. It's better to die trying than not try at all." With that, she closes her eyes and lets sleep overcome her.