Trauma of the Forest (Meadema)

~ Chapter 83: The Last Obstacle ~

Warning: mention of rape, but it isn't discussed in detail.

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From those shoes, those white shoes that she had gotten from her grandmother, that were still so bright white, despite the fact that she had worn them when she was in that wooded shed with those men, who were brought to the hospital by Ben and Rachel, of whom she was so grateful that she still had those shoes from her grandmother, from those shoes, something came rolling.

A GPS tracker, all that time since the day Viv got out of the hospital, they have been able to follow her. All that time her location has been shared via her shoes. It was the only thing they had left of material from the trauma, Viv's shoes, because there was such an emotional value behind it. That GPS tracker in the car, that was nice, but it wasn't what actually directed their location so precisely, those were her shoes, which literally showed those men where they were down to the millimeter.

Once again the guilt rolled through her, she flopped down on the floor like a sack of salt and cried, lying flat on her stomach, her hands over her eyes, her sobs the only thing that could be heard in the room. She had been the one who insisted on keeping these shoes, despite Beth having said so many times that it might be better to part with them, since they would constantly remind Viv of the trauma. But no, she wanted to keep them for their emotional value. And now? Now it had been the thing that had kept those men informed of their location all this time.

Now suddenly it dawned on her why those shoes were still so white. Those men had of course done everything they could to ensure that Viv would still wear these shoes after the trauma, so that they could follow her forever. So that they could take revenge one day, sneak up on her, take her away and rape her again, to rape Beth. And did that make the plan of those men, of Peter, really come true?

Beth ran out of the toilet as fast as she could, hearing Viv's sobs loud and clear. She jerked open the living room door and saw Viv lying on the floor. Her eyes widened, what the fuck was going on here all of a sudden? Literally 5 minutes ago she was so calm, ready to just lay down on the couch, and now here she was, crying on the floor like she was never going to stop crying.

'Vivi, hey, hey. What's going on, baby? Breathe calmly. Come on, just lie down the other way for a second so you can get better air'. Beth, with some effort, sat down next to her on the floor and laid Viv's head in her lap. Viv clung to her and kept crying, while Beth still had no idea what was going on, until Viv suddenly started screaming.

'IT'S ALL MY FAULT. MY FUCKING FAUUUULLLTTTT. WHY DIDN'T I JUST DO WHAT YOU TOLD ME!?'. Beth really didn't understand it at all, had no context for the whole situation. Until she suddenly saw Viv's shoe lying there, broken, the sole half hanging from her shoe and a meter away the device. The now oh so familiar device that she last saw at the police station, a GPS tracker.

She started cursing inside, suddenly the shouting on the street had a meaning. He was here, Peter was here, their GPS location spread via Viv's shoe. 'I'm so so sorry Beth, I should have listened to you. I should have just thrown those shoes away. He is here and if anything happens now, it's my fault. I'm the one who put us in danger'.

Beth abruptly pressed her bracelet, immediately looking for help from the police who could probably also deduce from the shouting outside that Peter was here. 'Hey Vivi, listen meisje. We couldn't have known that this device was in your shoe. Really honey, I'm really not mad at you. No one could have thought of this. Come here baby, just breathe calmly for a moment'.

Viv tried, but her breathing didn't exactly calm down, her coughing through the tears kept coming, even to the point that she started coughing her own blood. 'Whoa, whoa, Vivi. Come on, it's over now'. Beth shouted at her in a pretty angry voice, but knew she had to to pull Viv out of this, out of this negative spiral that wanted to take over her. 'I can't Beth. I can't anymore'.