Chim - Traffic

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Kimberley's POV

The thump of her cast on the mattress wakes me before her screams, and I sit up, shaking her arm to rouse her, withdrawing my hand quickly. She blinks her eyes open slowly, tears running from them, trying to control her sobs. I want to reach out and take her hand, and if we were anywhere else I would, since she had become much more confident doing that with me recently, but I understand how different the world is for when she's in a bed. This is the third nightmare she's had since she came in here and it makes me feel so helpless that I can't do anything, I can't take the pain away. Images of what she had told me yesterday are scattered throughout the dark corners of my mind, and every time I think of what was done to her, which is constantly, my heart aches.

"China." She says, breaking my train of thoughts.

"What?"

"I was taken to China. That's what I was dreaming of." I don't know how to respond, so I stay silent, and she continues. "I was rented out to five guys over two nights in China."

"How did they get you to China? Your face was everywhere." I regret the question as soon as I've asked it, desperately wanting to reach out and stuff it back down my throat. "I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that."

To my surprise she sits up, wrapping her arms around herself and answers. "They used boats. They would drug us, me and the other girls, and place us in wooden boxes, like you would for animals. We were supposed to be knocked out for the whole journey, but early on I woke up once and started screaming. I felt like I was in a coffin. I actually thought they'd buried us alive."

I shudder at her words, but her next sentence makes my blood run cold. "I wished they had buried us alive."

"Do you still wish that?" Another question I regret.

"No." She lays back down, using the corner of the duvet to wipe away her tears. "I'm glad to be home."

***

"She spent last night in bed with me."

"How do you feel about that?"

"Good. I mean, it means we're moving forward, right?"

"It does, but don't expect it to become a nightly occurrence, Kimberley. It's still baby steps for right now." I nod at Deborah.

"I know, I wasn't. She still needs time. We both do." I take a sip of water before continuing. "She's starting to tell me about it, about things that happened to her. I don't know how I feel about that."

"Tell me what type of things you feel."

"It hurts to know what they did to her, what they made her do. I'm so angry at the people who did this to her, I want to kill them. I physically want to hurt them, to make them pay for what they've done to her. I know I can't, but I want to. I'm scared that Cheryl will never be the same again, that we'll never go back to normal."

"Kimberley, Cheryl will never be the same as she was before, but in time you'll find a new normal."

"I know." I sigh.

"How do you feel about having Cheryl back home?"

"I'm happy she's home and safe, but I wish there was more I could do."

"It will take time, Kimberley. Just don't give up on her. She'll get there."

"I won't."

***

Cheryl's POV

The following Sunday Kimberley and I spend the day watching cartoons, which are the only things I can watch, seeing as they don't have sex or violence in them. As we had learned over the past four days, every other programme or film triggered us into a panic attack. We hadn't slept in the same bed since the day I had told her about when I was taken, and as much as it unnerved us to think of sharing a bed with her again, I had missed her. It had been raining all day, and now as night started to roll in, so did black thunder clouds, ghostly illuminated by lightning every few minutes. I had taken to sitting in the middle of the couch, knees drawn up to me chest, holding Kimberley's hand. The louder and darker the world got, the tighter me grip became, but she didn't seem to mind. I move closer to her as the loudest clap of thunder yet echoes overhead, and me arm is now touching hers.