Falling

Chapter Three

Owen didn't spend much time at the running track at the park, there were many far closer to his home. He took it at a sprint tonight, he was good at sprinting. His feet felt no pain as he leaped over particularly large roots and just let others cut his feet. Using only his phone for light he made his way along the track. It was surrounded by a lot of thick tree cover.

He couldn't really place Sarah here, it seemed like the sort of place that would creep her out too much.

'remember me for centuries, we've been here forever,' He heard her music moments before he saw her. He quickly went down to his knees beside her. He saw her phone by her bruised hands. Her face made something in him crack, something he didn't know existed until it was broken. It made him feel pain to see.

She was curled in the foetal position on the ground, violently shivering with the icy wind over her mostly bare arms and legs.

He ripped off his hoodie and bundled her up in it, sitting her up and wrapped his arms around her body. He retracted one arm and after calming his panting lungs he called the cops on his phone.

He patted her hair, smoothing it out as she began to cry into his shirt. He himself was now freezing and his toes felt like literal ice, but he needed to hold her, he needed to warm her up, it felt like his duty.

"I feel really dizzy." She whispered into his chest. He held her still, as if those actions would make her okay. Already her blood was staining his shirt and he wanted to explode.

"Owen..." She whispered, her nails digging into his side.

"Yeah." He replied anger ripping through him.

"Don't tell anyone, just let me stay with you tonight." The words were long, drawn out and were painful to hear.

"Okay." He said, unable to say anything more. He held her as they waited for the cops as he planned his revenge on the guy who did this to her.

A lot of things happened very close together after that.

The official looking people took a long time to arrive and when they did they helped Owen raise her onto a gurney, they were only letting Owen help as he refused to let her go. Sarah's hand dropped and wrapped around his wrist, begging him not to leave. He insisted on going with her to the hospital. Riding in the ambulance was no where as good as it is in movies. The fluorescent lights made her seem smaller and highlighted the damage.

Her face, her arms, her legs, her chest, when they cut off her shirt, her stomach, all were covered in horrific bruises.

At the hospital he heard the words 'rape kit' for the first time in his life and was unable to think straight. Someone came to him asking about her information, he was able to give her name and date of birth and was surprised at just how little else he could fill out on the form.

They saw her emergency contact in their system and went to contact Brian, thinking on his feet he said they were no longer the people to contact and gave them Vic's number.

Vic arrived in her pyjama pants with just a hoodie flung on top of everything else. Her curly, flyaway blonde hair was even more wild than usual as she saw Owen. She stormed over to him desperate to know what's going on.

"Owen, what on Earth is this?" She asked as he struggled to clear his throat.

"Sarah called me from the park. When I got there she didn't want anyone else, she didn't want Kelly and Brian and there's this whole form and I thought you'd know more." Vic gave him a sympathetic look and took the form from his shuddering hands.