Grace

Chapter 12 - Final - Moral Support

"911 Emergency. Police, Fire, Ambulance?"

"Police, please," Grace responded calmly

"What is the nature of the emergency?" The voice on the other end of the phone asked.

"I've just shot a home intruder," Grace stated matter-of-factually. "I'm not sure if he's dead... He... He... Snuck in the back door ...and... and he..." The realisation of everything that had just happened hit her like a tonne of bricks. She started to cry.

The operator asked her to please continue with what else had happened.

"...He raped me," Grace choked out.

It didn't take long after she hung up with the operator. The police and ambulance vehicles pulled up in front of her house just minutes later.

What must my neighbors think? Grace asked herself. Two times in just as many weeks...

She suddenly realised she still had nothing on from the waist down. She looked around frantically and decided on the throw blanket that was laying across her arm chair. She wrapped the blanket around just as a knock came at the door. "Police!" a voice announced from the other side.

Grace hurried over and opened the door.

She realised she must have looked quite the sight. Mussed hair and make up, wrinkled shirt, and a throw blanket as a skirt. Oh, and of course the bruising across her face and wrists, as well as who knows where else.

She was grateful to see Officer Neilsen was back. At least she knew the history of Grace's relationship with Wade – surely she would believe Grace's side to the story and be sympathetic.

The officers looked in past Grace and saw the scene briefly before stepping out of the way, gesturing to the paramedics to go in first – lest Wade was still alive.

Grace hoped bitterly that her bullet to his chest had finished him. She didn't express her wish audibly, though.

The other officer asked her where the weapon was and she pointed toward the coffee table. He stepped in the house as he put some gloves on to bag the evidence and left his partner to talk to Grace.

Officer Neilsen informed her they would have to take her to the station again, but first they would take her to the hospital to do a rape kit and manage any injuries.

"Can I get dressed first?" Grace asked. "And call someone to ...for moral support?"

Officer Neilsen agreed and allowed Grace to go up the stairs by herself. Once she got to her bedroom she carefully selected as comfortable a skirt as she could – she was starting to notice the pain more again now. The dull ache and the stinging between her legs. She wasn't looking forward to the pelvic exam she assumed she'd be undergoing at the hospital.

Once she had done that she decided she might as well change her shirt. She took off the one she was wearing, carefully unbuttoning it down the front. She looked down as she did and noticed he'd left her a sizable bruise in the middle of her chest as well. She careful sat on the edge of the bed and burst into tears again.

"Grace?" She heard Officer Neilsen's voice call up the stairs. "Are you okay?"

Grace sucked in a breath and wiped her tears with the palms of her hands. "Ye-yes! I'll be down in a minute!" She responded.

She reached over for her phone. She knew she should call her parents or her best friend in a time such as this, but that's not who she had the urge to call. She knew she should let him rest – he'd gotten released from the hospital earlier in the week and was still having some pretty intense headaches – but he was all she wanted in that moment.

She picked up her phone, selected his contact and hit the call button.

"Tim? It's Grace... I need you."