Valleri pulled the faucet for the shower turning on the water. She let the shirt fall off her shoulders, hanging it on the back of the door. She turned looking at herself in the mirror.
She sighed tucking her hair behind her ears. "I still don't know what you see in me" she whispered
Her eyes looking her reflection up and down. Her stomach still spotted with yellow bruises, she knew not going to the hospital was going to cause her trouble with her ribs. She noticed small dark circles on her hips....more bruises. She couldn't help smiling to herself, knowing who had given her those.
Valleri pulled the curtain back climbing in the tub. She let the water wash over her, warming her skin. She washed her hair and her body and then she just stood there, unsure of what else to do. She didn't want to get out; she just wanted to....disappear. Then, like floodgates had burst open, the tears came and she couldn't stop them. She sank to her knees on the porcelain bottom, unable to stop the sobs, even after she heard the bathroom door open.
"Breakfast is-" there's a pause and she could see David's shadow in front of the curtain before it was pulled back. He turned off the now cold running water pulling the towel off the rack. "Come here" he held his hand out to her and she took it as he pulled her to her feet.
David wrapped the towel around her before lifting her out of the tub into his arms. Valleri said nothing, just wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and cried into his shoulder as he carried her to the bedroom they share. He sat on the bed with her in his lap, he rocked her back and forth before leaning back to look at her.
"I thought you said you were alright"
She wiped the tears from her eyes, looking up into his, they're full of concern. "I was" she said no louder than a whisper.
"Why are you crying?" He asked, tucking a wet strand of hair behind her ear.
Valleri shrugged. "I don't know"
"There must be a reason."
She sighed. "Sometimes girls don't need a reason David, we just cry. If I knew the reason I'd tell you."
"Do you want to go back?"
"What? No!" Valleri pushed her wet hair back off her forehead. “Why would you ask me that?”
David sighed. “I don’t know Val, you’ve been having nightmares a lot lately, I just…I think you miss your old life, I think you miss home.”
Valleri looked at him perplexed. “You want me to go back there?” She stood up from the edge of the bed wrapping the towel tighter around herself; she turned her back to David, walking towards the dresser. Her voice was quiet. “You think I miss being beaten within an inch of my life almost every single day?”
She pulled the dresser drawer open and found a nightgown; pulling it on as she continued. “You know, he’s going to find me, maybe not today, or tomorrow, but eventually he’s going to find me David.” She turned and threw her towel into the hamper walking back to where David sat on the edge of the bed. “It’s what Daddy does David, he’ll let me think I’ve won, for now, just so that I’ll let my guard down, then as soon as I get comfortable, he’ll show up. I’ve seen him do it, so many times.”
David sat silent just watching her, he wouldn’t know what to say even if he did speak. Valleri just stared out the window, lost in her own world of thoughts; she’d forgotten David was even there.
“Maybe that’s why I was crying,” she sighed. “Maybe because, deep down, I know that no matter what anyone does to try to help, I know that sooner or later, Daddy is going to find me.”
David touched her hand and she jumped looking down at him sitting on the bed. “He couldn’t possibly Val; he doesn’t know where you are.”
She sighed frustrated sitting next to him on the bed. “Weren’t you listening? It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t know where I am now, he’ll find me” David went to speak and she shook her head. “Daddy is a very powerful man David, you know that, if he wants something, he’s going to get it, and I’d be willing to bet that I’m on the top of his hit list right now”
“Valleri this is madness!”
“No David, it’s not madness, it’s my father!” She shook her head again standing up from the bed and walking towards the bedroom door. “Just keep that in mind if you ever come home and I’m gone, it will happen one day; I’m positive.”
David stayed sitting on the bed as he watched her disappear down the hallway. A small part of him knew what Valleri had said was true, and like her, he’d be willing to bet good money, if he’d had any, that Tom was looking for her, and if he did find her, it wasn’t going to be pretty.
