Everything Has Changed: Book Two

Chapter Twenty One: Truth

Chapter Twenty One: Truth

We walk into the police station as a hot mess.

My hair that was once perfectly curled is a mess, my face is red and blotchy and fresh tears are in my eyes. Dried blood is on my leg and Danny's white t-shirt is wrapped around it, and I'm barefoot. He's shirtless and he has blood on his jeans from carry me, and his knuckles are busted. Plus, his hair is a wreck.

The woman behind the desk takes one look at us.

"I'll call an officer." She says before we have a chance to say anything.

"Thank you." Danny says quietly.

We go sit down and I clutch Danny's hand, trembling.

The woman probably told the officer we were covered in blood because less than a minute later, an officer is walking over to us.

"Rough night?" He asks.

"You have no idea." Danny mutters.

"Let's go to my office."

He leads us and I cling to Danny as we walk, wincing from the pain in my leg.

We reach his office and he shuts the door behind us. He sits down.

"So what happened?" He asks.

Danny looks at me as if asking who I want to tell the story and I decide to do it.

"I'm Gracelyn and this is my fiancé Daniel." I say shakily. He nods. "And we were at a restaurant fighting over something that feels really...stupid now that I look back." I sit down in one of the chairs and Danny sits next to me. "And I got mad at him and left but it was on River Street and I went down one of the alleys and I was alone and it was dark and somebody grabbed me, but he wasn't with me because, as I said, we were fighting, so I started screaming for help and the guy told me he was going to take me back to his apartment and I yelled for help and he covered my mouth with his hand so I couldn't scream."

Danny puts his hand on my arm.

"A minute after she walked out, I followed her because she's....attractive and a good target and it's nighttime, and I heard her yelling and then she just stopped and I was shouting for her and I could hear muffed screams, and then I saw the guy carrying her and I started running and I grabbed her off of him and kinda tossed her..." Danny cringes and looks at me. "Sorry."

"It's fine." I mumble. "And then after I hit the ground I heard him telling me to run until I reached a streetlight so I did and I was running up those steep stairs, you know, the ones that are really easy to trip on?" The office nods. "And I tripped and skinned my knee, and after a minute or so, he came back and he carried me to the car and we came straight here."

The officer nods slowly.

"Did the man say anything to you when he was carrying you?" He asks."Aside from taking you to his apartment?"

"He told me that if I didn't stop screaming, he was going to kill me." I whisper. "And at that point I decided it was either be raped or be murdered." I clear my throat. "I chose the latter."

The officer sighs and looks at Danny.

"Did you kill him?" He asks.

Danny rubs his eyebrow and sighs.

"Honestly officer, I don't know. When I ran, he was unconscious. The second he stopped fighting back, I ran to get her and make sure she was okay."

"I'm assuming that is your shirt around her leg?" He asks Danny.

"Yes sir."

"When did you have time to do that?"