Hero (Tom Hiddleston)

1

He left without the cheesecake, and with insomnia of a much greater degree than he'd had before. He tossed and turned all night, unable to get Shae out of his head. The fear in her eyes burned vividly in his memory. The emptiness, lifelessness, that she'd carried herself with.

Around three in the morning, he finally gave up his useless attempts at sleep. He sat up in bed, dragging a hand through his hair in frustration. What was wrong with him?

He picked up his phone from his nightstand and found his earbuds there as well, plugging them in and navigating to Pandora. He selected a rock station, then moved to his browser and tapped the search bar.

Signs of human trafficking

He scrolled through the search results until he found a website that looked reliable and selected it.

Behaviors of Pimps

· Jealous, controlling, and violent

· Significantly older than female companion

· Promise things that seem too good to be true

· Encourage victims to engage in illegal activities to achieve their goals and dreams

· Buys expensive gifts or owns expensive items

· Is vague about his/her profession

· Pushy or demanding about sex

· Encourages inappropriate sexual behavior

· Makes the victim feel responsible for his/her financial stability. Very open about financial matters

Behaviors of Victims

· Signs of physical abuse such as burn marks, bruises, or cuts

· Unexplained absences from class

· Less appropriately dressed than before

· Sexualized behavior

· Overly tired in class

· Withdrawn, depressed, distracted, or checked out

· Brags about making or having lots of money

· Displays expensive clothes, accessories, or shoes

· New tattoo (tattoos are often used by pimps as a way to brand victims. Tattoos of a name, symbol of money, or barcode could indicate trafficking)

· Older boyfriend or new friends with a different lifestyle

· Talks about wild parties or invites other students to attend parties

· Shows signs of gang affiliation? (ie: a preference for specific colors, notebook doodles of gang symbols, ect.)

Tom let out a sign of frustration. He just knew so little about her. He'd seen so little of her, knew so little about her. He didn't even know her last name.

He closed his eyes, trying to bring up every detail he remembered about her in his mind's eye.

She'd had a lot of makeup on. Like, she had looked very nice, but it was simply a strange amount of effort put into her face for midnight in Walmart, especially when all she was wearing was an oversized hoodie and what must have been some very short shorts, seeing as they were completely covered by the hoodie. That had also covered her neck, arms, and back. So between it and the makeup, marks of abuse were a nonfactor, because they could have easily been hidden. Tattoos were the same way.

What about her feet? He brought to memory the perfect frappes she'd practiced against the shiny floor.

Had she really been wearing heels? That's what he remembered. Strange. Very strange.

It wasn't class, but she'd seemed exhausted. As well as withdrawn, depressed, distracted, and checked out. Of course, they hadn't talked about money. But if he was remembering the shoes correctly, they were nice. And whatever shorts she'd been wearing, they'd been very short in deed, even for modern teenagers. Unless they weren't shorts, but instead a dress. A very short dress, showing off her legs in a way that was less than innocent. Other than that, he knew nothing about her personal life, so he couldn't tell.

What about the man? He'd certainly been the first two things listed, and other than that, Tom had no way of knowing. Though if he certainly wouldn't want his niece or whatever Shae could have been to the man wearing anything so short. Not when he knew how it make people see her, in more ways than one.

And there was also the fact that something hadn't worn off yet. That something could easily be a drug. A drug designed to...

Tom bit his lip, staring at the phone screen in utter frustration. If this wasn't it, he didn't want to make a mess for Shae. And if it was, he was scared that this could only make it worse. But then again, if this was it, she was already living through a hell that no one should ever have to. Much less someone so young.

And he just couldn't get her out of his head.

He squeezed his eyes shut, and his mind centered back into the music he'd stopped noticing for the most part. The song was Skillet's "Hero".

Tom's eyes snapped open. That was exactly what Shae needed. If this was even a possibility, he had to try. He turned to the number displayed on the screen, highlighted it, and navigated to his call app.

If Shae needed a hero, he wasn't going to let her suffer any more than he had to.