World Away

Part 9

His eyes were tired and bloodshot from lack of sleep. Tom had pulled up Violet's file he had on her. He had read it before when he first went over every person who worked at the club, fighter, bartender whomever, but wanted to read it over again in case he missed something. It held general things like date of birth and place of residence, notes about her fighting experience at the club, whether she was affiliated with any other gangs or mobs, which she wasn't. He wanted to avoid looking in to her background more than he needed, but he would have to if he wanted to help her.

He had Harrison help him do a background check on her working all night to get what they could. What they found was heartbreaking, but not surprising with how she had been acting. Her dad was a drunk, in and out of jail for DUI's and other crimes related to drinking. Both parents dead. He knew about the car accident, but he didn't know about the aftermath if it. When he read that Poppy had been taken from her and put into foster care, everything made sense.

Tom held his head in his hands after going over the file, Harrison standing against the wall behind him, cigarette between his lips.

"This shit sucks, mate. I had no idea", Tom mumbled.

"I kinda did", Harrison spoke up pulling the cigarette from his mouth. Tom looked back at his friend confused and little angry. "I bumped into her at the dog park and she told me about how her sister was gone. I didn't know about all of this, I just assumed she died or something".

"Why the fuck wouldn't you tell me that earlier? That could have made this a whole lot easier", Tom argued.

"It wasn't my place, mate. She should have been the one to tell you. And she should tell you about the rest of this. That's what you wanted in the first place, right? To get to know her the old fashion way instead of a background check?".

Tom sighed. "Yeah it is, but I don't know anymore Haz. I really thought things were going well, but last night just seemed out of nowhere".

"Maybe you should check on her. From what you told me, it just sounds like she needs someone to be there for her", he reasoned.

Tom leaned back in his chair contemplating what to do. If he let her be, she might not open up and never let him help her. On the other hand if he confronted her, she might blow up in his face again and never talk to him again, but it was to most direct way to get the info he needed to help.

"I'll be back", he said getting out of his chair and headed toward the door.

---

Violet laid in her bed, with Lucy by her side, icing her ribs. She stared at the ceiling with dried tears on her cheeks. Her hand stroked the dog's back absentmindedly running her fingers through the brown and black fur. She had been crying for the last couple hours, but now she just felt numb. Whenever Violet could finally feel good and think she might be happy again, she was reminded of who she was and was pulled back down. She wasn't meant to be happy.

It had been three years now that she felt numb. The last time she felt a strong emotion was when they first took Poppy away. Violet felt every negative emotion in the book for months. She cried, she yelled, she broke things, she got into more fights. She was alone. She was suppose to protect her sister and she didn't. She failed her. Violet wanted nothing more than to just keep Poppy safe and to grow up with a loving guardian. But, she's gone and she took all Violet's emotions with her.

Now Violet laid beat up and broken in her bed with a german shepard hogging the blanket trying to focus on one of the cracks in her ceiling. It was nice to feel the dried tears on her face. It reminded her that maybe not very emotion was gone. She always felt better after a good cry, but she can't enjoy it. The night before she yelled at Tom for practically nothing. He was just showing concern for her after she lost the fight. He wanted to take care of her, something that she wasn't used to. No one had really taken care of her before. She was always the provider, the protector. And now to have someone want to be that for her... she panicked.