Found Along The Way

Chapter twenty

You wouldn't know it was Tricia from only a glance, her long bleached hair was pulled into a low ponytail and she was wearing what could've been pyjamas. Her tan was patchy on her face, she seemed to have cried off her eye makeup as it was smudged down her cheeks. Anya was completely shocked to see her like this, she looked completely degraded, her posture sunken down from the bitchy stance she'd had at the museum. Her arms were wrapped around her torso, she was nearly doubled over and could barely look Anya in the eye. But when she did it was with desperation, a look that Anya knew too well, one she'd given to Lina after the night where Daniel threw the drink.

"Tricia... What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry I- I didn't know where to go I just-" She sounded weak, broken down, nothing like the bitch Anya thought she knew. Anya closed the door behind her, and signed for Tricia to walk with her, to a wall that overlooked a beautiful, open, hill. One of the two places Anya liked to go to for collecting her thoughts. They sat and looked out into the sunset, tension between them, the unspoken acknowledgement of how awful Tricia had been in the past 2 years ringing in their ears, making the moment difficult. Until Tricia spoke up,

"Did Daniel ever... hurt you?" Anya had a feeling this was what her coming here was about.

"What did he do, Tricia?"

"No, I just- He-" She didn't really know what to say. But it seemed in those few words, enough had been said for Anya to know what she meant. "I just need to know if he's done anything before, or if it was just me... if it was my fault."

"Tricia, whatever he did will not have been your fault. But you need to tell me what he did."

The poor girl sat, tears flooding her eyes but no sound coming out of her mouth.

After enough time had gone by for Anya to know she wasn't likely to say anything, she closed her eyes and admitted, hoping it would make Tricia feel less alone.

"He shouted, a lot. Mostly when he was drunk, which was more days than I can remember. He'd also torture me with this silence whenever I tried to tell him what he'd done wrong. He once threw a drink at a wall right by my head, then not so long after threatened to kill himself."

Tricia sighed, more tears escaping her exhausted eyes. "I'm sorry Anya."

"It was his fault, not yours, don't apologise-"

"No, for being a bitch to you. For being the one he cheated on you with, and for making you cry for so long after you'd left him... I'm truly sorry. At the time I had no clue what he was like... but there's no excuse."

"You're right," Anya said sternly. But her voice softened, "However I'm not here to judge you now."

"Thank you." Tricia said, looking at her wide-eyed and genuinely grateful.

"You still need to tell me what he did."

"He-" She took a deep breath, "It was the night of the ceremony, we'd arrived at the after-party and he seemed off already, probably because of seeing how amazing you were. We both knew it. I tried to tell him to hold back on the drinks, I didn't really want to drive us home that night, but he refused. My reputation does matter to me though, so I left him at the bar while I kept my head held high and spoke to the host and all his important friends. But then maybe a half hour later I saw you. Sat on that bench, your boyfriend explaining away some sort of situation, and that's when I heard it, 'I was just trying to help this girl he wouldn't leave alone' and I wondered who he meant. Until I walked out into the courtyard and realised who he meant. Because there was Daniel, stood alone in the dark, soaked in rain and his suit a mess, with a drink. Another fucking drink." She said through her tears, frustration clearly building. "He'd never been violent before," she explained, "The drinking seemed like the biggest problem at that point, he would drink often, and come home late. But he never shouted or hurt me. Until that night when we got home. The car ride was completely silent, and when I closed the front door he slumped himself down on the couch, not looking at me or anything in particular. I was pissed off, he harassed a young girl what was I supposed to feel!?" Tricia sobbed. "And I said- I couldn't help myself I just-" Her crying was stopping her breaths from leaving her chest and strangling her words with it. Anya shuffled over and hugged her, holding this broken down girl in her arms.