Promise // Mullette

chapter 21

- Laf -

I woke up the next morning to Hercules, fast asleep with his phone resting on my back. I didn't want to move too much and wake him up, but I was curious to see what time it was. Despite my best efforts, his eyes fluttered open anyway and he smiled at me upon waking up. That was a pretty welcome sight.

"Morning, Laf. Have you been up long?" He whispers, not wanting to use his barely sunken-in energy yet to speak all the way.

"No, I just woke up, right before you." I whispered back, putting my head back down on his chest.

"Did you have any more nightmares?" He asked. I tilted my head. I didn't really remember having a nightmare last night.

"You woke up last night in a little bit of a panic. Do you remember?" He asked.

"No, I don't have any memories of this at all. I'm sorry, was I bad?" I asked, feeling guilty about him having to deal with my panic. He shook his head, grabbing my hand gently.

"No, Laf, don't be sorry. It's completely okay. I told you this last night, and I'll keep saying it; I'm here with you every step of the way, I know you went through a lot there and I want to help you to try to move on from it." He said. I kissed him gently and thanked him for being so patient.

"Of course, love. I don't know if it'll help, but we have to go in and talk to the police today so they can figure everything out and hopefully get King locked up." He told me. I felt a little nervous to have to retell the entire story to the police, but I didn't want him to be a threat to anyone else again.

Hercules and I had breakfast and got dressed before he drove us down to the police station. It wasn't very warm today, and rain pelted down on the windshield as we made our way to the station. We ran inside when we got there, trying our best to stay out of the rain.

When we got inside, an officer greeted us and took us to an office in the back. They asked me for my ID to prove it was indeed me. When they were satisfied, they welcomed me back before asking Herc to leave the room for a while so we could discuss what happened.

"Sir, I'd like to start by asking about how this situation began. Can you describe what happened when you were kidnapped?" The officer asked. I took a breath in and nodded.

"I had just returned back to m apartment for the evening. I noticed one of my windows was opened, which was odd because I hadn't left it that way. I still am not quite sure how he got into the window. Anyway, he grabbed me and knocked me out. From there, I do not remember until I was back at his home." I told him, trying to recall the events of that day in my head. I had struggled a bit before King was able to get me passed out.

"Alright," he said, typing as he asked, "can you describe what happened when you were in his custody?"

"Yes. He would make me clean and cook for him, rewarding me with a tiny bit of food if I did well. Most nights, he would use me for..." I said, trailing off. The officer looked up, seeming to fill in the blank but asking for a confirmation.

"He would use me for sex, and would not allow me out of it. None of it was... what's the word? Consensual?" I said quietly. He nodded and continued to type.

"If I didn't comply, he would get very angry and keep me from having food, or would hit me. He told me I was his to use." I finished, fidgeting with my hands as he added this information to whatever it was he was typing on. He nodded and told me we should get a court case opened for this.

"Okay. Finally, can you describe this man, tell me his name, key features, anything you remember about the appearance of the outside of his house or an address?" He asked. This was the easy part, apparently.

"His name is George King. I believe he is from England, he has a very strong British accent. Very light blue eyes and I believe his hair is dyed because it is silver. I do not know his address, but Hercules might. I know that it is a very big, white house a little ways away from here." I told him, adding in that there was another person there - Sam. He nodded and thanked me for my answers, telling me to send Hercules in.

I walked outside to see Hercules playing a game on his phone in a black chair, waiting for me. He looked up at me and smiled when he saw me.

"How'd it go?" He asked. I shrugged.

"Not awful. They want to ask you questions so they can try to find King. Do you remember the address?" I asked him. He nodded and began to click around on his phone before settling on something. He stood up and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead.

"I'll be back soon." He said, opening the office door. I waved to him and he smiled before closing the door again.

I sat in the same chair he had been in, sitting and listening to the bustling in the office of phones ringing, officers talking, and people going in and out of the building. I played a little game where I tried to guess what crime someone had committed based on what I could make out of what people were saying. I doubted I was fully correct on any of them, but it was a way to pass the time.

Hercules finally opened the door to the office again, ushering me inside. We both sat down and the officer inside looked at us for a moment before speaking.

"Based on what we've got here, it's looking like this King character is going to be put on trial and likely sentenced to some time in prison. We have enough information and have seen threats from him, so that's enough to go and be able to bring him down here for some questioning, alright? Now mister Lafayette, I know you've been through a lot. We're gonna find you a real good lawyer but we'd like to know ahead of time if you'd be willing to testify or not. Despite all we have, it can help us a bit to have you speak about what King did." He said. I took this all in for a moment before answering.

"Yes, I would like to testify. I think you should interview Samuel Seabury as well. I told you about him earlier, he was in the house with me. He could help too." I told him. He nodded.

"Yes, we're going to have him come down and talk to us too. Thank you two so much for this information, we're hoping to get terrible people like these off the streets and into prison where they belong. You can continue on with your day, we'll give you a call when we have an update for you on anything." He said, standing and walking us out to the door. We thanked him before going back to my apartment to get some of my stuff. Hercules was with me, so hopefully we'd be safe.

I was afraid to enter the place King had been able to get into once. Who's to say he couldn't do it again? I faced my fears as I unlocked the door and stepped inside, taking in the mess I had made as I had struggled against his attacks.

Hercules helped me collect my clothes and other important items, and we took trips back and forth between the apartment and his car. It felt a lot less scary when he was here to help me.

At last, the apartment was as cleared out as it could be. I left a lot of stuff for now, but all my essentials were packed up in Herc's car. Before I knew it, we were back home at his apartment, cooking dinner and unpacking some of my stuff.

For just a while, I almost forgot about all the problems I was having. My mind was just zoned in on the times I was having with Hercules.

I liked it like this.