Broken Submission

Drifting

"Amelia?" Derek charged through the doorway of the cabin that one of Matthew's team had flagged.

It was ancient, a relic of an old campground that had been renovated into a slightly more modern campground. Flannels hung over homemade furniture, gas lamps burned lowly. The stove was little more than an iron box.

"Derek," Matthew hissed, gun held low, "Get behind me."

Derek ignored him, scanning the rooms. Entering a sitting room, his eyes fell on a set of restraints. Bile rose in his throat as he saw the bloodstains on the table, a vicious looking paddle tossed casually on a rumpled sofa.

"Jesus Christ," Matthew breathed behind him.

Derek spotted a door at the other end of the room. It was the only part of the cabin he hadn't yet seen. Running, he burst through the door.

Shock froze him in his tracks. A dim gas light illuminated the scene. Amelia sat on a bed, staring vacantly at the wall, a candlestick nestled gently in her palm.

A dead man sprawled across the comforter. A visible dent disfigured the left side of his skull, blood filling the eye to bulging.

Derek stared at his naked, bruised woman. "Amelia?" he whispered. She seemed both distant and fragile, avenging and... broken. In the moment, he couldn't help the tingle of fear that he felt when he looked at her.

Matthew cursed somewhere in the background, but Derek ignored him. Creeping forward, he edged into her line of sight, unsure if she was even aware of his presence.

"Hey sweetheart," he murmured. "It's me—It's Derek."

Her warm brown eyes were glazed, appearing almost black in the shadows. Her breath fluttered in her chest like a trapped bird.

He reached her side. "Amelia." He reached out and touched her fingers. "I'm here, babygirl. I found you."

Eerily, almost as if it were on a hinge, her head rotated to face him. He swallowed at her expressionless face, noticing the blood spatter that speckled the one side.

She stared at him, and tears sprung to his eyes. What did he do to her?

He reached out, slow and steady and as gently as possible, he pulled her into his arms. She didn't fight him, but her body remained stiff and distant.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered into her hair, rocking her on his lap. "I'm so fucking sorry."

His fingers glanced against weals and cuts, evidences of her trauma, and he fought the rage rising in him. The dead man would never suffer his wrath, and Amelia needed him.

"I'm right here," he told her. "I've got you."

Slowly, incrementally, she softened against him.

The cabin became noisier, however, as the police arrived in full force to examine the scene. Matthew kept everyone out, until at last his superior arrived. Seeing this, Matthew signaled him.

"You've got to move her," he murmured, eyeing the approaching suit. "If they've got a body, they may leave her alone for a while. But they're going to want a statement."

"Over my fucking corpse," Derek growled, pulling her against him. "The only thing she's doing is going to a hospital."

"Agreed," Matthew said. "The ambulance should be here soon. Just take her out to my car for now."

Derek gathered Amelia into his arms, checking her face again. It hurt to see her so vacant.

Ignoring the stares, Derek pushed through the officers and other personnel crowding the cabin and made his way outside, on the way snatching up a blanket to wrap her in.

Maneuvering them into Matthew's backseat, he closed the door against the outside world with a sigh of relief. That ambulance couldn't come fast enough.

• • •

She was being held. The touch was warm, soft. She didn't really care. It didn't matter that hands stroked her skin, vibrations traveling through her ears and out again without leaving any lasting impressions.

A fog filled her mind and it was lovely. Much better than the heavy clouds boiling at the edges of her current existence. Those... hurt. They were pregnant with grief and pain and fear, and she had no interest in mothering their offspring.

Allowing that empty chill to fill her completely, a smile touched her lips as she drifted off to sleep.

I know it's a bit short, but I figured that short was better than nothing at all. This poor girl! Even I feel a bad for her, and it was my sick mind that put her in this mess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯