Deconstructing Bridges

Chapter Twelve

Rose sat cross-legged on the hard mattress, her back leaning against the wall and her arms limp. She'd barely moved, certainly hadn't slept since yesterday. Her entire body ached, her eyes were sore. She wanted to.. she didn't know what she wanted. But she knew she didn't want to feel like this anymore.
I lost, she had been whispering to herself over and over. She didn't know what to do. She had not been prepared for what she had seen yesterday, and her body, it seemed, had shut down as its only way of allowing her to cope.
As she heard footsteps approach, her eyes reflexively closed.
No. She didn't want to face anybody. She could not cope with one more person talking at her, trying to guide her thoughts. There was no fucking way they could convince her to help them. She didn't care. She didn't care about anything right now. Only one thing could possibly hope to lessen the sting of what she was feeling, and that was not going to happen. No, she did not want to see anybody.
The sound came to a stop, and she could feel someone watching her.
Even speaking to tell the person to go away felt like too much effort. They'd get the hint eventually. They could drag her back into that room. They wouldn't get a thing out of her.

"Hi," a soft feminine voice sounded, causing her to startle.
What, they'd sent a bloody woman in now to try and soften her up?
If they thought that would soften her, they were sorely mistaken. Nothing would placate her now. She scrunched her eyes more tightly.
Go away, go away, she chanted internally.
"I hear you're going by 'Rose' now. Hi Rose. Rose Bridges. Look at me, hon. Come on."
No.
No.
With some difficulty she pried her eyelids open and tilted her head to the figure standing on the other side of the bars.
"Beth?"
She barely recognised her own voice, it was so scratchy and hoarse, and she attempted to clear it.
"It's not-."
"It's me."
Bethany gripped one bar with one perfectly manicured hand, her eyes round as she took in the appearance of the woman who now called herself Rose.
"What are-?"
"I spoke with Owen. He told me you killed Wallace."
She closed her eyes again, turning her face away.
"Listen, I've talked to the police, the detective said he's not pressing murder charges. The reason they're holding you-."
"Get out. Get out."
Although quiet, she knew that her voice was harsh, perhaps more harsh than Bethany Reilly deserved, but she didn't care. She didn't want to think, and she certainly didn't want to hear someone trying to get her to think rationally.
Who gave a damn about thinking rationally? She certainly didn't.

"Don't say that. Listen to me, alright? I can easily get you out of here."
She scoffed.
"I killed your precious Owen's brother. Why the hell would you try to help me?"
Bethany hesitated and Rose smiled weakly, turning her head further away.
"Let me help you, please."
"Why do you think I need your help?"
Again, the lawyer outside the cell remained silent.
Then it clicked.
"You know. You fucking know."
The last three words were spoken with such hostility, desperation seeping through the tone so implicitly that Bethany drew her breath in sharply.
With her eyes closed, she could only squeeze them tighter as the burn started once more, the burn that was way too familiar.
"Get out. Get out, you bitch."
"No, I won't."
She sprang to her feet then, not sure where the energy came from, not caring. In an instant she stood before the red-haired woman who seemed a little shaken.
Good.
"When did you find out, Beth? When did he tell you?"
Her hand latched onto Bethany's, which was still wrapped around a bar, and Rose squeezed tightly until she saw the woman grimace. She was uncompromising.
"I didn't know, I swear. I didn't know anything until yesterday. I hadn't spoken with Owen in months before he called me yesterday."
Rose scoffed and released the woman with disgust.
"I find that pack of lies hard to believe."
The sudden sprint of energy quickly evaporated, and Rose found herself leaning back against the wall. Her knees slowly buckled beneath her and she slid down, down, down until she was huddled there.
Bethany shook her head as she crouched down despite the height of her stilettos.
"Listen to me. It's over, okay? It's over. Let me get you out of here."
She looked up then, her expression bleak.
"How exactly do you think you can get them to let me go? They'll never agree."
She was not about to be deterred.
"They will agree. I promise. They will agree. They aren't holding you for Wallace. That will go away. They're keeping you because they don't know who you are."
Rose's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
No. She wasn't suggesting...
"Let me tell them who you are."