Chasing Astrid Malone

25. CONSENT

Tristan's POV

"Did she tell you what happened?" Josh whispered, we only just heard her door close upstairs.

"No, she just told me she didn't want to think about it, and she changed the subject." I could have pressed her for information, but I still can't get the image of her kneeling on the floor out of my head. Completely unresponsive for over an hour before she started to cry.

"When our dad passed away, she completely shut down. She didn't talk at all for weeks, my mom barely got her to eat. We talked about hospitalizing her more than I'd like to admit. She didn't cry for weeks, when she finally did that's when we saw her come back."

The idea of her being like that for weeks was killing me. "Had this ever happened before then?" Maybe this was just how she dealt with trauma, by not dealing with it.

"No, never. We hoped it would never happen again. She has always put on a brave face, usually only opening up to me. His death was too much for her to handle, so whatever this was, it must have been bad."

I watched from a few feet away, while her mom and Josh tried everything they could to break her out of it. I'd never seen anything like it, she was breathing but vacant. Josh started arguing with his mom in the kitchen, and I couldn't take it anymore. I needed to hold her in my arms, to keep her unoccupied body safe somehow. She had been like that for an hour and I stood by as a spectator, stunned.

I knelt on the floor beside her and pulled her body into my chest. Whispering to her, begging her to come back to me. I expected her mom to yell at me any second, not wanting me to touch her. Instead, Astrid started to cry inconsolably.

Josh yelled for his mom, and they ran over and tried to pull her from my arms but she wouldn't budge. She kicked and swatted them away. Josh asked me to carry her since I was the only one she allowed to touch her.

"It was shorter this time, maybe it isn't as bad as you think?" Or maybe she's getting better at dealing with trauma, but I'd rather think positively. Josh shrugged.

"Yeah, but if you hadn't been here, we'd have no idea how long that could've lasted. My mom feels awful asking you to stay over again, but she's terrified we won't be able to console her at night. She never woke up screaming like this last time."

When they asked me to stay last night, I was more than willing, because I had no intention of leaving her anyway. This morning I could tell how uncomfortable it was for her mom, to ask me if I would stay again. I made them promise not to tell Astrid they asked, I wouldn't want her to think that's the only reason I was here.

"Do you think she loves him?" I didn't want to know the answer, but if he broke things off with her that would explain it.

"I hope not, but it would still be better than what I've been thinking." I didn't need him to explain. I hadn't thought of it myself, but I knew what he was saying. Anger ripped through my body as the word crossed my mind. Rape.

"I would kill him!" The words came out of me in a growl. Josh put a finger to his lips, to quiet me.

"My mom cleaned out the guestroom for you. It's been more of a storage unit since my dad passed, but now you can get to the bed." His eyes looked heavy and he yawned.

We both went up to bed. I left the door open so I would be able to hear her if she needed me. Within minutes I could hear Josh snoring from down the hall. I wish I could have fallen asleep so effortlessly, but having Astrid in the next room was torture.