The Dollhouse

Chapter 13: One Month Later

Dedicated to BoBoBaggins94 for the constant love and support!

Evelyn

I looked at my face in the bathroom mirror. A bruise ran on the right side of my head from my forehead down past where my earlobe met the start of my chin. It had been dark purple a few days ago, nearly tinged with a black hue, now it had lighted up to a violet with a tinge of dark yellow around its edges had not been bruised as badly and begun to heal.

My bottom right side of my lip was still slightly puffed up from the fat lip I had , a cut running down the center of the part it was most puffy.

My left side of my face faired better, only a few scratches and marks were there and had began to disappear the day I was released from the hospital.

My head wound was itchy and was something I often forgot about, bit quickly remember each time my hand accidentally went up to it to push hair away or put it up or the wrong move turning in the bed caused pain to erupt from my head like a volcano spewing lava.

The most unsettling for me was my neck. Long fingerprint bruises ran across the distance of my neck, leaving a reminder of the hold Liam still held over me.

After the police left that day I went into overdrive trying to find a trace of Liam. I was met with nothing.

The phone number I had for him. Deactivated. I looked for him on Facebook, Instagram, all the social media sites, that he had told me he was not on previously, I was still met with nothing. I went to looking at his practice he was a part of and again nothing.

I felt foolish. Why had I not checked into this sooner? Why had I not asked more questions? After a day of searching endlessly I was left feeling unsettled and anxious.

After two days, they released me from the hospital. After they were certain that the concussion was under control and that my wounds could be managed by myself alone.  They released me with a prescription of pain medication and the few belongings I had come in wit, plus ones my parents brought me.

My parents picked me up from the hospital that day.

They kept conversation with me light as they took me to my apartment to get my things. They had made it clear that I was coming home with them and there would be no discussion about it. The lawyer in them took over convincing me to come with them and it was easy to sway me to their side.

"I don't feel comfortable with you going in alone," my mother stated turning around to look at me in the backseat as we parked in front of my building.

"Ana is inside," I replied adjusting my scarf to better cover my bruises. "I'll only be a few minutes," and with that I opened the door and left before they could persuade me otherwise.

I entered the building and quickly made my way to the elevator and took it up. I felt uneasy and the need to constantly check over my shoulder, but I knew he was smart enough to know being here would be a bad idea for him at this point.

The door dinged and I made it to my apartment door. I grabbed the handle to find it locked. Ana must have decided after everything that had happened to start locking the door. 

I knocked since I didn't have my keys. A moment later Ana opened and wrapped her arms around me, fresh tears present in her eyes.