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24.

I opened the door to my father's house and braced myself walking inside. I didn't have a clue whether he was here or not or where my mother and father were.

Quite frankly, I didn't care.

Nick hadn't come to the apartment and it had been over five hours now. I was tired of being angry and I was just overall tired. I couldn't be bothered to wait around for him when he was meant to be protecting me, not making me feel more shitty about the whole thing.

I didn't even have it in me to worry about who he was with. I had to trust him, I just had to.

Like hell I was going to listen to Alice anyway. It was obvious she was obsessed with my boyfriend and maybe she just wanted to cause trouble.

I was still angry about the fact Nick had called her over to look after me. As if I was a baby who needed looking after. I was a rape victim and a survivor, not a piece of shit who needed to be watched like a hawk.

I've always protected myself, I didn't need anyone else doing it for me.

Just as I opened the door to the house, my phone rang in my pocket. I didn't answer it until I dropped my bag to the floor and had taken my jacket off.

I answered it quickly as soon as I knew it was Nick.

"Why the hell can't you just do as I say?" He snapped as soon as I had answered the call. I was too tired to act shocked and bothered about him snapping at me at the other end of the phone.

I sighed.

"What do you want, Nick?" I sounded bored, just like I had given up on everything. Maybe I had, I didn't know. Everything was just getting too much for me lately and all I wanted to do was sleep it away.

"You told Alice to leave when I needed her to look after you." He said. "I want you fucking safe, Cathy!"

"Props to her for wanting to do your job." I jabbed. "But the girl fancies you and she was stirring shit up between us."

"Like what?" He replied back irritated.

"Making me believe you were with another girl." I said. He didn't reply but I heard his heavy breathing down the other end of the phone.

"Where are you to?" He completely ignored my statement with another question. "Are you still at the apartment?"

"Nick-"

"Answer me." He snapped.

"No, I'm at my dads." I snapped. "Were you with somebody else?" I asked.

"Why the fuck are you up there?" He boomed. "He could be at home, you're being so fucking stupid right now!" He fumed.

"Get fucking lost." I snapped. I could feel my anger coming back to me at full force. "You should have been looking after me, making sure I was okay! You were meant to be there for me but you'd obviously rather be with somebody else. I fucking need you and you're never bloody there!" I shouted.

"Cathy-"

"Leave me alone, Nick, seriously." I snapped. "Don't ring me, don't come and see me, don't even try anything." I said. "I want to be left alone."

"You can't tell me to do that, you can't tell me I can't see you!" He shouted, his voice becoming one of panic and one of irritation.

"I'll do whatever the hell I please." I said. "Have a good night."

"Cathy, no." He demanded. "That man's made your life a living hell, but you don't need to take it out on me."

"Don't you dare start this. You knew I was damaged goods as soon as I told you the story! If this is too much for you, please say now."

"Don't be fucking ridiculous!" He snapped down the phone. "Don't do this."

"Leave. Me. Alone." I punctuated the sentence carefully. "Before I tell you to never come back at all." My anger was overcoming me so much, it was hard to keep my harsh words at bay. I wanted to hurt him, I didn't know why. I never wanted to see him upset but my anger was just too much.

"You wouldn't do that." He threatened as the oanic really started to set in to his voice.

"Bye, Nick." I said.

"Cathy, please-" I hung up the phone before he could say anything else. As soon as I did so, I flung the phone on to the arm chair.

I walked around the house, my body being dragged as if I were a zombie. I couldn't feel a thing. It felt as if my body was completely numb, mentally and physically. This whole ordeal was mentally draining and I was just too past gone to even feel anything.

It was hard to cope when the person you needed didn't want to help you. It was hard to cope when you were barely coping in the first place.

I felt more alone now than I ever had before.

Walking around the house, I realised that I was alone here.

My father was no where to be seen so I rang my mother to see where her and her husband were. If they were going to come back home, I needed to find somewhere else to go. Maybe I could ring up Danni to sleep there for a few days?

My mother answered the phone after a few rings.

"Hey, darling."

"Mom, where are you to?" I asked. I couldn't bring myself to ask about her husband.

"We're both at a hotel." She said. I started to panic as I realised Glenn could have told her about what happened. "John thought it was only best as we didn't want to over stay our welcome." Oh, so it seemed John had the right idea.

I didn't know what had happened to him after, did Nick and my father beat him up? Did mom suspect something? I had so many questions now running through my mind, even though it seemed everything was okay.

"So you're not coming back?" I asked, hoping they wouldn't.

"No, darling." She said. "Unless you want to see me?"

"No." I let out a little forcefully. I had to catch myself. "No thank you, mom. I'm going to have an early night."

"Okay, love." She said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah." I hoped I didn't have to see him. "See you." I hung up the phone and fell to the floor. It seemed I was becoming a right mess, inside and out.

I came here to get away from all of this. I moved so I could get away from him, start a new life and get happy again. Just as everything was starting to look up, my world started to move again beneath my feet.

Just as I had started to stop my quick beating heart, the door opened and my father came in to view. I looked up at him, my eyes starting to tear up at the sight of him. He looked worn down, his usual smile now a frown and his face one of depression.

I wish this could have all gone away.

"Birdy." His voice cracked as he took in my tear strained face. "I'm so sorry." He got to the floor beside me and took me in to his arms. "I never meant to have a go at you. None of this is your fault. I'm just so angry about the whole thing, my one dying wish was to make sure you're always okay. I was so mad to find out the worst whilst you were away. It was never meant to be like this."

"I couldn't stop it." I sobbed. "I tried and I just couldn't stop any of it."

"Cathy, don't." He whispered. "None of this is your fault. None of it." He sounded firm.

"I tried to leave but mom wouldn't let me come and see you until I was an adult. After that, I wasn't allowed because he kept black mailing me until I was strong enough to do it." I stated as I started to hiccup. "I needed you but you were so far away."

"If only I had known." He said. "If I had known, this would have never happened, I promise."

"I wish I never left you, dad." I looked to him.

"I wish you never left me either." He replied. He took my face in his hands as he continued to look my way. "He won't ever hurt you again, Cathy, do you understand?" He looked serious, his eyes one of determination to look after me. I believed him when he said it.

"I understand." I breathed.

"He will never, ever, touch you again, I promise you this with my life." His voice was strong. "You have to believe me."

"Of course I believe you." I said. "You're my father and I love you."

"And you're my daughter and I let you down."

"No you didn't." I snapped. "How were you meant to know?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "A father should just know when their little girl is in trouble."

"You weren't meant to know, I made sure you didn't." I said. "None of this is your fault either."

"I'm just broken inside, Cathy. You're the only thing I have left. Knowing what had happened to you..." he laid his hands to his head. "God."

"Stop this." I pulled his hands away from his head. "We can move on from this now. We can. Hopefully mom and him will go back to Australia soon and we can move on with our lives." I sounded hopeful.

"Yeah." Glenn didn't seem too convinced. He got up from the floor. "Where's Nick?" He asked.

"He's out and about." I looked down to the floor, hoping he wouldn't catch on to the fact we had argued.

"What's the matter?" Glenn asked. He knew straight away something wasn't right.

"Nothing, we've just argued that's all." I shrugged as if it were no big deal.

"I'm sure you'll be okay." He said. "The man worships the ground you walk on." He stated. "He's lucky he does or I'd break his neck too."

"Maybe." I wasn't entirely convinced anymore. Not after tonight.

"There's no maybe about it. And it's obvious you love him too."

"I do but..." I shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it. My father caught on quickly and sighed instead of replying.

My father came over and gave me a helping hand to get up off from the floor. I took it and was standing up in no time.

"Look at me." He said. I looked to my dad.

"I promise you everything's going to be okay."

"I believe you." It had to be okay, it just had to be. I couldn't continue living like this, not knowing what was going to come creeping up on me. I didn't want to be scared to turn my neck and see him there. I didn't want to be scared anymore.

"I'll do what I needed to do before this all started."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Protect you."

-------------------------------

I walked through a darkened tunnel. The sounds came back to haunt me, again and again and again. They never went.

I could hear him again echoing in my ear. He told me he wanted me, he told me that I was his and his only.

I tried to run again and my legs worked faster as the minutes went on. I was running at full speed, my lungs exhaling and inhaling oxygen quickly.

I needed to get away.

Suddenly, I got to the end of the tunnel. The noises stopped and I saw a figure before me. This figure was one of a male's, not a female's, and I recognised it instantly.

"Nick?" I called his name. He turned to look at me, his eyes shining brightly as he saw me, but his mouth was turned in to a frown.

"You did this to us." He said. "You've ruined everything."

"What do you mean?" I stammered. "What have I done?"

"Your baggage has damaged me." He scowled my way. "Now I'm locked up and trapped here."

"Nick-"

"We're never getting out."

I woke up with a frightened start. My head was saturated with sweat but my body was freezing cold. I had to stop my beating heart from rattling against my rib cage.

Just as I was about to pick up the phone to ring Nick, I heard the front door shut downstairs. Was somebody coming in?

I was about to pick up the bat beneath my bed, my half sleepy state making me think that he was coming back for me, to hurt me again, before I heard the sound of my father's car drive off in the distance.

I called my beating heart and flopped back in to bed. My father used to always drive off in the middle of the night whenever he was feeling low. He was probably going for a drive to clear that head of his after the last twenty four hours.

I didn't blame him.

Anyway, I picked up my phone and texted Nick quickly.

Where are you?

He still hadn't come back to see me but hopefully he was back at his apartment by now.

In under a minute, my phone pinged with an incoming text. I picked my phone up quickly.

Go to sleep. Everything will be okay.

I text him back.

Are you at your apartment?

Hopefully he was.

Yes. Nothing to worry about. Go to sleep.

Okay, so he was back at his apartment. I started to relax again and was able to leave my phone and try and get back to sleep.

It was a restless night and I tossed and turned for the majority of it. I just couldn't sleep, no matter how hard I tried. Sometimes, I got in to a small slumber but was easily jumpy and I jumped out of it most of the time.

I was even awake for when my father got home not long after he left.

But finally, I was able to sleep at around four in the morning. However, after what seemed like half an hour of a light sleep, my phone rang beneath my pillow.

Who the hell needed to ring me at this time?

My mother's name flashed upon my screen.

"Mom?" I was confused as to why she rang me. Soon, I heard her sobbing on the other end of the phone.

"Cathy." She sobbed. "He's dead." My heart started leaping.

"Who's dead?" Was my father okay? He had left only a few hours ago and I knew he was home now. Nick had texted me a few hours ago too, so they both should have been fine.

"John." She cried. "John's dead."

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There's some confusion. Her mother doesn't know what he's done yet as Nick and Glenn both understand that Cathy didn't want her to be told yet. So don't panic !!! :)