Page 54 of Traces of Her

Thirty-Four

ROWENA

“ROWENA, I DON’T WANT YOU going down there alone,” Griffin says in a hushed voice as he climbs up from the floor. “Please,” he insists. “It’s not safe, you’re not safe, none of us are.”

“I was just out there and saw no one when I was in the kitchen. Jared’s door was still shut,” I inform him. “This is something I need to do,” I say, inching closer to the door. “Please just let me do this.”

Griffin sighs deeply and closes his eyes. “Okay,” he says quietly, walking toward me. “But I’m walking there with you and I’ll be waiting for you at the top of the steps.”

Pressing up on my tiptoes I quickly kiss his lips before dropping down to my feet with a smile. “I wouldn’t have expected anything less from you.”

Griffin grumbles as he opens the door for me and walks me down the hall, helping me through the basement door.

“I will be right here, the whole time,” he assures me.

I give him a small nod and descend down the stairs to find Lydia.

“Lydia,” I whisper, nearing her still body on the floor. Her breathing is shallow, but she’s breathing nonetheless. Repeating her name over and over, my voice growing louder each time, I crouch down and shake her in an attempt to wake her up.

“Lydia!” I yell at her as I give her shoulder one last solid shake. Her eyes fly open, staring at me in confusion.

“I can’t lift you by myself,” I tell her, releasing her shoulder.

She continues to stare with the same confused look. “Huh?” she mumbles.

“You’re too heavy for me to lift by myself,” I sigh with growing frustration. She doesn’t move, doesn’t speak, her eyes are slightly glazed over as she zones out with her eyes trained on my face. “Lydia.” I snap my fingers in front of her face. “Stay with me.”

Still, my words barely register in her mind. What the fuck did he do to her?

“Shit,” I mutter, rubbing my face. “Okay,” I say, more to myself than her, “we’re going to get you up slowly and then you’re going to have to walk, but I will help you.”

She nods briskly. “Okay, okay,” she says, struggling to get up on her own. Easing my arms under her arms, I help hoist her onto her feet. She groans in pain as we both struggle against her protesting body until she’s somewhat steady on her feet. It doesn’t take long before she doubles over, dry heaving loudly.

“Shhh,” I hush her, angrily. The last thing we need is more attention drawn down here, especially when Jared isn’t aware that I’m down here trying to help her. She leans into me, putting most of her weight on me as I straighten her back up and we hobble together back to her little room. It’s impossible to be gentle and careful when I can barely support her weight, we both fall onto the ground as we reach the room, landing on the blanket on the floor.

“Thanks,” she mumbles.

I keep my words to myself. There’s nothing for her to thank me for, I’ve barely done a damn thing for her. Pulling her up, I rest her as comfortably as I can. Resting her back against the wall. Standing up, I brush the dirt from my jeans and quickly slip out of the room to grab the sandwich and water bottle that I brought along with me. Sitting down beside her, I hand her half of the sandwich and watch as she struggles to chew with a swollen and possibly broken jaw.

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out two small white pills I snuck from Jared’s stash. Lydia eyes them suspiciously before looking at me with questioning eyes.

Cocking my head to the side, I look at her with a cold, hard stare. “Do you really think I’d be trying to poison you?,” I pause. “And if I was, don’t you think dying from that would be better than what you’re going through right now?”

Looking back down at the pills, she stares in silence at my palm.

“They’re pain pills,” I tell her. “Either take them or don’t but I’d suggest you do.”

A few moments pass before she gives a small shrug, grabbing the pills and washes them down with the water, gagging as she tries to swallow them.

“Why are you doing this?” she asks, wiping a drop of water from the corner of her mouth with a filthy hand. A moment passes as I stare at her softly. “Because you didn’t ask for any of this.”

No response is needed as we both know it’s the truth. She quietly eats the rest of her sandwich as we both become lost in our own heads. Jared had never existed in her life before and here she was now, being tortured because of their father. He was the one who should be here, not Lydia.

“You’re strong, you know,” I finally say, breaking through the silence. “Most people would break. I’ve seen it happen one too many times. Many people wouldn’t survive all of this, their bodies would fail them or their minds, but not you. You’re still hanging in there.”

“I don’t know how much longer I can go,” she confesses, her words are barely audible, and she picks at her nails.

I shake my head, knowing that she’s wrong. “You will get through this,” I assure her.

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