Broken Glass (Closed)

[Lyssa_Marie]

It all happened so fast. Abigail, her sister Janet, and Janet's daughter Diana were watching a movie. What happened next was all a blur. Two guys entered the home, Abigail was dragged up the stairs.

An hour passed.

Abigail made a run for it when she silently made her way out the window that night. She made a promise to go back for her friend and her friend's little sister when she was able to get help. Only when she arrived at a neighbor's home did she go in to hysterics.

The cops arrived at her neighbor's house. As Abigail guided them to her house next door, an explosion knocked her off of her feet. The two story home went up in flames. Abigail stood in shock for a moment before she tried to make her way in the house. Two strong arms restrained her.

"They're still in there!" She screamed as she tried to fight off the one who held her back. "Damn it, let go of me!"

She was still trying to fight off the man when the firefighters arrived.

 

[tcost]

It all happened so fast. Abigail, her sister Janet, and Janet's daughter Diana were watching a movie. What happened next was all a blur. Two guys entered the home, Abigail was dragged up the stairs.

An hour passed.

Abigail made a run for it when she silently made her way out the window that night. She made a promise to go back for her friend and her friend's little sister when she was able to get help. Only when she arrived at a neighbor's home did she go in to hysterics.

The cops arrived at her neighbor's house. As Abigail guided them to her house next door, an explosion knocked her off of her feet. The two story home went up in flames. Abigail stood in shock for a moment before she tried to make her way in the house. Two strong arms restrained her.

"They're still in there!" She screamed as she tried to fight off the one who held her back. "Damn it, let go of me!"

She was still trying to fight off the man when the firefighters arrived.

***
Jake Butcher was still restraining the woman, and it was no easy task. She was probably five to ten years younger than he was, but if he let her go she was almost certain to get herself killed, burned to a crisp.

And the way that she was writhing against him was not a good thing, either. He was still unclear whether she had been raped or not, and here he was, letting her turn him on. The fact that her ass was squirming against his cock really made it impossible for him not to get excited, but still...

"You can't be of any help to them, ma'am," the detective insisted to her. "The firemen will get them out if they're still alive. Come with me, and have a seat in the squad car for a moment, and try to calm down enough to tell me what you can about the men who attacked you, and what all happened."

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

"Are you insane? My sister's in there!" Abigail tried to fight off the detective. When he loosened his grip a little, she tried to make a run for it again. This time he grabbed her with a tighter hold.

"NO!" She screamed. This time, the detective had to haul away a hysterical Abigail to his car. She didn't hear the detective telling her to calm down and explain to him what happened in the house. No, no, no, what was he doing? Why will he not let her find her sister and niece? They were still in there. And he wasn't letting her save them.

Abigail bumped her head once on the headrest in front of her before she leaned her head up against it. She buried her face, crying at the helplessness of the situation.

 

[tcost]

Jake's heart went out to this poor soul. No wonder she was grief-stricken, her family was in that house. The fire fighters were beginning to douse the flames, and one of them emerged from the interior, carrying a young girl who moved a little in his arms.

"It looks like there's at least one survivor, miss," Jake told her, relaxing a little now and noticing that his erection had finally subsided -- that was certainly just as well. "Is that your niece?"

Soon thereafter, a second firefighter pulled out an older woman, also still alive but badly burned.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

Abigail scooted out of the squad car to see a fireman carrying her niece out of the home. She was burned but moved some. She quickly ran up to her just to check her out. Aside from the burn mark on her neck, Abigail saw no sign of any other injury and allowed the fireman to hand her over to the paramedics. Then she spotted her sister, Janet, not far from where she stood. It appeared that she took the brunt of the explosion.

"Janet," Abigail made her way towards her sister as they placed her on a stretcher. "Janet."

Her sister looked up at her and appeared to be trying to say something. The only audible thing that came out were the words "Tell her...tell D I love..."

"Janet, don't talk like that."

"Ma'am, we really need to get her to the hospital." One of the paramedics told her.

Abigail looked up at the detective, wondering if he was going to restrain her again.

"I'm going with her."

 

[tcost]

"Of course," Jake replied. "I'll follow you there. I still need to ask you some questions, and as soon as possible, while things are as fresh in your mind as they can be. Our chances to catch the bastards who did this may depend on how much you can remember," he explained.

***
Abigail rode with Janet to the hospital, but, as soon as they arrived, her sister was placed on a gurney and wheeled away from her. A clerk approached and distracted Abigail by insisting on insurance information and where to get Janet's medical records.

No sooner had the clerk turned away than a slightly familar voice sounded from behind Abigail. "You doing okay? You look like you should probably sit down for a while." It was the police detective again, who had followed her as he had promised to do.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

"Excuse me? You can't wait until I find out whether my sister and niece are still alive?" Abigail told off the detective. It was frustrating. The detective had all the characteristics of a fucking paparazzi; the reason they bother so much is all in the name of their job. Or so they say.


Upon arrival at the hospital, she was instructed to stay in the waiting area. A clerk asked her about Janet's medical records and insurance. After giving off the information, she looked up to see the same detective.

"You again?"

She sat down on the chair, rubbing her forehead.

 

[tcost]

"No, me still," Jake returned. He had tried to be somewhat sensitive to this woman, but time was ticking by.

"The longer you wait before so much as giving a statement, the greater the chances that you will forget something that could be crucial. If you don't want to talk to me here, we can go down to the precinct hall. These criminals are still at large, after all, and if they know that you and your family members are still alive, they could very well decide to try to silence you."

(ooc: I will probably be offline until Monday.)

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

Abigail crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from the detective. For someone who insisted on helping her, he was truly being an asshole. She let out a collective sigh.

"It all happened so fast. We were watching a movie, Janet was getting a couple of prank calls but that was it. Had to use the bathroom while Janet was ready to take Diana to bed.Then next thing I knew, I hear the door slammed shut. Sounded like two...three men. Heard Janet screaming, begging..."

Abigail trailed off. She wanted to forget what she was a witness to.

 

[tcost]

Jake had a little notebook out, and he was scribbling in it while trying to watch Abigail at the same time. It tended to make for messy handwriting, but this method gained him the greatest amount of information.

"You might want to sit down, miss. A few details, first -- I need your own full name, and those of your niece, and your sister? And, relevant to your story, about how long would you say that you were in the bathroom?"

It was late, and Jake's shift was actually over, but he wasn't about to just leave under these circumstances. Maybe when somebody came to relieve him, if they even found him here at the hospital. His dark hair kept falling into his eyes as he wrote, and his five o'clock shadow was a bit worse than usual. His dark gray suit needed to go to the cleaner's, and his necktie was a little bit worn from years on the job.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

"Abigail Madsen. My sister's Janet Lynn Hawthorne, niece is Diana Hawthorne." She paused for a moment, then looked up at the detective. "Her husband died two years ago."

Abigail added the last part, assuming the bumbling detective needed further clarification in order to be his nosy self and delve deeper in to their personal life. Her emotions sometimes got the best of her. One minute, she wanted to help the detective. After all, she wanted to know who were the sons of bitches that were behind tonight's events. The next minute, she was irritable. This detective didn't allow her a minute to be alone with her grief!

"I don't know. Twenty...thirty minutes."

 

[tcost]

Jake nodded, his eyes on Abigail now, even as he scribbled away. "You say that it sounded like two or three men. Did you ever see any of them? Could there have been more?"

His hair was in his eyes again, but this time he just left it there, he was busy. "And did any of the men ever see you?"

He tried to take some note of the condition of her clothes and face, trying to tell if she herself had been a direct victim of the intruders.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

Abigail muttered something about how one of the men did indeed see her and, needless to say, confronted her. She remembered the others being busy with her sister and niece, while she could have sworn that she heard one of them said something along the lines of how Janet owed them money.

"I just...I just can't, okay? I don't want to think about it tonight, please."

The thought of tonight's events, although it felt that it happened fast, left her visibly shaken.

 

[tcost]

Jake nodded. "It may not get any easier, and if you take that time, you may forget critical details. Consider that you might well have to testify about this at the trials for these criminals. If that happens, you will want to be able to swear that what you remember is accurate. I can tell you from professional experience that you are much more likely to remember those details now than if you try to sleep on them."

He spoke more softly now. "I don't mean to be a brute about this, ma'am, honestly. I can see that this has been an ordeal for you. But at the least, we need to know how serious a set of crimes these men have committed, and we need the best possible descriptions we can get of them tonight, and you are the only witness in condition to tell us anything about them at all. If nothing else, maybe you can answer one yes-or-no question for me -- we already know that these men are guilty of breaking and entering, assault and battery, and arson. Did any of them do anything worse than that?"

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

Abigail let out a hmph, her back still turned towards the detective. When asked if there were any other incidents that occurred, Abigail was ready to blurt out a big fat no, more so to prevent herself from attempting to think about it. But then the noises came back to haunt her.

"Screaming, crying, they did something to quiet my niece." She hesitated to go on. Covering her eyes with her hand, Abigail finally turned around enough for the detective to see her profile.

"Rape..." Was all Abigail could muster.

 

[tcost]

"Yeah, that's what I figured," Jake grunted. "That's what I was afraid of."

He looked straight at her, and set the notebook down for the moment. "Let's get the worst part over with. Ms. Madsen, did any of these men rape you?"

He didn't think so, from the condition of her clothes, but her mental state suggested otherwise. He suspected strongly that Abigail should be receiving medical care herself.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

Abigail rubbed her head, agitated by the question. For the past ten minutes, she felt her head throb.

"You got some water and aspirin on you? Head's been a little cranky ever since we left the house."

She leaned her head up against the wall. Get over the worst part, he said. There is a difference between having the ordeal play in your head and telling the entire story.

"Almost. All I remembered was running in to...or being shoved on to the bathroom door."

 

[tcost]

Jake exhaled slowly, as if he had cigarette smoke in his lungs. Then he nodded, and said, "This is a hospital. They'll never give you aspirin here -- but yes, I have some on me. Let me go and get you some water to drink."

He left his notebook where he'd put it down, fished out the little white plastic cylinder containing the pills and set it next to the pad, and went to get the water, giving her that time to try to come to terms with matters, at least.

When he returned, he handed her a chilled bottle of Daisani. "This was the closest water I could bring you," he said, "sorry to take so long."

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

While the detective was gone, Abigail took a peek at his notepad. His notes were a little disjointed, mostly having basic facts of the events that took place tonight as well as what she assumed to be another case he was working on. Something about a murder.

It took him about five minutes before he returned. Taking the pill and bottle of water, she muttered a "thank you" to him.

"I don't know what they wanted. It's almost like Janet's house was specifically targeted. Know what I mean?"

 

[tcost]

Jake.

The detective nodded as he resumed his chair. He had been on his feet a lot today.

"I think I do, yes. You said something earlier about her owing them money? Or do you mean something else?"

He noticed that his notebook wasn't in just the same position where he'd left it, and smiled faintly; and then he banished the smile. This was no time to be smiling about anything.

He looked back up at Abigail again, and slowly, telegraphing his moves, he reached toward her face with one hand, keeping the corner of the table between them. He wanted to see if she would react badly to the prospect of being touched.

Under other circumstances, the idea of touching her would be a pretty good one, but now? It would be cruel. He didn't intend to actually make contact.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

For a moment, Abigail was confused. When did she reveal to the detective what she heard? Maybe it was one of those moments where she spoke her thoughts rather than keeping it to herself. She massaged the side of her head, wincing a little when she touched a certain spot.

"That's all I heard. All I heard the man said." She stopped for a moment, then turned to the detective, pointing to the left side of her head "Hey, detective. Is there something on my head? Kind of stinging a little so I figured it might be a bug?"

Little was she aware that covered by her brunette hair was a rather large, purple and blue-ish bruise.

 

[tcost]

"It's not a bug." At least she wasn't bothered by him touching her, that was fortunate no matter what else had happened to her. Some women could never bear the touch of a man again, sometimes not for weeks or months, sometimes, if more rarely, for the rest of their lives. It seemed that Abigail was more resilient than most in that respect.

"You have a nasty bruise and swelling there," he said, getting to his feet. "It's a good thing that we're in a hospital. We need to get this treated right now -- you and I are going to the emergency ward."

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

"No!" Abigail said a little too loudly. When she realized this, she lowered her voice and slumped in her chair. The events of tonight had worn her out and the only thing she wanted to do was lie down.

"I'm not hurt as bad as my sister and niece. They're the ones who need the emergency ward, not me. I just....I just wanna lie down. Doctor said he'll let me know how they're doing in a day or so. I don't know."

 

[tcost]

"You aren't hurt as badly as they were, no," Jake agreed. "But you -are- hurt worse than you think you are -- if you could see the side of your head, you would think so, too. If you just want to lie down, you'll be able to do that. And the doctors will let you know about your family faster here than if you went home. Come on, let me help you, Abigail."

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

"How the hell did you become a detective? Apparently you can't listen or something." Abigail still talked to him in a somewhat defiant manner but unlike earlier where she insulted him, her mood was a lot more mellow, calmer. It was not so much of a calm but more of exhaustion from the events and the pain.

"I just want to lie down. You can keep trying to ask me your questions if they have a room."