Free INK: Abstraction by Bella Roccaforte Page B

tears and they spill over heavy with fear and
uncertainty. Eli looks down to see me crying and tenderly washes away
my tears. I feel the very last of my innocence wash down the drain
with the grit and blood that covered my body.
    Without regard to
getting soaking wet himself he comes closer and holds my face in his
hands. His beautiful blue eyes are red and bloodshot, filled with his
own tears that he’s been crying for me. I can see so many words
of comfort running through his mind that don’t make it to his
lips. Eli looks at me with an incredible sadness. He needs to pull
the pain from within me and wants to try but doesn’t know how.
The sobs pound harder on my chest as I watch his anguish for me.
Watching everything slip away from me that made me feel safe saps the
last of my strength.
    My arms won’t
obey my commands to finish cleaning myself. Eli can see it and he
carefully washes my legs one by one. Going slow and watching me for
an indication that I need him to stop. He washes my hair and back
gingerly, working the soap into a lather and then rinsing it away.
    As he moves the soapy
cloth down my arms I know he’s soaking in the pain I felt from
each line cut down my skin. He shakes his head in disbelief and looks
into my eyes with a tight smile. “You’re so beautiful.”
    I look away to avoid
the lie. He puts his finger under my chin to meet his gaze. “You are beautiful. I love you.”
    My admiration and love
for him swells in that moment that he could love me even though I’m
nothing but broken.

Chapter Ten
Broken Girl, Broken Silence
    Harry
    Of
everything I’ve been through and seen in my life as a cop and a
father, this is one of the hardest. Seeing Shayleigh so weak and
scared has left a mark on me that I may never be able to reconcile.
Playing the role of the strong father isn’t easy right now when
all I want to do is break down. I can’t, I have to be here for
her to fortify her.
    She’s got a long
road of recovery ahead of her and we are fooling ourselves if we
really think this is something she can ever come back from
completely. Thank God she has Eli is the only thought that
rolls through my mind as I watch him walk with her to the bathroom.
    “Yes,” Carl
says, sitting in the chair. He has dark circles under his eyes and is
clearly exhausted. I’m sure I look about the same.
    “What?” I
ask, wondering if I missed something.
    “Yes, I’m
so glad she’s here and has Eli,” he says, ticking his
head toward the bathroom door.
    McNab stands from the
chair he just sat down in. He can’t seem to hold still and he’s
pacing nervously across the small space in the room. “Yes, I’m
glad we found her.”
    That reminds me. “How
did you find her?”
    McNab stops dead and
looks at Carl, then me. “We had people monitoring the police
scanners in the area. We got lucky on the call.”
    That doesn’t seem
feasible. “How did you get there before the police?”
    “I had the GPS
coordinates and I guess we were quicker.” McNab brushes me off.
    “Still, that just
seems very odd to me that you would have gotten there first.”
    McNab sits down and
looks at Carl, then me. “The call was for a D.B., so I guess
the cops weren’t in any big hurry.”
    My heart sinks a little
that whoever found her thought she was dead. “That makes sense,
I guess.”
    McNab’s
expression is heavy with seriousness. “I thought she was dead
when I got there. She was lying in the water completely motionless.”
    Running that image over
and over in my head is going to drive me crazy. I wish she would
start talking so we can find this bastard. I want him to pay for what
he’s done to her.
    “We can’t
push her; she’ll talk about it when she’s ready,”
Carl warns.
    There’s a quick
knock on the door and a man, presumably a doctor, walks in. “Hello
there, I’m Dr. Kendrick. You’re her father?” He
looks at me.
    “Yes, Harry
Baynes.” I stand up and shake his hand.
    Dr. Kendrick looks to
the