Chapter 9

Annie went to bed just after nine thirty. Dave said he would stay up for another hour or two to watch a TV show and take a shower. Annie was kind of relieved.

Although she ws tired, once she was actually in bed, she couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t keep the fear that Dave would try something out of her mind, even though his behavior today suggested that he wouldn’t. it was silly really, she hadn’t minded Matt’s hands on her body, in fact, she had enjoyed it. Dave was her husband. So why did she feel so scared of him touching her?

Annie lay awake worrying until eleven o’clock, when Dave came into the bedroom. He switched on the light, making Annie blink in surprise. He got changed into boxers and a t-shirt in front of her, without any signs of embarrasment. But Annie was embarrased enough for both of them. Dave obviously thought nothing had changed between them. But it had. Everythign had changed.

When he was changes, Dave switched of the light and climbed into bed next to Annie. She held her breath. Dave reached out and touched her arm. Annie flinched at his light touch, and suddenly, something inside Dave seemed to snap. He grabbed her arm, his fingers digging deep into her flesh. Annie wanted to scream, but didn’t dare, for fear of what might happen if she did. Dave, still grasping her arm lent over her and whispered in her ear.

"Come on Annie. I just want everything to go back to how it used to be," he hissed. Annie didn’t answer. Tears trickled down her cheeks.

Dave pulled annie onto her back. She knew by instinct what he was going to do, but she was to shocked and too scared to do anything about it. He shook her arm and then released it. At first Annie optimistically thought he had changed his mind, but realised he was just taking off his boxers. She whimpered as he crawled on top of her and stared up at him in fright.

"Please don’t," Annie begged in a tearfull, choked up voice. Dave ignored her. He slipped his hand up her thigh and pushed her nightie out of the way.

"Don’t’ ruin this for me Annie. I’m only trying to help you remember," Dave warned her. If this was his way of helping her, Annie thought she would rather never remember anything else in her life, just so long as he stopped now. But of course, he didn’t.

Dave pressed his hands to her chest and squeezed. She wanted to scream, and this time, she did dare, but her throat had close up in terror. Dave was panting now, but Annie could barely breath through her fright.

Impatiently, Dave pulled her panties down to her ankles and then it was happening. Annie’s hands automatically formed fists and she closed her eyes, trying to block out the pain, fear and humiliation.

When he was done, Dave rolled away and reached for his boxers. Ten minutes later, he was fast asleep and snoring quietly, while Annie lay petrified and motionless. Why had he done that to her? How dare he? But she also wondered if she wasn’t partly to blame too, after all, she had been so scared she hadn’t really done much to try and stop him. He might have taken her silence as acceptance. She hoped that would be the first and last time Dave did that to her, but somehow, she wasn’t really convinced.

Annie wanted to get away. Away from Dave. Away from this house where she should feel at home but didn’t. Away from everything. But getting away from Dave was the most important thing.

Shge slipped out of bed as quietly as possible so as not to disturb Dave but he remained sound asleep. Annie dressed quickly without turning the light on. She chose a pair of babby blue jeans (baggy because se had lost quite a lot of weight while she’d been in hospital) and a white tank top at random from the wardrobe.

She put on the sneakers she had worn home from the hospital and went outside, shutting the front door behind her. It was only after the door was firmly closed that she realised she didn’t have a key and so couldn’t get back in. but that didn’t matter. She never ever wanted to go back inside that house ever again.

There was only one person she wanted to see. Only one place she wanted to be. But she didn’t think she knew how to get there. She looked right and left several times then tentatively chose to go right. She walked slowly and hesitantly, but with increasing confidence through the wind and the rain. She must have walked this way a thousand times, and her feet remembered the route all by themselves. She even knew which house was his as soon as she saw it.

Tears had been running down her cheeks in a constant streem the whole way. By the time she got there, she didn’t even notice them,. She was shaking with fright and cold. As she stood on the doorstep ready to ring the doorbell, she was suddenly really, really nervous. What if she was wrong, and this wasn’t really his house? Or what if it was, but he didn’t want to see her? Annie pushed her wet hair back from her face, noticing for the first time that it was raining. It took a couple of minutes for him to answer the door. When he did, he looked as though she’d woken him up. He was wearing pajama bottoms and a t-shirt and his hair was ruffled.

"Annie? Are you okay? Why are you here?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Oh Matt!" she cried and threw herself into his arms. Matt hugged her and stroked her wet hair. He seemed confused about why she was there, and surprised that she was there at all.

"Annie, what the matter?" Matt asked. Annie just cried harder into his t-shirt. "Come inside. Its freezing out here. You’re all wet and shivering. Come on," Matt said, leading her into his house, which somehow seemed more familiar to her than her own had been. Matt took her into the living room and made her sit on the couch. He sat down next to her and hugged her tightly.

"I can’t go back there," Annie sobbed.

"Its okay honey," Matt soothed her. "You can stay here tonight."

"Thank you," she whispered.

Matt held her, rocking her gently back and forth for about twenty minutes, his touch had an increadibly calming effect on her, but after twenty minutes, she was still whimpering.

"We gotta get you out of those wet clothes before you freeze to death," Matt said eventually.

"No!" Annie shrieked, then she bit her lip, afraid that Matt might get the wrong impression. It wasn’t anything to do with him and she didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

"Annie?" Matt asked, looking at her closely. "Annie, what’s happened? Annie? Why are you afraid of me? Have I done something to upset you? Because if I have, I’m so sorry, but please, just tell me what’s the matter." He sounded so concerned and sincere that Annie burst into tears all over again.

"no, Matt, you haven’t done anything," Annie assured him.

"Then whats the matter Annie? You can trust me, I promise. I want to help you Annie, that’s all."

"I know, I know."

"So tell me why you won’t let me."

"I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come here," Annie said, getting up to leave. Matt pulled her back down and spoke to her sternly.

"Anniue, don’t be silly. You can’t just go out there in the pouring rain in the middle of the night. If you really don’t want to stay here, then okay, I’ll call Dave and have him pick you up. But you can’t leave her on your own right this minute," Matt explained patiently.

"No! Please don’t call Dave!" Annie begged.

"Annie, has Dave done something to upset you? Did he hurt you?" Matt asked insistantly.

"I can’t tell you. Look, don’t worry about me. I’ll just go and leave you alone," annie said. She tried to get up again, but Matt just pulled her back again.

"Where will you go, huh? If you don’t want to go to Dave’s place, and you don’t want to stat here, then where the hell are you gonna go Annie? Tell me that!" Matt almost shouted.

Annie flung herself into Matt’s arms sobbing. Startled, he simply held her and waited for her to explain everything in her own time. Eventually, she looked up and wiped her eyes.

"Matt, can I tell you something in complete confidence?" she asked. He nodded and stroked hjer hair.

"Of course. But can I suggest that you get changed first? You’ll feel better when you’re not cold and wet," Matt said. Annie paused to think about it, then nodded.

"But I don’t have anything to change into," she reminded him.

"You can borrow one of my shirts if you want. I’ll show you up to my bedroom. You’ll find shirts in the wardrobe. Pick whichever one you want. I’ll get you a towel to dry your hair. Then we can talk for as long as you want. I don’t care about the time, I can sleep late tomorrow if you need to talk all night, so don’t worry about that," Matt said.

"Thanks," Annie said gratefully. It wasn’t much, that one little word, but it said everything to Matt. He wanted to know what Dave had done to Annie. And if that bastard had laid so much as a finger on her, he would personally see to it that Dave never, ever touched another woman like that for as long as he lived. Annie kissed Matt quickly on the cheek, and then they both stood up. He led her upstairs then left her alone in the bedroom to change out of her wet clothes.

When she went back downstairs, Matt was sitting on the couch, waiting for her. He handed her a fluffy green towel and patted the couch next to where he sat. rubbing her hair with the towel, annie sat down. She was wearing a soft, blue shirt that came down almost to her knees and she had had to roll back the sleeves because they completely covered her hands. Matt thought she had never looked more gorgeous.

"Okay, talk away," he encouraged her. Suddeny, Annie was extreemly nervous. She folded her pale, skinny legs underneath her and played with her hair.

"Dave was great today, you know? He was really kind and sympathetic. He cooked me dinner. In a way, today Dave was like you’ve been all along," Annie said. She was going to tell Matt what had happened immediately before she came out, but first she wanted him to understand that Dave had been acting nicely and kindly, so Matt wouldn’t think she was stupid to let him get into bed with her. She already thought that herself, without Matt reminding her of it. If she had known him better, she would have realised that Matt would never be so unkind, but she didn’t.

"Thanks I think," Matt said. "But I don’t really think that’s the reason you went running out in the middle of the night, is it?"

"I suppose I should have realised what was going on, or at least that something was going on. But I thought maybe he had just acted weird before because hospitals made him uncomfortable or something. Anyway, I went to bed before him, but I was still awake when he came up. It felt really weird, having him lie down next to me. But I was stupid enough to convince myself he wouldn’t try anything. Oh, Matt," she said, suddenly bursting into tears. "Oh God, it was awfull! Why did he do that to me? Why?" Annie demanded.

"Shh, honey, shh, its okay. I understand," Matt soothed. He pulled Annie over so she was sitting so close to him that her leg was touching his and he rubbed her back and stroked her hair. "Shh. You don’t have to tell me anymore. God sweetie, I’m so sorry." Yeah, sorry that bastard Dave had ever been born!

"Why are you sorry?" Annie asked tearfully, her voice muffled.

"Because I shouldn’t have let you go home with that son of a bitch. I should have insisted you come here with me. I should have protected you," Matt said, breaking down himself.

"Its not your fault Matt. Its not your job to look after me. I can take care of myself," she insisted unconvincingly.

"Really?" Amtt asked synically. It was alla he needed to say. Annie who had been tense, and holding back a little, collapsed into his arms, sobbing. Gently, matt pulled her onto his lap as if she was a little girl again. Annie didn’t resist and just put her arms around his neck and burried her face in his chest. Matt wanted to kill Dave for doing that to Annie. How dare he hurt her?

"I don’t wanna go back there Matt. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not ever," Annie said.

"Its okay sweetie. You don’t have to go back. You can stay here as long as you want, then I’ll help you find a place of your own if you like. Or you can stay here forever. Its totally up to you," Matt offered. He wanted her to stay with him forever, but he knew she probably wouldn’t.

"Thank you," Annie said seriously, still hugging Matt closely.

"No problem," he said. He was actually relieved that he could finally do something that would help her. He felt he owed her that much at least.

"For everything," she added.

"I won’t say it was my please, because it wasn’t, because I hate seeing you upset. But, in all seriousness, I’m just glad I can help you. And that you’re letting me."

"Well, you really have helped me since I woke up. And I really appriciate it," Annie said. "But I’m also really tired. I’m sorry, I know I woke you up and demanded so much of you. But I’m about ready to drop down on the floor and not wake up till next month."

"Well, we can’t have that can we. I’d never stop tripping over you," Matt joked. Despite herself, Annie laughed. "That better," Matt said, chucking her under the chin as if she was about five years old and he was her great aunt or something. "Come on, I’ll show you the guest room," Matt said. He lifted Annie off his lap and stood up.

"Actually, would you mind if I slept with you?" Annie asked nervous, wondering where she got the courage to ask him such a big favour. "I don’t mean as in sex," she was quick to add. "I just mean sleep with you as in…"

"As in you don’t want to be alone," Matt finished for her. He was ecretly delighted that Annie wanted to share a bed with him. He wouldn’t act as badly as Dave had, of course, he didn’t want to lose Annie’s trust, and he didn’t think she could take someone else hurting her. "No problem," he said. Annie smiled. She had been terrified about sharing a bed with Dave, and would have been even if he hadn’t as good as raped her. But she felt comfortable about sharing a bed with Matt. She would have, even been comfortable having sex with him, if he had wanted to.

But once they were actually in bed, annie wasn’t sure how to act. Luckily, Matt sensed this, rolled over and encircled her with his arms. He fell asleep with his arms around her, her face only a few inches away form his, the freshly shampooed smell of her hair and the warmth of her body pressed against his. Annie felt secure and protected, as if nothing could ever hurt her when she was in Matt’s arms. She too fell asleep and slept peacfully.