Tory

By Palmtree

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I came back to my place with a quart of milk, and there she was hunkered down next to my door. Dirty face, raggedy clothes, bloody nose.

About 16 I guess.

"Hey," I said as I knelt down next to her and pushed the hair back from her face. "Somebody leave you here, or did you find your way here by way of referral?"

She didn't answer.

"Where do you live? You have a name? Someone's probably looking for you."

Okay. It was obvious she didn't want to be found by an authority figure. I figured if a cop brought here, he'd at least stuck around to tell me her story.

"Okay," I said as I gently took her under the arms and pulled her to her feet. "Maybe a hot shower and a cup of warm cocoa. Come on."

She flinched under my hands and shrank back to her knees.

"No," she mumbled. "Just leave me alone. I'll be okay."

I crouched next to her again.

"You're at my door for help, and now you're pushing me away?"

I stood up.

"Fine. Suit yourself."

I unlocked the door to let myself in. Then I felt her tug on the hem of my trenchcoat.

"Julie..."

She knew my name. She wasn't at my door by accident.

I helped her up again, and this time she let me lead her inside.

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I sat at my desk pretending to look over some notes on another client, when what I was really doing was keeping an eye on the girl, where she sat on my couch watching cartoons with her hands wrapped around a warm cup of cocoa. She looked lost in my pajamas, but they were clean and she didn't seem to mind.

She hadn't spoken a word. Getting her to talk was an impossible task, and I was the queen of talking and listening. If I couldn't get her to open up, then who could? Not Maxx. He would scare her to death.

Or would he?

"You hooked on Pez or something?" came her timid voice from around the cocoa mug.

I smirked as I surveyed the empty Pez dispensers lying around on the floor in front of the TV.

"They're not mine. They belong to Maxx."

Her eyes lifted over the rim in my direction.

"A guy?"

"Well...yeah. A guy."

She scrunched her knees up against her chest.

She needed a caring arm, but my instinct said to sit still and talk to her from across the room.

"You got a problem with guys?"

Her eyes shut.

Too close.

"I didn't have," she said. "Until him. But now..."

A single tear slid down her cheek.

"I trusted him. I thought he loved me. But instead he..."

She threw the mug across the room and cocoa splashed on my wall.

Damn! Get as mad as you want, but don't mess my wall!

"He forced me!" she sobbed into the back of my sofa. "HE SAID HE LOVED ME BUT HE FORCED ME!"

I got up from my desk and walked over to her.

"Easy now, sweetie. It won't always be this bad."

Her red, crying face raised to me in a twisted mask of rage and pain.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IT?"

"Look, sweetheart. You just have to pick yourself up and go on. He isn't worth one tear you're shedding."

"Easy for you to say! And my name isn't sweetheart! It's Tory!"

And with that she tore herself from my couch and ran out the door.

Slam!

She was gone.

I never saw Tory again. I guess she just wanted to tell somebody.

A few minutes later Maxx came home.

"Hi," he said quietly as he joined me in wiping the splashed cocoa from my wall. "You're pale. Want to tell me about it?"

"Just some girl," I sighed. "Hurt and betrayed by a guy who was supposed to love her and take care of her. If she doesn't toughen up, this world is going to eat her alive."

"Oh," he muttered slowly. "Sounds like she came to the right person."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said as he kept washing my wall.

End