Safe and Sound

Chapter 11 - Understanding

Eve's POV

"Yes, charges!" I shout, making the police officers in front of me flinch. "Press those charges on him like he's the last fucker to go to jail!" Everyone stared at me in disbelief. I don't see why, the guy I've lived with for years almost killed me and they expected me to be nice and calm about it? They told me they went to see Claire before they came to me, so they were expecting me to be as calm and collected as Claire would've been. Well oopsy, fucking daisy I'm more angry than my gran when she lost at bingo six times in a row, in one day.

"Well, Miss Rosser, he's due at court this Monday. He may go up for manslaughter and domestic abuse." A young, male officer told me as he scribbled notes down in a notepad.
"May?" I raise my eyebrows. "He may get charged? Please tell me you're joking-"
"Claire didn't want to press charges." The oldest officer said. "She's the main person in this situation, so its really up to her. Obviously, you get a say too, but Claire's been dealing with this for over 6 months and she didn't want to press charge-"
"Claire isn't right in the head at the minute." I say blankly. "She been abused by her so called 'boy friend' for the past six months and less than twenty-four hours ago he almost killed her. She's in denial for god sake! Let me speak to her, knock some sense into her, and trust me, she'll want those charges more than she'll want custard on her cake."

"There's nothing we can do until the court case on Monday." The officer frowns and shuts his note pad; as if it were a metaphor for Case Closed. I lost, Shane won.
"Will I go to court? You know, to watch or whatever?" I ask as I slump down into the puffy pillows below me.
"It depends, you're injuries may prevent you from doing so, but we'll keep you updated."
"Great." I mutter. I was in pain, but I had more important things to worry about. Those things being whether or not Shane gets another chance at beating the shit out of Claire. I just couldn't let that happen. My rips hurt, a lot. And my head was killing me. The doctors came a few minutes before the police and told me I had surgery on my ribs and they took my appendix out. I knew I wasn't as bad as Claire though, I had to see her.

The police left and I was on my own. Being left alone with my thoughts was not a good thing right now. As I lay on my bed wondering, 'what now?' I felt the presence of someone in the room. I looked around, and surely enough, Michael was stood at the end of my bed. I instantly threw myself up to run to him but he was there in a flash and pulled me back down. "Easy, tiger." He smiled as he softly lay me down on the bed, stroking my hair as he did so. I stared at him, I'd never been so happy to see him in my life. I always felt so alone and scared without Michael with me. But when he was with me, I felt like stealth.

"How you doing, baby?" He kissed my forehead and sat on the edge of my bed, facing me. I threw him a small smile and lay my head back on the pillow. God, it hurt so freaking bad. "I'm good." I tell him. He smiles and rubs my arm gently. "D'you know how fucking terrifying it is to have the only two girls that mean something to you in hospital at the same time? Both with near enough the same horrifying injuries?"

I shrugged. I wasn't as bad as Claire would be. She'd be so freaked out as well as physically hurt. I was just pissed. "And it's all because of that arsehole." I shake my head and bite my tongue, I didn't know how Michael was going to react, seen as though he was getting the shit beaten out of him too. He just sighed and shook his head. "I explained everything to Claire, and I thought that was hard. This is going to be rocket science." He chuckled and looked at me for a reaction. I just stared at him, wondering what the hell he was talking about.

"It wasn't Shane." He shrugged, as if it weren't a big deal statement.
"Excuse me?" I half laugh. He must've been joking. Although Michael of all people should know that this was not a time to be joking around with the name 'Shane'.

Michael took a deep breath before continuing. "Remember the Draug?" I nod. "It captured Shane, and we thought it killed him, remember when Myrnin brought Claire back into the van, telling us that Shane had been killed and Claire was just... freaking out?" I nod again. "Yeah, well he didn't die right? He was okay? Yeah, well, he wasn't. Something happened, I don't understand it completely myself so I don't know how I'm going to explain it to you, but he actually died. He's been dead for 6 months."
"Bullshitttttt." I sing and shake my head. "Shane has definitely not been dead for six months. He been beating the shit out of Claire for six months!"
"Exactly."
"What?"
"He's been abusing Claire for six months. He's been dead for six months. He... god, it's complicated, okay?"
"No, it's not fucking complicated!" I yell, making Michael flinch. "He's been beating Claire for six months, he nearly killed me and her a few hours ago, beat the shit out of you and now we're in hospital and Shane's going to court. That's it, end of!"
"No, Eve, honey..."
"Michael, you're making no sense-"
"If you gave me a chance then it would make sense!" He says harshly. He stared at me for a long, terrifying moment before continuing. "Please try to understand, okay? Shane died in the draug, but it was only his soul that died, his body stayed on. And... His body took on the soul of somewhat his father, and you know what Frank was like, Eve. He's almost killed us all. So Shane's reckless attitude and his dads' domestic ways combined gave us... new Shane. And the old Shane has been a ghost in our house for months now. Remember when he was fighting me in the bedroom? And he just suddenly stopped? That's because the old Shane, the real Shane, came back into his real body and he just... stopped."
"That's-"
"Eve, I know its hard but please try to understand. All sorts of fucked up shit happens in Morganville, it's not like this would be impossible, everything's possible in this town."

I went quiet, he did have a point. But that seemed a little too fucked up even for Morganville. But Michael sounded more genuine than ever. So I just nodded.

"I know you can't help but be angry at him, but we need to stand by him for court and not press any charges against him because the Shane that's here now, is the real Shane. And that Shane did nothing wrong."
"But what if it comes back?" I say, weakly. "What happens when.. that...New Shane...what if he comes back?"
"I don't know how it works, but I think thats unlikely now we actually have old Shane back." Michael smiles and kisses me lightly. I felt all the worry, all the pain, all the anger just float away and we just had this moment, forever.

I knew that the moment wont last forever, but after a hurricane comes a rainbow, and we just had to wait for the storm to blow over so we can go back to our not-so-perfect rainbow.

I have the perfect ending for this story... so there may be a sequel because it will be a big cliffhanger ending! Please review! I've only updated this because I wanted to get some chapters along with so the ending will come sooner but please review! Thanks for reading x