Chapter 18: Gone Forever
The sound of tires crunching over twigs and other roadside debris woke Phoebe up from where she was curled up on the cold ground, sleeping fervently.
It was dark, and someone had found her.
'Please, god, don't be him,' she prayed silently, feeling as dirty as she looked. Lying in mud tended to have that effect. The car's headlights were shining sharply in her eyes, but she remained unmoved. All she did was check her watch. It was 2:09am. Then she looked up again, squinting into the harsh light.
Three of the doors opened, and some people clambered out.
"Phoebe!"
Prue! It was Prue! She'd come to save her!
"Oh my god Phoebe, are you okay?"
Piper too! Once again the Halliwells proved how they looked out for each other. Phoebe had never felt more relieved in her life. She struggled to get up but couldn't. Time had dealt with her bruises and wounds heavily - it had nade them worse. Collapsing back down onto the ground again, she looked up. "Prue, Piper!" she cried, her voice cracking in her weakness.
They were beside her now, hugging her and wrapping their coats around her. She was absolutely freezing, and felt more than grateful for their care. Helping her up, Prue introduced Phoebe to the third person who'd been in the car - one of Prue's college friends called Steven.
"If it hadn't been for Steven we wouldn't have found you," Prue told her, bundling her into the passenger seat of the car and joining her side behind the wheel. "He met Matt and got him to tell us where you were... don't worry Phoebe, Matt's finished. We've called the cops and everything."
"And I kicked the crap out of him," Steven interjected.
"He sure did," Prue beamed in the rearview mirror as she threw the car back into gear and started heading for home. She noticed Phoebe's silence. "I know you've gone through so much in the last few hours... I can't bear to think what happened to you out here... but I promise you Phoebe, I promise everything will be alright."
Listening to her big sister's decisive voice, Phoebe found that she believed her. If the police were involved, surely that meant it was over, right? Right. She let herself relax a little in the heat from the car's radiator. Wincing as the bruises on her body screamed every time she moved, she rested her head just beside the window and fell into a deep sleep.
* * *
It was five weeks since Phoebe's ordeal in the woods, and she was a much happier young woman for it. Grams had been informed about everything of course, and she'd been great about it - offering Phoebe support whenever she needed it and giving her space when she felt stressed or worried. Piper and Prue had been wonderful too, constantly taking her mind off moping and crying with their antics and fun, and keeping a smile on her face whenever she was with them.
School had improved too. Since they'd tried to keep what happened to her under wraps, when she returned to school two weeks later naturally everybody knew. There were still a few faded bruises dotting her body so that was a bit of a prover too. And thankfully, people realised how horrible Matt was and gave Phoebe genuine sympathy and support. There were still the select few who held it against her - of course, Sandra held Phoebe breathing the same air as her against her. Sandra still loved the nickname 'Freebie', calling it out in the corridor at every opportunity and seemingly thinking that Phoebe wouldn't know it was her. But Phoebe didn't care. She was a lot happier now. That chapter of her life was over and she'd survived it.
She still suffered occasional panic attacks, and a general fear of the opposite sex when she'd feel nauseous just standing a few feet away from a male, but she couldn't help it. And besides, she was going to conquer that fear faster than she knew it in the not too distant future.
Matt himself had received harsh judgement (not harsh enough in Prue and Grams' opinion) for several charges: harrassment, rape, physical abuse, kidnapping, and the big one; attempted homicide. The court had taken Matt abandoning Phoebe in the woods alone with no means by which to get home an attempt to actually get rid of her, which in the end it kind of was. Matt had argued that she'd constantly asked him to leave her alone, and he'd taken that to mean literally get in the car and go! He was lying, of course. He'd known exactly what she'd meant.
He'd been sent to a juvenile delinquincy compound where he'd stay until he was twenty-one. Then he'd be released on probation as a trial run to see how well he interacted in society, and would attend anger management classes on a weekly basis. A restraining order had also been placed on him demanding that he never come within three hundred metres of Miss Phoebe Halliwell again. This suited her fine.
* * *
Sitting by the oven in the kitchen, sipping a mug of hot chocolate Phoebe reflected on the last two months of her life. It was still painful to remember what had happened in the forest, even though she wasn't 100% sure - she had been unconscious at the time. But judging from her nakedness when she'd woken up and bruising, it wasn't too hard to hazard a guess.
It had been confirmed she wasn't pregnant much to Phoebe's - and everybody else's - relief. She hoped Matt would never have children. If he did, she was sure it'd grow up to be just as evil as he was. She hoped he'd never see the light of day. Five years in a juvenile compound didn't seem enough. It wasn't enough, but when Matt had been pleading his case, he'd been very convincing. He was a great liar.
But one day it'd all come back to him. Phoebe knew that as a fact. She sighed contentedly and watched Prue play with Piper's long hair across the table, braiding it.
Whatever you do, it always comes back to you. It always does.
The End
A/N: You know, I really liked writing this story. Until I lost everything. Then I didn't like it. Sorry about the mega cheesy ending, but I wanted to get the story out of the way so I can work on my next story which is set to be a million times more... good than this and I actually love writing it! Hooray for me!
A/N: If Matt gets out from juvenile prison, he will NOT be coming after Phoebe, just accept that he learned his lesson. I couldn't handle a sequel lol.
A/N: Aside from all that, thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. It meant a lot to know you liked my work, and I'll try to make the next one even better than the best! Not saying this was the best, but you get what I mean.
Later all!
pp
The sound of tires crunching over twigs and other roadside debris woke Phoebe up from where she was curled up on the cold ground, sleeping fervently.
It was dark, and someone had found her.
'Please, god, don't be him,' she prayed silently, feeling as dirty as she looked. Lying in mud tended to have that effect. The car's headlights were shining sharply in her eyes, but she remained unmoved. All she did was check her watch. It was 2:09am. Then she looked up again, squinting into the harsh light.
Three of the doors opened, and some people clambered out.
"Phoebe!"
Prue! It was Prue! She'd come to save her!
"Oh my god Phoebe, are you okay?"
Piper too! Once again the Halliwells proved how they looked out for each other. Phoebe had never felt more relieved in her life. She struggled to get up but couldn't. Time had dealt with her bruises and wounds heavily - it had nade them worse. Collapsing back down onto the ground again, she looked up. "Prue, Piper!" she cried, her voice cracking in her weakness.
They were beside her now, hugging her and wrapping their coats around her. She was absolutely freezing, and felt more than grateful for their care. Helping her up, Prue introduced Phoebe to the third person who'd been in the car - one of Prue's college friends called Steven.
"If it hadn't been for Steven we wouldn't have found you," Prue told her, bundling her into the passenger seat of the car and joining her side behind the wheel. "He met Matt and got him to tell us where you were... don't worry Phoebe, Matt's finished. We've called the cops and everything."
"And I kicked the crap out of him," Steven interjected.
"He sure did," Prue beamed in the rearview mirror as she threw the car back into gear and started heading for home. She noticed Phoebe's silence. "I know you've gone through so much in the last few hours... I can't bear to think what happened to you out here... but I promise you Phoebe, I promise everything will be alright."
Listening to her big sister's decisive voice, Phoebe found that she believed her. If the police were involved, surely that meant it was over, right? Right. She let herself relax a little in the heat from the car's radiator. Wincing as the bruises on her body screamed every time she moved, she rested her head just beside the window and fell into a deep sleep.
* * *
It was five weeks since Phoebe's ordeal in the woods, and she was a much happier young woman for it. Grams had been informed about everything of course, and she'd been great about it - offering Phoebe support whenever she needed it and giving her space when she felt stressed or worried. Piper and Prue had been wonderful too, constantly taking her mind off moping and crying with their antics and fun, and keeping a smile on her face whenever she was with them.
School had improved too. Since they'd tried to keep what happened to her under wraps, when she returned to school two weeks later naturally everybody knew. There were still a few faded bruises dotting her body so that was a bit of a prover too. And thankfully, people realised how horrible Matt was and gave Phoebe genuine sympathy and support. There were still the select few who held it against her - of course, Sandra held Phoebe breathing the same air as her against her. Sandra still loved the nickname 'Freebie', calling it out in the corridor at every opportunity and seemingly thinking that Phoebe wouldn't know it was her. But Phoebe didn't care. She was a lot happier now. That chapter of her life was over and she'd survived it.
She still suffered occasional panic attacks, and a general fear of the opposite sex when she'd feel nauseous just standing a few feet away from a male, but she couldn't help it. And besides, she was going to conquer that fear faster than she knew it in the not too distant future.
Matt himself had received harsh judgement (not harsh enough in Prue and Grams' opinion) for several charges: harrassment, rape, physical abuse, kidnapping, and the big one; attempted homicide. The court had taken Matt abandoning Phoebe in the woods alone with no means by which to get home an attempt to actually get rid of her, which in the end it kind of was. Matt had argued that she'd constantly asked him to leave her alone, and he'd taken that to mean literally get in the car and go! He was lying, of course. He'd known exactly what she'd meant.
He'd been sent to a juvenile delinquincy compound where he'd stay until he was twenty-one. Then he'd be released on probation as a trial run to see how well he interacted in society, and would attend anger management classes on a weekly basis. A restraining order had also been placed on him demanding that he never come within three hundred metres of Miss Phoebe Halliwell again. This suited her fine.
* * *
Sitting by the oven in the kitchen, sipping a mug of hot chocolate Phoebe reflected on the last two months of her life. It was still painful to remember what had happened in the forest, even though she wasn't 100% sure - she had been unconscious at the time. But judging from her nakedness when she'd woken up and bruising, it wasn't too hard to hazard a guess.
It had been confirmed she wasn't pregnant much to Phoebe's - and everybody else's - relief. She hoped Matt would never have children. If he did, she was sure it'd grow up to be just as evil as he was. She hoped he'd never see the light of day. Five years in a juvenile compound didn't seem enough. It wasn't enough, but when Matt had been pleading his case, he'd been very convincing. He was a great liar.
But one day it'd all come back to him. Phoebe knew that as a fact. She sighed contentedly and watched Prue play with Piper's long hair across the table, braiding it.
Whatever you do, it always comes back to you. It always does.
The End
A/N: You know, I really liked writing this story. Until I lost everything. Then I didn't like it. Sorry about the mega cheesy ending, but I wanted to get the story out of the way so I can work on my next story which is set to be a million times more... good than this and I actually love writing it! Hooray for me!
A/N: If Matt gets out from juvenile prison, he will NOT be coming after Phoebe, just accept that he learned his lesson. I couldn't handle a sequel lol.
A/N: Aside from all that, thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. It meant a lot to know you liked my work, and I'll try to make the next one even better than the best! Not saying this was the best, but you get what I mean.
Later all!
pp
