Next chapter as promised! I did not add trigger warnings to this like I said I would because as I was writing it, I actually made myself really uncomfortable and that's the very last thing I want to do to any of you. There are brief mentions of assault and one violent-ish scene. I put 3 *** in front of those paragraphs but I cut out all the things that made me uncomfortable.

Thanks for reading!


11:25 pm

Hailey stays on the floor long after the sound of the front door slamming echoes throughout the apartment. She slipped up. Since she got the cast on her wrist, she's done her best to do everything exactly right. She was the picture perfect girlfriend. Until tonight…

Casey came home and it was immediately apparent that he was in a bad mood. Naturally it was her fault. From the moment he stepped into the kitchen, he wasted not a single opportunity to let her know how much of an inconvenience and disappointment she was.

"It's almost six, Hailey...and yet, there's no fucking food on the table." In one clean swoop, Casey knocks the decorative bowl of fruit off the counter, sending shards of ceramic all over the kitchen floor.

"I...I thought we had the dinner with the Malkins tonight. I'm sorry." Right there on the fridge, next to where he is standing, is the calendar that clearly states tonight is the dinner. It's why she didn't have a meal ready to go.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it. Useless…"

Just when she thinks he's going to leave her alone, he stalks towards her. His eyes narrow as he moves in, effectively caging her against the wall.

***This is it...She has a moment of relief a second before his palm connects with her face. The wait...that's the worst part for her. The seconds where he decides which way to hurt her are in some ways worse than the actual physical violence. At least she knows what to expect when he strikes her.

Blood fills her mouth, dripping down her chin, and her ears ring. He thankfully is content with slaps tonight, only throwing in the occasional punch to her stomach and chest. She doesn't make a sound. She knows better than that. It'll only be worse. There's nothing to do now but wait it out.

Maybe it's seconds...maybe it's hours...time ceases to exist when his rage is turned on her, but finally he stops. Her body sinks to the floor in a heap, physically unable to support herself any longer.

"I'm going out." Casey wipes the back of his hand on the tea towel before tossing it onto the floor. "Clean this up." He doesn't wait for her to respond, barely casting a glance in her direction as he storms out of the kitchen and the apartment.

It takes her nearly half an hour to get herself off the floor. She's more exhausted than injured tonight, but her body still protests each move she makes. A pitiful sob escapes causing the cut in her lip to split a little further. There's no trip to the mirror to see the damage he inflicted, no ice packs on her swollen cheek, no self tirage of any kind. She doesn't have it in her. Cleaning up the mess he made is going to take more energy than she likely has at the moment, but she pushes through, gritting her teeth when she pricks her fingers on the tiny shards.

When she finishes, all she can think about is getting into the shower and then passing out in her bed, but like always…life had other plans.

Her body freezes halfway to the bedroom as the sound of footsteps reach her ears. He's never come back this fast, always giving her time to think about what she did wrong. She isn't sure she has it in her to listen to his reasoning for hurting her. Gone are the tearful apologies that used to follow his earlier bouts of violence, replaced by lectures of how she needs to be better. "You just make me so mad…If you only did what I asked…Why can't you be better, be good?" She's heard it all. She's heard enough.

The footsteps have stopped. If she knows him, he's probably getting a drink, which means she has just enough time to slip into the bathroom and clean herself up. For as much as Casey enjoys hurting and humiliating her in the moment, he hates to see the physical damage he caused after it's over.

The face that stares back at her in the mirror disgusts her. She hates that girl…weak and broken…that's all she sees. So she closes her eyes, drawing in a deep breath before turning the faucet on. Leaning over the sink, she rinses her face with the cool water until she's sure the blood is gone and then blindly reaches for the towel.

A groan of frustration is muffled from the towel, knowing that she can't delay the inevitable. Casey will seek her out, hiding or not. With one final press of the towel, she lowers it, glancing in the mirror to make sure she is presentable, and then screams.

"Hailey!"

Hands are shaking her awake, dragging her from the nightmare.

"Hailey, come on…wake up." Vanessa tries to keep her hands from trembling as she struggles to wake her roommate. "It's a dream…it's just a dream, Hailey."

Just a dream…only it wasn't…It had really happened.

"St…stop…" Hailey shoves weakly at Vanessa's hands, unable to stand the weight of them on her skin.

"Okay…okay, I'm moving back, see?" Her heart squeezes painfully at the sight of Hailey drawing herself into a tight ball on the bed. Her body is shivering, making Vanessa want to pull her into a comforting hug, but she doesn't.

"Hailey…"

"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to wake you…" Her voice is quiet, timid, like she's afraid that Vanessa is going to ask her to leave. And she waits…waits for the words to come, only…when she does speak, it's not what she expected.

"Didn't mean to wake me?" Vanessa can't believe what she's hearing. "You think after the way you were screaming that I'm upset over being woken up?" She was the furthest thing from upset or mad right now. Terrified would be more accurate. Sure…being jolted from a peaceful sleep is never ideal, but the second she realized the haunting screams were coming from her roommate, she'd jumped from her bed and raced to Hailey's room filled only with worry.

Hailey chances a look at Vanessa, seeing the concern etched on her face. Her mouth moves, trying to form words but from nowhere, a sob works it's way up from her throat.

"Shhh, it's alright." Vanessa pulls her against her now, holding tight when at first, Hailey struggles.

Hailey's only goal is to push her away, but she finds her fingers gripping onto Vanessa instead. Anger…belittling…violence…those are things she knows. She's been comforted before, but it's been so long that she forgot what it feels like.

"You can talk to me. Tell me what's going on."


11:30 pm

Trudy pushes the paper away from her face and pulls the screen door shut behind her, forcing Jay to step back and down the steps. "You don't bang on someone's door like that unless there's some kind of emergency. What the heck is wrong with you? Your son's asleep just through that door."

"Did you know?" Jay shoves the paper back at her, trying to reign in his anger, watching as she reads over it.

"There has to be some mistake…I mean…you've met her. There's no way Hailey could possibly be involved with…whatever this is. It's impossible." Impossible…

"Is it? Impossible? What do you know about her? What do any of us really know about her?" His thoughts are running a mile a minute, replaying every moment with her.

"Jay…"

"No. I'm serious. She came here with nothing. That's what you said. You pay her in cash. Jesus…" It all makes sense now. She wasn't afraid of him. Not in the way he thought, anyway. "She doesn't want me to get too close. That's why she acts the way she does around me. She's…"

"Dad?"

Two sets of eyes snap to where Levi stands behind the screen door. Levi…how the hell is he going to explain this to him?

"You ready to go? Grab your bag, buddy." When Levi disappears, Jay looks back to Trudy but she speaks before he can.

"Jay, listen to me. We have no clue what that paper means. Hailey deserves a chance to explain. Just…let's wait until tomorrow to do anything, okay?" Trudy refuses to believe that the Hailey she knows could be fooling everyone with her broken down, fresh start facade. There has to be more to it.


12:15 am

They've been sitting here, Vanessa holding Hailey, for close to an hour. Somehow Vanessa manages to keep her fury in check as she listens to Hailey describe the horrors of her life before arriving in Avalon Landing.

"I couldn't leave. I tried…I did, but he would get so mad and it would start all over."

"So how did you get here?" The question was a risk, she knows that. Hailey could shut down at any second on her. That's honestly what she's expecting but Hailey's eyes go a little unfocused like she's getting lost in a memory. She tells this part of the story as if it happened to someone else.

"God…you scared me." Like a scene from a scary movie, Ronnie had appeared in the mirror after Hailey lowered the towel from her face. With a nervous laugh, Hailey tries to leave the bathroom, but he doesn't move.

"Again?" Ronnie reaches up, thumb brushing gently against the swollen crest of her cheek. "Oh little dove…"

His touch makes her feel dirty…disgusting. "Casey isn't here. He probably won't be home for a while." The tremble in her voice betrays just how uncomfortable she feels but he still won't budge.

"I know, I watched him leave." A sinister smile forms on his face as he steps closer, his body only stopping when it's flush against hers.

"So beautiful…"

She cringes. The minted scent of his breath makes her skin crawl. "Ronnie…I…"

***Before Hailey can process what is happening, Ronnie slams his mouth on hers. His teeth crash into hers, causing her lip to bleed again. Her arms are pinned between their bodies and no amount of struggling breaks the vice like grip on her biceps.

This isn't real. She must have fallen asleep and this is all just a cruel nightmare. Wake up….wake up! But she doesn't. Ronnie was finally making good on all his threats.

Every word she tries to speak comes out a muffled incoherent mess. When he finally stops, needing to get a full breath, Hailey realizes she's crying. She doesn't even care that she's begging him not to do this.

"I knew you'd be fiesty…"

"I got free when he was dragging me to the bedroom and I tried to run for the front door, but he tackled me in the kitchen." Hailey keeps her eyes trained on a spot on the bathroom door. If she looks at Vanessa right now, she won't be able to finish this. It was surprisingly easy to get the words out. Once she started, they poured from her mouth so fast that there was no room or time to do anything other than tell her story.

"I remember him tackling me and then somehow he was tearing at my clothes…I think I blacked out when he hit me." The terror she felt when she fought through the fog only to realize that he was well on his way to sexually assaulting her…she lost it.

"I was screaming and trying to get him off me but he uh…he was so heavy." Her breath hitches, knowing what's coming next.

"Hailey…" Vanessa hasn't said a word while Hailey was talking, but the more she listens, the more she hears the distress slipping in. "You don't have to keep going. Let's…let's take a break." It breaks her heart, seeing the shattered look on Hailey's face as she finally looks at her. "Come on." When she makes no effort to move off the bed with her, Vanessa reaches out slowly, gently taking hold of Hailey's arm. "I'm not leaving you in here alone." With a small tug, she's able to get her off the bed, leading her out to the couch where she hopes to get both of their minds off what just happened.


She didn't show up…Jay had sat on the back steps far longer than he should have before he finally accepted that Hailey wasn't coming. It had been easy to turn off his son's alarm this morning before it went off. With all the excitement of the previous day, Jay was pretty sure Levi would sleep in a little longer than normal.

He was all set on confronting her at his house, but because she didn't come, he has switched gears. He and Levi are currently on their way to the cafe.

"She just didn't come? Maybe she's sick." Levi wasn't really upset that Hailey hadn't come to run, but his dad said she didn't text or anything, and after what happened yesterday, that's got him a little worried.

"I'm sure she's fine." They walk inside, heading for the counter but Jay still doesn't see Hailey.

"She's not here either? Dad, we should check on her." Levi is halfway to the door before his dad stops him.

"Levi, come sit down. Vanessa is over there. I'm sure she's fine." There's a headache starting just behind his eyes and he braces himself for the argument he can already see forming.

"But what if she's not? Dad…"

"Levi, stop." The anger and frustration he's feeling comes through his words. Slow breaths follow his mild outburst because the last thing he wants to do is take out he issues with Hailey on him. "Why don't we start with talking to Trudy, okay?"

"Yeah…okay."

Right on cue, Trudy comes out from the kitchen, carrying a handful of plates.

"Hey guys. Be right up." A minute later she appears behind the counter, ready to take their order. "The usual?"

"Uh…yeah, thanks." Jay shoots a look to his son after getting an elbow to his side. "Where's Hailey?" If the question surprises her, Trudy doesn't show it. She just raises her brow at Jay, wondering if he really cares.

"Not sure…Just know she isn't here." She's down a waitress…there's no time for small talk.


His dad's mood never improved all day. Normally, when his dad had a day off, the two of them would spend a few hours out on the water. They'd surf and bodyboard until their fingers were pruney. Days on the water with his dad were some of his favorite days.

Today though, Levi has done everything he could to not be in his dad's way. He isn't sure what has him so upset, but knows he doesn't want to add to it. Mostly, he's hidden out in his room, playing with his toys and watching some tv, but he's been up here since lunch and it's nearly dinner time now. He's bored…and hungry.

After grabbing an apple from the bowl in the kitchen, Levi makes his way to the back porch to sit and watch the wave while he eats it. That's where he is when he sees her.

Hailey is walking barefoot through the wet sand. She nearly passes right by him before she notices him, lifting her hand in a small wave, but she doesn't stop. She looks sad.

"Dad!" Levi shouts through the screen door, barely waiting for his dad to respond. "I'm gonna walk with Hailey until dinner is ready."

"No you're not. Come inside."

"What? Why can't I?" Why is he being like this?

"I said no, that's the end of it. Now go inside." Jay pats his back pocket to make sure the paper is still there, then waits as Levi stomps into the house.

Before he can second guess anything, Jay rushes down the steps, calling out to Hailey.

"Wait up…" Jay slows his jog, stopping completely when he reaches her.

"Hey. I'm sorry about this morning. I wasn't really up for…" She flinches, increasing the distance between them when his hand lifts to stop her from speaking.

"I don't really care about that, but this?" Jay pulls the paper from his pocket, unfolding it as he hands it to her. "What is this, Hailey? Who the hell are you?" Her hands are shaking so hard that she can't grab the paper right away and for the first time, a tinge of doubt creeps in. She's either the best actress he's ever seen or Trudy had been right. There's more to this story.