Alice was disgusted when she had discovered what they had done to Percy; she couldn't believe any of them were capable of being that sadistic. But she too was glad that they had got payback for Dell, he had died a slow, painful death and she was glad someone had got even with Percy for what he had done but she couldn't help but feel sympathy for him too. Her mind wasn't paying attention while she was at work she was wondering how Percy was, it must be a horrible thing to have to go through she really wondered if he was ok. Alice knew she wouldn't be able to put her mind at ease until she went to see how he was.
"Paul do you have Percy's address on file?" Alice asked.
"I can't give you that information you know that" He replied.
"You shouldn't lock guards in with inmates but you did... please Paul I'm worried about him" Alice begged, Paul sighed.
"I took no part in that" Paul said.
"No... You didn't but I don't see any guards being fired either" Alice had shocked herself, where had this sudden courage come from? She couldn't believe she was talking to Paul like that.
"Alright Alice, alright I see your point" Paul said sighing, he knew Alice was right and disappeared into the office to find Percy's address for her.
Alice's heart pounded as she walked up the path to the house, she had no idea what she was going to say to him. She was also nervous about the state in which she would find him. She knocked on the door and tried to calm her pounding heart but there was no answer so she knocked again.
"Percy, Percy it's me please open the door" She called through the letter box. She wasn't surprised if Percy didn't want to see her after she had broken up with him.
"Go away Alice" She heard him reply back, she sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"Please Percy I'm just worried about you I want to make sure you're ok" She called back; she knew it was a stupid thing to say of course he wasn't 'ok'. Percy sighed and unbolted the door before slowly opening it.
She tried to disguise the shock she felt when she saw the state of him, she had never seen Percy like that before it was a total suprise. Big black bags surrounded his red puffy eyes from not sleeping, stubble covered his unshaven jaw and his hair hung shapelessly uncombed.
"Well you've seen that I'm alright" Percy mumbled.
"Yeah...yeah I see that...you...you look good Percy" Alice said very unconvincingly. "How about...How about I come in and we talk for a bit yeah?" Percy frowned for a moment as he thought about it but then nodded and moved slowly out the way of the door for her to come in.
"How about I make us some coffee?" Alice offered smiling sympathetically; Percy gave a small nod and walked into the living room while Alice went into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.
After a while Alice walked into the living room carrying a tea tray with a pot of coffee, cups, milk and sugar and she laid it on the table, made him his coffee and passed it to him. Out of his trousers pocket he pulled out a bottle of whiskey and poured some into the coffee.
"Percy that's not going to do any good" She sighed.
"No then what will? What will make me forget what they did to me?" Percy snapped angrily but the tone of his voice was almost begging her for answers.
"You won't forget what happened Percy" Alice said trying to be honest she didn't see any point in lying to him "But it will get easier I promise" Percy ran a hand through his hair; he was struggling to keep it together in front of her, he could feel a lump in his throat. He was so used to acting so cocky and confident in front of her it made him feel uneasy feeling so vulnerable and weak around her.
"I...I shouted out for you...I...I so hoped that you were there and could hear me" Percy whispered Alice's heart broke knowing she was the one that he had begged for help from, she walked over to him and knelt in front of him putting her hands on his knees.
"I'm sorry Percy, I'm so sorry I should have been there, I wish I had been I...I could have tried and stopped it" Alice said her voice breaking, Percy shrugged.
"It don't matter we wasn't together so... you know, I'm not your responsibility"
"Percy no!" Alice snapped "Just because we broke up doesn't mean I stopped caring about you, I STILL care about you and it certainly doesn't mean I wanted this to happen"
"You...you've always stuck up for me" He said giving a small smile.
"And I always will, I know you're not a bad person Percy, you just react without thinking and you think this cocky macho bullshit is how to win people over and get them to like you but it isn't" Percy nodded and sighed, Alice knew him so well she could see the man behind the mask her wore.
Alice finished the last of her coffee and stood up holding her hand out to him.
"What, what we doing?" Percy asked frowning.
"We're going to get you cleaned up, a bath and a shave will do you a world of good"
"Trust me Alice I've had enough red hot baths to last me a life time it don't do no good"
"Yeah well Alice baths are better" She grinned, smiling Percy took her hand and allowed him to be dragged upstairs to the bathroom.
Alice ran the bath while running around looking for clean towels and some fresh clothes for Percy to wear. The bathroom was immaculate all of his shaving equipment and shower gels were neatly lined up standing to attention.
"It's all ready I'll leave you to it"
"Alice, wait!" He called as she turned round to leave; she stopped and turned round to look back at him.
"Thank you" He said smiling causing Alice to smile back. Percy turned to the mirror lathered on the shaving foam and raised the straight razor to his face with shaking hands. He couldn't believe how rough he looked as he saw himself in the mirror.
"Alice...I'm, I'm a mess" He whispered the razor shaking so close to his skin.
"Oh Percy it's alright nothing a little TLC won't fix, here let me you're going to cut your damn throat" She said worried, taking the razor out of his wobbly hands and turning him towards her.
"Guess I'm not the man you thought I was huh?" He mumbled with his eyes closed as she carefully shaved him.
"No thank God, the man I thought you were was a damn arsehole" She said bluntly he chuckled slightly, the movement causing her to cut him slightly.
"God dammit" She swore reaching for tissue to stop the bleeding "I'm so sorry" she towel dried him once the bleeding had stopped.
"There" She smiled happily "There's the handsome Percy I know" She announced "Right I'll let you bathe in peace; sure you can manage that without killing yourself?" She giggled.
"I think I can manage" He chuckled back so Alice turned and shut the door behind him leaving him in peace.
Percy winced in pain as he lowered himself into the steaming water, his whole body felt bruised and certain parts felt very tender as they hit the hot water. He couldn't get rid of the imaginary hands touching him and couldn't get the feeling of feeling clean, he constantly felt dirty. Percy put his face in his hands and tried to stop him from sobbing, the thing he felt most was the overwhelming feeling of shame. He had came when he was assaulted and that disgusted him more than anything, did that mean he'd enjoyed it? Wild Bill had told him it did, he didn't know but the whole thing filled him with humiliation and shame. He couldn't imagine what he would have done without Alice, he scrubbed his skin until it was pink and raw before he got out of the bath and redressed himself.
Alice couldn't believe it when Percy came down stairs he looked like a completely different person. She stood and bit her bottom lip as her eyes scanned him.
"Like what you see?" Percy said raising an eyebrow at her when he noticed her looking at him; Alice nodded and blushed at being caught.
"Right grab your coat we're off out" Alice announced.
"What...I...I don't think" He stuttered.
"No you listen to me Percy Wetmore we are getting you out of this house, you're not sitting here moping like a vast slug in this cave anymore we're going to go out and we're going to have some fun" Alice ordered sternly. She knew it was doing him no good being left alone in the house to brood over things he needed someone to help take his mind off things so she decided that she'd take it upon herself to be the person to do it.