The world grew different and I found my face buried into strawberry scented hair that cold only be clary's. I had my arms wrapped securely around her body, holding her close to me and hoping to forever protect her from the evil in this world.
her voice broke through the silence of the room. "You awake?" she asked, her voice thick with exhaustion. The memories of last nights events came rushing back at me at the sound of her voice. Me leaving Clary alone, being jealous,drinking too much and losing my temper. I was screwing everything up, again.
"Yeah, I'm awake" I reluctantly answered, knowing that it was probably too late to pretend otherwise. I couldn't hide forever.
"Are you ok?" she questioned, I could hear the care she was showing me.
"Yeah" I said after a moment of hesitation, letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry about how I lost it last night. I was a little drunk and I know that's no excuse for how I treated that guy, but I swear im not normally a violent drunk." She stiffened in my arms as I rambled my apology.
"Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't been there Jace. The way things were going, he might have tried to rape me." She reasoned and I felt sick at the thought.
Her words hung in the air, as I thought about the possibility of having not seen them, when I had. It had crossed my mind last night, fueled me, but the reality of it ony made the guilt stronger. I had noticed him before he had assaulted her, I could have stopped it all. 'I shouldnt have left you there."
"You had no idea some guy would sexually assault me the moment you left me alone." she laughed bitterly amused.
"Well, I knew I was going to spend the night glaring guys away from you, but I didn't think any of them would have the guts to approach you so soon." I grinned into her hair, enjoying the strawberry sent.
"Funny, Something similar crossed my mind." She joked and I smiled at how bold she was becoming. "Alright, Simon's going to be here in twenty minutes, I have to get up." She slipped out from my hold.
I watched her stand up in her tousled dress, resisting the impulse to reach out and fix it for her. "what are you an Simon doing today?" I asked as I lifted my head from my pillow.
she shrugged her shoulders casually and then turned to look at me. "He want to talk to me about something, he didn't say what."
Simon was silent the whole car ride, and it was driving me crazy. None of the guys seemed to talk. Jace wont fully admit whats bugging him, Alec wont tell me but it's not hard to see he knows, not to mention how Magnus was always being so damn cryptic.
I should have paid attention to where Simon was taking me, should have asked where we were going. When I realized where, it was too late. He stopped the car two houses away from it. The house I grew up in. "Simon, what the hell do you think you're doing?" I asked almost yelling at him.
"I know" is all he said and I stared off at the house, unable to take my eyes away from it. My line of sight fixed on the boarded up window that had belonged to my room. I could feel the panic shaking me,to the very tips of my fingers. If he knew something, what exactly? What could he possibly know that would make him bring me back here.
"What do you know?" my voice unsettled as I spoke, transparent to my feelings.
"I know about them, nothing specific, but I know they abused you."
"How could you possibly know that? Did Jace tell you?" He wouldn't do that, he couldn't possibly do that. Right?
He let out a pained sigh. "You remember how I told you I went looking for you? I visited you your old house and your step dad answered the door. He offered me a ride back to where I was staying. The whole car ride he asked me questions about you, if I knew where you could be, why I was trying to find you." Simon stopped, reaching up and removing the beanie he wore. "I didn't notice him push the cigaret lighter on that old beat up piece of shit he drives. He pulled up to my motel, locked the doors and pressed the lighter to my forehead and held it there. He smiled the whole time he did it." Simon turned to me and sat up straight, moving his bangs out-of-the-way to show a round burn scar the size of a bottle cap close to his hairline. I felt tears sneak down my cheeks as guilt flooded me. "he told me, that if I ever found you, to tell him, or he would kill me."
"Simon, did you tell him?" I asked in a rush. A million scenarios running though my head and for a moment I wondered if he brought me here to hand me over to my foster-father.
"No, of course not!" He said forcefully. "Ive been keeping tabs on him, he was arrested a month ago, I dont know what for or for how long. Ive been watching the house and the only one who comes and goes is your mother."
"Then why did you bring me here?"
"I wanted to know if you had a younger brother?"
"No Simon, I don't have a brother, why would you even ask that?" I felt tired of not having answers, tired of everyone around me knowing things and making me fight for the knowledge.
"Because in that house now, is a kid who looks about ten years old. He never leaves and the only time I've seen him is in the windows when your moms gone!" His words were like a slap in the face. all that abuse, all those years of torture, that could be happening to someone else.
"Thats impossible! I would know if they adopted someone else." I tried to reason with him, tried to prove him wrong. but deep down I knew better.
"Is it Clary? How the hell would you know Clary?" He sounded angry and I could see pain in his eyes, he knew more than the fact that I was abused, he knew it destroyed me. "You certainly don't come around here, and I doubt she would tell you."
"How do I know your not trying to trick me? He could be threatening you, and this is how you get me back here. Telling me there is another kid in there being tortured, that's how you get me to go inside that place willingly." I asked him.
"You know because it's me Clary." I looked him dead in the eye, looking for any trace that he meant me harm. I searched and searched and I could find any sign he was lying to me, but I had already known he wasn't.
"Shit"