Inform me of any spelling mistakes, sorry for the delay...I have a couple more stories going on at the same time and I haven't been at home.
"Land a hoy!" Munder jeered. "I'm getting me some sloppy joe's!" He hopped down from the roof of the helm while Greer told him to take it easy.
Maureen heard the commotion and came out to investigate. It was a depressing sight, seeing mountains looming in the distance. She smiled affectionately when she felt an arm encircle her. "Don't worry it won't take long." Murphy soothed. She simply nodded.
"We best keep our eyes peeled."
Catrina stood behind a parked car, trying to look inconspicuous. Some cars on the main road would slow down and she would eye them suspiciously, the sooner the police came the better. Plus she was getting cold.
She couldn't properly bask in her new escape attempt when she knew she could be in immediate danger at any second. Even if she did have an armed escort, someone was bound to get hurt, unlikely Jack.
When she caught a glimpse and red and blue light, she stepped out into the open, and a police wagon pulled up as she flagged them down. She was still jittery from the adrenaline and probably looked like some junkie. "Are you alright ma'am, you got a problem?" They were out the car in a heartbeat.
She hesitated, eyeing around her. "I called the station earlier, I wanted to be picked up...I was kidnapped. Can you help me?"
The Cop pressed a hand to her back. "Sure, get in." He guided her in, shielding her head as she made to sit in the back. "Is he still around?" He leant on the door.
"I don't know, I only just got away."
"I understand, I'll take you to the station and you can file a report." Her smile was genuine, and as the down was slammed shut and they were pulling away, her nerves dissipated and was replaced with unrelinquished excitement. She was going home.
The docks were rife with sailors...well duh. Civilization was a privilege, other people- just seeing new faces was a relief and took the abnormality out of their current task. But knowing these people could hold them back, or easily disillusion by how safe they think they are made them all cringe. Maureen and the others were once one of them. Never bothered by their mortality.
They dispersed when they reached the bars and the supermarkets, eager to begin shopping. Maureen and her husband walked down the promenade hand in hand.
Getting out of the squad car was a luxury in itself, the seating was plush and the company was professionally escorting her to the official building, this brought her closer to normality...if that's what you would call it?
The woman behind the desk observed her sceptically as she gave her details, it occurred to her it was probably a regular thing, young girl runaways gone wrong making a report. It seemed to click when the woman took in her attire, she figured she looked stable and secure and was telling the truth.
The aftershock from the turn of events caught up with her as she took in the room she had been placed in. The rape suite. Undoubtedly used to console victims and prepare them to make a rape kit. Catrina shivered. She was relieved she wouldn't have to go through that ordeal, yes, compared to some scum on the planet, Jack had been fairly chivalrous. It nearly made her laugh, but instead she found herself close to tears, she couldn't have imaged weeks ago how her life would suddenly change forever, this would be with her for the rest f her life...and one daunting aspect – she would be running for the rest of her life. Jack was still out there somewhere.
Catrina heard a voice outside, it was echoing around the hallway, making it impossible to distinguish one word from the next. They was pacing up and down with restless fervour, it made her anxious. She was tempted to devour her nails. A woman finally entered, obviously to make an account and to counsel her.
"Hello err-"She glanced at her itinerary."Catrina Dodge?"
She merely nodded while fiddling with her sleeves.
"Right, my name is Karen Spencer, now my dear we can go through this slowly...as long as it takes, or we could have a brief session." The woman finished before looking moderately severe. "Now, we have tried contacting your next of kin but we don't seem to be getting through to anybody."
Catrina cleared her throat. "Well I suppose they're out looking for me."
"Yes I suppose that's it." Karen smiled shortly before breezing on. "Now I know this is hard for you but, could you explain everything you can remember?"
For a fleeting second she felt guilty she didn't feel uncomfortable about delivering her story of woes, but listening to herself explaining what transpired was laughable and unbelievable, she would have to spring clean it make it seem more human and less... supernatural. "I had just come back from a job interview, I went into my home and..." Her pause for thought was mistaken for upset and anxiety and Karen delicately soothed her. "I thought I heard my mother moving around in the house, but it wasn't...that's when I was grabbed."
The woman hummed as she took it down. "What else?..Did he restrain you?"
Catrina blinked. "Erm he...chloroformed me?" It was the easiest thing to say. "I went out like a light."
Further scribbling in front of her made her clear her throat, more anxiety wracked over her, she wondered if this really was an assessment. She sighed with apprehension before ploughing on with the tricky bit. "I woke up on a ship tied up in a cabin, I had been blind folded."
"-I suppose so you're not able to identify your attacker. But I'm curious - how did you know where you were if you were blindfolded?" She asked sceptically.
Catrina grimaced. "Well it wasn't on all the time, anyhow anyone would tell by the swaying, but I eventually saw my captor."
Karen's pen hovered over her notes in a thoughtful manner. "Oh yes...and what did he look like?"
Catrina wet her lips, perhaps she was imagining it but the woman sounded less than satisfied."Well he had short cropped brown hair, intense blue eyes, a defined jaw line." Okay now she was describing a model. "He kind of has a natural pout when he relaxes his face."
"-Height?"
"I never really took any notice, but when I was standing up he was about a foot or more taller than me...if that helps?"
Karen merely nodded absently, focus remained on her pad as she further queried. "So you believed you were on a ship?"
"No, I know I was on a ship, I saw the ocean all the way around, there was swaying."
"-Perhaps you were hallucinating, you had been heavily sedated."
Catrina didn't mean to snap. "No Ms Spencer he only sedated me once... to get me to the ship, I was there weeks, unless I was tripping for a month, I was definitely on an abandoned ship!" Her grumble helped soothe her, she wasn't going to resort to violence.
"An abandoned ship? I'm sorry I find it difficult to believe a wreck wouldn't have been picked up by the authorities or a coast guard, not to mention flybys, but there's no doubt you are a mystery. You're not a runaway, you claimed to have been kidnapped and you haven't been reported missing." The tension was dispelled when Karen sucked in a breath. "Do you come from a broken home Ms Dodge, how is the relationship with your parents?"
Catrina gave a smile full of mirth. "Are you kidding me?..I have a healthy relationship with my family, I don't know why they haven't reported me, I assume they don't trust the law, unreliable sometimes Ms Spencer." The name rolled of her tongue like an insult. "I think you should be more concerned with the psychopath who abducted me."
Ms Spencer stared her out, hoping to read her, surely Catrina is a text book case – but the girl was so natural – but the story a little odd. "Why did he abduct you, ransom, and more importantly why did he let you go?"
"He didn't." Catrina began on bated breath. "I got away, he left me with some seedy hotel owners and that's when I took off. The abduction I believe was..." She hadn't a clue, it was still something she hadn't covered with Jack, should she mention she was informed it was out of revenge, or some form of payment – Anything will put her parents into trouble. "...I think he was lonely." She finally got out, wincing at how sympathetic she sounded, the professional frowned.
"Well most classic cases are." Karen's face softened, deliberating on Catrina's mental state after her sudden bout of empathy. "A month is a long time away from home, especially in the company of a mysterious stranger, you may grow close-"
It was Catrina's turn to frown as Ms Spencer continued. "-You may even feel protected, or special because you feel he has singled you out for mystical purposes, you hate turns to sympathy...then you start to blame yourse-"
Catrina shook her head seeing where this was all going. "I'm not attached, I'm not suffering from Stockholm syndrome as you adequately put it. It's the only reason I can think of why he abducted me." Locking eyes with the woman she could see fleeting moments of doubt and instantly knew what was going to be asked next.
"Did he make you do anything?" She brought up rather persuasively but in a professional manner – never stalling or showing discomfort. "Did he touch you in appropriately?..Which I'm assumed he-"
Catrina cut her off with a grimace, now she was increasingly aware of where she was, and what this type of woman was after. She wanted the dirt, something to parade with in court, something to counsel her over, or to pass her on to a therapist...or shrink. "Sometimes..." She hesitated.
"Take your time."
Catrina, once she started she wanted to finish. "He would touch me, but not there. He would restrain me a lot, sometimes lie next to me on a bed, there was an occasion when he forced me onto his lap-"
"Did he penetrate you?" Karen interrupted rather lewdly.
Catrina swallowed uncomfortably, she couldn't believe thousands of girls like her could go through something so thorough and degrading – the interview she meant, not just the ordeal. Her eyes prickled with tears – she didn't know why, why did she have to be upset? "He did not, he never did."
"Are you sure, you might not have realised...you could have been while you were sedated?"
Damn, this woman wouldn't give up would she? But she had a point, anything could have happened before she woke up on that ship. She just shook her head. "No, I would know if I was ( ), I'm not sexually active. There were times when he could have, but didn't." She said groggily not sure if she was going to throw up or burst into tears.
"Did he make you do stuff to him?"
Catrina nearly grabbed her pad but instead settled on- "Okay can we stop now please." She said brazenly.
The woman stalled in her writing and sat bolt upright. "It's alright we can stop my dear...it's just while it's still fresh."
"-I think you're getting fresh."
"Catrina I am only here to help, to document your ordeal...I don't do this for kicks."
Catrina returned a honest look to her, keeping her hostility under wraps, she smiled weakly before continuing on with this weird topic. "No, nothing" She needed to bring up other horrible things to paint a more severe picture of the man. "He did dislocate my arm, but he fixed it. There were others brought to the boat, but he killed them before I had a chance to communicate with them."
Ms Spencer gave her a concerned once over before jotting everything down. "So he is a killer, why do you think he killed them, who were they?"
Catrina blinked. "Well I don't know, I assume to keep him company but he changed his mind." It was getting ridiculous steering from the truth – should she even attempt the demon explanation? That would indeed be futile. "He moved us off the boat when someone visited and became hostile."
"I see. My we have a lot down here." She sighed glancing down at her notes. "I think we will take a break..."
Catrian reached for her hand, and Ms Spencer acknowledged her warmly. "You do believe me don't you?" She had to believe it, if it was stripped of the ludicrous truths – what would make her doubt her?
"Of course Ms Dodge, I take everything seriously, get some rest, I will send someone down to assess you in half an hour, have you had a rape kit?"
Catrina went white. "No. I thought I didn't have to since-"
"It's alright, you don't have to." She soothed. "We might need your clothes for DNA analysis, I'm afraid we need to check you over for any signs of sexual activity, it's regulations, it doesn't always require...penetration." She finished rather stiffly and Catrina withdrew her hand like she had been burned. She was left alone but she could tell she was being monitored by CCTV cameras positioned in the corner of the room.