Astraea sat at the kitchen table, her usual cup of tea grasped tightly in her hands. Jacob hadn't returned from work yet and she was beginning to grow bored with the tedious day. She hadn't been alone for this long since the accident and she didn't know what to do with herself.
Her hallucinations hadn't been as bad recently, just faint images of a different time, a past life or memories long forgotten. Dr. Lohan had told her she wasn't allowed to think of them as memories, they weren't - they were figments of her imagination, her brain's way of playing tricks on her. It didn't mean that she didn't still think of them as memories. To her, they were. Her last appointment with Dr. Lohan had left her feeling drained, thinking of Crowley hurt more than thinking of any of the others. Crowley was kind, sometimes she viewed him as more of a brother than even her own brother. He was the only one whose name she remembered. Dr. Lohan thought that he maybe someone from her past that she had never let go of. A ghost of another time that she had never made peace with.
If they weren't memories then how could he be a ghost?
Her head snapped up to a sharp knock on the door. They didn't get many visitors, she mainly spoke with Jacob and Linda when she crossed paths with her at her appointments, though she had never been around to visit. She didn't imagine that Linda even knew where she lived.
So who could it be?
She opened the door slowly and looked out to the porch. It was Mr. Miller, her next door neighbour. Sighing a breath of relief, she opened the door fully to speak with him.
"Can I help you?" She said, still not at ease with his interruption of the day. He was generally a kind old man from what she could gather, he would bring apples from his tree when he had a surplus. His wife had died around two years ago and Astraea could tell that it was still weighing heavily on the man.
"I was just wondering if you would like to join me on a walk, my dear?" His face crinkled as he smiled and his eyes twinkled over his glasses when he looked up to meet her eyes, he had the feel of Dumbledore about him.
"Jacob should be home soon, he won't take kindly to me not being there when he gets home." She muttered in apology, looking down at her feet. She felt guilty for rejecting his offer. She didn't want Jacob to be angry though, he was the only stable thing in her life, and he had been since childhood.
"I'm sure he won't bother." Mr. Miller smiled up at her again, the twinkle in his eye flashing once again, "We won't be gone long, unless you want to, he's a big boy." Astraea looked back over her shoulder at the kitchen, she had been bored before Mr. Miller arrived. She still didn't like the idea of Jacob being angry with her, "Unless of course, you don't wish to, I'll understand."
She looked at the counter where her could cup of tea sat, she hadn't been doing anything productive and Jacob couldn't be too mad at her leaving.
"I would love to." She grabbed her coat off of the hanger and wrapped it around herself, locking the door behind her as she left.
Mr. Miller's exuberant smile was enough for her to not immediately regret her decision. He extended his arm for her to take and together they walked away from her and Jacob's house. They walked towards a small park that her and Jacob would pass on the way to her appointments, it was mainly empty except for a few dog walkers that were traversing that area.
"How long have you and Jacob been a couple?" Mr. Miller's muttered question startled Astraea. He thought they were a couple?
"Oh, we're not. Just friends." The sentence tasted sour in her mouth, were they friends? She had no reason to believe that they weren't, yet it still felt wrong to call him her friend.
"Just friends?" He turned to look at her, "My dear, friends don't act the way he acts towards you." He grabbed a hold of her hand and squeezed it in his own, patting her arm with his other.
"Jacob's just protective." She muttered. There was nothing strange about their friendship. Sure, he was protective. But that was just Jacob, it was who he was. He had been like that since they were children. Though, he had been worse since the accident.
"Some might say too protective." Astraea didn't reply to that.
Their walk continued in relative silence, Mr. Miller occasionally commenting on something that they came across, a bird or a plant. Astraea wasn't sure how long they had been out for, they had taken a break at a pond to feed the ducks and by the time they turned the corner back onto their street, the sky had begun to darken.
"Thank you for indulging an old man, my dear." Mr. Miller squeezed her hand one last time before turning to entre his own house, leaving her at the gate to Jacob's house.
The car was in the drive, Jacob was home. She didn't know why that scared her so much. It was dark out, and she had missed his return home. She wasn't even sure if she was allowed to leave the house, why wouldn't she? Jacob had always been insistent on her not leaving without him, but it was only Mr. Miller and they hadn't gone far.
The door creaked as she opened it, she winced at the noise. The house was dark and silent. Jacob was probably upstairs.
"Where have you been?" He was sat at the table, staring at her. His stare was like ice.
"I went out for a walk, I lost track of time." She shrugged off her coat and placed it on the hook, trying to ignore the dread forming in the pit of her stomach.
"Do you usually go out when I'm not here?" He stood up and moved towards her, corning her into the wall by the door. "You know you're not supposed to leave without me."
"I can go out if I want to, Jacob. And no, I don't usually go out." She tried to duck behind him and towards the stairs, but he placed his arms on either side of her, effectively caging her into the small area.
"So why'd you go out today, Stray? Hmm? Why'd you go out?" He was getting closer and Astraea was having to curl further into the wall. "Were you with someone?"
She tried again to move, to duck under his arms and escape upstairs to her room.
"You were. You were with someone." He grabbed her by her arm and dragged her back to the wall, holding her in place, her back pressed against the wood. "Who were you with, Stray?"
She tried to brush his arm off, to move away from him. It wasn't working.
"Tell me." He pushed her into the wall, his arm pressed against her neck, cutting her air supply. She was scared.
"Tell me Astraea. Who the fuck were you with." She couldn't breathe. Her version was fading, black spots dancing at the sides.
Her arms flailed at her sides, trying to grab at anything. To try and escape. To get away and save herself. Her fingers brushed the edge of something. An umbrella.
He kept pushing into her, telling her to speak. She couldn't, he was blocking her voice. Her hand gripped the umbrella. She didn't think, she just swung. The umbrella hit him on the head, snapping as it collided. It gave her a moment, a singular moment to make a run for it.
She took it, she took that moment and she ran. She ran as fast as she could, the door was only a few feet away from her.
As her hand brushed the handle, she felt her head being wrenched back by her hair. He had grabbed her hair. She was dragged onto her back, kicking and screaming for him to let go. He pushed her further into the floor, straddling her to keep her in place. Her voice was hoarse from his assault on it. It was already bruising and she cried out in pain when his head met her throat, pinning her to the floor.
He leaned down to her ear, "Tell me, who the fuck you were with." His hand gripped her throat tighter before he released her.
"I was with no one." She didn't know why she didn't tell him. She guessed she was scared what he would do to Mr. Miller. The man was old and couldn't defend himself from Jacob's anger.
"Liar." He grabbed her hair again, standing up and dragging her across the floor. He pulled her up the stairs by her hair, she was crying and screaming the entire way. She could feel her hair being ripped out and cuts forming along her skin as it was being dragged across the threw her into her room, her head hit the bed post and she collapsed to the floor, unable to move. Her head was ringing and black spots were overtaking her vision now.
"You can stay in here until you're ready to tell the truth." He slammed the door behind him, leaving her alone and bleeding on the floor.
What had happened? She didn't know.
This wasn't the Jacob she knew, the Jacob she knew would never do this. She didn't get a chance to think more about it before she passed out from blood loss.
"We are getting nowhere with this!" Aziraphale's voice rang out through the book shop.
Morpheus and Crowley sighed, this was the third time this hour that Aziraphale had exclaimed the same thing. "We have no idea where Apollo may be."
Crowley placed his hand on the angel's arm, he had given up long ago trying to verbally comfort the angel.
"We've got to keep trying, angel." Aziraphale brushed off Crowley's hand and ignored the demon. He still refused to acknowledge him, he still felt betrayed by the demon.
"Angel, please." Aziraphale walked away from him and slammed down another book."Angel..." Crowley pleaded once again.
"I'm not speaking to you." Aziraphale continued to flick through the pages of the book he was looking at.
"Angel, I -"
"Shut up." The angel and demon turned to look at the endless. "Both of you shut up, now."
"I - How dare you, this is my home may I remind you." Aziraphale spluttered out.
"Be quiet." He said again.
"Don't tell him to quiet, endless scum." Crowley hissed at Morpheus, his snake eyes flashing a brighter shade of yellow for a second.
"Silence . . . She's dreaming."