Astraea was worried, her head was a mess. Her thoughts were constantly whizzing from one thing to another, never pausing on any particular idea for longer than a second. Jacob had been acting strange, stranger than usual. She was terrified, any sudden movement from him was enough to set her nerves on edge and cause her adrenaline to spike.
"Stray? You good?" He called to her from across the table. He had been keeping closer tabs on her recently, her therapist had told him to. She could only hope that Linda would do something to help her. Linda was kind to her, she was thankful for that, but she wished that she could do more for her.
"Yep, just lost in thoughts." She looked down at the paper in front of her, it had been a week since she had first found Raphael outside, or at least that was what the date on the paper told her. Truthfully, her sense of time seemed to be fading from her, that day in the garden seemed simultaneously like it was yesterday and a year ago.
He hummed at her and grabbed the paper from in front of her, "Well get out of your head and put the kettle on." She nodded and hurriedly stood from her seat, grabbing the cups from the table and walking over to the counter where the kettle sat waiting to be filled up.
Her hands shook as she filled the kettle with water and she prayed that she wouldn't drop it. It hissed as it boiled. The tea bags floated to the top as she poured the water on top, putting in a dash of milk afterwards.
"That's a good girl, thanks, Stray." She nodded, not trusting her voice when it came to speaking with Jacob. Although, Jacob was the only person she ever spoke to, so really, she just didn't trust her voice in general.
She wondered if Raphael would return tonight, he returns every night so she supposed that there would be no reason for him not to return tonight as well. She had been feeding him small pieces of chicken. She wasn't sure whether you were supposed to feel snakes chicken, but it was the only thing she could think of.
She shook even as she was bringing her drink to her lips, blowing on the hot liquid in an attempt to cool it. The tea sloshed around in her cup, trickling over the edge and onto her fingers on a particularly bad shake.
"Stray… Stop shaking." She nodded again. It was the only affirmation she could bring herself to give. She didn't stop shaking. "Stray, stop." She still shook.
He grabbed her arm, pulling her across the table to him, and causing her still near boiling drink to spill over him. There was silence for what seemed to be an eternity but was only really a few seconds.
"You bitch." He hissed at her through his teeth, eyes steeling and glaring at her through golden eyelashes.
The pain was immediate and familiar as she fell to the ground, clutching at her face. He grabbed her by the hair and she thought that this all felt a bit deja vu. He dragged her up the stairs, her limbs hitting every sharp step, which was sure to leave bruises, adding to her already mottled skin.
He threw her into her room, kicking her as he went. She begged for him to stop. "When will you learn, Stray. When you behave, I won't punish you." He grabbed her by her cheeks and forced her to look him in the eye, "Until that day, you will continue to be here under lock and key and too injured to even contemplate escaping." He shoved her to the ground and stood, looking over her.
He left slamming the door behind him. She heard his heavy footsteps going down the stairs and then the slam of the front door as he left the house. She was glad he had left, because he was wrong. She wasn't too injured to contemplate escaping and she was going to. Right now.
She heaved her screaming body from the floor, retching through the pain and thanking every god she could think of that she was able to keep what little food she had eaten down.
She threw as many clothes as she could grab into a small bag that she had found in a cupboard a few weeks ago, and two changes could fit there, but it was good enough. She tried the door, but Jacob had managed to lock it behind him before leaving. That meant that she was going out the window. It was a long drop down from the second floor, but thankfully the drainpipe was next to her window and she wasn't afraid of heights.
She reached the ground and immediately started running, where to? She didn't know. But anywhere away from Jacob was good enough for her. She ran and didn't stop running until her legs gave out on her and she collapsed to the ground. She curled under a bush as the day gave way to night and attempted to sleep in the frigid air of the outdoors. Even by herself, in the middle of nowhere of a night time, it was the safest she had felt for as long as her memory stretched back.
Crowley watched as Astraea ran from the house. Staring proudly as she made the escape herself. He could see bruises beginning to form that hadn't been there the night before, though she had new ones every time he saw her.
He followed her for hours as she ran and ran and eventually fell asleep in the middle of a forest. He slithered to her and curled around her body, attempting to hide her from the icy wind and the dangers of the wilderness. He saw her smile in her sleep as he rested next to her. She was going to be alright, he would make sure of it.