Chapter Four

Trigger warning: Discussion of sexual assault in this chapter. 

Chapter Four

**A few Days Later**

As I hoped, I was allowed to leave the hospital that day, and had managed to so far convinced my parents not to bail on the holiday, but the past few days had been spent locked up in the hotel room, my parents too scared to let me leave it without them. I felt like a prisoner, although if I was being completely honest with myself... I didn’t really feel much like going out anyway… just in case he was still around. 

I was currently sitting in an interview room at the local police department. They had given me a few days but now had requested I come in and give a statement. When you see it on tv, it's completely different, but I guess they had enough to work with until now. 

Mum was sitting with me, but she looked more nervous than me. We just sat, in complete silence, until the police officer... Or detective... Or whatever the correct name was for the official, came into the room. He sat behind the desk and grabbed a pen. 

‘Right, Hello, Mrs Duffy, Miss Duffy, thank you for coming in’. 

‘Do you know how long this is going to take?’ Mum spoke for me. 

‘Not too long, we just have a few questions to ask Violet about what happened’. They both looked at me and I realized it was my turn to talk. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and sat up. 

‘Um, sure, what do you need to know?’ I didn’t want to talk about it, think about it, relive it, but I had to, so the sooner the better and I could just move on. 

‘What do you remember?’ 

‘Everything’. He flashed me a pity smile. 

‘That's good, but can you talk me through what happened? How did the evening start, anything out of the ordinary?’ 

‘No, I don’t think so. We met in the hotel bar, he was late’. The man wrote down what I was saying, so I continued, ‘He went to the bar and ordered a drink, he showed the bartender his ID-’ 

‘Have you spoken to him? Maybe he remembered some of the information on the ID card’. My mum interrupted. 

‘We have, and he doesn’t unfortunately. Just the generic, looking at the photo, checking the birthday, making sure he was legal to drink sort of thing’. Mum huffed and leaned back in the seat. ‘Violet?’ He fostered for me to continue. 

‘Um, We talked, nothing that interesting to be honest, he said he lived in Texas, doubt that was true, it was just normal chit-chat’. He nodded, writing it all down again, ‘He brought me an alcoholic drink-’ 

‘WHAT?!’ I ignored my mum's outburst and kept going.

‘I went to the bathroom… He implied that was when he slipped the drugs into my drink’. 

‘He actually said that?’ The officer questioned. I nodded. 

‘Yeah, well... Sort of. He said that I shouldn’t leave my drink unattended with a stranger.’ I heard my mum gasp and had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I know her shock, horror and worry were coming from a place of love and care. 

‘Ok, continue’. 

‘There really isn't much to say, we talked, we left not long after to go for a walk on the beach and…’ I trailed off but no one said anything, they gave me the time I clearly needed to talk about this, ‘-and that's when I started to feel unwell, I fell, he helped me up. I thought he was helping me back to the street to go back to the hotel but he didn’t. He took me off somewhere, I don’t know where-’ 

‘That’s fine, Mr Wolfe has already taken us to the location in which he found you’. 

‘-and he.. He… ‘ I couldn’t get the words out. 

‘It's ok, take your time’.  I took a couple of deep breaths;

‘He attacked me. I fell to the floor, he climbed on top of me and started... R-raping me. I couldn’t move, I felt trapped in my own body’. My mum reached over and placed her hands over mine, comforting me. My gaze retreated to the floor, almost embarrassed to talk about it. ‘I remember thinking I was going to die and then he put his hands around my throat, choking me, I couldn’t breathe!’. Remembering everything was making me feel very emotional and I could feel the tears building up. 

‘And then?’ I just shrugged. 

‘I couldn’t breathe, I could feel myself starting to blackout and then… suddenly his hands were gone. I looked over and he was being attacked by a group of dogs. About 6 or 7, I’m not sure. I just closed my eyes and at some point, he went quiet and then I blacked out. The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital’. He just kept nodding and ‘’hmm’’ing as he wrote down what I was saying. 

The ‘’interview’’ continued for a little while longer, he asked me some more questions, some were very personal and embarrassing, but I answered them anyway and luckily, soon enough, I was allowed to leave. As I was leaving with mum, I saw Toby sitting in the waiting area. I guess the police wanted to talk to him too… 

Toby’s Point Of View

I looked up hearing a door open and out walked Violet and her mother. I smiled at her as she passed, noticing me sitting there. She just smiled back and kept walking. Poor girl. Noone should go through what she did. 

Certainly not in my town. 

I checked the time. 11.55. I had my own interview with the police detective in about 5 minutes. I had already told them everything I knew, but apparently, they needed me to answer some more questions. 

Whatever, as long as it helps I guess, though, a little pointless. That Jason guy wasn’t coming back and most certainly wouldn’t be bothering that girl again. 

I took my phone out of my pocket and dialled a familiar number. It rang a few times before he answered; 

‘Yo, what’s happening?’ 

‘I don’t know, I haven't had my interview yet. I’ll know soon enough if there are any suspicions’. 

‘Do you know if she remembers anything about us?’  He asked, sounding panicked. 

‘She remembers but don’t worry, she doesn’t know what she saw’. 

‘But-’ 

‘She doesn’t know what she saw’. I repeated in a low, warning tone. 

‘Ok’. 

‘Look, I’ll know more soon. Gather the pack, I’ll be done in an hour’. He agreed and hung up. I looked around, hoping no one had heard my conversation. Luckily, no one did. As I put my phone away, the interview room door opened again and I was called in…