"Were you here of your own volition?" he asks me.
"W-what?" Tears blanket my cheeks, and I can barely reason out why I'm crying.
I'm saved.
I got exactly what I wanted, but now it's feeling like I damned a man to prison—one that deserves to be there, but I can't help the tightness in my chest.
It's too much.
He and I were just... We just... I sob again, and the man rolls his eyes.
“Did Mr. Grady kidnap you, or did you come willingly?" the man questions again.
Feeling uncomfortable, I do the thing Allison has ingrained in my brain. "I'm not talking without my lawyer present."
He sighs heavily. "Fair enough. She's at the station waiting for you. We'll talk there."
A breeze from the thin opening at the front of my blanket spreads across my skin beneath it. "Can I get dressed?" I ask.
He seems to contemplate something. "Sure. But no showering. There's evidence all over you, and I presume inside of you. We'll need to get a rape kit before you can shower."
That hits me dead center.
A rape kit?
Was I raped?
Before this, of course. I didn't give consent, nor was I lucid, but this time... this time was a horse of a different color.
Even so, I nod.
Once I'm dressed and in the back of a similar SUV, like the one Koen was taken in, I'm staring out the window, Bear's head in my lap as the cabin fades away, becoming a distant memory, a story I'll tell someday.
I survived.
So why does it feel like I'm dying inside?
The ride to the police station is weighted with anxiety. The officers in the front two seats keep glancing back, as if they think I’ll break and tell them everything if they keep making me uncomfortable.
All I can think about is what I'm going to say to Allison.
The truth will always be acceptable to her, but the lengths she went to for my rescue are unfathomable. This bell can't be unrung.
"Ma'am?" A voice breaks into my spiral, and I turn to find my door open, an officer holding it wide as he eyes me in concern.
"If you'll follow me, we'll go inside and wait for the doctor to arrive."
The doctor.
The one who'll test me for rape.
"My lawyer?" I ask, sliding out of the back seat, tugging on Bear's leash.
"She's inside."
"Greer!” Allison's voice filters out of the station’s front doors as they slide open.
She's in a full-out run toward me, tears streaming down her face.
