Thomas nodded toward Kitt. “He said you were a prostitute, but you said that the bell ringers took you when you were just a baby.”
“Yeah.” I shrugged as if it were no big deal, while internally I cringed. I could already tell where this was going. “It was after I got away from the bell ringers. I had to survive somehow, and I didn’t really have any other skills.”
It was at that moment I was reminded that, even taking the girls into account, I was the shortest one in the room. Thomas only took one step closer, yet it felt like he suddenly loomed over me. His silhouette blocked out the room lights, and the harsh shadows hast his disgusted expression into stark relief.
“How?”
I tried to take a step back, but he grabbed my arm to keep me in place.
“After finally getting free, how could you possible choose to subject yourself to that again? Don’t tell me you actually like it.”
“Hey.” Clay tried to shove between us. “There’s no need to say something like that.”
With my hand that wasn’t being held in a vice grip, I shoved Clay away. “I don’t need you to defend me, Clay.”
My tone was harsh, but I hoped Clay understood what I was trying to do.
It was clear that as soon as they heard the word prostitute, the other witnesses no longer saw me as a fellow victim, andnow, saw me as something dirty and below them. That was fine. It wasn’t the first time I’d been looked down on by other victims due to the choices I’d made. Right now, Clay was safe because they didn’t know that he’d also worked the streets, and I wanted to keep it that way.
Thomas was too strong for me to remove his grip from my arm, so rather than retreat, I chose to press forward and invade his personal space.
“Judge me all you want. I don’t care. I did what I had to in order to survive, and I’m not sorry about that.”
Thomas scoffed, and his grip on my arm tightened. “Is that what you tell yourself in order to sleep at night? The bell ringers tried to make you into an object for their pleasure, and then you went and finished the job for them.” His gaze raked up and down me, and for a moment, I felt like a child again, caught by monsters I could never escape.
A pair of hands slipped between Thomas and I, and with one hard shove on both of our chests, we were forcibly separated. Kitt stood like a wall dividing us from each other, as tall and unyielding as stone.
“That is enough.”
“But he—” Thomas started to argue, only to be cut off by the force of Kitt’s glare.
“Enough. You have two options. Either apologize, and never let me hear those words cross your lips again, or leave this bunker right now.”
The finality of his statement actually made Thomas stumble backward. “But I’m helping your case. If the bell ringers get a hold of me, they’ll kill me. You’d let that happen just for this... this...” His hand flapped wildly in the air as he gestured in my direction, unable to come up with a word suitable to describe me.
Kitt didn’t answer. He just stared directly at Thomas and said without hesitation, “You have your options. What’s your choice?”
Thomas clenched his hands at his sides so hard his fists trembled. He looked anywhere but at me as he mumbled out a quick, “Sorry.”
The sisters also followed up with their own apologies. They hadn’t been the ones actually insulting me, but they also hadn’t hidden their disgust, and they probably didn’t want to take any chances.
With a disdainful sniff, Kitt smoothed out invisible wrinkles from his suit. “It’ll do. Now, I think we all need a break to cool off and... think things through for a while. Take the rest of the day off, and we’ll pick this back up tomorrow.”
As soon as he was excused, Thomas pushed his way out of the room with the sisters close on his heels.
Once they were gone, Kitt patted me on the shoulder, then gathered up the remaining papers and also took his leave.
One moment the room was full, and then the next only Clay and I remained.
“Are you okay?” Clay asked, though he hesitated to come closer.
Slumping down into one of the wicker chairs, I ran a hand through my disheveled hair. “Yeah. I’m fine. It’s not the first time someone has turned on me when they found out about my history with prostitution. I’m used to it, though it’s probably better if you keep it to yourself. We shouldn’t both make enemies of everyone.”
Clay laughed, though there was nothing humorous about the sound. “You’d think, as fellow victims, they’d understand better than anyone. But I have to say, you handled that really well. Is there anything I can do now?”
I let my head lean back against the edge of the wicker chair. “I’d just like to be alone for a bit.”
“All right,” Clay agreed. “Let me know if you need anything. Even if it’s just someone to listen to you.”
