Chapter 13
Darker Days
Hillary Beck
“What do you want?” Katie said, looking at us with a vacant expression.
“We are here to offer our help,” Gale said, leaning forward. “We know what Maverick did to you. We know you filed a case, and we know what he did to you.”
“You are here about that Avery girl,” Katie said hoarsely. She lit a cigarette and took a drag. I hardly even recognized her. I had seen all her pictures, and she had changed so drastically; she used to a pretty blonde, with shiny blue eyes and a captivating smile. The head of the cheerleading squad and a top student. The woman who sat in front of me had frayed hair that was so dirty it looked like a nest. Her eyes had dark circles around them, and her face was so gaunt she looked like a skeleton. It hurt me to see what Maverick had done to her. He didn’t just abuse her. He ruined her entire life. He turned her from someone with big dreams and potential, into a woman living alone in her house, too scared to go out.
“I am. I know what happened to Laura scared you. I know you want to back out, but please, let us help you do this,” Gale said. “We want you to testify about what Maverick did to you. It will help us prove what he did to the girl. We are even willing to file a case for you, and you can join Avery as the plaintiff. We will fight this case for you. The more people who agree to join our cause, the stronger our evidence, and the longest sentence we can charge him with.”
“Tell me,” she croaked. “Do you really think there is hope? Look me in the eye and tell me you are sure you will win this case. No. Just tell me that you have ahopeof winning. Tell me that.”
Gale didn’t reply, looking away from her intense gaze.
“See? Even you have no hope,” she gasped out. “You know it’s useless. You can’t win this. Give up. Don’t give the poor girl’s parents hope. Don’t make them think there can be justice and then crush their hearts. Give up.”
“No,” I whispered, finally joining the conversation. “I went through the same you did; only my abuser was someone else. If we don’t stop him, he will keep on doing this. He will keep abusing other girls and cowering behind his father’s wealth and money. Don’t just fight for yourself. Fight to protect all those girls too.”
“There is no hope,” she croaked. “No hope of any victory. He can’t be stopped. It’s best to stay out of his way and protect yourselves. Lock your doors and shut yourself in until one day this earth is cleaned of his filth. Until then, hide and save yourselves. You can’t defeat this monster.”
“You can't give up!” I almost shouted. “How could you? After suffering all this? How could you? How could you leave others to suffer what you did? How can you ask us to give up?"
"I speak for your safety," she whispered. “Fight him if you wish, but I want no part of it. You should go now.”
“I can’t believe that you leave all these girls to suffer—!” I shouted but trailed off when Gale grabbed my hand. He squeezed it firmly and looked into my eyes.
“Come on, let’s go,” he said before I said anymore.
Shaking with anger, I followed him to the door, where he asked her to consider one more time and gave her his card.
“It’s women like her—” I said, furious.
“No, it’s not,” Gale said, cutting me off. “She has been through a lot, Hillary. You need to see it from her perspective.
All this time, locked in an asylum, alone and scared. She must have built him in her head. Made him into a monster in her mind. Imagine her fear. She really does think there is no hope.”
“Because there isn’t,” I whispered. “There really isn’t. Maybe she is right. I have managed to convince the girl’s parents that there is hope for justice when we have nothing. We have been working on it for days with your best lawyers, and we have made no progress. When we lose this, her parents will be crushed. They will feel like they lost their daughter all over again. And I will be the reason. Maybe we should have just let it be.”
“No,” Gale said, grabbing my arms and pulling me close. “You aren’t just doing this for her. You are doing this for every girl he has abused. For every girl hewillabuse. There might not be much hope, but if we don’t try, we are no worse than him. If we didn’t fight, even if there were no chance, we would always regret it. We have to at least try. We can’t give up.”
I nodded, tears falling from my eyes.
“Thank you, Gale,” I whispered, but I knew that things were looking darker and darker. Laura had already backed out, and now Katie had refused us too. Without these witnesses on our side, there was no hope. We had already lost the case.
