My Safe Place

Chapter 18

4.5 years ago

"Hey Adelyn, we know this is a really hard to process right now. We don't want to rush you but we all want your Dad to be locked away so he can't hurt you. We need your help to tell us what happened, ok?" The Detective explains.

Adelyn sits still in the hospital bed. She sits facing the window, her legs crossed and she plays with the bracelet on her wrist.

"I can't tell you." She says barely above a whisper. The pain in her voice is so clear. She's been hurting for so long- and no one noticed.

"Adelyn, honey- we can't imagine what you've been through. Your Dad must have told you some very horrible things. None of them are true. Once we know what he did, we can lock him up and you will never see him again."  She explains.

Adelyn lifts her head and turns to the detectives. "What's your name again?"

"Detective Kennedy, or you can call me Vivianne." She says softly. "This is my partner Detective Folkner, or Andrea." Vivianne explains once again.

"My Dad was not always the person and father he became. He use to love me once, we use to get ice cream and he use to take me shopping." Adelyn explains. "He became a horrible and disgusting man. But I would tell myself one day he would come back. My real Dad- not this guy that he had became. Because this guy didn't care about me- but my real Dad- he loved me. That's why I held on- that's why I didn't tell anyone. I was waiting for the day where he would wake up and tell me he loved me."

Vivianne and Andrea can't help but feel so- sad for Adelyn.

Adelyn swallow the lump in her throat. "If I tell you what happened- you can't tell my family."

Vivianne and Andrea exchange glances.

"Adelyn- we have to tell them-"

"We won't go into details with your Mom. We will explain to her briefly and if you decide that you don't want to talk about it to her- that's you choice, ok?" Vivianne explains.

Adelyn nods understanding.

"When my Mom started dating David, I started spending more time with my Dad." Adelyn sighs.

"You didn't like David?"

"No, that's not it! David's great! I just felt bad for my Dad that my Mom was moving on. I was only ten when they got divorced. By the time I was thirteen, Mom met David."

Vivianne nods.

"My Dad and I were so close. We were talking one night and he asked if I wanted to move in with him full time instead of my Mom. I decided yes, and my Mom let me. It was great for a month- but then Dad lost his job." Adelyn swallows the lump in her throat. "He started drinking after that- then he was having these creepy guys over and clearly doing drugs. Thats when it- started."

"It's ok, take your time." Vivianne says.

"If dinner wasnt what he wanted- he would hit me. He wouldn't let me eat- drink- nothing. Some days he'd call the school saying I was sick or I had an appointment- just so I would cook him food. Then he wasn't just hitting me when he was mad at me- he just started doing it all the time. That went on for a while before I realised what else was happening." Adelyn says in disgust. She stares straight at the floor as the words come out numb.

A tear falls from Adelyn's eye."He was putting pills in my food so I would sleep through the night. Then- he would- touch me, while I was asleep. I woke up once and he got really angry so he- hit me and- pushed me harder. I started becoming immune to the pills and I would have to pretend I was asleep after a while. I felt so disgusted and I wanted to die."

Adelyn lets her stray tears fall from her eyes. She feels nothing as the words flow.

"I hated myself. I hated him. I hated everyone."

Vivianne nods. "Ok, that's enough." She says turning to her partner.

"We havent-"

"Thats enough." Vivianne warns.

Andrea leaves the room where she is immediately swarmed with Margret and David. She quickly shuts the door.

"Has she talked yet? What happened? What did she say?" Margret questions.

"Mrs Daniels, Mr Daniels, your daughter has been through something- so majorly traumatic. That's the only way to put it. Adelyn is not ok and she will not be ok, for a long time. What happened to your daughter should never happen to anyone. She needs help and we are trying to do that- but she is not ready for you to know what happened to her- right now everyone needs you to respect her decision. She'll tell you when she's ready."  Andrea explains.

Margret clings to her newly husband. "Ok." She musters out.

"We won't leave her side."  David whispers to Margret.

"It's a little late for that now." Mark chimes in from across the hallway. "She needed you before- she needed you to know that something was wrong. That was up to you to figure out she was hurting. You were to focussed on your own life to realise that your daughter was in pain! She was dying!" Mark whisper yells.

"You have no idea who I am!" Margret exclaims. "You don't get to just yell at me and pretend you know better! You don't know my daughter!"

"Everyone calm down! This is the last thing Adelyn needs to hear right now." David warns.

Ethan sighs grabbing his Dad's arm. "Dad, take a breath."

"You two need to leave! Adelyn doesn't need both of you spreading rumours about her all over the town!" Margret grits.

"What?" Ethan frowns. "We would never-"

"I know you people and I know what you people do- you spread rumours and lies every where. Both of you need to leave, now!" Margret yells.

Mark opens his mouth to chime back but he stops himself. "Let's go, Ethan."

"Ok." Ethan agrees.