Chapter 2

• Katie's POV
• Thankfully Eloise only warned me to be careful of wild animals when she confirmed that my house wasn’t far from the crime scene. I was relieved that she didn’t suspect anything or ask any questions because I honestly didn’t know how to answer her.
• The memory of the blood-curdling screams, torn up bodies, and Tom’s bloody, accusing gaze haunted me for the rest of the morning. But I still managed to get dressed and head to the station on time.
• As I made my way to the police station, I kept my head down, intentionally trying to be invisible. This didn’t even have anything to do with Tom’s murder. No.
• I had been hiding from everyone all my life. When people first met me, most of the tried to be kind and say hello. But when I began to stammer and stutter, the nice people would feel awkward and walk away, but the bullies would laugh and decide that I was their latest play thing.
• Soon I decided that it would be best to stay quiet and be as invisible as possible. But that never stopped the bullies from abusing me though.
• I was a smallish girl, Just 5’3, thin, always wearing big prescription glasses, always stuttering and had a very low self esteem. In high school, this made me the prime target for bullies who liked to hit me and push me around because they knew I could never fight back.
• That’s why I wanted to be a cop. To train hard, become strong and fight the bad guys that liked to take advantage of the weak.
• Things didn’t go the way I planned though. I still looked weak and most departments didn’t want to hire me until they found out I was exceptionally good with paper work.
• So now I was still weak, still timid, full of insecurities and even though people didn’t physically push me around anymore, they loved to walk all over me and selfishly use me for what they wanted.
• I still couldn’t say no, so I tried to avoid them.
• I slipped through the doors of the station, and noticed that my only friend Eloise wasn’t around. She was probably assigned to the crime scene along with the others.
• I made a beeline for my desk, hoping to escape notice, but before I could reach it, a chorus of voices called out to me.
• "Hey, Katie! Over here!"
• Shit! They noticed me! I had fucked up!.
• I slowly turned around, mentally smacking myself for not hiding properly as I saw Bruce— my worst nightmare beckoning me over to where he and his friends were sitting.
• Bruce was the biggest asshole I had ever met. He was totally corrupt, he would often release even the worst criminals if they bribed him with enough cash, he always abused his power by bullying civilians to get whatever he wants, and he never understood the word No.
• Everyone knew that he only got the job because his father was a politician. And no one dared to question him in fear of angering his father.
• Unfortunately for me, he seemed to have a crush on me. One week after I started working here, Bruce asked me to be his girlfriend.
• I had heard enough from people to know that when he said girlfriend, he meant slut.
• Bruce didn’t care about any one but himself, and I knew that he didn’t care for me at all, he just wanted a plaything he could fucked around with.
• When I had politely refused, he went mad. He called me a stupid bitch and swore to revenge, then he promised to make me his slut one day.
• I desperately wanted to report him to the station, but when I discovered who his father was, I painfully kept quiet. Since then, Bruce took any opportunity to torment me.
• I plastered a fake smile on my face, hoping to hide my discomfort as I reluctantly strode towards them.
• "M-morning, everyone," I mumbled. I didn’t always stutter,
• "Morning, Katie!" they chorused, their voices too bright and too cheerful for my liking. It felt as if they were planning something mischievous.
• "Hey, Katie, do you mind taking care of these for us?" Bruce asked, roughly shoving a mountain of files at me with a smirk.
• I opened my mouth to protest, “I -I c- can’t.” I was trying to explain that I already had my own work to do, but the words died on my lips as laughter erupted.
• "C-c—c-ca—“ One of them mocked causing them to burst out laughing again.
• “What's the matter, Katie? Cat got your tongue?" another taunted, his tone dripping with mockery.
• “Oh, she’s such a fucking joke.” Bruce laughed. “I can’t believe they allowed a pathetic little thing like you work here. How are you supposed to catch any bad guys with how weak you are, Heck What can you do if one of us decides to bend you over this table huh?!”
• I felt my cheeks burn with shame, the familiar sting of tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. I knew what they were doing—teasing me,
• taunting me with my own insecurities. Bullies like them had been doing it for as long as I could remember, ever since I was a child with thick glasses and a stutter that refused to be tamed.
• But I refused to be that wimpy helpless girl that cried just because an asshole was mean to them.
• Instead I forced a smile, willing myself not to give them the satisfaction of seeing me break.
• “If any of you tried to do something I didn’t consent to. I’ll cut of your dicks and feed it to my dogs," I declared without a stutter, “And that would be a terrible shame for you Bruce, seeing that your dick is too small to begin with.”
• “Fucking bitch!” Bruce roared and tried to lunge at me, but his friends held him back.
• “No no, not here man, people will see us.” One of his friends warned. They didn’t stop him because they cared about me, they just didn’t want to get in trouble.
• Bruce swore at me, calling me every nasty name in the dictionary, but I pretended to be unfazed until he and his friends stormed away, leaving behind me and their paper work behind.
• I sank back into my chair, trying hard to stop myself from shaking with fear and anger. I had just pretended to be bold, but in reality, I knew that I could never stand against someone as strong and as mean as Bruce.
• They were right, I was a fucking joke. I felt smaller and more alone than ever.
• I wished, not for the first time, that I could be any other person that was not me — That I could truly be confident, outgoing, unburdened by the weight of my own fears and flaws.
• But no amount of wishing could change who I was. I was Katie—a smallish, weak awkward girl with thick glasses and a stutter that marked me as weird and unattractive. And no matter how hard I tried to hide it, the truth remained—I was alone, with no friends to call my own except for Eloise and my parents.
• Speaking about my parents, it had been a while since I had spoken to them, so I pulled out my phone and tried to call them.
• The calls rang but they didn’t answer which was a little weird. Assuming they were busy, I decided to call them again after work.
• I looked at all the paperwork in front of me, including the one Bruce had graciously dumped on me and I let out a sigh of frustration. It was going to be a very long day.
• A few hours later, the fluorescent lights of the station buzzed overhead, casting a harsh glow over the cluttered desk in front of me.
• Papers were piled around me, as proof of another day I had spent buried under a mountain of boring lies and nonsense. In this station, we knew that politics, power and money always won over real justice anyway.
• So I didn’t really serve the people or the law. I served the rich, greedy and the powerful. Gosh my life was miserable!
• I rubbed my tired eyes, willing myself to focus, to push through the exhaustion that was trying hard to consume me.
• I glanced at the clock—many hours had passed since Closing time at the station, yet still, the endless stream of paperwork showed no signs of stopping.
• Bruce and the rest of my colleagues had long since disappeared to their homes, or most likely, a bar to get drunk and pick up some poor unfortunate girl.
• With a heavy sigh, I reached for my phone, intending to check the time, only to freeze when I saw the screen—twenty missed calls, all from my parents.
• My heart skipped a beat, and a sudden wave of cold panic washed over me. It was highly unusual for my parents to call me more than twice! Was something wrong?
• Because I was so busy, it seems that I had forgotten to take my phone off silent mode, and had missed all their calls.
• But over 20 missed calls?! What was so urgent that they called that much?!
• I couldn’t explain why but a sudden wave of panic surged within me.
• It was so bad that it threatened to overwhelm my common sense as I began to imagine my parents in an accident, frantically trying to call me for help.
• I frantically dialed their numbers back, my fingers shaking as I pressed the call button, but each try brought out my worst fear—no answer.
• "Come on, pick up," I muttered, my voice beginning to fill up with fear. "Please mum, pick up."
• But still, there was no answer, no reassuring voice on the other end of the line to tell me I was worrying about nothing.
• Once again, my mind started raced with possibilities, had something happened to them? Were they hurt, or worse?
• With that thought, I grabbed my coat and rushed out of the station, my heart pounding in my chest as I made my way to my car.
• But just before I could unlock my car door, some one suddenly yanked me back, roughly covering my mouth with their big sweaty hands.
• My eyes widened and I screamed into their palm.
• I twisted and flailed until I caught a glimpse of my attacker.
• It was Bruce, huge stinking Bruce that was attacking me.
• I felt panic seize me and I screamed again.
• “Shit the fuck up bitch! Did you really think I was going to let you walk away with humiliating me in front of my friends?” He growled. “It’s pay back time bitch!”
• I tried to bite his hand, but he turned me around and punched me right in the face. I felt my body spin as the world around me turned dark.
• Was this it? Was this how I was going to die?