Slowly Turning in the dirt }}Justin

[rumour]

{{ Think far out but I'm still locked in
I'm still lost, walking circles... }} [/color][/size]

In the six weeks that followed Rumour’s accident, she didn’t leave the house. Instead, she had spent those weeks turning her room upside down and screaming at her walls, finding her way onto the roof and wishing she could see the stars she had always adored – the ocean she had loved. When she had finally left her room, she had spent the rest of those six weeks learning her home, it’s layout, it’s position, working on getting back as much a level of normalcy as she could. The result was now? She moved about her house with more skill than her father, only making mistakes when things were moved without her knowing.

”Thanks. I’ll tell mah dad you approve.” She said, walking past him as he dropped onto the couch and into the kitchen, she reached into the cupboard and pulled out a box, running a finger over the bumps on the side of the package, making sure she had the right pills. She couldn’t read Braille – it was not something she had ever bothered to learn, given that she knew she would one day get her eyes back, but she could distinguish between her old antibiotics and her painkillers. Opening the pack, she dry swallowed two, wincing slightly and getting herself a glass of water, rubbing her chest. Her ribs were already bruised, the injuries days old – she didn’t want to think how the compressions had helped her case. It still hurt if she tried to breath too deeply.

Heading back out with her water, she put it on the side and shook her head. ”No. Not always. I’m going to get changed into something warmer.... bathroom’s third door on the right up the stairs. Seconds mine. So now you know – won’t get mistaken.” And with that, Rumour left, heading upstairs and leaning heavily on the banister, her head spinning as she headed up the steps. When she reached her room she fell on her bed and lay there for a long moment, listening, and trying to breathe normally without it sending pain through her chest before she even started taking off her wet clothes, replacing them with thick sweat pants and an oversized hoodie.

{{...There's nowhere to go }}

[justin]

Justin couldn't help but smirk at Ru's attitude. The kid was definitely a smart ass and she didn't seem to be very trusting. He had a feeling something was up with her, besides being blind. Her defensiveness reminded him of Madison, who somehow managed to maintain her sweet demeanor despite the fact that Steven was beating the hell out of her on a day to day basis. Justin had seen some like Ru before though. Most of the outcomes were never pretty.

"Don't worry I won't get it confused." He grinned at her even though she couldn't see it.

Once Ru was in her room and Justin heard the door close he got up and started poking around the house. He made sure to keep his feet light and his use the edge of his t-shirt to open any drawers or anything else he might touch. Justin wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he imagined there was something that might tell him what Ru was hiding.

Something told him that she had no intentions of coming clean about it, even if it cost Ru her life. Maybe he was taking a leap. Maybe he was looking for something that wasn't there, but he was sure he'd seen the signs. The same ones as his sister that he had so blindly looked past wanting to believe everything was all right. Maybe with this kid he had a chance at redemption. Maybe he could get her out before any worse permanent damage was done.

Then again maybe she was like Madison had been in the beginning and she didn't want to go. It was slippery slope. If Justin didn't find some footing in this he'd look like some creeper who was spying on her. However just coming out and saying that he thought someone was hurting Ru probably wasn't the best way to go about it. It would put her on the defensive. The kid was already defensive enough.

Ru was the type of girl who made the whole world think she could take care of herself. To a point she probably could, but Justin doubted that when the fists came pounding down that Ru could do anything about it. At least she didn't thinks he could. Then again, since he wasn't finding much on his search through the house, maybe he was just looking for a situation that wasn't there.

[rumour]

{{ Think far out but I'm still locked in
I'm still lost, walking circles... }} [/color][/size]

Rumour wasn’t sure how long she stayed upstairs. Curled on her bed, the girl hugged her chest and came as close to crying as she had in a very long time – if her ribs had been aching before, they sure as hell were hurting now, each breath a stabbing pain if it was anything more than shallow, and she longed for the painkillers she had taken to kick in and start working. As such, she only uncurled once they had, once the pain had dulled and she felt like she could breathe again, when the facade of normality she had painstaking put in place since her exit from the car didn’t have to be a facade any longer.

Slipping from her bed, Rumour eventually went back down the stairs, twisting her hair into another ponytail as she walked, piling the hair on top of her head as she pulled her the hood of her sweatshirt over her head. She wasn’t cold anymore and she would quite gladly just stayed upstairs for a few hours until she made dinner for herself and her father, but there was no way she letting the man downstairs have free reign of her house. She wasn’t comfortable with him being there in the first place, wasn’t comfortable with him being anywhere near her, hanging around, asking questions. It put Rumour on edge.

Sitting down, Rumour sank into the couch and listened to him rummaging in the kitchen for a minute with a frown marring her features. She rubbed her eyes, massaging her cheek, her fingers fleetingly passing across the scars she knew by heart, whose exact location she could map out on paper if you were to ask. The way he was moving gave Rumour the impression he was snooping – many people believed the remaining four senses of the blind to be heightened, but they were young. They were simply used differently once the main sense was gone. But in Rumours case? Well. Two of them at least were, thanks her genetics. Enough to tell her that he wasn;t simply looking for a glass.

”If you wanted a drink you should have asked. ” She called, giving him the chance to come up with an excuse. He would find nothing in Rumour’s immaculately kept house – no trace of blood or smashed objects. She cleared all that up – had too. Members of her fathers parish did not appreciate sitting in the presence of a crime scene.

{{...There's nowhere to go }}

[justin]

When Ru smoke, Justin looked at her over his shoulder. At least she hadn't come down while he was rummaging through the desk. Granted he hadn't found anything, but that would be a lot harder to explain.

"I didn't want to bother you." He reached into the fridge and grabbed a pepsi popping the top. "You were changing. Besides I didn't think a drink would be so much to offer the guy who pulled you out of the ocean and saved your life."

He sipped the Pepsi as though it were nothing and moved over to sit beside her on the couch. "So what does your dad do?" He asked. Justin realized he could have offered to get Ru something, but she wanted to be independant. That much was obvious. He wouldn't coddle her, in any sense. If he found out what was going on, if he had a leg to stand on, he would call her on it.

Justin had attempted to coddle his sister and look how that turned out. Madison had been beaten within an inch of her life and his niece had died. Justin wouldn't let that happen again. He realized that if he had forced Madison back then she probably would have hated him for it, but things might also be a lot different.

The signs were there that someone was hurting her. Justin had only just met Ru, but she seemed like a sweet kid. He realized that by the time this was over that Ru would probably hate him. She'd be alive though. That's what would matter in the end.

[rumour]

{{ Think far out but I'm still locked in
I'm still lost, walking circles... }} [/color][/size]

” He’s a Pastor. Priest. Whatever you want to call it – i don’t pay attention. He preaches about god.” She answered with a shrug. Of course she knew what her father did, knew all about his line of work and the judgements he made that affected her so directly. But that didn’t mean she had to spill details of her or her father’s personal life to a man she had recently met. Tucking up her knees, Rumour pulled the sweatshirt over them and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, ignoring for the most part, the man sat beside her. She didn’t even know if he had changed, but he would gain any favours if he was sat on her sofa in wet clothes.

Leaning forward, Rumours fingers danced lightly across the coffee table until they found the remote and she switched the TV on, flicking absently through the channels before standing and tossing the remote in his direction, possibly onto his lap. She wasn’t sure. ” Put what you want on.” She told him, crossing her arms across her chest before padding her way barefoot into the kitchen, getting herself a glass of water. Pressing a button on the cooker, a robotic voice called out the time and she scratched her cheek, frowning slightly. Five thirty-two. She wasn’t hungry, but forced manners and a lifetime spent making sure that guests were looked after before herself had Rumour opening the fridge.

Leaving the kitchen a few moments later, she held a plat out to him, one arm still crossed over her chest, glass in her fingertips. ”Here. ” It was just a sandwich, nothing overly fancy or complicated, but a small gesture of thanks.

{{...There's nowhere to go }}

[justin]

Well wasn't that interesting. Justin took the remote from Rumour's hand, though truth be told he had no intention of turning on the television. No, he was more interested in her at the moment. She lived with her father, only with her father as far as Justin could tell but she didn't know whether he was a Preacher or a Priest. That alone told Justin that whatever relationship they had going on wasn't it a good one.

His cop instincts always seemed to kick in. Though honestly he wasn't sure about this whole hunting thing. He was thinking he may be better suited as a PI or something. As a hunter he mostly interacted with monsters, and while that was good work, work that not a lot of people did, well Justin wasn't sure he was suited for it. Helping people from human monsters, well that was a different story all together. That was what he was good at.

Madison, Justin knew, was planning on moving. More than likely he'd follow her. Madison was the only family he had in Georgia and it was hard enough trying to see her with the police force there. Once they moved though, he might decide to use his false identity to get in good with the cops. Maybe join a new force. He hadn't decided yet.

Right now every instinct in his body was telling him that Ru was in some sort of trouble. She seemed like a good kid, maybe a little defensive, but then again Madison had been too.

"Hey," He said calmly, cautiously. "I know you don't like to be helped. Any Tom, Dick, or Harry off the street could see you're an independent one, but it's also obvious you're hurt. Let me help you out, kid. One misstep and you could wind up in the hospital."

If he was right, he'd know she didn't want to go there. Avoiding doctors, avoiding cops. It's what people like her did so that they wouldn't find out her secret. Ru didn't want people asking questions. If she hadn't fallen off that beer, Justin probably wouldn't have.

That was the way the cards fell though, and this was the hand they were dealt. It was time to cut to the chase. To get a knee jerk reaction one way or another.

"Who's hurting you, kid?" He asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer. "Is it your pop?"

[rumour]

{{ Think far out but I'm still locked in
I'm still lost, walking circles... }} [/color][/size]

Wrapping an arm around her ribs, Rumour remained stood where she was with her hand holding out the plate still. She was not in the mood for this. She wasn’t in the mood for some jumped up cop detective slash paramedic wannabe to be asking her questions and trying to treat her like an invalid. She was perfectly capable of looking after herself, perfectly capable of making sure that she didn’t keep over and puncture a lung. Though it was true she had never before come close to drowning, broken and bruises ribs were an entirely different story. She may not be sat here strapping them up, like she probably should, but she could cope with the pain.

Blinking when he came out and asked, straight up, if it was her dad hurting her, Rumour let a well rehearsed and well worn facade slip onto her features. It was one of bewilderment, unbelieving. ”What? You’ve got screws loose. You think i’d be living with my dad if he took it upon himself to beat the shit outta me?” She asked him, her eyebrows knitting as she frowned. ”Take the damn sandwich and stop asking stupid questions.” With that, she put the plate on the arm and sat back down, curling up in the couch and doing her best to ignore him, focusing instead on closing her eyes and trying to calm her brain.

In recent weeks, months, she had started to slip. Too many people were guessing at the truth, stabbing in the dark and hitting gold. Too many people were intent apparently on worming their way into her situation and playing the knight in shining armour, in helping her away from her ‘evil’ father. But no one understood. No one understood that her father loved her, that he did what he did for her, to help her, that she was evil and sin and unnatural. No one understood that he flew into rages only when he’d been drinking – that beatings were rare when he was sober. That most of the time... he was her dad. That their relationship was rocky, strained, but it was the only one she had. That despite everything, it was her mother who had left and started a new, perfect family. That she had the child she had always longed for in Will, a son who could be everything she wanted him to be. That in the end, she was the coward who had ran away and left Rumour with her father.

They were all each other had, and Rumour was not sure either of them could survive without the other.

{{...There's nowhere to go }}