Arianna's Tale: The Beginning by D. J. Humphries Read Free Book Online

furiously shook my head. “Not Dad… I can
give a deposition… I’ll… I’ll make myself do that… but not to
Dad….”
    “What’s going on?” Dad called as he came in
the kitchen door from the garage. I slowly looked over at him and
saw his step falter as his eyes widened. “My God, Arianna… what
happened?”
    “Mark… raped… me…” I faltered across the
words and Dad fell into the seat across from me.
    “You didn’t report it…” it wasn’t a question
as he stared across the table, “All right… I need to get you to the
station… what have you done since?”
    “She probably burned off a layer of her skin
with that shower she took…” Jason muttered, Dad’s gaze briefly
darting to him.
    “My friend got me morning after pills,” I
included quietly, “It was Saturday… I don’t know what….”
    “Jason threw the sheets out, but the trash
hasn’t been picked up, so they should still be at Mom’s… we’re
going to go get them tomorrow,” Austin contributed, but Dad shook
his head.
    “I don’t want you near that house, Austin,”
Dad countered calmly, “Jason threw out the bag… so I’ll go with
him… You take Arianna to the station, have her see Detective
Gaines… I’ll call her tonight and give her a head’s up. Arianna…
Detective Gaines will take you over to the hospital for them to do
a work-up… they’ll need details… Call your friend, get her to get a
copy of that prescription from the pharmacy… ask her if she’ll give
a deposition on giving you that medication… or if she’d be willing
to at least talk to our detectives.”
    “I’m sorry, Dad,” I whispered and he smiled
softly, reaching across the table to hold my hands.
    “You have nothing to be sorry for,
sweetheart. We’re going to get through this… we’ll get through it
as quietly as we can… try to keep it out of your school… it’s a
small high school though…” he thought aloud, “For the time being
I’d feel safest if you weren’t left alone….”
    “Jason’s been attached to her, Dad, that’s
not a problem,” Austin announced with a faint smile, “I told them…
by the way….”
    “Oh… I guess that’s good,” Dad faltered,
squeezing my hands, “I have the information on your biological
parents, if you want it; if you don’t, that’s fine too. I got it so
that if you ever wanted to know… it wouldn’t be so hard on you…
But, I have always, and will always consider you my daughter.”
    “I know, Dad,” I quietly replied, squeezing
his hands back before he smiled and took a deep breath.
    “Okay, I’ll talk to Detective Gaines… if
you’re all right, I really need to get back to work,” Dad stated,
“We’ll take care of everything we can tomorrow.”
    “We’re good here, Dad,” Austin finalized and
Dad stared at me a moment longer before getting up and heading
towards the back door.
    “If you need me, for anything, just call,”
Dad added. He looked older walking out the door than he had walking
into it and my gaze fell to the table as I realized that was my
fault.
    “Anna… it’s late,” Austin whispered, gently
resting his hand on my back, “Why don’t you go to bed?”
    I went into my new room distracted and tried
to fall asleep in my new bed, but every unfamiliar creak or groan
of the house had me bolting awake with a racing heart. As luck
would have it, one of the many times I jumped awake wide-eyed,
staring at the open door, Austin and Jason were walking past, and
Jason came to a screeching halt.
    “You can sleep in my room,” he offered,
Austin’s gaze falling first to his little brother, then following
his line of sight to me.
    “Arianna…” Austin whispered, slipping into
my room and falling to kneel beside my bed, “I’ll take you
downstairs… we can all three stay in the living room tonight…
okay?”
    I barely nodded, staring back into his blue
eyes that worriedly inspected me. “I need to change…” I murmured,
suddenly