Can I pay you tomorrow for recovery today? (Dated Monday, 9:45AM) TW: Mentions of Violence/Torture

[callmeemily]

Trigger Warning: This thread contains mentions and descriptions of violence and torture. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to tweet @thestarsplay for clarification. Thanks!

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In the end, she'd handled it herself.

Raleigh didn't have family, didn't have an emergency contact. She'd watched Levi be loaded onto the gurney, and she limped to follow him - but one of the EMTs sat her down and took one look at her, and she was on one as well. She's got no phone - and she doesn't know anyone's phone numbers off the back of her hand, so she goes alone.

Concussion, hairline fractures in her left wrist (her fault) and right cheekbone (not her fault), bruised ribs - bruises all over really, and the 7 inch long cut along the bottom of her foot, from her heel to her toes -- had stitches.

Which meant she had crutches.

She knew she had to be at the hospital to get the stitches, but what she didn't know - or didn't expect, really, was that they were expecting to keep her. They were expecting to keep her, and she couldn't do it. She couldn't, not and keep thinking of Les' words. Of Joseph's, of her own. She'd been through it, after she'd fallen into the basement of that rotted old house. Two days, she'd been down there, and half the people who visited her informed her that They didn't even know she was gone.

Raleigh can't live through that again.

That's why she checks herself out once it's all done, the stitches and the lectures and the questions. That's why she heads back into town - the clicking of the crutches something that's entirely old hat to her, given her leg - and she's thinking about tomorrow. About working, and she draws herself up short before she sits heavily on one of the little tables outside the coffeeshop, nevermind that she hasn't bought anything, that she looks like a wreck and that she's wearing scrubs for pants and a cheap flipflop on her good foot because the exceedingly nice nurse realised that they had to cut her jeans off of her, and she had no shoes - her hoodie had blood on the sleeve and the hem, oddly brown now, but she hasn't realised it.

She sits, and she can't help it as she starts to cry, her free hand still holding the crutches so they don't clatter onto the ground.

Comments

[just_another]

It's a lot of information all at once and Joel isn't even entirely sure he follows, but the one thing he hears clearly is that Emily's name isn't Emily and he has to pause for a moment to allow himself to digest it. There are people who might be angry, he thinks, people who would feel betrayed or lied to, and Joel doesn't feel any of those things. If she's kept her name from him and if it's had something to do with people following her, then she obviously has had a good reason. If she's been afraid, if she's been hiding, he can't blame her for keeping her name from people.

He's surprised, briefly, that she knows Aoife and the only person he knows named Jason is the witch he'd run into outside the Tavern the night of the witches meeting. He wonders if she means the same man, but figures now isn't the time to get into her personal connections.

"So what should I call you?" he asks finally.

[callmeemily]

It's a lot of information - it was like she'd turned on the spigot that was her brain, that filtered all the information from her brain through her mouth and it was a bit of a mess the way it'd all come rushing out. She's so tired - so incredibly tired, and finally when he pauses and she can actually get her mind squared away.... that seems to be what works best.

"Raleigh," she says quietly, and she doesn't get the sense of relief that she had when she'd told Jason. She doesn't get the I can stop lying rush, she's just exhausted and glad that she doesn't have to try and keep who she's told straight anymore. For her, there was no reason to hide any longer.

"We're friends, right?" That comes out of the blue, a little bit after he asked what her name actually was. "He said... he said some things," she said quietly, not realising she hasn't told him what happened; he would have no idea who he is, or that she'd actually just gotten out of the hospital or any of it. "And I just- We're friends?" Because she needs to hear that from somebody, maybe.

[just_another]

"Raleigh," Joel echoes with a nod and it's going to be an adjustment, but it's one he can make. They've traded a secret for a secret and he's still not sure how he feels, everything coming at once, his own reveal having happened only moments before, but he's always needed time to digest his own feelings. Even when it had come to Spencer, those first few times they'd spent together, he'd spent so much of it confused, trying to work out what it is he'd felt.

Now it seems so obvious.

At her question, though, he huffs out a soft laugh. Including her, there are only four people in Siren Cove he's willingly told what he is and that, for Joel, is the biggest leap of faith he can take. "We're friends," he assures her. "No matter what anyone said."

[callmeemily]

He was holding her close, and she was grateful. She was grateful, and she let time pass; she let time pass because she had found peace for a moment; she didn't hurt, she didn't hurt and she was safe and that's what she knew for now. Finally, she spoke quietly. "There was an old man," she said after a long second. "There was an old man, and he pretended to be hurt so that I'd go help him, and he had somebody, and they grabbed me, and they- they took me." She said it softly.

"He said he chose me because nobody would notice me being gone. No one would miss me, ever. So... So. That's why it matters."

[just_another]

"He was wrong," Joel says, his arm tightening around her briefly as he thinks about someone doing that to her, someone using her good nature to trick her like that. Someone taking her and hurting her. He doesn't understand why anyone would do such a thing. Mark had grabbed Spencer because he knew it would hurt Joel, he understands that, but he doesn't understand why anyone would feel the need to hurt Raleigh.

"He was wrong," he repeats. "Okay? People noticed. He took advantage of the fact that the town was fairly empty this weekend because of the Wine Festival, that's all. He paid attention to the movement of the town and he took advantage of something that had nothing to do with you and he was wrong. I would notice if you weren't around. Spencer would notice."

[callmeemily]

"You, and Spencer, and Jason, maybe? We went on a date, and- I mean, he kissed me, so I think that he'd wonder. It was like- It was like the old man knew," she said softly. "It was like he knew, because then he locked me in the bathroom, he cut my foot open so I couldn't run away, and then he locked me in the dark, and it was like he knew" She said it quietly, and then she shook her head. "I know it'll be- I'll get better. I got better before, you know?" She paused.

"Are you okay? The thing you said not for me to tell anyone - are you okay? If people find out.... Not from me, but are you scared?" She's worried - her tone and face make that clear, that she's just trying to make sure things are alright for him. That he's not in danger.

[just_another]

"I know," Joel says, because although he hadn't seen her through the last thing she'd had to get over, he knows her enough now to know she's strong. And she will get better. Time passes and wounds might not heal entirely, but they hurt less. He knows that applies to the physical as well as the emotional, that everything will fade and she'll recover, but it might never go away entirely and he doesn't think there's anything entirely wrong with that. It's just how people deal.

He doesn't expect her question and he pauses, thinking about it. "Yes," he answers finally. "To some extent. Someone... found out recently, someone I hadn't intended on telling. I didn't tell her and she reacted... she thought I was dangerous. That's the very thing I'm trying to avoid, so yes, it makes me a little nervous."

[callmeemily]

The way she looks at him - it's clear that it's in disbelief of a sort, that it's in judgement of the person he's talking to.

"She thinks you're dangerous? To her? Did you... like.. threaten her or something?" The potion thing he gave her - it's relaxing, but the lack of pain in her leg.... it's made her feel almost high, and she's got no filter to speak of. "Everyone in this town has magic. Everyone. Except me, and like... two other people, but everybody else. Did you know people turn into cats? And like, there was this hydra thing, and the old guy had this guy he had bewitched, and he was going to like... sacrifice me. Because of magic."

She made a face. "So it's obviously just the people and what they do with it, not like... magic is evil." She says it like it's a statement of fact. "But I won't tell anybody. I promise, okay?"

[just_another]

"No, I've- I've never threatened anyone." He pauses, then shakes his head, because that isn't entirely true and if she knows about what he can do, then he wants to be completely honest with her. There's no reason to life, because he expects she'll understand why he'd done the things he's done. "Except the man who hurt Spencer. I... I hurt him, but he's the only person."

He'd never once threatened Lou and the reason he doesn't mention her name now is because they've worked it out, he believes, and he doesn't want Raleigh to think poorly of her.

She's right, though, it is the people, he's known that since that night in Shediac when Amy had died. It's the reason he's made his focus protection and healing, refusing to engage in any other types of magic that might border too closely on the dark side of things. "Thank you," he says, passing a hand gently over her head. "Thank you."

[callmeemily]

"But there's a reason for that," she says lowly, and she sighs, slow and quiet when he smoothes his hand over her hair.

She's needed this, it seems like, since she was fourteen. Since she's been in pain, and alone, and she trusts Joel. They both have secrets, they both have a lot of secrets, but there's a form of doing good that she is grateful for, that makes this okay, and after today - after everything that's happened...

"You're a good person," she says it low and quiet, a statement of fact. Something she thinks he needs to hear more often, and something she believes deep in her soul.

[just_another]

It's not something he hears often and although Joel doesn't think of himself as a bad person necessarily, he also doesn't think all that highly of himself most of the time. But between Cosette and Lara, between Spencer and Raleigh, he thinks he has more than his fair share of people to say kind things about him.

"So are you," he says. "Not someone who's forgettable by any means, no matter what was said." She was lied to and it's not that simple, he knows it isn't, the words inside her head will echo for a long time to come, but he'll be there to tell her they're wrong whenever she needs him to.

"Have you seen Spencer? I- I don't have a lot of room at my place, but you shouldn't be alone. I can go with you to his house, I'm sure he'd be happy to see you."