Vampire Trouble Chapter Two

Chapter Two
“Now tell me again, miss, what happened?” The officer was very kind and he only needed me to repeat my story because the social worker had finally arrived.
The social worker was a tall man with hair so blonde it almost appeared white under the fluorescent lights of the room. His eyes were a strange light brown that I couldn’t help but wonder about as he watched me. Mercy peered at him from under her eyelashes when she came back to me from the officer’s lap. His eyes unsettled me as they watched me until he got closer.
“My father abused me and my sister, but mostly me since I get in his way when he tried to hurt her.” I gazed down at my sister and kissed her forehead. “He has for a few years now; I lost count of how many. It wasn’t until I turned fifteen that he started to…” I couldn’t finish because my throat closed around the word “rape”. It was hard and the social worker remained patient until I got my breathing under control. “He started to… to rape me.” I finished in nearly a whisper, but the social worker heard and sympathy washed across his face.
“It’s alright. You won’t be going back to that again. Finish your story.” His voice was as gentle as his features at it gave me a sense of security.
“He beats me into unconsciousness, and most of the time it breaks bones. Today, when I woke, I realized that if I didn’t leave, I would not live much longer through that. If I died, no one would be there to protect my little Mercy. No one would be there to receive the blows meant for her if he decided to turn on her for his sexual pleasures. I couldn’t bear that.
“So I drugged him, stole the car and left after I packed. I was scared for Mercy’s life.” Mine didn’t matter as much as hers. If she died because I couldn’t protect her, I would be in agony. “So here I am, pleading to never go back and to always be with Mercy. I won’t go back to that monster.”
“You don’t have to, miss.” The officer replied swiftly. “Mr. Hale will get you somewhere else and with your little sister. Won't you, Mr. Hale?” He glared at the social worker, daring him to say otherwise.
Mr. Hale looked up. “Of course, dear. What’s your name?”
“Roxanne Hallaway and my sister is Mercy Hallaway.”
Mercy peered up at me. “Not going back, right Roxy?” Her little voice filled with hope.
“No, Hun, we aren’t. Thank heavens. Rest now, Mercy, you had a long day.” Mercy looked so sleepy in my arms where she cuddled up to sleep. I felt a little tired myself too, but forced myself to stay awake. “Where are we to stay, Mr. Hale? We have no other family. My mother is in jail; mother and father were both only children; and our grandparents are dead. Our parents didn’t even have friends with who are responsible enough to take care of children, let alone a teenager.” I brushed my fingers across Mercy’s sleeping face. She was so beautiful and innocent in her childhood.
“We put you in a foster home and you’d want Mr. Hallaway to be put behind bars, so there will have to be charges placed.”
“NO! I don’t want to see him again. I will take custody of Mercy as soon as I’m eighteen. That’s all I need; never to see him, ever, and custody of Mercy. No more!” I was vehement in my reply. I hated him with a passion and I couldn’t see him again.
“We’ll need pictures of you bruises and hers as soon as possible, so we can legally take you from Mr. Hallaway. And later, we will take you to a doctor for all the other necessities.”
“I can do that.” Was my reply.
“You don’t have to do anything special. I think we can build enough on the case with the pictures. No promises.”
I thought it over. It would be better to place him in jail to make a more permanent distance between him and my little angel. “I will go through with the trial if it will mean he has to stay away from Mercy and me. If a trial is to come of this, then I will do it for Mercy’s sake. She doesn’t have to go on stand would she? She’s only six.”
“She could do a statement in the judge’s chamber and they’ll read her statement in court. She won’t be put on the stand if you get the right judge.” Mr. Hale shuffled through the papers in his briefcase. “We’ll find you someone to live with now, too.”
“I will have to ask Mercy if she will do it. I can’t talk for her when she has a mind of her own.” I said after awhile. “You won’t know until she wakes up.”
“Can do, Miss. Hallaway.” He got distracted. “If you want, you can stay with me until we find you a home.”
“Thank you, Mr. Hale. That’s much appreciated. I’ll take you up on that offer.”
I smiled in return to his.
“I have a son your age and a daughter a little younger. You might become friends with them.”
“Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Hale.”
“You deserve it, Miss. Hallaway. You’ve had a hard life and you kept it to protect someone who couldn’t look after herself. You are a first-class person.”
I blushed and hid my face behind my hair. “I can’t say it how I was raised, because…. Well, it’s what I learned, though, from books I’ve read. I’ve strived to make a better life for Mercy. It’s the most I can offer her after what’s happened. It sounds lame when I say it aloud, but it sounds great in my head. It’s almost as cliché as a man saying he’s the only one for a woman, or that there is no other woman for him. Yet you know what I’m getting at right?”
Mr. Hale nodded. “It’s good that even after what’s happened, you are still concerned about your little sister. Your heart is going to get you a long way in this life. Are you ready to go?” it was an abrupt change of subject, but I followed along nicely.
“I am.” I got up slowly and shifted my weight enough to keep Mercy from being jostled. “Just one thing,” I paused at the door. “Don’t tell your children my story or anything. Just that I’m staying with you for awhile. Not one thing about running away or abuse or….” I left it at that.
“It’s my job, Miss. Hallaway, and so I will keep your confidences.” He ushered me out the door.
I waited for him to lead me out. “If I’m going to be staying with you for a little while, call me Roxanne or Roxy.”
“Much obliged, Roxanne.” He held the last door for me out into the downpour. When he exited the station, he pulled out a compacted umbrella and snapped it open. We walked under it together.
“I have my own car, Mr. Hale. I’ll follow you in it.” I pointed to the Taurus in the lot.
“It’s a two hour drive. Might you want to take mine for tonight and I’ll have my son drive you back in the morning after a night’s rest, to retrieve your vehicle?”
I considered and consented. “I need Mercy’s and my bags, tonight. It has clothes and things.”
“That’s what you do need. You may be able to fit in my daughter’s clothes, but not little Mercy. In a few days when your father is apprehended, you may go back to reclaim all your other items.”
“Thank you, Mr. Hale.” My evaluation was correct; he was a nice and gentle man even if he did look too young to have a son my age.