In the woods Tag: Eva

Eva could see that Ariel was really, really getting tired and worn out, and she actually opened her mouth to ask if Ariel wanted to be carried too. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be pretending to be a human and that humans couldn't easily carry other full-grown humans. Jim used to be able to get away with carrying full-grown humans, but then he'd been a tall, strong-looking man.

And there I go again, thinking of him, Eva thought with a sigh. Why had thoughts of him wandered back now, of all times?

Then Ariel spoke again and snapped Eva right out of her reverie. The vampire looked at her with a little bit of gratitude.

"It's not far at all," she promised her. "It's just a little ways outside of town."

Ariel was so glad now that she had food in her system and that Lila did too. She was also glad that they were all leaving the restaurant and heading to Eva's home. She really, really hoped it wasn't very far to Eva's home. Right then, though, a few miles could be really, really far. She wasn't about to not walk, though. She could collapse when she got their destination.

Ariel didn't say much at first as she followed Eva, holding Lila. She just did her best to focus on moving, even though it was difficult. She did her best not to focus on that, though. She just kept walking, and doing her best to keep up with Eva.

Eva made sure to keep the pace slower but steady. Even if it took them longer to to get to Freddy's place--she couldn't think of it as her place just yet, not when she hadn't settled in--it would be better for Ariel not to exert herself when she was injured and tired.

Somehow, they made it out of the town, into the woods, and down the path to the house, and Ariel didn't collapse. Eva could tell how hard she was pushing herself just to keep going, and the older girl felt another stab of pity. It was obvious that Ariel was already used to pushing herself to the edge just to keep going.

Cada día es una lucha para ella, Eva thought, sighing sadly to herself. Ariel probably didn't hear the sound, and Eva didn't give her time to ask about it if she had.

"Here we are," she announced once they got to the sidewalk. "Just a few more steps, and then you can sit down, and we can get everything bandaged."

Ariel was so glad when she heard what Eva had said. It had felt like it had been so long before they actually reached their destination. When she heard they were almost there, though, she was really glad. She didn't necessarilly have much energy to show it but she was glad.

Ariel had kept walking until she had taken those few more steps and had waited for Eva to unlock her door, then walked into Eva's home. Once there, she sat down in the first chair she saw. Ariel wasn't about walk any further. At least not now.

Now that she was sitting down, and wasn't outside anymore, Ariel said to Eva, "You should take a look at my back and then check my ribs. There a lot of injuries on my back and for all I know some of the cuts might have opened up. As for my ribs, they hurt and I think they might be broken. Oh and there a couple of cuts on my legs that were really bad. I don't know if they've healed yet."

She paused then said, "I think that's all, but I'm not sure. Of course, I could have other injuries I don't even know about." Ariel looked over at Lila then at Eva and said, "You can just set Lila in a chair somewhere. Unless you have a playpen or crib or something."

"Oh, fuck, no, I don't," Eva said, giving an apologetic smile to Ariel. "Freddy--the guy who lent me this place--wasn't a very paternal type or anything. Still, there is a place where she can sit and something that she can play with, and there are some bandages and antiseptics there, I think."

She looked down at Lila and asked, "Hey, sweetie, do you mind sitting in over there in that chair while I take care of your mommy? There's are two toy trains over there that you can play with." Freddy had had a collecting thing for old trains that Jim had always razzed him about, and now Eva was very glad that he'd had that hobby.

Lila's green eyes lit up when she heard what Eva said. She was so happy there were toys to play with. "I play with trains. I like toys," Lila said. "You help Mommy." After she said that she just waited until she was brought over to the chair. Then she'd play with the trains as Eva helped her Mommy.

Ariel smiled slightly, despite how she felt, and said, "She'll take any toy she can get. She use to have a doll I bought her, but that's gone."

Ariel sat and waited for Eva to come over to her. At one point she said to Eva, "I'm sure you didn't mean to, but could you please not swear in front of Lila? She's already heard enough of that. Actually, we've both heard enough of that."

"Oh, right, I forgot," Eva said, smacking her forehead in annoyance. That had been really stupid of her. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

She chewed her lower lip in annoyance at herself and pulled out some bandages. Luckily, she was pretty good with healing, even with setting bones and stuff. Then again, she had had a lot of practice.

"So..." she began. "Where to start? If it's with your back and your ribs, you might have to pull your shirt up some so that I can see what I'm doing."

Ariel heard the first part of what Eva said, when she was apologizing, and noticed that she seemed annoyed with herself, and she said softly, "I didn't say what I di to make you upset. I just don't like hearing that and I'm sure Lila doesn't either. It reminds me too much of the boy who gave me these injuries."

Ariel heard what Eva said about lifting up her shirt so she could see what she was doing and she hesitated before lifting up her shirt a lot. Once she had done that, though, she figured she might as well just take off her shirt so Eva could take care of her injuries. She wasn't sure how Eva would react to how Ariel's injuries looked, but she'd find out. She was also sure things were going to hurt, but she also knew that her injuries had to be dealt with.

Eva felt like she'd been punched in the gut when she saw Ariel's injuries--literally, too. Obviously, the younger girl had been hit many times in the gut and in other places too. Bruises mottled her stomach and her back and crept upward toward her sternum. The sight of it all made her stomach churn and her venom boil. She wanted to demand to know who'd done this to Ariel--who could do this to anyone so young, really--but she held back. Right now, the girl needed help, and this boy was probably only one of a million other rotten ones.

The worst area was around her ribs, and Eva started by feeling over that area. Then she felt around the rest of her upper body, being careful not to apply too much pressure. She could only hope that her cool fingers would bring some sort of relief to the bruises the way that ice might.

To her shock, nothing was broken, and Eva heaved a sigh of relief. She was just bruised in many places and cut in some places.

"No broken ribs or any other broken bones that I can see," she said again with a smile. "You're a lucky girl in the respect, but you'll need something for these bruises." She moved away from Ariel and sat back on her heels. Then she searched through her supplies, looking for that incredible soothing lotion that was supposed to work great for helping heal bruises.

"Let's put this on the worst ones, and then I'll clean your cuts," she suggested.

Ariel had sat silently as Eva had checked her over. She had noticed that her ribs didn't feel as bad as they had been feeling. It didn't mean she didn't feel any discomfort, because she did. It just that, at the moment, things didn't feel as bad as they had before.

When she heard that nothing was broken, Ariel was glad. Ariel figured that must just mean that her ribs were bruised and that's why they hurt. She had watched what Eva was doing and listened to what she said.

After Eva mentioned what she did about the lotion, Ariel said, "Ok. You can do that." She paused then said, "Do any of my cuts look infected? Will it hurt when you clean them?"

Eva chewed her lip more slowly, this time in thought. Some of the cuts looked like they might be infected, but she couldn't give Ariel a straight answer on that one.

"I'm not quite sure," she said. "There's a chance that some will, but I have things to take care of the infection if any of the cuts are." She reached over for the antiseptic and the Neosporin so that she could get to cleaning the cuts. Once that was done, she'd give Ariel the lotion to soothe everything down. Then she might need to break out some mild pain meds.

Ariel didn't really say anything as she listened to what Eva said. She really hoped the cuts didn't hurt being cleaned out and that they weren't infected. But she had a feeling that wasn't going to be the case.

Ariel had sat and let Eva clean out her cuts. It didn't really take that long, though, before Ariel felt pain. Alot of pain. Oh yeah, the cuts definately hurt being cleaned out. She could feel tears falling because of the pain and she really wasn't all that thrilled about having the cuts on her legs being cleaned out. She knew it had to be done, though. For now, though, she just did her best to sit still as her cuts were being cleaned.

"Sh, sh, don't cry," Eva murmured, using all the vampiric soothing power that her voice had. She needed to calm Ariel down while she got these horrible cuts sterilized and cleaned. Once that was done, she quickly reached for the soothing gel.

"This will ease the pain," she promised, making sure that the gel was rubbed in before she began to bandage the cuts. Luckily, there weren't so many that it took a long time, and Eva was able to at least get the bandages on without hurting Ariel too much more.

"And here's something for your bruises to make them go down faster and make them hurt less," Eva added, handing her the lotion. "If you feel up to it, you can start putting it on while I go get you some tylenol."

Ariel had felt herself calming down. She wasn't really sure why, but she was calming down. It didn't mean things didn't hurt, it just mean that she was calmer. She was glad when the gel had been put on her cuts and they didn't hurt as much as they had before. Ariel was also glad when Eva was done bandaging.

Ariel had grabbed the lotion when it had been given to her and had listened to what Eva was saying. She was glad that Eva was going to go get her some tylenol. She felt like she could use it.

Ariel was silent for a short time, before saying, "I'll start to put some of the lotion on my bruises while you get me some tylenol." After she said that she went and started putting lotion on the bruises she could see, moving slowly and carefully. She didn't want to disturb anything, make anything feel worse, or move wrong.

"Excellent!" Eva called out from within the kitchen. Freddy always liked to get human meds around in the kitchen since he said he could get a high on them. The only issue was that Freddy was about half a foot taller than Eva's 5'9'' self, so she had to kneel onto the counter to get them out of his hiding place.

"Stupid tall man," she muttered to herself as she grabbed the Tylenol box. Once she had it, she scrambled down from the counter, grabbed some water, and brought it into Ariel.

"Hey, Ariel, how's that helping?" she asked as she sauntered over to the girl and handed her her water and her Tylenol.

Ariel had looked up when she heard Eva talking to her. "It's helping somewhat," she said. She had gotten the lotion on some of the bruises while Eva had been getting the tylenol and they had felt somewhat better. She now finished putting lotion on the rest of her bruises on her upper body, before putting her shirt back on, taking the tylenol box and water from Eva and taking a couple of tylenol.

Once that was swallowed, and she had drunk the water she needed, she gave the tylenol box and water glass back to Eva. Ariel sat and waited for the tylenol to work. Once it did, she felt much better. Of course, it was a temporary thing and she wasn't sure how long it'd last, but she was glad for the time it was working.

Now that that was taken care of, Ariel moved her jeans down a bit so she could put lotion on those bruises. She noticed that the cuts that had been there had closed and looked like they were healing and weren't infected. She was glad about that. So instead of really worrying about those couple of cuts, she just focused on her bruises.

Eva winced again when she saw the bruises on Ariel's legs, and she just gave those a quick once-over. The cuts all looked like they were healing nicely, and none looked infected, so she could give Ariel some privacy this time.

She turned around and sat down on the ground, crossing her legs while she waited for Ariel to take care of her legs.

"Do you know where the guy who gave you those is now?" Eva asked Ariel. She wanted to make sure that there wasn't a chance of him coming here. Eva would be more than capable of taking care of him, but she wanted to be prepared.

Ariel was silent for a little while before answering Eva. Eventually she said, without looking up, "No, I don't. I don't know where Matt is. I met him after I was pretty much thrown out."

After she said that, she was silent for a little while as she finished taking care of her bruises. Once that was done, she pulled her jeans back up and looked over at Eva, then said, "There are some things I think I should tell you. It's a really long story, a lot of it isn't pleasant and I hope you don't get angry, but I feel like I should tell you."

Ariel was silent for a short time, before saying, "I had a pretty good childhood up until I was 12. My parents had met a 23 year old man named Tony, when I was 10, and he seemed really nice. When I was 12, though, I found out he wasn't so nice. One night, my parents decided to go out and let him watch me. Well that was a mistake. He had come into my room, before I had fallen asleep, and had told me how pretty I was and how he had been hoping that we'd be left alone together. As he was saying that he was touching me and I told him to stop, that I didn't want him to. He didn't listen, he just continued. And then, the next thing I know, ....Well, I'm sure you can figure out what happened."

She paused then said, "It hurt a lot the first time he was with me and every other time he decided he wanted to sleep with me. I eventually got pregnant and had Lila 9 months later. Tony eventually lost interest in me and went away. I eventually told my family and anyone else I could about what happened, but they didn't believe me. I was told to leave so I did and took Lila with me."

Ariel was silent before saying, "I ended up in New York and that where I met Matt. He's 17 and he seemed nice but after a few weeks I found out he wasn't. He'd get angry and hurt me. After a couple of months of being around him I left. Then Ive just been wandering." She paused then said, "Do you think he'd try to find me here?"

Ariel's story was a lot to take in, and for a moment, Eva could not speak, but she did make a tentative movement toward her and give her a quick but heartfelt hug.

"I'm so sorry that you've suffered so much," she murmured as she pulled back. She vaguely remembered her how her step-mother's brother had at one point taken a rather sinister interest in her and tried to touch her up her skirts once, but then she'd bitten him and kicked him hard and screamed loudly enough that a servant came running--only to find nothing of course--and he'd had to leave shortly after, so nothing terrible had come of that. Ariel thought...Ariel had not been lucky, had not managed to stop him, and had not seen him leave before he could do anything to her. She'd been unlucky--extremely unlucky--for her whole life, and it made Eva sick to think of it. Someone her parents had trusted had raped her. Everyone who should have helped her let her down, and she'd been forced to turn to someone she didn't know and who wasn't any good for help.

Pero la ayudaré, Eva thought with conviction. She wouldn't let her down, and she'd find a way to get Ariel on her feet...somehow. It might take a while, but Eva had a feeling that Ariel would stay as long as she and Lila were well-treated.

It was only Ariel's question about Matt--the other monster--that snapped her out of her reverie, and she looked up again.

"I honestly have no idea if he will or not," she replied. "When you left, did you have to sneak out behind his back?" That was what she assumed Ariel had had to do, but perhaps Matt had gotten angry and demanded that she leave, and Ariel had willingly taken his invitation. Eva didn't know.

Ariel was silent for a little while as she thought back to when she had left Matt. She finally said, "Yes, I did. He had gone out and said he'd be back soon. I waited until he left before picking up Lila and running. Well, moving as fast as I could. I wasn't sure how much time I had before he came back so I left when I could."

She paused then said, "Eva, I really hope doesn't find me. I think that, if he found me, he'd hurt me and you. He might even hurt Lila too this time. I don't want that."

Ariel paused then quietly said, "I don't know what to do. I really don't. I don't really know how to feel anymore. A lot of times I just feel numb. I don't even know if I'll actually have a relationship where I'm treated well, or if I'll ever trust men."

Ariel sighed then said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to dump my whole life on you. I just need someone to talk to and you haven't told me you don't believe me."

"Don't worry about Matt, Ariel," Eva said quickly. That was the first thing that she needed to get out there. "There's no guarantee that he'll come here for you or that he'll find you. I just wanted to be ready so that I'd know to have a plan ready to deal with him." For a moment, she suggested offering to bring Freddy around for protection, but after what Ariel had said about not trusting men, that didn't seem like a good idea. She'd have to come up with something to tell Ariel later.

"And don't feel sorry for telling me this," Eva added, giving her another hug. "You've been through so much, and it's hard to keep all that to yourself. And of course I believe you. After seeing Lila, your age, your situation, and your injuries, it would be hard not to."

Ariel had been a little surprised when Eva hugged her, not used to it. At the same time, she was happy about it. She hugged her back, making sure not to strain anything. Ariel was glad that Eva believed her. It was the first time someone had.

Ariel had waited for Eva to finish talking, before saying, "I'm glad you believe me. You're really the only one who does. And yes, I've been through a lot. All of it should've never happened."

She paused then said, "As for Matt, I can't help but worry. It's just like I have nightmares about what's happened to me. I don't sleep much."

Eva nodded in understanding and pulled away from the hug. It had obviously shocked Ariel, even if she hadn't seemed to mind, and Eva didn't want to strain her hurt body.

She turned her head and looked over at Lila, who was still absorbed in the two toy trains. The little girl looked like she behaved pretty normally, but she had had a tough life too.

"Does Lila have problems sleeping too?" she asked. "I'm hoping that you'll sleep better here once you get settled in, and if she has trouble sleeping, I'll see if I can do anything to help with that."

Ariel had noticed when Eva pulled away from the hug but didn't say anything about it. She had looked over at Lila, when Eva did, and listened to what she was saying. She then looked at Eva and said, "She does, sometimes. I never know when she'll have trouble sleeping. Also, sometimes she'll just start crying or get really, really cranky for no reason."

She looked back over at Lila then said, "She looks ok now, but that could change at any time." She paused then looked back over at Lila and said, "Just don't try to take the toy trains from her, though. She'll throw a fit."

Ariel was silent for awhile, before saying, "Lila may only be 2, but I still think she was affected by what happened. I mean, she saw what Matt did to me. She screamed and cried while he hurt me. It doesn't surprise me that her attitude can change out of nowhere."

It didn't surprise Eva either. After all that Lila had been through, it was to be expected. The one thing that was good though was that Ariel had always loved Lila and that from the sound of it, Matt hadn't ever hurt Lila.

"I think that you are right," she told Ariel, "and I guess that you'll have to see what happens with her when she gets older and if she needs any help because of what she saw. But if things stay stable for you two from here on out, I think that she probably will be okay once she gets older and gets out of her terrible twos."

At least, that was what Eva hoped. She also hoped that Ariel would be okay. As the girl had pointed out earlier, it might be that she'd always have problems forming relationships with men, and Eva knew that there might be others.

OOC: Last post for me tonight.