Chapter 1 How stupid could I be
A simpleton could see
That you're no good for me
But you're the only one I see . . .
~ 'Stupid' by Sarah McLachlan

The slim figure sprinted down a dark street in the city of New York, damp with a previous rain that had ceased before the sun went down. Occasionally, the white sneakers would splash into a puddle, causing more noise than she wanted, but it couldn't be helped. Right then, she couldn't think at all. Her mind was fuzzy, horrified, and all she knew to do was run. Run as far as her feet would carry her.

Robyn didn't know where she was running. She just knew it had to be away from where she had been. She could still feel it - feel that sickening blackness in her soul, hear that deep, guttural voice that reverberated in the room, in her mind, in her very bones. Her heart thudded against her ribcage, and she hitched in breaths between the sobs that her mind deemed necessary in a lame effort to expel the filthy feeling in her body and to wash the terrifying images from her eyes.

She could still hear them - she had confused them enough to get them off her back, but they were still pursuing her. Jason, Sheila, and Derek were still trying to catch her, and if they did they would bring her back to that horrid, sinister place. No! I won't let them catch me, she thought fiercely, even as overwhelming fear coursed through her as her ears picked up the sound of other thudding shoes and puddle splashes.

Growling in frustration and desperation, Robyn put on a burst of speed despite the burning in her lungs and narrowly missed a trash can lying in the middle of an alley she had turned down. The alley hooked a sharp right, and she sprinted down it, and sobbed with relief at what she saw.

People. She faced a busy New York city street; cars on the road, lights everywhere, and people walking and milling around on the sidewalks. She could get lost in the crowd. Robyn ran towards them, and immediately began filtering in with the people. She made a mad dash to cross the street, just able to avoid the cars driving down it, and right when she hit the other curb she heard Derek.

"Robyn!"

Robyn emitted a terrified yelp and ran through the crowd, daring a look behind her. Derek and Sheila had erupted from the alleyway, and looked like they had briefly spotted her. Jason was nowhere to be seen, and that sent alarm bells going off in her head. Her shoulder clipped someone's body, sending them both in opposite directions, and without even pausing Robyn was on the run again, hearing the man's protests behind her. She didn't care - she just needed to get away.

Robyn was able to dodge most of the people, and a lot of people got out of her way when they saw her shooting like a bullet down the large sidewalk. She zigzagged her way around them and kept up her fast pace, although it was becoming difficult to draw in breaths. The muscles in her calves were screaming at her, but she didn't give a damn.

The sidewalk abruptly broke for a road and a busy crosswalk. Thanking whoever was up in the sky still willing to care for her, the orange light for pedestrians was blinking, and she was able to safely sprint across it onto the other sidewalk. By chance, her head turned left to the other corner of the four-way intersection, and she nearly tripped over the curb at who it was.

Jason.

He spotted her as soon as she did him, and the built teen immediately sprinted across the intersection towards her, regardless of traffic. Robyn's mind nearly shut down with the panic coursing through it, and her body was aching terribly, but she somehow managed to stay on her feet and run faster than she had ever thought possible. Past blurred people and store windows, with Jason only yards away.

She would not let him catch her. She had vowed the moment she hit the streets from the warehouse that she would rather die than go back there - rather die than have that monster suck her soul up for the sake of some demon prince. Tears blurred Robyn's vision as she continued running like wild down the sidewalk, hoping to lose Jason in the thick crowd she spotted up ahead.

How could I have been so stupid? the girl thought desperately, despairingly. Why didn't I see it, from the way they'd been acting? No one jokes about evil demons, so what made me think they were kidding around? What in the hell made me trust them?!

Because they pretended to care, a little voice whispered in the redhead's mind. They were all you had, and you couldn't bear to let them go. She collided with another person, a woman in a dark coat, and managed to stammer out an apology before taking off again. Her hair whipped in her face, and it finally occurred to her that he would be able to find her as long as she had her bright red hair flying out in the open like a beacon. Ready to slap herself in the forehead, Robyn kept running through the throng of people, a luckily thick one. The only buildings around were a fancy hotel, a few restaurants, and stores that she knew she wouldn't be able to afford to buy from. Getting desperate, Robyn did a scan of the crowd for her pursuers.

Hope flared in her heart at the sight of Jason just as slowed down by the pedestrians, quite a few yards away and trying to search for her in the crowd. She ducked her head when his eyes came in her area, and as stealthily as she could manage, slid behind a woman in denim. She pushed past more people; a black woman in yellow vinyl, a man in a charcoal business suit, a well dressed mother trailing along two children, clutching shopping bags.

A woman wearing a hat.

The hat was bucket like, black. Perfect. Robyn pushed her way toward her, praying that the woman was distracted enough to allow her time to get away and not cause a scene Jason would notice. The throng of people she was in were staring at the no-walking sign to cross the street, and Robyn hoped they would fall keep staring at that.

Heart pounding, but panic clouding her mind in the desperation not to get caught by Jason, she reached up and swiftly pulled the hat off the woman.

The lady gasped and reached up with both hands to clutch her head, but by that time Robyn took off in a sprint down the street.

"Hey! Someone stole my hat!"

Robyn ignored the commtion and jammed the hat on her head, keeping one hand clutched to it so that it wouldn't fly away as she flew down the street. She kept up the pace until she could hear no more shouts and finally slowed down when it felt like her heart would burst right out of her chest with adrenaline.

Robyn kept up a quick jog through the thinning crowds, giving herself a chance to catch her breath. She avoided looking in any one direction, and constantly her green eyes were flitting back and forth in search of anything threatening.

After traveling down the walk for half a block, Robyn began to feel as if she had really lost them, and relief swept over her, so large it brought tears to her eyes. She didn't even care if they caught her for the hat. Maybe now if she could get out of the city, she could really be away from them, away from this terrible night. It didn't even matter if she had hardly any money, as long as she could get out of New York altogether. If I end up living in a shack in Virginia, I'll be happy, she thought. Or maybe even further. Maybe out west, somewhere far away from this evil ridden place -

Robyn collided with a solid body standing in her path, and she reared back, ready to apologize to whoever she ran into. What she saw made her blood freeze, and her mouth hung open in utter horror.

"You know better than to run away," Jason tsk tsked. His grin came slow, as well as his clasp on her shoulders. "I'm very upset with you, Red. We were almost finished, too, but you just had to ruin it, didn't you?"

"No," Robyn moaned brokenly, sheer terror in her eyes. Her brain didn't seem to know what to tell her body to do, and after a split second more, she finally got the message across.

She was able to emit a loud, "Help!" and at the same time, kicked Jason in the shin to make him let go. With an exclamation of pain he did, and she managed to run right past him before he reached out and got a firm hold of her wrist. Using her momentum against her, he swung her away from the people and towards the wall of a brick building. Once again grabbing her shoulders, he slammed her against it and held a big hand over her mouth. Wide, terrified green eyes met his, and he sneered.

"What's this?" He flicked at the hat, then took it off her head and flung it behind him. "Trying to hide from me, Red? When will you learn that you can't escape destiny? This is your fate, whether you like it or not!" She shook her head, and tears stung her eyes as she tried to struggle her way out. Jason shook her to stop her, and his grip on her shoulder was becoming incredibly painful.

"Hey, sir, is there a problem here?"

Jason stiffened, and looked behind him, unconsciously loosening his grip over her mouth. A suspicious pedestrian eyed the situation and the large teenager, along with a few other people walking by who had heard Robyn's plea for help.

The dark haired boy shook his head, feigning ignorance. "No, mister -"

Robyn bit down on his hand, and Jason let out an outraged cry. She wormed her way out of his grasp, than ran down the sidewalk amidst the protests of the others. Someone told her to stop, but she decided stopping would mean going back with Jason, so it was better to run as far and as fast as she could. The copper taste of blood was in her mouth from biting down, and although it disgusted her, she also felt pretty good to have caused Jason pain. She hoped it would leave a mark.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she renewed her running, and a stitch in her side made it more difficult than before. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she continued down the sidewalk, dodging as many people as she could and not pausing to apologize to those she did run into. Someone was still yelling behind her, and fearing for who it could be, she ignored them. Finally, whoever it was caught up to her, and she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Robyn screamed and tried to dodge out of the way, but the person kept their grip and she was forced to slow down or fall down. Once she had to stop, Robyn began fighting back as best she could until two hands grabbed her wrists.

"Miss, stop it! Police, we're here to help you!"

Immediately Robyn stopped struggling, and stared dumbly at the blue uniform in front of her and the face of the stern cop. An odd mixture of relief and more panic surged through her, so great that it took her a moment to realize that he was talking to her.

". . . Who was that guy, miss? The kid holding you?"

Robyn blinked, then rushed out, "Where is he?"

"Being held by one of my guys. I'm Officer Nassor. What's your name?"

"Robyn," she told him.

"What happened with that guy, Robyn?"

She opened her mouth to tell him about Jason, then refrained. Did she really want to draw more attention to herself by naming names? They would surely come for her then, and all she wanted was to get out of the city. Maybe by making this anonymous, she could get out quicker. "Just a guy that had been chasing me, I don't know who he is. He scared me, so I started running, and he caught me until some people started questioning him and I could get away. How did you -"

"Is that why you took the lady's hat?"

Robyn groaned. What did it take to get away from this guy? "Yes, and I'm sorry - here." She pulled it off, handed it to him. " Take it. I just wanted to hide my hair so he wouldn't see it. I wasn't thinking." She started to tear up, partly because she badly wanted this guy off her back, and part real emotion. "I just wanted to get away from him, and I don't have any money, it's not like I wanted it, I don't need a friggin' hat, I just wanted something to help put some distance -"

"All right, all right, Robyn, easy." The cop's cool blue eyes studied her, weighed her story, then relaxed as he decided she had to be telling the truth. She'd looked absolutely terrified of that guy who, by many eye witnesses, had been following her for sometime. He didn't necessarily blame her for taking the measures that she did, although he didn't condone it. As he told her so, he proceeded to raise her arms and inspect the curious red marks on them. Almost like burns. Then he tilted her chin to get a good look at the angry red scrape on her cheek. She must have fallen on it.

Flinching, Robyn tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let her. "Listen," he said, and this time his voice a bit softer. "Why don't I take you down to the clinic and have you checked out?"

Robyn was already shaking her head. "No, really, I don't need to see a doctor, I'm fine -"

"It's either the clinic or the precinct Robyn, either way we need a statement from you."

"Is the lady pressing charges?" she squeaked. "Jeez, I'll pay her for the hat, I didn't take it for any other reason than to get away -"

"Easy! No, she's not pressing charges, she just wants her hat back. Did you want to press charges against the man stalking you?"

"I don't want to press charges," she shook her head vehemently. I just want out of here, she screamed silently, don't make me stay here!

Officer Nassor was still inspecting her arms, sweeping over the inside of her elbow to look for any signs of needle marks. She was an incredibly skinny kid, worn clothes hanging off of her, and he believed they had more on their hands than just an attempted kidnapping or burglary, or whatever the boy was trying to accomplish by taking her. Might even be a boyfriend, he thought grimly. Making up his mind, the officer released her hands and put an arm around her shoulders to lead her. He felt her flinch, then soothed her with, "I'm just taking you down to the clinic, we'll check you out and ask you some questions, and then you can go, all right?"

Robyn nodded uneasily, her insides still wound up with anxious fear. She didn't like the way this was going. She let them lead her to their squad car, and felt more than a little trepidation climbing in the back seat and seeing the caged wall separating her from the cops in the front. She felt like a criminal. Robyn sat on the edge of her seat, shifting uncomfortably and willing her hands to stop shaking. The policemen got in, and as Officer Nassor started driving, the other turned slightly to look at her. "Where are your parents, miss . . .?"

"Robyn," she said in a small voice. "My parents are at home," she lied, and then added, "there's no need to contact them, they're probably asleep anyway. I don't want them to worry now that it's over."

"What were you doing out this late?" he continued to ask.

Getting my soul sucked out by a demon. Fortunately, I run really fast. Robyn bit back a maniacal urge to laugh with hysteria. "Just wanted some air, and I ended up going farther than I planned."

"Do you live far from here?"

"A good couple of city blocks, yeah," she made up. The officer decided to drop it, and the rest of the ride was quiet except for the dispatcher radio going off occasionally. Itt wasn't long before the squad car stopped, and Robyn looked up, immediately seeing the sign for the clinic. She recognized this place - they were pretty far from where Kortez and them were.

Robyn stood uncertainly while the two went up to the front desk of the clinic to explain the situation, and she was suddenly aware of the stares she was garnering by being brought in by two officers. Some patients sitting in the waiting room were watching her, and she hugged herself and looked down, rubbing her arms self consciously. Like you people have never seen cops before, she thought to herself. You live in New York, for crying out loud.

"Robyn?"

She looked up and at Officer Nassor, who gently took her by the elbow. "We have someone waiting to take a look at you down the hall. Come with me." She nodded and walked quietly, arms still folded. Robyn had to admit she felt a little safer in a hospital with a policeman - she didn't think the others would be stupid enough to raise the attention of the NYPD, but she also knew that they wouldn't leave her alone. They would try to find her.' You were chosen from birth for this part.' Robyn shuddered and mentally shook her head. No.

"What was that?" the officer asked her with a frown.

The girl blinked, and realized she had said 'no' out loud. "Uh, nothing. Sorry." Act calm, she told herself. Don't make these guys any more suspicious than they are. You can't tell them what happened, they'd think you completely lost your mind.

The two arrived in a large room with an information desk in the middle and many rooms along all the walls, concealed by curtains for privacy. One of the curtains was open to show a bed, a small counter and medical instruments, and he led her to that one. She pulled herself up on the bed and sat, slouched, waiting for the doctor. When Robyn looked back down at her arms, she immediately realized that they would ask where the red marks and bruises came from. How could she explain them? And what if they found out about the ones on her back? Panicked, Robyn frantically began to think of a good story to tell them that they wouldn't question. It also occurred to her that they might want to contact her so-called 'parents', and she wasn't living with any. I really got myself into a mess this time, Robyn moaned to herself.

"Miss . . . Robyn?"

Robyn looked up and into the face of a pretty, dark skinned doctor in a white coat. Suddenly feeling dirt and ugly, on the inside as well as out, she nodded silently.

"Do you have a last name, Robyn?" Her accent wasn't Hispanic, so Robyn guessed Eastern European, from what little she knew about Europe from school.

"Uh . . ." What was it again? Oh no, she looked frantically at the inquisitive looks of the police officer and the doctor. Was it . . . "McCarthy," she finally announced, relieved.

"Hello, Robyn McCarthy, I am Dr. Suvorov." Officer Nassor nodded towards the doctor, and left the room. The doctor proceeded to pull the curtain for more privacy, and Robyn was suddenly worried." Officer Banken told me of your situation. You were chased, yes?" Robyn nodded, and the doctor pulled out a penlight from her pocket. She shined it in each of Robyn's green eyes, making her to blink, then checked her throat, ears, and nose. "That must have been terrifying. Did you know him?"

She shook her head, and Dr. Suvorov took out her stethoscope and slipped it under Robyn's shirt to monitor her heartbeat. She repeated it in the front, and Robyn winced when the woman's hand accidently brushed a bruise, but the doctor didn't say anything. She took her blood pressure shortly after. When she finished, she moved to the back of Robyn, and before the girl could react she pulled up her shirt and saw the myriad of large, dark bruises decorating her spine and shoulder blades. When Dr. Suvorov pressed a finger into one along her spine, she yelped. "How did you come by these?" the doctor asked quietly.

"Landed on the ground . . . on my back," Robyn explained.

"Must have been a hard landing," she replied, and from her tone the redhead could tell she didn't believe her. "More than once."

Stubbornly, Robyn kept silent, figuring the less she said the easier she could avoid this and be done with it. The doctor moved to the front once more, and picked up Robyn's left arm to inspect the red marks and bruises on it. She did the same with the other, rubbing a thumb over the red marks and bruises, which made Robyn wince.

" The bruises . . . fingerprints," the doctor mused, almost to herself. "From the boy chasing you?" Robyn nodded. "These red marks. . . not so easy to place. They look . . . burned, almost." the woman raised an eyebrow inquisitively, silently asking for an explanation.

Robyn nearly grimaced when she realized she wasn't even sure where they came from. Possibly from the ceremony itself, a side effect of that demon . . . she shivered, then shook her head. "I really don't remember," she admitted.

Dr. Suvorov nodded, accepting that as fact. What proceeded made Robyn a little resentful of the kind doctor. She had to take a drug test, which only took a couple of minutes, but the fact that they thought she might be into drugs made her angry. Not every stray person in this city is on drugs, she thought moodily. But then again, she had to admit she must have looked the part - skinny, pale, jittery.

When that was finished, they came back to the room to find the officer waiting there. Not wasting another moment, Robyn asked urgently, "Can I go yet, are we finished?"

The officer stayed silent. He was holding some papers, and had a displeased look on his face. "New York Foundling Hospital," he simply said. Robyn felt herself deflate, and her cheeks burned. This did not go as she wanted it to, but what ever did? She wanted to crawl in a hole.

"Pardon, officer?" Dr. Suvorov asked, slightly confused.

He leaned against the counter and stared at Robyn, who kept her eyes to the ground. "John and Leslie McCarthy were contacted by the New York Foundling Hospital, or orphanage, only for us to find out that at one point, they did indeed have a Robyn living with them. Under foster care. Unfortunately, she ran away over a year ago."

Knowing there was no point in denying it now, Robyn shook her head. "They didn't want me there, anyway." She looked up at meet the officer's gaze. "Did they?" He didn't say anything, but the brief sympathy there told her everything. It only served to make her angry. "If we're done here, can I go?"

"Where?" Nassor asked.

"I . . ." Robyn suddenly realized that the place she had been sleeping in was one of the places she would shoot herself in the foot before going back to. For the past few weeks, she had been staying with Sheila. She was the only person who seemed willing to give her a place to sleep for a while, and now that she knew why, she wanted to throw up. Or cry. Whichever came first.

She couldn't go back there. Ever again. The officer's question swarmed through her head, and she had no idea where she was going to go besides out of the city, if they would even let her now. She doubted they would. "I don't want to go back there," she told him vehemently. Each time she had to go back to New York Foundling, she hated it even more. Filled with little kids, sympathetic adults and the pitying looks. The circus it was when parents came to collect children to care for them. It was like a damn auction - the cutest child to the highest bidder, anyone? She couldn't stand it.

The doctor had stayed silent, and finally, she leaned against the bed and looked at Robyn. "There is a place just outside of the city," she said quietly," that is not necessarily a foster home. Have you ever heard of St. Alodia's Home?" Robyn shook her head mutely. "They take in runaways and homeless children." She could already see the protest in the girl's haunted green eyes, and laid a hand on her arm. "It is a better place than the center of New York, Miss McCarthy. There, you will not have to worry about the dangers of living around here, for it is truly dangerous for a girl your age."

Don't I know it, Robyn thought sardonically. She was already ready to hate this place, but from the look the officer was giving her, that's where she was going. "So I have to go there?"

"Either there, or back to New York Foundling," he said quietly. "You're still a minor, Robyn. We're not about to let you out of our sight."

Then where the hell were you people a few hours ago when those idiots were forcing me through that ceremony?! she wanted to say angrily, but kept her reaction in. Feigning disinterest, she shrugged. "Whatever."

Pursing his lips, Nassor continued with, "We still need a statement, Robyn."

"I told you, I don't want to press charges," Robyn insisted impatiently. "Can we just forget it ever happened? I don't want to go to trial, or anything, so I don't need to make a statement." Not that you'd believe it, anyway, she thought spitefully.

The officer shook his head. "Regardless, Miss McCarthy, we need something. You don't have to take this to trial if you don't want to, I just need your take on what happened." He gestured for Dr. Suvorov to leave the room briefly, and when she did he looked at Robyn expectantly. Frustrated and more than a little annoyed, Robyn outlined the story she told him some of in the beginning, weaving a tale partly made of lies and truth. Officer Nassor asked her a few more questions, and Robyn was quite positive she put on a good distraught performance. After all, all she had to do was think back on to what happened at the warehouse, and there the tears were.

When he was finally satisfied with her statement, he excused himself from the room. He was sure she still wasn't completely telling him the truth, but already resigned to himself that he wouldn't be able to get anything else out of her.

He came back in moments later. "Time to go," he told her, and she nodded and slid off the bed, following him quietly out of the room. Dr. Suvorov smiled at Robyn, and she hesitantly smiled back. The woman had been. . . nice. A little pushy, but nice. "Do you have any belongings we need to get?"

Robyn shook her head no. She had a few things, but of course, they were at Sheila's and she couldn't get to them. She really didn't need them now, any how - especially the schoolbooks. School finished up about a week ago, in the very beginning of June. Curiously, she asked, "What day is it?"

"Well, it was June ninth, but for about an hour, it's been the tenth," he told her. She was silent, and stayed as such for the rest of the trip. The two officers drove them towards their destination, and Robyn sat back against the cold seat, idly watching the lights of nighttime New York. She tried to process everything that happened in just under three hours - three hours. Her life was falling apart even worse than it had been before in under three hours. Robyn shook her head. Things she never believed possible happened to her - suddenly all the stories and scripture read in churches about devils and demons were true. Robyn had never been a big Christian, and she'd only been to church a handful of times in her life, when she was place with a family that went to church. She wasn't sure of a heaven or hell, if a heaven would even take her now. It was really starting to hit home what had almost happened to her, and it horrified her all over again. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw that terrible priest, heard that voice speaking to her . . . felt something rip claws into her very being. Oh, it had hurt. It felt so violating, so much worse than any bodily violation. She had never screamed so loud . . .

It was a struggle to pull herself out of her thoughts, but when she did, Robyn fought to stop shaking. Her hands were curled into fists once again, and she gritted her teeth as she uncoiled them. Her fingers had bit into the skin of her palms, and bloody crescents were beginning to show up. It was her own fault, really. She knew from the start that the kids she hung out with weren't the greatest. She knew they had gotten into bad crap before, and she just ignored it. Told herself it didn't matter, at least they were nice to her. It felt good to have Jason show some interest in her, in a pathetic sort of way. When he wanted to start dating her, she eagerly said yes - he seemed genuinely interested. He talked to her, went out of his way to show her things, and it made her feel . . . special.

Of course, now it was clear. How idiotic she was to believe all that bull. She had been so desperate for attention of any kind, for someone to care, that she was willing to settle with them, to allow herself to be blinded by what they really were. Jason was a grand liar - he hand fed her all those lies, and she let every one of them happen until it was nearly too late to save herself. And now that she knew what he was capable of, he terrified her.

The squad car drove out of inner New York City, and began making its way towards the quieter suburbs. After a few more minutes, they pulled up in front of tan bricked building, with a large sign to the side that stated 'St. Alodia's Home.' It was kept up fairly well, although it was hard to make out details with most of the lights in the building off.

"I had Officer Banken call ahead to alert them of your arrival. They should have a bed ready for you when you get in," Officer Nassor told her. She merely nodded, and they let her out of the back and led her towards the front doors set further back in the building. They passed the front 'yard' on their left, which contained a lot of pretty trees and flowers, and to their right were the dark windows of presumably where the kids who stayed there slept.

Officer Banken knocked on the front door when they arrived, and Robyn stood between them, feeling small against the over six foot officers. There was a brief silence, then locks were undone before the door opened. A woman in her forties smiled tiredly at the officers, and her smile became a bit warmer when she looked at Robyn, who didn't have the energy or inclination to smile back. She'd seen them all before - social workers who took it upon themselves to be your friend so they could get a full whiff of your dirty laundry as you're made to air it all out for everyone to know. She supposed they really had no choice - it was their job. But she just got tired of seeing so many of them.

"You're Robyn, I take it," the blonde woman stated in a low, quiet voice. When she nodded, the woman continued. "My name is Clarice, it's a pleasure to meet you." She held out her hand, and after a moment's hesitation, Robyn shook it. Clarice smiled, making the lines around her blue eyes crinkle up. She looked towards the police officers. "Thank you for bringing her here, Officers. Will there be anything else?"

"No, ma'am," Officer Nassor said. Clarice put a hand on Robyn's shoulder that she resisted the urge to shake off, and led her inside. "Miss McCarthy," he added, and she looked up at the kind police officer. "Your test results will be delivered here when they arrive." He gave her a serious look, and continued, "I hope there won't be any repeat performances of tonight."

For the first time that night, Robyn cracked a lopsided grin. "No, sir. There won't be." He tipped his hat to her, and him and the other officer left. Clarice shut the door, and turned to Robyn with a pleasant look on her face. "Robyn, would you like something to eat before I show you to your room?"

Robyn thought about it for a long moment, and then came to the conclusion that anything she ate right now would just get thrown up anyway. "No, I'm not really hungry."

Clarice nodded, and put an arm around Robyn's shoulders as she led the teenager down a quiet hallway. "I must say welcome to St. Alodia's Home. We're glad they contacted us for you, I believe you'll enjoy your stay here." Don't count on it, lady, Robyn thought darkly. "This wing is the girl's wing of the home, and the boy's wing is in a hallway on the other side of the front desk. We have the rooms separated by age, youngest in the front, oldest in the back, so your room will be near the end of the hall."

They reached the room in question, and Clarice pulled out a key to unlock the door. She opened it, and her and Robyn stepped into the dark room. The older woman flipped the light switch, and Robyn quietly studied the small room, only occupied by a bed, nightstand, and small closet. "There are pajamas there for you to change into. Would you like to shower before you go to bed?"

Robyn nodded enthusiastically, and Clarice chuckled. "Follow me, we'll get you a towel." The teenager once again followed the older woman down the hall.

Clarice went into a closet and grabbed a white towel and a smaller hand towel for Robyn. She led her to the large bathroom, and handed her the room key. "I trust you'll be all right if I leave you now?" Robyn nodded." There is everything you need in each of the stalls. Do you need a hairdryer?" Robyn shook her head, and Clarice nodded. "All right, then. Have a good sleep, Robyn." She thanked her and smiled faintly at the woman until she left, then dropped the smile.

Robyn walked on sluggish feet into the bathroom, towels draped over her arm, and walked toward the first shower stall she saw. When Robyn turned the spray on, she jerked the knob to the left and made it so hot she could barely stand it. She felt so dirty, inside and out. The full weight of everything that happened, came crashing back to her, and Robyn resisted the urge to weep while she showered.

She turned around and grabbed for the soap and hand towel, and proceeded to scrub her skin raw, emitting desperate little sounds to keep from fully crying. She'd held it in all night, from the cop, the doctor, the social worker, and she just couldn't do it anymore. She was gentler with the bruises on her arms and back, but she kept cleaning her skin, over and over, trying to wash away the filthy feeling in her soul, knowing she couldn't. She shuddered under the hot spray, suddenly feeling cold, and washed some more. My soul is so dirty, she cried in her thoughts. It touched it, that evil touched me and I can't make it leave. She felt as if she had no privacy - as if she could hide nothing from this monster, and was stripped bare to the soul in front of it for it to take and take and leave her sucked dry.

She stood under the spray for a long time, willing the hot water to get rid of the shudders that wouldn't leave her be. It was as if her body was trying to expel the thing that had been in it briefly, and the feelings that it left behind. The shudders lasted for long minutes, until finally she reached out with a shaking hand and shut off the water. Robyn scurried out of the bathroom and walked quickly down the hall when she was finished.

In her room, she climbed in the bed, leaving the light on, and snuggled down in the covers. She wrapped them tight around her as she laid her head on the pillow and curled her legs up in the fetal position.

Now that she was alone, she couldn't hold them back anymore. They started out soundlessly, merely shaking her small frame as she wrapped her arms tight around her knees under the covers. She gasped for air between each body wracking sobs, and squeezed her eyes shut against the pain squeezing her heart. Never before had she felt so utterly alone, so ruined and ashamed of herself for being so weak. She broke down into her pillow, the tears soaking the fabric and wetting her face. The anguished cries came from her very soul, and couldn't be abated until she had finally cried herself into a restless sleep.