It seemed to go on forever, the silence that followed my story. My hands shook like an earthquake and my eyes kept pooling over. Worst of all, Joe just sat there staring at me, long after he stopped the tape.
“Oh, Kathrin…” He sighed. “ What now?”
I blinked, totally thrown off by the question. I had never, even once, asked myself what would happen now.
“ I-I don’t know.”
“What else did he do to you?”
I sank lower in my chair and put my hands over my eyes. “It wasn’t so bad at first. He took me away from my family and made it so I couldn’t have contact with them and took all of my savings then put them in a joined account with his money. I had nothing left after that but I loved him so much that I accepted it. Then came everything else. The beating, the lying, the feeling of being a prisoner in my own home. I didn’t think I’d make it through…but then I met Gavin.”
“It must have been awful.” Susan wiped her eyes for the hundredth time in the past hour.
“Yes. It was.”
“What about-“
I heard the unmistakable ring of my cell phone hiding somewhere inside my purse. I located it, and checked the caller ID. Unknown. I frowned then,” Hello?”
“Miss Clark?”
“This is she.”
“Gavin Corduroy is wake and has been asking to see you.”
I couldn’t breathe I was so happy. He was awake, he wanted to see me, but best of all was that he was going to be ok.
“ Thank you so much. I’ll be there as fast as I can.” I snapped the phone shut and stood up smiling.
“He’s awake. I’ll talk to you later.”
Joe smiled and wished me luck. I beamed and told Joe that I needed it.