Joy dropped her luggage at her door, a million emotions racing when she entered the door of her apartment.
After a month in the hospital, Joy signed off on papers that would ship her off to rehab two days from now.
She would've expected to feel at home when she returned to familiarity, but it was empty. She felt like a stranger in her own home she's lived in for seven years. The place was spotless, Tobias most likely had it cleansed before she returned.
Despite that, she could still smell Isaiah's cheap cologne stitched in the fibers of their furniture.
Her nails dug into her palms, her hands beginning to quake. He never once saw her at the hospital. He didn't care about her anymore. He was like the rest of them. Bitter resentment towards Isaiah flushed her face, Tobias continuing to babble on about the times she would receive her dosage. Something about feeling miniscule withdrawal symptoms but nothing serious or uncomfortably painful.
His cold hand abruptly pressed to her forehead, Joy flinching when he raised his hand. Tobias gave a look of apology, slowly lowering his hand.
"I'm going to go to the pharmacy to get your prescriptions. The doctor said Tylenol will help with fever and aches-"
"I don't need it." She murmured, dusting him aside. He appeared to be wary, his steps towards the door slow and hesitant. "Don't worry. I'm not going to go off the deep end." He watched her cautiously, Joy approaching the bathroom. "I'm just going to take a shower."
Finally, Tobias relented, understanding that she was not a child and shouldn't be treated like one.
"Alright. I will be back shortly."
The door shut behind him, and for once since her hospital stay, she was alone.
~.~.~
Having been rushed out of the shower quickly by staff, it was nice to have a decent soak.
What wasn't nice was all the thoughts that spilled into the soapy tub water. A month, a whole month and this fuck hadn't come to see her once. Maybe he was really dead.
Even so, how could he have gone down without a fight? Without a word? Had he really done what they claimed he had? Did he sell her to men for profit? She couldn't remember.
"Or maybe you just don't wish to remember."
Unrest washed over her supple skin, Joy crawling out of the tub and onto the furry white rug. She slid into a pair of white underwear that stuck to her damp flesh and struggled through a grey sweatshirt. She swiped her hand across the fogged mirror, her dripping locks hugging her face. A flash of her bruised reflection haunted her, though brief, it still made her heart jolt in her chest. She dropped her hand and clutched the sink, many stains of blood burned into the surfaces. He had done that to her. Why couldn't she be angry at him? Why couldn't she hate him? Any moment she felt like he would storm through that door and ask where she's been.
Joy hiccupped, her eyes becoming swelled with tears. She lived in constant fear, she just was always too doped up to feel it. Anxiousness began to quake her, Joy glaring at her reflection while her chest began to ache.
A trickle of images came back to her, Isaiah stroking her hair when she came running back to him in incoherent sobs. The client's car she crawled into. The mind-numbing buzz. The laundromat. The little girl. The way her nails dug into the car seats when many hands pried at her.
"You have nice hair, you know that? Never cut it Doll face. I'll be pissed." He teased, tipping up her chin, his breath tickling her insecure, seventeen-year-old lips.
YOU ARE READING
Blood Lust
Vampire[UNEDITED] Something about the way she smiled was faux. Like the lashes that lined her eyelids. Like the makeup that coated her skin. Like her breasts. It was fake and he could see right through it as she slid down from the pole her leg was snaked a...
