This is the tenth part in a series, so if you have not done so already, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, and Part IX before continuing.
Alicea had been afraid Fiona would flaunt her righteousness in front of her and taunt her with an endless onslaught of, “I told you so,” but Fiona didn’t do any of that.
As soon as Alicea told her what happened Fiona had announced she was coming over and hung up. Alicea had tried to tell her she didn’t have to do that, but Fiona had already broken the connection.
Alicea hadn’t really let herself process the events of Saturday night, but now that Fiona was on her way over, just to check on her, when Fiona had her own job and her own life to worry about, Alicea felt so grateful it made her want to cry.
She managed to dry her tears and clean herself up before Fiona arrived, but there was still nothing she could do about the massive bruise on her face. She had never been good with makeup, so when Fiona rang the doorbell and Alicea went to let her in, all she could do was try to hide the right side of her face, as if Fiona wouldn’t suspect anything from Alicea constantly trying to keep only her left side facing her.
“Let me see,” Fiona said as soon as the door was closed behind her. Alicea hesitated, but Fiona just stood in the front hallway and said, “Come on.” So Alicea turned her head.
Fiona hissed. “I’m going to kill him.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I really am. You never said he was left handed.”
“I never thought it was worth mentioning.”
“I guess it isn’t. OK, so you said he left your purse at your front door sometime today while you were at work?”
Alicea nodded.
“You’re sure it wasn’t from someone else at the bar? Someone who could have found your ID and tracked down your address from that?”
“I’m sure. It had a note from Sven attached to it. Another attempt at an apology, if you can believe it.”
“I believe it, but what I care about is the fact that he knows where you live.”
“Yeah, so?”
Fiona looked at Alicea as though she had lost her mind. “So? He hit you and he’s been harassing you ever since. You don’t think it’s a problem that someone who’s capable of all that knows where you live?”
Alicea froze as the gravity of what Fiona was saying hit her. “You really think he would try to attack me here?”
“He clearly feels like he has some kind of ownership over you, so if you don’t respond to any of his messages (which you shouldn’t), then, yes, I think there’s a very good chance that he’ll try to confront you directly, and I don’t think you should be here when he does.”
“What should I do?”
“Mi casa es su casa.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You can, and you will. Second, you need to file a restraining order.”
Alicea rolled her eyes. “Right. Because those always do so much good.”
“It’s a start. We can barricade my place, and if he even comes near it, we can call the cops on him. I live exactly seven minutes away from the nearest police station. We can hold Sven off for seven minutes.”
“Wow, you’re really prepared for this.”
“It’s something I’ve thought about a lot. Now, do you need help packing up so we can head back to my place? I think the less time we spend here the better.”
Alicea declined Fiona’s offer of assistance, but as she stood staring vacantly at her empty suitcase, it quickly became apparent that she did need some help. Without saying a word, Fiona went to her closet and started grabbing clothes and throwing them in the suitcase.
The end.