DxC: Shattered Ch. 2

Chapter 2:






Duncan slowly clicked his cellphone shut, eyes wide. As much as going to the police station right after getting out of jail seemed like the biggest joke to him ever, Courtney was in trouble. She needed him.
Duncan thought quickly, he hadn't wandered the city in a while. What was the fastest way to get to the police station? Duncan decided taking the city transit would be fastest, plus he could easily get on and off it without paying.

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Duncan rushed into the police station, desperately searching for Courtney.
"Hey you! Are you looking for Courtney Rogers?" a policeman asked, and Duncan could see the look of disdain on his face.
"Yes, where is she?" Duncan asked frantically. His heart was pounding in his chest, he had no idea what was going on.
The policeman motioned for him to follow, and soon Duncan was lead to a room with the door closed.
"We got a phone call that she started panicking on the bus."
"What do ya mean?" Duncan asked, confused.
"According to witnesses she was screaming bloody murder at some guy who brushed past her, and she went into an anxiety attack, hyper-ventilating and the whole works," the policeman said rather calmly, and he began to turn the door knob. "She's being monitored in this room, so if you could just follow me-"
The door opened and Duncan stepped inside. His head was swirling in confusion, and his heart was beating rapidly. He slowly entered the room, and he saw a girl sitting on a chair with a blanket wrapped tightly around her, swaying back and forth slightly.
Her long mocha brown hair was dangling in her face, and underneath the blanket Duncan could see she was wearing a heavily knitted sweater that went down to her knees. She finally looked up, and Duncan felt his stomach flip as he realized it was Courtney.
"You do know her, right?"
The policeman's question remained unanswered as Courtney's eyes met with Duncan's. They instantly widened and became filled with fear, that same look Duncan had seen about four years ago on her for the first time. Her eyes were lined heavily with eyeliner, and her cheekbones jutted out more than usual.
She just sat there and stared, Duncan could tell she wanted to say something but nothing came out of her mouth.
"Courtney," Duncan spoke softly, and she seemed to shudder at the mentioning of her name.
"Sir I'm afraid she needs to be taken home right away, because she is in no condition to be working," the policeman interrupted, and Courtney's head shot over to him. Her eyes were so wide, so fearful, so....
"Will you be needing a ride?"
Duncan saw Courtney shaking her head 'No', but he ignored it. "Yes we will."
"Ok then, come with me."
Duncan started to follow, but Courtney remained seated, staring at the wall. Duncan had no idea what to do.
"Come on Miss, it's only a little ride-"
"I can't see him anymore," Courtney seemed to choke on her words, and her eyes became filled with hurt.
"Well Miss, we asked you who to call and you didn't answer us, so we phoned your only contact and here is," the officer said, and Courtney shakily stood up. It looked like the weight of the blanket and her sweater were going to crush her.
"Do you need help?" Duncan asked, and Courtney looked at him. It was a look Duncan had never seen before, a glare filled with wildness and pain and anger.
"I'm.....fine," Courtney spoke firmly, and she swiftly followed the officer to his car.

Duncan got in beside Courtney, who was as far over to the side as possible. She was staring out the window. Duncan didn't like sitting in cop cars, and being in one with an ignorative Courtney was not much better. He felt the car start to drive away.
"Courtney, what happened-"
She swung her head around rapidly, and when she locked eyes with Duncan he actually felt shivers go down his spine.  
"Nothing."
She turned back to the window, and Duncan slumped in his seat and sighed. He looked down at her hand gently resting on the seat. He could see a mesh glove sticking out of her knit sleeve.
"New style Princess?" he asked curiously as he reached out to touch her hand. Courtney flinched, and pulled her hand back so violently that it hit the window behind her.
"Don't, touch me," she said cooly, and she gingerly placed her hand safely within her sweater. Duncan decided remaining silent might be a good option at this point.

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Duncan kept a safe following distance behind Courtney as she lead them both to her apartment. Not by choice, but because if he even stepped a little too close to her she'd spaz.
She kept looking behind her, as if Duncan was stalking her or something, until she abrubtly stopped and turned towards a door. She fumbled for her keys in her deep wool pockets, and pulled them out with a shaking hand.
Duncan took a chance and stepped closer towards the door, but Courtney was too occupied with the keys to take much notice. She struggled fitting them into the lock, and she kept jabbing at the side of the door, narrowly missing the opening.
"Do you need help?" Duncan felt like an idiot for asking because as soon as he spoke Courtney dropped the keys and shivered violently. He bent down and picked them up, and opened the door with ease. Courtney shot him a quick look before she stepped inside.

As soon as Duncan stepped inside he knew something was off. There were magazines and papers strewn everywhere, as well as random pieces of clothes and shoes. The place looked very unkept, which was very unlike Courtney. It took Duncan a moment to even realize that Courtney had vanished.
He was about to call for her but thought better of it. Instead he started looking for her, listening intently for any sounds that might give away where she was. For four years he waited to meet up with her again, and now she was hiding from him.
Then he heard a sound. It sounded like wimpering coming from the room next to him. He stepped inside, and noticed a closet that was half closed. Trying to figure out the best way to approach her, Duncan let out a long sigh. He heard the wimpering stop.
"Courtney, don't freak out on me again..." Duncan began, and he reached quickly for the closet door. With a quick movement he opened it, and Courtney jumped spastically, dropping an object from her hand. Just as Duncan looked to see what she had dropped she placed her foot on top of it.
"Are you okay Courtney?" Duncan asked in as calm a voice as he could produce, and this time her eyes drifted towards his. They were filling with tears.
"Of course I'm okay, I'm always okay, I've been okay every single hellish day of my life..." Courtney mumbed angrily as she weakly pushed Duncan out of the way and started walking down the hall. Duncan ran after her, he was at a full loss of what to do at this point.
"You're not okay Courtney."
She stopped near the end of the hall and turned around, this time with blackened tears streaming down her bony cheeks.
"No Duncan, I'm not f**king okay."
They just stood there, neither of them letting go of the others gaze. Courtney took a deep breath.
"But no one thinks that cus I used to be a CIT, I should be able to handle myself, and I should be able to sort out all my own problems, but no! No one gives a f**k about me anymore!!!" she heaved shakily and surprisingly didn't flinch when Duncan moved closer.
"Um, well-"
"Well what??" she shouted, all her bottled up anger suddenly releasing all at once, "I'm just the girlfriend of the delinquent. I'm just the girl that screwed a criminal. I'm just the f**king girl who's parents f**king hate her because SHE KISSED A MURDERER!!!" she started crying heavily, and she began choking on her short breaths.
"Courtney, I didn't f**king murder the guy-"
"JUST SHUT UP!!" she screamed, and her sweater slipped down her shoulder slightly. She quickly pulled it back up, but remained glaring at Duncan.
"You weren't the one that had someone chasing you, trying to f**king murder you, were you Duncan?? You weren't the one that found out they were pregnant, then next thing you know it's a f**king miscarriage. You weren't the one that was shunned from their family and told never to speak to them again. YOU were the one that wasn't there for me for FOUR F**KING YEARS OF MY F**KED UP LIFE!!!!" Courtney ran into the bathroom and slammed the door hard. Duncan just stood there, listening to her wailing and coughing violently. He knew she was gonna be mad, but not exactly like this....

Twenty long minutes went by with Courtney's relelntless howling, and Duncan had started to look around. He was looking in her room. The floor was littered in clothing, all what seemed to be large heavy knit sweaters of different colors. He looked at her desk. It was littered in various papers, each one seeming to be a refferal from a doctor to go get some sort of tests. Then something caught his eye. Duncan brushed aside the papers and found a picture, one that was torn and ripped up at the edges.
His heart skipped a beat as he realized it was a picture of him and Courtney, before he was arrested. They were both smiling, happy to be together. Courtney's arms were firmly wrapped around Duncan's neck and Duncan had his signature smile plastered across his face. He noticed a tiny rip right at the top, and he rubbed his fingers along it. Courtney still did love him.
"Get out."
Startled, Duncan dropped the picture and found Courtney glaring at him in the doorway, her eyes puffy and bloodshot.
"I said get out, you're not welcome here."
Duncan walked towards her, he could see her shift uncomfortably as he got closer to her, and just when he was supposed to turn and walk down the hall he placed his arms around Courtney and kissed her.
He felt his hands press against the wall and Courtney shrivel under his grasp but he didn't care. He had been deprived for four long years without any sexual activity, and like any normal guy he wanted some badly. Apparently Courtney felt the same way, because she was kissing him back.
They pulled apart gently, and Duncan actually smiled at her.
"It's gonna be okay," he said as he wiped a tear from her cheek. Her lips tried to smile but they didn't. "So can I stay?"
"You can sleep on the couch," Courtney said in a barely audible voice, and she ducked out from under Duncan's arms and slipped into her room. "G'night...Duncan."

As the door shut softly Duncan looked at the time on his cell. He had no idea it was that late. He walked over to the couch and sat down reluctantly. Maybe this was a good first step. Then he heard soft crying.
Five minutes went by and he could still hear it. He tried hard to ignore it, he didn't want to invade on Courtney but it wouldn't stop. After ten long minutes Duncan decided to get up and check it out. He opened the door slowly, and saw Courtney sitting up in her bed crying. As he approached closer to her he nearly freaked: she was a rack of bones. He could see every bone in her body outlined sharply against her skin, and her bones jutted out at very high angles. Then she had seen him.
"Are you-"
"Duncan, I've been crying myself to sleep every night for the last four years of my life, I think I'm-" Courtney started crying even harder, and Duncan sat down gently on the bed beside her. He wrapped an arm around her, and nearly cringed as he felt all her bones dig into his hand. He ignored it and pulled Courtney into an enbrace. She willingly gave in and cried into his chest, and finally wrapped her arms around his neck. Duncan tried his best to ignore their boney features.
"P-p-please st-stay," Courtney mumbled into his chest, and Duncan layed down with her.
"I'm not going anywhere Princess."

End of Chapter 2.