Chapter Text
It wasn’t as cold tonight but the chill still crept into her bones as she hurried along, longing for the security of her one bedroom flat after a long day, she worked three jobs and it wasn’t fun but neither was crippling debt and chronic anxiety. Somehow finding time to volunteer to help train dogs for veterans, they always looked at her, like they knew, they knew what was happening but thankfully no one ever said anything, left Sunny alone to do her work. You pick up a thing or two, how to cover bruises, clean wounds, do your own stitches, always keep them unaware, keep a smile on your face but you can’t always be ready for when they snap over nothing, alcohol, it’s always because of the alcohol. Sunny had always had nothing, she was used to it but the one thing she always wished for, was to be safe, not to cower on the streets, at work, at home, not to be beaten bloody by someone who supposedly loved her. Yeah she was too scared to leave, but there was nowhere to go, being beaten in the house was better than whatever would happen on the streets, in the homeless shelters, she had learned to be thankful for the roof over her head.
Her bag fell to the ground, a few items spilling out as the man crashed into her and before she could even think clearly his hand covered her mouth and dragged her backwards into a dark alley, she could feel the cold muzzle of a handgun pressed against her jaw. He was going to rape her, she was sure, there was nothing for him to take but her body, she tried to calm herself as the tears spilled down her cheeks, once the man realised she wasn’t struggling the feeling on the gun slipped away but the strong hand stayed over her mouth. “ne izday ni khrena, ne dvigaysya, inache eto budet posledneye, chto ty sdelayesh'” a masculine voice hissed out, Sunny had no idea what he was saying but suddenly he let her go, not expecting it she fell to the ground and scrambled backwards. They stared at each other locked in each other’s gaze his eyes fearful green eyes to harsh and cold, “YA prinimayu tebya kak svoye solntse” he said and she frowned, “YA Prinimayu Tebya Kak Svoye Solntse” he said louder, “svoye solntse” she repeated. He nodded gruffly then suddenly he was gone and she sucked in a stuttered breath before reaching for her bag and legging it out of the alley towards her house.
She should have been relived to get home but very quickly she wasn’t, he was home, “finally! What took you so long” Brayden grumbled, “you’re late woman” he added sourly and she quickly passed him the pack of cigarettes she had bought before hurrying to the kitchen to prepare dinner. After serving his dinner she went to change and realised that both her phone and wallet were missing from her bag, “no no no, come on” she pleaded but they were definitely gone, the door slamming to indicate her boyfriend leaving the flat to go out, probably to drink and gamble. Sunny felt restless as she slept, nightmares of the man in the alley, his hand around her mouth cold and hard, the week went on as expected early mornings, late nights, occasional beatings, every now and then Brayden giving her some affection before he would have his way with her. But every day, every night, every moment, something felt different, like she was being watched, but there was never anyone there, she was paranoid, every time she felt it she would repeat the words, gunfire, chaos on the streets, “svoye solntse, svoye solntse”.
Sunny sat up panting in bed, the nightmare waking her up in the dark room as she lay alone tangle in the sheets, but she was still dreaming, she knew she was, because he was there, in the room, watching her, the man from the alley, “svoye solntse” she whispered. A large gun resting in his lap as cold eyes watched her, she was unsure what to do so she just watched him back, dirty black hair, that same black leather jacket, tactical pants and combat boots, he looked military but there was something else. A slight tick of his jaw, like he was grinding his teeth or nervous, the sound of keys in the front door made sunny jerk her head right in fear, when she looked back the man was gone so she quickly laid down pretending to be asleep. The next morning as she got ready for work and grabbed her bag her wallet fell out, before she had a chance to ponder Brayden’s fist collided with her face, “you lying whore, you said you lost this” he spat as Sunny clutched her cheek, “I swear I did” she stuttered. “Get the fuck out of here I’ll deal with you later” he yelled and she nodded scrambling from the flat, her cheek stung and it would definitely bruise later, she gave no thought to last night dream or how she found her wallet, no thought the the red star painted on her window.
The shop was empty most of the day, she didn’t look up when the bell would ring, customers didn’t like it they wanted to be left alone so she would leave them be till they made it up to the register. Today was no different, the bell rang and she didn’t look up, but the person seemed to fiddle with the door, what were they doing she thought but ignored them as heavy footfalls made their way into the small store, Sunny didn’t even notice what they didn’t' go further than the till. She looked up and tried not to scream, it was him again, the man from the alley, the man from her dreams, gun aimed at her, he was clutching his bleeding arm and his face was beaten as well, “davay, nikakikh rezkikh dvizheniy” he hissed. He gestured with the gun towards the back and she realised she recognised a bit of what he said, davay, she had heard a dog trainer say it before, it meant come on or lets go or do this, something like that. As she slowly walked towards the back he grabbed a bottle of vodka and some bandages, she had a medical kit in the bathroom guessing what’s that he wanted, his blood was dripping on the floor as he locked the door behind them and almost collapsed onto the toilet.
He stripped off the leather jacket and she stumbled backwards but he gripped her wrist, “davleniye” he stated pushing her hand an obvious bullet wound in his arm, she knew that word to, push or press, he was Russian, and felt like he was built like a ox. Then he tore his shirt off and she gasped, getting a frown but no words, his right arm was metal, silver, he grabbed a handful of tissues to shove in the wound, “no you need to” Sunny started quickly biting her tongue to shut herself up, he looked up at her and she pointed to the cabinet. He nodded but then growled “medlenno” something like creep or slow as she moved, she slowly opened the cabinet, moving as slow as she could to collect the medical box and freezes when a gun cocks behind her, “please it’s just first aid stuff I swear” she stuttered.
The man huffs in response and Sunny opens the box slowly to show him, he nods and relaxes back as she takes a deep breath and goes to work, taking the scrap of fabric and soaking it in alcohol before pressing it to his wound, he doesn’t even flinch but takes the bottle and drinks down a large swig. She presses gauze to the now clean wound and wraps a bandage tightly, tying it in a knot to keep pressure, Sunny doesn’t stop, automatically going to the knife wound on his well toned stomach, cleaning and bandaging it, then cleaning his face. She tries to ignore how he watches her but suddenly his hand comes up to grip her jaw, turning her head roughly to look at her grazed and bruised cheekbone, he releases her just as quickly and she is finished, the words come out of her mouth before she can even stop them. “khoroshiy mal'chik”, good boy, she has learnt to say that to the difficult dogs after training but this man just stares at her, cocking his head in confusion, he stands up towering over her and she waits for her punishment, a slap, stab, maybe he will kill her. He watches her as he unlocks the door and gestures with a nod for her to leave, she scrambles away quickly and goes to hide behind the till, the store remains quiet, 20 minutes later she creeps out, he is gone, but the blood is still there, she sighs and retrieves the mop.