TRIGGER WARNING: THE REST OF THE CHAPTERS OF THE STORY INCLUDE MENTIONS OF ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS. STAY SAFE! 

There were sirens. Flashing lights. A pair of sharp cold handcuffs were clamped around guilty wrists.

Ivory wanted to laugh. The good guy won. It was over. Wasn't this supposed to be the end of the story?

She stared blankly off into the distance, wondering if happily ever after had started yet. She didn't like fairy tales that much in that moment.

When Dominic saw Ivory in the living room, clutching the limp doll that was George. He blinked. Once, then twice. The strange pink creature was still there.

"You'll never get away with this Dominic."

Interesting. She wasn't a variable he had anticipated.

"I called the police. You're going to jail." She barley raised her voice above a hiss.

He had taken George far away. He thought he was safe. The mistake he made was coming back. A drunken mistake.

He blinked. Once. Then twice. An almost human action. He stepped forward. Once. Then twice. And then he lunged at the strange pink creature.

Ivory didn't feel the pain at first. It came so fast that it took a few seconds to kick in.

Ivory screwed her eyes shut and let out a scream. She imagined it shaking the walls, pulling up floorboards. But that didn't happen.

The whole time Dominic took different forms. A feral dog, barking insults. A wild bear with a rage stricken roar. He clawed at her skin, and his hands were venomous snakes, sending poison through her veins. He was a vengeful hyena, a territorial cat. Sometimes, he existed between states, in some sort of terrifying fluid form.

One form he took more often than not was Ivory's mother. She could hear her voice shouting in her ear, the heel of her palm across her face, adding to the bruises that were already there. The heavy approaching footsteps, the slamming doors. She could feel her turning her father, a good man, into a monster.

She didn't have many memories of her her dad, who was missing in action. But the ones she did have were good. Him patiently helping her look for a lost stuffed bear. Him combing and braiding her hair with gentle hands. Her tiny hand wrapped around his steady index finger as he raised his other hand to point at the rainbow flag waving in the summer wind. They were downtown, watching a parade.

"You see the people holding that flag?" He said. "Those people are brave."

If there was so much kindness and steadiness in just his hand, she couldn't imagine how he could ever be a bad person.

"You can do this Ivory," a voice whispered in her ear. It was warm and supportive, kind and gentle. "Just hold on."

So Ivory clutched George. She held on and endured the pain because she knew, she just knew, if she let go it'd be over.

And then the police kicked down the door.

"Are you alright?" A voice said behind her.

She whirled around, shocked out of the past. "Dad?"

The man laughed. Ivory blushed. "I- I mean..."

"It's ok." The man said, and put a hand on her shoulder. Normally she would've flinched, but she felt too weak to move. "You're in shock. This is perfectly normal."

"And George?" She asked.

"He's fine. He isn't hurt so badly we can't fix him." He smiled. A disarming technique probably. "Now, if you'd come with me, we have some questions for you..."

She followed the man into what she hoped was happily ever after. At last.