One Last Prayer

Part 9

I open my eyes and immediately cover my face with the blanket that's on top of me. It's way too bright and I feel like I could have the flu. I take a deep breath in and there's a familiar smell. I frown with the covers still over my head and throw them off looking around as panic sets in. Where am I? I vaguely remember last night and the confusion begins to smother me. I sit up slowly, afraid I might actually get sick and take in my surroundings. There are posters all over the walls. Bring Me The Horizon, A Day To Remember, Bullet For My Valentine, and some tapestries with Aztec designs. I hold the comforter to my face again and breath in. It smells exactly like the black jacket I kidnapped for almost a week and only gave back because I had to. I stand up slowly and look down to see that I'm dressed in only a black band t-shirt. My heart hammers so fast I fear it will leap out of my chest.

Other than this nasty sick feeling in my stomach and a fairly bad headache, I feel fine. I'm not sore where I would expect to be sore if anything did happen. I slowly reach down to my pubic area to press gently, just to make sure it doesn't hurt. Definitely normal down there. I jump quickly to move my hand when the door opens unexpectedly. Tessa stands in the doorway, her eyes down on her phone intently. When she finally looks up her eyes beam when she sees me. Everything I haven't let myself feel yet is setting in and tears start to flow from my eyes. She rushes over to me and wraps her arms around me as I burry my face in her shoulder.

"You're okay. Nothing happened." Her voice is gentle as she tries to soothe me. How can she think nothing happened to me? I have no memory of what happened or how I ended up in this house. I try my hardest not to let my cries become sobs.

"Something happened." I say and I hope I don't have to clarify what I mean.

She pulls away to look at me and nods as she stares at my face. She pushes my hair away from sticking to my cheeks and she takes my hands leading me to sit on the bed. "Trey heard the football team talking about how they scored Rohypnol. At the time is was too late to just try to call off the party, and they would've found a way to use it anyway."

I stare at her blankly. I was roofied? Aaron had given me a drink hours before I felt funny. How do those things work? I look to the wall trying to organize my thoughts. Was this Aaron? I don't look at her when I respond. "Are we at Chase's house?"

"Yeah." She says quietly. She sits next to me and grabs my hand lacing her fingers with mine. "Chase really fucked Aaron up." My stomach drops. He fought Aaron? For me? "I mean like.. It was really bad. Trey said they couldn't get him off of him and the cops were called because people were getting worried Aaron wasn't going to be okay." I look at her now, feeling a numbness slowly spread through my body.

"Where is Chase?"

"He's in the living room. The guys slept out there while you and I shared the bed." She pats the bed then looks toward the door, her voice lowering to a whisper. "I actually think Chase slept sitting up at the door frame. I have trouble sleeping in unfamiliar places and every time I woke up he was sitting there." I look over at the door and as I do, Trey is stepping in.

"Tess, I'm sorry, we gotta go. Mom's pissed." His voice is gentle. He seems like he's trying not to look at me and I'm wondering if he doesn't want to embarrass me. But, from what? Everyone already saw me a mess. I had to be carried to a boy's house to sleep over. Someone got me dressed and I don't know who. Now I'm sitting here in a shirt that barely reaches my thighs and I'm sure my wavy hair is all over the place.

Tessa stands up and leans over to kiss my cheek. I'm not used to being touched but through the week of being with Tessa daily, I get the feeling she's affectionate with the people she's closest to. "I texted your dad last night for you. He called but I ignored it. I told him you fell asleep at my house watching a movie." I nod as a thank you and she turns leaving the room. "I'll text you later."