Worth the Risk (a Matthew Gray Gubler fanfic)

Chapter Seventeen

TW: mentions of attempted sexual assault.
If you are triggered by this content, skip past the words in italics.

•••••••••••••••

Here I stand, in the dark house again. Still not sure who's house it is, but this time it looks familiar.

A tall figure approaches me, the same familiar looking man. With a knife in hand, the man holds it against my neck. He stands before me, bends down, and whispers in my ear. This time I hear it clearly, "Let's go upstairs, little girl. We are going to have some fun."

He picks me up, and throws me over his shoulder. I try to scream but no sound comes out of my mouth. The man gets to, what I can only assume, is a bedroom. He throws me down on a soft surface, a bed.

This feels so familiar... so real.

I try so hard to scream and once more, nothing happens. His nasty hands start to roam my small body, his fingers grasp the hem of my dress. My body is stiff, I can't move.

He pulls the dress over my hea—

I jump up from my sleeping position, Matthew has been trying to wake me.

"Haley, wake up! Are you okay?!"

He looks concerned when I look over at him. I am soaked in my own sweat, tears running down my face. I must have been screaming, my throat hurts.

Before I know it, my eyes well up with more tears. Matthew notices and sits up. He wraps me in his arms as my body trembles in fear. My tears are staining his T-shirt.

He runs his fingers through my hair to comfort me, as I am still crying. Kissing the top of my head, he whispers, "It's okay. I'm here, don't worry. No one is going to hurt you."

With tears still rolling down my face, I hold tightly onto Matthew's side. We stay like this until I start to calm down a bit. He pulls us both down and keeps me wrapped tightly in his arms, covering us both back up. I fall to sleep quickly knowing that Matthew is there, with his promises that he will keep me safe.

But one question remains... why am I getting these damn nightmares, again?

••••••••••••••

When I wake up in the morning, I am in an empty bed. I remember where I am, then roll over and check the time. It is 10:30 am. Matthew's class starts at 2 o'clock so we have plenty of time. I will just miss my first two classes today, no big deal.

I decide that it is time to get up, even though I am so warm and cozy. But, I smell food, so it is definitely time that I need to get out of bed. I walk into the kitchen and Matthew is standing there, making me breakfast.

This time, he is making pancakes. I'm surprised by his cooking skills, I wasn't expecting that, I guess.

He must notice my presence because he turns around and smiles, "Good morning."

"Morning. Man, my ass hurts this morning. Hmmm I wonder why?" I laugh, he knows what he did.

His laughter bursts through the air. It is a lovely sound, I would love to hear it more often.

"If I remember correctly, someone was begging for it." He smirks.

Okay, yeah maybe that's true.

I laugh at his cocky remark, "Yeah? Fine, okay."

I make myself comfortable on the couch. Matthew unexpectedly comes around the couch with a plate of food for me and a glass of water. He hands it to me before he goes to grab his food.