Angel

Chapter 12

I had to wait about ten more long minutes for Zack to arrive.

He thanked the lady for being so kind and for keeping me safe, and then we left the lady's cozy home.

Once I was in the comfort of Zack's truck, I immediately felt a bit better. Zack got in after me, and he started asking me tons of questions.

"What did he do to you?" That was the first one. The most important one to him.

I didn't want to just sit there and talk. I wanted to hurry up and get home, so I said, "Start driving. I want to be home."

"Nessa, answer me. Please." He was desperate, and he was struggling to stay calm.

"You really want to know?! He tried to rape me! Now just drive, damn it." I really didn't like the subject, and talking about it made me uncomfortable.

Zack just focused on the road, but his face changed from normal to an angry look.

"Why?! Why did he think it would be okay for him to lay a fucking hand on you?"

He was banging the steering wheel and breathing heavily. I reached over and grabbed one of his strong arms gently.

"Zack stop. It's fine, okay."

He looked right into my eyes.

"No. It's really not, Vanessa. He should be put in jail for this, but we have no evidence.."

"Yeah we do! He left bruises on my upper arms, and my pants are ripped near the buttons. And honestly I'm so emotionally unstable that it should be obvious that something had to have happened."

Zack just nodded his head. Something was up.

"Zack, don't tell me you think this is your fault."

"But it is. I'm the one that made him mad by being defensive. I'm the one that had to walk home, which made you alone in the dark. I'm the one that even let him meet you. It's all my fucking fault."

I could hear it in his voice. Shame. Tears.

Yeah, he had a point. All of that was true, but it wasn't his fault that I had insisted on walking with him. It wasn't his fault that I sat down to rest. It wasn't his fault that I had horrid anxiety.

He didn't tell Eli to rape me, and he definitely didn't help him plan it. Overall, it wasn't his fault.

"Zack. Don't eat yourself up because of this. It's not your fault. I'd rather him come after me instead of you."

***

When we pulled up in my driveway, a cop car was there. Guess my family did give a shit about me. I got out of the truck, and Julie came running to embrace me.

"Oh, Vanessa! We were so worried about you! Where have you been?"

She looked back at Zack, who was still being quiet. He didn't like this at all.

"Uh, stuff happened on the way back from Zack's house." I didn't know how to just straight-up say it.

"What kind of stuff? Nes, you can tell me anything." Her voice the was a mixture of comfort and sternness.

She was eager to know. She acted as if it was my fault I had gone missing. As if I had just been being a foolish teenager.

"A boy, his name's Eli, he tried to rape me." There. I got it out.

Julie didn't say anything after that. She ran to the police car and started talking to him. Whatever.

I turned back and went up to Zack. He took me in, hugging me tightly. I never wanted him to let go. I could've stayed like that forever, in his comforting arms.

He made me feel safe and loved. No one else made me feel that way. I never felt safe at home, to be honest. And art class wasn't really a huge thing. I'd only been once.

"Stay safe, okay? And start carrying your phone with you all the time." He kissed my forehead, still holding on to me.

"I will. I love you. Never forget that." He smiled at that, then he let me go.

"I love you too, Nessa," he said as he turned to return home.

***

After Zack went home, the police asked me five million questions.

"What time was it when you were attacked?"
"What did the attacker look like?"
"Where did he take you?"
"Who did you go to for help?"
Blah.
Blah.
Blah.

I didn't have descriptive answers for more than half of the questions. The police were angry at me for not knowing the stuff. That really pissed me off.

I'm sorry for being scared as fuck while a guy was trying to rape me!

I told them that Eli had chased after me, but I hid and he passed me, so I had no clue where he was.

The police weren't pleased with that either. They called back up to find him.

I ended up telling them that Zack probably knows more about Eli than I do, so that they should talk to him.

By the time I went back to my room and tried to sleep, it was one o'clock in the morning. The night had been quite eventful. I was ready for a better day tomorrow.

I was honestly ready to end it all. Everything just kept getting worse and worse. And the worst part about it was that I really couldn't fix any of my problems. I just had to deal with every single one of them.

Mom was basically gone from my life. Dad came back, and he brought the world's happiest person along with him. My brothers didn't understand anything, so they were acting perfectly normal, which hurt because while they were fine, I felt like utter shit.

Maybe I was selfish for that, and maybe I should be happy that my brothers were happy, but it really didn't help improve my mood.

Eli was a traitor. I thought he was the one I could trust, but I was totally wrong about that. Zack and I were at decent terms, I guess, but I still hated the fact that he lied to me about his whole life story. Who knows what else isn't true? I wasn't in the mood to find out.

I couldn't sleep. Everything was overwhelming my brain. I had all my pillows over my head and I was curled in a ball under the covers. I was so tired.

I laid there for hours before I drifted off into sleep.