Two of a kind

WHITE ROOMS BRIGHT LIGHTS

Beep...beep...beep

My eyes flutter open, fuck that's bright I close them tightly, my mouth and throat feel dry, I groan in pain. I let the blackness take over. He must have kept me alive I rather not wake up to my reality of being locked in some warehouse with two psycho's.

Beep... beep... beep

What the fuck is that sound, are they messing with me, I open my eyes slowly, it's not as bright as earlier, I open them and look around. Where am I? I look down, there's bandaged on my wrist that we're once bound in rope "get the nurse she's awake" I hear a familiar voice "Maria? Are you okay? Do you need some water?" I look over to the voice. Selena, what is she doing here "where" my voices is so hoarse and it burns my throat "you're safe, you're in the hospital" she brings a straw towards my mouth "drink, you've been out for a while" I sip on the cool liquid it's so soothing, but it's gone too soon "I'll get you more" she turns around "Drake, Trent. Are they.." I couldn't finish "they're okay, they were beaten pretty bad but they're recovering" I nod, the door to the room opens "ah you are awake, hi sweetie" the lady in hospital scrubs says "my names Melissa I'm one of your nurses" she walks closer to me and checks the machine next to me "good, your heart rate and blood pressure is looking a lot better" she continues "now can I ask you what's the last thing you remember?" I look at her for a second, I clear my throat "I was being strangled" I say looking down, do they know what happened "do you know how you got here?" I shook my head, I mean I assume someone heard my screams, maybe they called for help she writes something down on her chart "you're very lucky, the police and ambulance got to you just in time" is all she says, the doctor is going to come in to talk to you, she's one of our best. And the police would like to ask you a few things if you're up to it?" I nod trying to process everything that was going on. The doctor came in a few minutes after the nurse left, she explained how they had to stitch my arm and stomach and that because the rape kit came back positive they administered plan B, she also told me I'd be very sore for a few weeks, apparently I'd been out for 4 days. When she left the police came in to get my statement, they wanted to know everything, what happened, how Carlos and Sam knew each other and why they were helping each other, and I told them everything, about how Carlos raped me, how Sam knew, we dated and he became abusive, how Trent and Drake had intervened and stopped him. They assured me they would both be going away for a long time. When they left Selena came and sat by my side "I am so sorry Maria" she said with tears in her eyes "I should have listened to you, I should have been around more" I feel bad for her, I wasn't her responsibility, she should have believed me but that wouldn't have changed the fact that he did it "are the boys still here?" I decide to change the subject "they were released 2 days ago" they probably hate me now, I got them mixed up into a near death situation "they came by to see you but I told them to go home and rest, they were pretty banged up, especially Drake" I nod my head "when can I go home?" She looks at me with a sad look "not yet, they want to monitor you and organise some counselling" she grabbed me more water "now rest up, I'm going to go home I'll be back in the morning" she leaves and I drift off to sleep.

DRAKE'S POV

seeing her in trouble and not being able to help her killed me, I can't face her again, I let her down. It kept flashing in my mind, his body on top of her forcing himself on her, hurting her. When he started to choke her I saw how afraid she was I tried so hard to get out of the ropes, her body went slack and her eyes closed, I thought I lost her, he kept his hands around her throat but then the police busted in, surrounding the warehouse, they went straight to Maria, her body exposed, and limp, they started to perform CPR and when the Medics got to her they took over. My phone buzzed 'hey bro, she woke up. Selena let me know' I felt so relieved when I saw Trents message, I wish I could see her, but I couldn't. I should have kept her safe. I had a busted knee and 4 broken ribs, Trent had a bruised face and broken nose, the police questioned us and we told them what happened. Turns out Trent was in the parking lot talking to Teresa on the phone the night of Maria's birthday, when someone knocked him out, next thing he knew he woke up and Maria was tied on a steel table in front of him and I was next to him 'good, I hope she gets better' we both felt like shit for not doing more, Trent blamed himself, I blamed myself, I hope Maria could forgive us one day.

~~~~~~2 DAYS LATER~~~~~~

Me and Trent decided to meet up, I picked him up and we drove to the beach, the weather was cooling down so it would be empty. I parked the car "I don't know what to do anymore man" Trent says leaning his head back "Selena messaged me a few times, Maria's been asking about us" he sighs "I just don't think I can face her man, I let her down, I didn't keep my promise" I look straight ahead "I should have known something was wrong when you disappeared" "you should go see her bro, she'd want to know you're okay" I say and look at him, he gives me a sad smile "Teresa said we should both go, she said Maria probably needs us" I smile softly "she's a smart girl" I start to drive "Selena just messaged me" Trent says after 10 minutes "she's taking Maria home, she wants us to go over" I nod. The whole drive over is tense I feel anxious and scared. We park in front of the apartments, we both sit there for a minute, Trent makes the first move "come on bro" we walk up to the apartment. Trent knocks on the door, Miguel opens it "hey, I'm glad you guys are okay, come in" he steps aside, I don't see Maria "she's showering" I nod "how's she holding up?" I ask, he smiles but it's a sad one "you know Maria, she doesn't let anything stop her" I nod "you guys want something to drink?" "Yeah bro I could use some water" Trent says "yeah same here" we take a seat, and sip on our water. Then the bathroom door opens and we look up to see Maria, her hairs wet, she's wearing grey track pants and a white tank top "hey" she says looking sad but happy at the same time "I'm so sorry, I wish I could have kept you guys out of it and kept you both safe" she rushes out, tears filling her eyes, I stand up "no we're sorry we should have kept you safe, We should have done more to stop it" I say softly "we let you down Maria" Trent adds "no you guys didn't, you all did so much to keep me safe, they just, they just waited until we had our guard down. None of this would have happened if I had of stayed away from Sam" I don't want her to blame herself, it hurt to much "it's none of your faults, it was those 2 pedazos de mierda" (pieces of shit) Miguel says, and his right. We hung out for a while Maria kept her distance I guess after everything she didn't really want to be too close to anyone.