Lost in Hollywood

Fearless, and Therefore Powerful

Sky hated hospitals.

She hated all of it - the stench of disinfectant, sick people and medicine, the squeaky clean floors, the worn, scratchy sheets, the hospital gown she was forced to wear. But more than anything, she hated the feeling in her gut that hit her every time she was back in here, the nauseating mix of fear and anxiety that made her stomach turn.

She had begged Dad to let her stay home, but Dad had been adamant. He was not ignoring her nausea or the splitting headache, that could have been signs of a concussion, and yeah, Sky knew he was right, but still. She'd rather be anywhere than here.

And to make things even worse, Dad had called the police.

Sky rested her aching head on the pillow, trying to fight the burning tears behind her closed eyelids. Nothing she'd tried to say to Dad had made any difference. She had cried and she had begged, but he had still made the call. Enough, he had said his voice sahking with barely contained emotion. This insanity has been going on long enough. I'm not going to watch how they kill my only daughter.

Sky knew he meant well, but the knot in her gut told her this was a mistake. Dad didn't understand. He didn't know John Kreese like Sky did, or Terry Silver who was supposedly even worse. Dad didn't know how they were, how much power they held. He didn't understand that fighting Cobra Kai would not help Sky, that it would only make things worse. And what hurt even more, was that Dad didn't understand that talking about what Kyler had done was—

Impossible.

It felt impossible.

The words were locked up in Sky's stomach, in a tight, cold knot, and forcing them out would hurt.

It had taken her two years to be able to talk about the things Matt had done, and to this day she had only told it to Dad, Cody, and Eli. And to her therapist. But to talk to the police— She had never even thought about it. There had been no point. Matt was already rotting in jail.

But Kyler—

The memory of his hot, sweaty hands shoving up her skirt flashed through Sky's body like a sword. She wrapped her arms around her knees, hugging them tighter against her aching chest to keep herself together. She could still feel his touch, his fingers stroking her through her panties, trying to get in. She could still taste the sharp taste of fear and shame on her lips. She'd been so fucking helpless. In his eyes, she had seen what he wanted to do to her. Awful, awful things. To break her, the same way Matt had, to break her body and her soul and her heart, to kill her by drowning her in shame. Had Tory and Robby not been there, Kyler would have gone through with it. You could say many bad things about Tory and Robbt, but they didn't seem like people who would just stand by when a girl was raped, even if they were in Cobra Kai. But had they not been there—

A new wave of nausea washed through Sky's strengthless body. She clenched her jaw and swallowed, swallowed, swallowed to keep the bile down.

Had Tory and Robby not been there, Kyler would have had his way with her. And who knew about the rest of the guys in Cobra Kai? They were all sick bastards. Maybe they all would have taken turns, one by one, doing it in front of Eli—

That thought was too painful, Sky couldn't take it. It burned in her chest like a flaming arrow. Her shame was a bottomless dark hole where she kept falling, falling, falling. Eli hadn't even been able to look her in the eye on the way here. He had barely said a dozen words to her, and that hurt more than anything.

Maybe he thought she'd been asking for it?

Maybe he thought she deserved it?

He had said it himself, that horrible night they had fought on his front door, that the only reason anyone would be with her was to get some pussy, so maybe seeing Kyler treating her like a worthless slut, had reminded Eli of what she really was.