Clouds Cover the Sun Because they like the warmth

A Trap

T.W: Sexual Assault

Author's Note: I want to begin with this, I am NOT an assault survivor. This chapter may not properly reflect how people express themselves during, or after an assault. I also want to clarify I am not making fun of or making light of people who have been assaulted. This a serious thing and nobody should have to go through something like that. And if you have been assaulted, I really hope you are doing better now, and that the person got punished. You are so strong and keep pushing through <3

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A loud laugh came from the group of women. "Are you actually serious?" Violet said while looking over at Kattie. "Yeah, I know. I swear the son of mine is always finding some way to entertain his older sister." Kattie said as Daniella looked down at her watch. "Oh shit, guys we are going to be late!" Daniella exclaimed as the other three quickly realized the time. "Oh shit!" Fiona exclaimed as the other four other women began to exit. Leaving Manon all alone now. "Bye, Marianne." Daniella said. "Bye." Manon replied before using the bathroom and then leaving it. As she did she heard a loud thud coming from her right. Looking down the hall she noticed one door was open at the very far end of the hall. She knew the janitor's closet was down this hall, but she hadn't seen either Lucy, or Wilbur on the floor. Part of her wanted to go down and check, but the other part of her didn't. Especially by herself. She walked back over to her station reaching into her purse and grabbing her pair of scissors. Then she heard a loud grunt coming from the direction of the janitor's closet. It sounded like Lucy. "Lucy?" Manon shouted only to get no response. Something did not feel right. Still if Lucy was in trouble it would be horrible for her to just leave her there. Still out of safety Manon grabbed her scissors before slowly approaching the closet. Every step was slow, and silent as she listened for any sign of noise. With each step she heard nothing and that really put her on edge. All she could really hear was her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Her hands were shaking with her scissors out ready just in case as she finally rounded over to the door. The closet was much bigger than she expected. Even then most things were placed as close to the side as they could. It seemed there was more further back and to the left. As Manon could see the ends of a pair of boots. "Lucy?" Manon asked, now having more fear if Lucy got knocked out as she walked over towards the pair of boots. As soon as she did the door shut. Manon quickly turned around as the room became dark. Heavy footsteps made their way over and now her fight or flight mode kicked in. Manon quickly tried to stab the person through the blindness in the dark. Almost immediately her wrist was caught in someone's hand. Now things are getting really bad as the person tried to pry the scissors from her hands. Manon tightened her grip as she launched her elbow into the side of the person. A male grunt was heard and by then Manon knew who it was. She froze completely, letting him get the upper hand in snatching the scissors and throwing them somewhere in the room. The only thing snapping her out was being pushed against the wall. Manon let out a grunt before following it with a high-pitched scream. Her mouth was immediately shut by a hand. "Shut up. You should just relax." Wilbur whispered as Manon's eyes were finally adjusting to see the sick grin on Wilbur's face. Her body began shaking as she began clawing at his arms. Kicking and thrashing. "Let go of me you bastard." Manon said as she could feel a hand moving to her chest. "Now why would I do that? You've been wanting it all this time after all." Manon didn't know what he was talking about. Fear went through her as his hand continued to go lower. Manon let out shaky breaths while clawing at his arms. Trying to get him off. All of it began to feel awfully familiar. Only this time she wasn't sure if she was able to escape. Tears were threatening to pool in her eyes. As horrid lips pressed against hers. Manon did her best to keep her mouth shut all while a tongue was prying at her lips. Hands starting to slip under her clothes she continued to try to remove herself from his grasp. Suddenly a bright yellow light shined right on them as Wilbur was put straight into a headlock. "G-G-Get ou-out-out-out ." Lucy shouted with a glitchy voice as Wilbur was struggling to remove himself from Lucy's grasp. Manon didn't waste a moment making it straight for the door. As she heard a collision to the ground. She didn't look back as she threw open the door and immediately collided with someone else. A pair of hands gently grasped at her shoulders and she pushed back immediately. Looking up she saw Norman. Concern laced his face as Manon felt like she was about to cry. "I need to be alone right now." And then she ran off into the women's restroom locking herself in a stall door as she slumped to the floor. Tears officially streaming down her face. She knew she shouldn't have done that. Even if Lucy was knocked out. She should've just waited for Norman to come down for his coffee and investigated together, or notified Manuel. She curled into a ball as she heard shouting from outside. Her body shaking as thoughts drifted to what would've happened if Lucy hadn't regained consciousness. What if worse had been done to both of them? It just made everything worse. The room felt like it was suffocating around her as ringing started to play in her ears. Everything felt as if it was crumbling around her. Then she could feel someone sitting next to her. Manon looked over to see Fiona. Manon tried to speak but nothing was coming out. Fiona held her hand up. Manon looked to see a flower blooming right in her palm. "Smell, it'll help you calm down." Manon smelled the fresh smell of lavender coming from it. Giving her a way to take a deep breath compared to all of the shallow ones she had been taking. Slowly but surely she was calming down. Though she still felt horrible. Fiona put a hand on her shoulder. "I heard you scream from downstairs." Manon looked back at her. Fiona also had tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry." Fiona said as the tears started coming out again. Fiona wrapped around to hug her. Manon grabbed one as she noticed a bright green light on Fiona's arms before vines with more flowers popping up. Manon looked down at it before smiling slightly. Even though she was still rather upset. A few minutes passed and the door opened. Heavy boots stepped onto the floor. Making Manon tense up. "Relax, it's just me." Lucy said giving the two women a sense of calm though Manon heard what sounded like a spark. "Are you doing okay in there Marianne?" Lucy asked through the door. "I got her." Fiona replied as Lucy let out a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to save you sooner. Wilbur got me pretty good beforehand. Also sorry if I gave you a fright." Manon was confused for a few seconds. Why would Lucy scare her? Fiona seemed to know. "Did he take it off?" She asked as Lucy sighed. "Yeah after he put a nick in it. I'm going to have Manuel help patch me up before I put it back on. Anyways I wanted to make sure you weren't alone." The door opened again and a pair of heels clanked on the tile. "Hello Elizabeth." Lucy greeted. "Oh my Lucy. You're going to risk ruining your other wires like that." Lucy sighed. "I know. I'm heading out. Fiona is in there with Marianne." Lucy said as she walked away leaving the two with Elizabeth. "May I come in?" Elizabeth asked as Fiona looked at Manon removing her arms from her. Manon wasn't too familiar with her, but she did seem relatively concerned. Which made her feel a bit better. Manon nodded. "Yeah sure." She said as Fiona got up and unlocked the stall door. There stood a woman in black bell bottom slacks, black heels, with a deep red button up shirt. Her skin was rather pale with long black hair partly tied up. Thin rectangular frames hiding deep red eyes matching her shirt and lipstick. She crouched down. "Hey Marianne. I'm Elizabeth Dragoon, I'm an accountant here. If you want to, you can stay in my office." Manon gave her a small smile. That did sound nice. Better than staying in the bathroom where someone could walk in easier. "Yeah." Manon responded as Fiona helped her up. When they left the entire hall was quiet. No sign of anyone around. The three women made their way to the elevators. With Elizabeth and Manon getting on the first lift. Arriving on the ninth floor. Manon was led down the hall to a different office with another plaque on the door with Elizabeth's name engraved on it. Inside her office was not what she was expecting. Heavy blinds were on the window, and a coat rack to her left had a sunhat and coat on it. There were two chairs shoved to the wall next to the door. Several organized stacks of paperwork on the large desk, and a small stove was placed in the corner with a kettle on it. Manon took a seat in one of the cushioned chairs as Elizabeht shut the door behind them. "Would you like some tea? I have mostly fruit variants, but I have some herbal ones as well." Elizabeth said as she opened the oven part to reveal several boxes of tea bags in it. Manon was a little surprised but would gladly take some to help calm her nerves. "Sure, I don't care what type." She replied rather coldly. After those tears all she really was numb. Why did she feel like this? She should be upset like earlier. Angry even, and yet it was just numb inside. Elizabeth sat next to her giving her a warm mug of tea. Manon took it and took a sip. The taste of peppermint hitting her tongue. Giving her warmth inside, and yet everything still felt numb. Is this what something like this felt like? Even when she nearly lost her life she felt something. Even if it was fear, and yet this was something completely different than nothing. "Is this normal?" Manon whispered as Elizabeth let out a hum. "What do you mean?" "I literally just got assaulted not even five minutes ago, and I feel nothing. Why do I feel nothing?" Tears once again pooled in her eyes. Spilling down her face. Elizabeth let out a silent sigh. "I don't know. I've never been through that, but..." Manon looked over at her. "I do know that it is okay to feel whatever you are feeling." Manon nodded but it still didn't make her feel much better. Though Manon once again broke into tears. "I'm sorry." Manon said through sobs. "You have nothing to be sorry about." Elizabeth replied as Manon nodded. She knew that, and yet she wanted to apologize for no reason. Elizabeth placed a hand on her shoulder. Manon took a few more minutes to calm down. Elizabeth sitting beside her. Then her phone rang. Elizabeth stood up and answered it. "Hello this is Elizabeth Dragon, accountant speaking." There was silence before she nodded. "I'll let her know." She said before hanging the phone. "When you feel ready Mr.Stryker wants to see you. The monochrome one." Manon nodded a slight smile on her face. Though she didn't feel quite ready to see him yet. He did say she could wait until she was ready. It made her heart flutter a little that he was willing to be patient with her. She would wait for a bit longer. Just to feel better.

Norman sat at his desk. Tapping his finger against the desk while staring at the frightened janitor in front of him. When he stepped onto floor seven, he was surprised to see Manon wasn't there. He figured she was just in the bathroom. Until he heard thudding footsteps coming from down the hall. He walked over before he heard Lucy scream, "Get out!" Suddenly anxiety filled his body as he began to walk over, only to have Manon crash into him. When he saw the look on his face he knew deep down something awful had happened. Then he saw Lucy. The fake human mask she wore lying on the ground revealing the golden metal that made up her body as she practically strangled Wilbur. It was then he knew the worse had happened, and all he could feel was rage. "Do you know why you are here Wilbur?" Wilbur nodded. "Mr.Stryker, she, she wanted it. She was asking for it." Now that pissed him off. "Just like every other woman in this office." Wilbur went dead silent. "You know Mr.Ethusians was asking for termination when you left the mop cart in the middle of the hall. Everyone chalked it up to being a simple accident. Then Lucy started telling Manuel about something she had heard had happened to other female employees. Women who all had one perpetrator in their stories. We were willing to give you some benefit of doubt. After all we didn't have very many of these women coming to Manuel to file sexual harassment claims, or even have them report assaults. And then our suspicions grew when some of the women would come in with injuries, alongside you. This is why security cameras were starting to be installed, and yet clearly not fast enough." Norman said as he stood up. "Mr.Stryker I swear she wanted me to do it. She knocked Lucy out. She damaged the wire, she wanted me to..." Norman slammed his hands on the desk. "I don't believe you. Because not many employees know Lucy is a robot." "Okay, but she wanted it." "No She Didn't. You want to know how I know?" Wilbur nodded his head. "Because we are dating dipshit." Wilbur turned as white as a sheet, as Norman began to walk over him. "You will be fired, but we wish to keep an eye on you, and to teach you a lesson about harming others. "Wait no, sir please!" Wilbur begged as he tried to move away but it was already too late. Norman had cornered. His right hand felt fuzzy as he brought it up to Wilbur's face. He normally hated doing this. It was never usually in his cards to use his rather special ability. But Mr.Ethesians was rather convincing this one time. After all, Manon didn't deserve that. None of them women did, and this was perhaps his last straw. Usually he didn't get any satisfaction out of it. Just keeping his usual smile on his face, but now it was real. Wilbur's pleas as he dug his fingers into Wilbur's eyes. Watching his whole body turn into a monochromatic color scheme. Eyes replaced with two bloody X's, and a bloody smile on his face. Black blood got on his fingertips as he dropped Wilbur. Leaving him to land on his knees. "You will be like this for two weeks to work off your termination and give us time to find a replacement. If you work on the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth floor, you may enter the ninth floor after hours. You are not permitted to enter the seventh, or first floor under any circumstance. You will not interact with anyone, you will just clean, understand?" Norman's voice sounded echoey as his eyes burned with a sick satisfaction as Wilbur nodded. "Good you may start now." Wilbur got off of the floor moving to the door and leaving as Norman's eyes slowly returned to a gray. He was still angry at him, but he knew everyone in the office would get a good laugh out of this. If anything it served him right. To be humiliated in front of the women he had humiliated. He wished Manon could see it, yet, he didn't want to scare her. She had been through an abusive relationship before. And something bad had clearly happened which caused her to get the stitches in her stomach. So he would just keep a secret for now. Besides he had doubts Manon would even want to see Wilbur. He turned back over to his desk, picking up his phone and dialing Elizabeht's number. He knew she may not be ready to see him just yet, but he wanted her to know that when she was ready, he wanted to. He needed to. He wanted to make sure she was going to be okay. No matter what.