Nightmare on Broadway (California Dreaming Sequel)

Chapter Twenty Two

   I didn’t think it had set in yet, the fact that I had almost been raped by someone whom I thought was a friend. It made me feel sick to think of him, to think of Tyger, of how he had managed to make us all believe he was perfectly normal, not the sociopath I now deemed him to be. This is what I thought about, as I sat on the stone steps besides Howie, watching the police tape off the area, ready to process the apartment and take my statement. What was it that made someone as seemingly innocent as Tyger, turn into a monster? I understand that how he had acted, towards his bandmates and I, was a front, but something must have happened in his life to make him do these things. I had enough faith in humanity to believe that no-one was born a killer. 

   As I was staring numbly ahead, looking at the apartment building directly across from Tyger’s, I wondered what was going on in each of those rooms, if those people had experienced anything similar to I. In a sense, I longed for someone who could understand completely how this felt, because no matter how much I talked to Hen, or Gabriel, or Leila, I knew that they would not understand entirely how I felt unless they had been through it themselves. 

   It was then that I heard my name being shouted from down the street, desperately, and both Howie and I turned to see a group of people, sprinting down the block. They reached the police tape and were stopped by an officer, but it was Gabriel’s crazed eyes which finally caused the policeman to let them all through. 

   “Jia,” Gabriel sighed, wrapping his arms around me, so tight I thought my sternum would crack. “Oh my God, Jia,” he said again, and I think he began to cry, holding his head against my shoulder. 

   “I’m okay,” I whispered in reassurance, “I am.” 

   “You’ve got blood on you,” he panicked. 

   “It’s not mine.” 

   Gabes lent back, staring into my eyes intently, not needing to say a single word to convey what he was trying to say. He gave me a moment, to think, once again, about what Tyger had tried to do to me, and I took a sharp breath inwards, flinching as the tears started to sting my eyes. I broke down into a sob and Gabriel held me against his chest, cooing softly into my ear, rocking me from side to side. I knotted my fingers into the knitted fabric of his sweater, trying to pull him even closer to me, suddenly feeling oh so hopeless. 

   I felt someone encase their arms around both Gabriel and I, their muscular arms bound so tight. This was followed by a second set of arms, and another, and another, and then a further three pairs, engulfing me in this warmth, which seemed to sink right through to my chest. Although something terrible had happened tonight, although I had lost someone I had thought of as a friend, I still had all of these other wonderful people in my life, people I loved with all of my heart. 

   Once everyone had ran out of tears to cry, they pulled away and we all wiped them away from our cheeks, laughing wearily. Gabriel had an arm around me and the others were seated on the steps around us; Henry and Leila and Remy, Carter and Edward too, and of course Howie, who remained close to my side, his presence now oddly reassuring. 

   “What happened, we didn’t hear much from the police?” Leila asked desperately, leaning over and squeezing my leg affectionately. 

   I explained to them all, of how we had been at the bar and Tyger had spiked my drink, taking me outside to get some air, as I was still unaware of his sinister motives. The cab ride back to his apartment, how he had to carry me up the stairs because I could no longer walk, tying me to the bed for fear that I would escape. It was strange, reciting the night’s events to them, like a story someone would write in a book. It did not seem real, which made it easier, I think, to confess to it all. I felt more like an outsider, narrating the story, than the main protagonist, having to live through it.