Face Your Fears

Chapter Two

Ethan watched the freshman scurry into her dorm building, as the door slammed shut he continued on his way. It was more often than not that during his nightly fall walks, a girl would be in trouble and he'd have to help in some way. Ethan shook his head as he slid his hands in his pants pockets. It was such a shame that most of the young men that attended here were such whores.

As rain began to fall from the dark sky, Ethan thought about how many young women who would have been raped if he wouldn't have been there, he thought about the ones who didn't have anyone there to help them. This saddened him greatly. His younger sister had been raped during her freshman year at college, she was never the same afterwards.

Ethan raised his hand and glanced at his watch, it was just past 2 in the morning now. Time had completely past by without him even noticing. He stood on the sidewalk of the T in the road, looking over at the stone apartments across from him. There was only a single light on from inside, but just as Ethan began to cross, it flicked off.

Despite New York City being the city that never sleeps, the roads were bare, empty. The rain had started to get heavier, making the roads give off a reflection. Ethan jogged a bit towards the door, taking shelter under the little roof over the front door. He quickly slid his key in and walked inside. 

The inside was dark, a few dim lights helped guide Ethan up the stairs to the top level of the 5-story apartment building. The top level was completely dark, the lights were all burned out. Ethan went inside the apartment.

It was quite small, the living room, kitchen and bedroom were all in the same room, the only separate part of the apartment was the bathroom. It would probably be classified as a studio apartment. The inside was quite different from the outside, it had a modern feel to it, everything seemed to be made out of metal. The walls were a type of brownish grey color, the floors were a charcoal colored tile.

Ethan walked over towards the bed, stripping all of his clothes off except his boxers. The clothes bundled up on the floor as he crawled into bed and under the warm covers. The mess of his clothes would still be there in the morning, he thought just as he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep, preparing for the nightmares that were ahead.

The alarm went off beside Robin's bed just as she finally had shut her eyes. She let out a loud groan, she was still dressed in that uncomfortable outfit she had been wearing at the party the night before. Casey was still absent, which made Robin nervous after being attacked herself.

Robin shook off that uneasy feeling she had in the pit of her stomach and headed into the bathroom, running the shower. She stripped and slid into the shower, letting the hot water pour down on her, leaving the skin to turn a light pink. 

When Robin was dressed and about to head towards her first class, Casey walked in, she was soaked from head to toe in water from the storm that had occurred during the night. She had a blank expression across her face, all that perkiness seemed to have vanished.

"Casey? Are you okay?" Robin asked, tilting her head to the side in concern. Grabbing a towel that was hanging on the wall and wrapping it around Casey's cold shoulders.

Casey looked at Robin, her eyes reveled an emptiness. "Fine." She said, her cracked lips forming a very light smile.

Robin wasn't convinced her friend was all right, she could feel it within her bones that something was terribly wrong, but she didn't probe her any further. "That professor saved me last night." She said, Casey may have not wanted to talk about what happened to her, but Robin felt she needed to share her encounter with a drunk student.

Casey froze from getting dressed, her voice cracked as she spoke. "What... Which professor?" She asked, swallowing the saliva in her mouth hard as Robin answered. "Oh." Her voice changed in a hurry, Robin could tell she seemed to be hiding something. "Shall we head to class?" She turned towards Robin, a worried smile across her lips.