Sphere

Witness

*I have never been abused or raped, and I am only basing this off of other stories that I have heard. Severe rape and abuse triggers ahead***

As I walk on the ground floor of the pyramid, I notice that there are far fewer vampires and humans than there had been when I left. There's this guy that comes walking towards Juliana. He looks furious.

"Where have you been?!" he yells at her.

"Why do you care? Now you decide to care?" She screams back. I recognize this guy from training a while back. Robert tenses up beside me and I can tell he doesn't like this guy, whoever he is. He grabs my hand and pushes me behind him ever so slightly. I take my gun off safety.

"You're mine! Only mine! Why are you with these people? I don't know them!" He bellows. I roll my eyes. This guy's a butt.

"She's my best friend! We trained together before you. You had to come and wreck my life! Things started out fine, but then it started!" she yells back. I would have to ask about that later. What is it?

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We walk to my room. Robert had to go to some meeting. When we walk in, Juliana runs in and jumps on my my bed, shaking a pillow to the ground.

"Hey, I know that it's not my business, but who was that guy, and what was it?" I asked, nervous to know her response.

"That butthole was my 'boyfriend', and it is what's been going on the last year and a half," she replies, looking at her hands.

"Do you not want to tell me what has been going on for the past year and a half?" She takes me by the hand and leads me into the bathroom. She pulls up her shirt and I see big purple, red, and green bruises littering her torso. Me eyes widen.

"Yeah," she says, pulling her shirt down. "There's more too." She goes and sits back down on the bed. "He rapes me nightly," she says, with a deep sigh. Tears leak from her eyes, and the brave young woman I saw fighting some blue thing is gone, broken into a million irreparable pieces. She collapses onto the bed, sobs heaving through her body. I don't know what to do, what to say. What do you say to a rape victim?

"I'm so sorry," I say, not sure if that was what I should say.

"It's-s n-not y-y-your fault," she says with a sniffle. She stares up at the ceiling and it seems like a hundred years pass in the copse of a second. I sit on the edge of the bed and pet her leg. I notice that she flinches at first.

"Suit up," I say, making up my mind. This guy was gonna die. I put on my suit, grab my weapon, but Juliana doesn't. "I'm gonna call you Juju, ok?"

"I guess?" she asks, as if to say why would you ask at such a time as this.

"Don't suit up," I say, taking mine off. I'm going to sneak into their dorm and watch, see what happens. After telling Juju this, she walks ahead, leading me to their apartment.

We go up a floor and down three doors and she just walks in. She takes me to a closet I can hide in and I set up camp. I'll be here for a while. I put a blanket on the floor that I pulled off the shelf. I put my arms around my knees, and I can see the bedroom pretty well. I hear heavy footsteps enter the dorm. I make sure that my handgun is tucked into the side of my boot and my three knives are still in my jacket. The jerk from downstairs lumbers in, pants almost to his knees. Gah, I hate the sagging fad. I wish it died out with the apocalypse, but I guess some things just won't die.

"Hey babe," he says, going and sitting next to her on the couch. He puts his arm around her and she grimaces. "Did you come straight back here after dropping your friend off?"