Even If It Kills Me

Caring and Careful

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Courtney's POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shayne walked me home, his hand around my shoulders the whole time. We arrived at my doorstep, where Shayne asked me, " Would you like me to walk you in?" "If you don't mind, " I responded gratefully. He smiled gently and opened the door for me, his hand on the small of my back ushering me in. "Go take a shower," Shayne kindly suggested. "O-Okay," I answered. I walked into the bathroom, locked the door, and turned on the shower. I shuddered before slowly removing the tattered remains of my clothes. I stepped into the steaming stream of water, closing my eyes and feeling the warmth of the hot water enveloping me like a warm hug. Like Shayne's warm hug. Shayne, I thought, and smiled. He had saved me, protected me from something far worse, been my knight in shining armor. My knight who cared about me. My knight who....belonged to someone else. I felt my face fall, my heart stop, my eyes fill with somber tears. Olivia wouldn't be happy, to know that her hero had saved someone else. Her hero had saved me from it....from them....from the monsters. Then, it hit me. He could have hurt me, done anything he wanted, and if no one came, I could be sold, pregnant, or dead. Death. He was coming, attacking me. I felt his hands, his hands where they shouldn't be, my heart, beating out of my chest, the stench of his hot breath on my face. His hands. That part kept coming back to me, his hands in places no one else's had been before. His hands. I felt a sob begin to rise up in my chest, and before I could stop it, tear roughly out of my throat. It kept coming back. His hands. Flashes of his hot sweaty face. His hands. My vision going black, fading, fading, gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Shayne POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was standing in Courtney's kitchen, cooking some pasta and making hot tea for her. I noticed that she never got to each lunch,  so she must have been starving. And I noticed that she always ate pasta primavera with pesto when she was unhappy or sick. Then I heard it. A wail, a scream, a rough cry. A solitary rough cry. "Courtney!!" I yelled, rushing towards the bathroom. I tried to open the door, before realizing that it was locked. "Courtney? Courtney!?" I slammed open the door. The shower was still running, and she was still inside. I saw her gorgeous blonde locks on the floor of the shower, and turned off the hot water. I had to make sure that she was okay, but I didn't want to scar her more. I threw a towel on her without looking, and gently lifted her out of the shower. I put a cold hand cloth on her forehead, and carefully shook her to try to awaken her. "Shayne?"