Silence

Part six: running away

TRIGGER WARNING.
CONTAINS THEMES OF SEXUAL ASSAULT.

At the beginning of the school year. She had taken me to this old factory. We laid on the dirty paint covered floor of the upstairs room. There was a skylight and while everyone else suffered through third block we stared at the clouds. She told me how she once had a plan to run away. She would leave school one day and just run away. She'd stay here for a while and then just disappear. Then she told me how she would never do this because she'd miss me too much. We laughed and then I walked her home and returned to my house.

I had forgotten about that day until now. That explained her text. She had been so sad lately. So stressed. There had been so much drama in her life with me and some she didn't talk about. She was going to run away. That's why she was apologizing. My only question now was who were these people and why were they hurting her. It was now Friday and we had the day off from school. So I waited until about nine in the morning. I walked for an eternity and finally got to her house. I knew how she worked. I knew she would have a plan if she needed to come back. So I punched in the code to her garage and looked in a few pairs of shoes until I found her keys. She was so predictable.

She was brilliant and she was always prepared. So. I ran up to her room. A room I had only been in a couple times but I could find my way around like the back of my hand. I knew far too much about her. So. I grabbed the small note book that was basically hidden in her book shelf and flipped through the pages. God. As I laid in her bed and looked at her hand writing and inhaled her scent I realized how much I missed her. I needed to get her back. After about an hour of reading I stopped on a page the date was from last week and it read:

Tuesday February 28th:

I'm doing it. This is just too much. If you find this Toby. You know where I am. I don't want you to come find me. Just know that I love you. You're my best friend. There isn't anything you could have done to stop me. I just can't keep doing this. The world would be better off if no one knew where I was. They'll all forget. I hope you can forget too. I truly do love you. I'm sorry.

Love, me

As the tears ran down my face I flipped the page. Confusion and anger immediately coursed through my body. I was confused why she hadn't come to me. I was angry that some asshole had hurt her enough to make her leave.

I grabbed this book and a sweatshirt of mine that was in her bed that I didn't know she had taken. I smiled for a moment and gripped in tightly. Although it was mine it smelled like her.

Roses.

I ran down the stairs and out of her house. Making sure everything was just as I had found it. I walked the few miles to the factory and there was nothing there. I hadn't received any texts from her phone in a few hours which was concerning but I knew that this person didn't know I knew where they were. I walked up the metal stairs avoiding every step that I knew would creek. As I got to the second floor I didn't hear anything. I walked towards the room we spent hours in and I heard a maniacal laugh. I burst through the door and saw a man. He was a fairly small man so I knew he wasn't the one holding her down. I ran at him and threw him against the wall.

She wasn't here. But he knew where she was.

"Where is she you fucker!"

I screamed at him over and over as my fist collided with his jaw. Rage had taken over and I could feel the redness in my face. I finally stopped and threw him to the ground.

"She's gone. You aren't going to find her."
He grinned a terrible grin as blood poured from his nose. He spit at the ground and lifted himself up. He handed me a few pictures. Polaroids. I looked at him and then down at the photos. I had never seen anything so terrible.
"What did you do to her? Why would you do this?She's never done anything wrong!"

"She's a prude. She needed to learn that she's not good for anything except sex. She said no. We needed to teach her to keep her mouth shut."

Overwhelmed I threw this man down. I was going to kill him. I knew I was. Nothing would stop me.

She always said fighting didn't solve anything. But. This was for her.

He was covered in blood and he was almost gone. I threw one final punch and pushed him as far away from me as possible.

"I will find her. And when I do. I will come back. And I will kill you."

I walked out of the factory and collapsed. As the rage left my body and was replaced by heart ache I pulled out the pictures he'd given me.

They raped her. They were going to kill her. Every image intensifying. Her clothes were torn to shreds. Her face bruised and swollen. Her wrists bound. They raped her. Because she said no. I could only imagine who these people were. But I had every intent in finding out.