After

Chapter 12

            Dinah waits patiently for Lauren, her heart heavy from knowing what her friend just had to experience. Lauren does finally exit the bathroom but not without tears already falling down her cheeks and her whole body shaking noticeably. Dinah doesn't know what to do so she motions for Lauren to sit down on the mattress with her. After a minute of sitting in silence side by side on the mattress, Lauren moves closer to Dinah who immediately engulfs her in a hug. Lauren is at first uncomfortable with such closeness, but she soon sinks into Dinah's arms.

"Lauren," Dinah whispers as quietly as she can, "You got to at least have an idea of who is keeping you here. Please just tell me."

"They told me not to tell you or they'll kill you." Lauren responds, matching Dinah's quiet tone in hopes of none of their captors can hear them.

"Just whisper it to me, they'll never know, they can't hear everything we say at every moment." Dinah quietly states.

"Actually," An electronically altered voice suddenly is heard, coming from the now open door, "We can." He steps in the room and his motions show how angry he is that Dinah tried to get information out of Lauren. "You know what, Dinah? I would have thought you would do anything to protect your friend as best you can; but when you start asking questions that you know are going to get her into trouble, it really makes me wonder." He approaches Lauren as she moves as far backwards as she possibly can. Dinah moves protectively in front of her but she is easily thrown aside by the man in the mask of whom she is still unsure of his identity. He grabs Lauren and she lets out a small yelp. "She is going to be in more pain, Dinah. It's all your fault too."

He carries Lauren away, leaving a fearful Dinah behind. Lauren squirms beneath his grip, her eyes growing watery again and her heart beating faster and faster by the millisecond. She is brought into the living room and placed on the couch. Brad takes off his mask and looks at her with fake sympathy. Lauren grows anxious under his gaze but tries to act as bravely as she can, "Where are your other friends, Brad? Did they leave you after finally realizing what a sorry excuse of a person you are?"

A slap to the face is the only response Lauren gets, she hopes to be able to just keep him to this level of abuse as opposed to the level she saw but a few hours ago. Tristan walks into the room with a small hint of actual sympathy in his eyes and he opens the fridge, grabs a piece of pizza, heats it up, and gives it to Lauren. Brad removes himself from the room for a moment to use the restroom, knowing that even if Tristan feels a little bad for Lauren, he won't allow her to leave. Lauren eats the food as quickly as she can, knowing it could be taken away at any moment. "Can I-can I have some water... please?" Lauren asks. Tristan simply nods and opens a water bottle and hands it to her. She gives him a grateful nod and drinks the water as quickly as she ate her food. "Why are you being nice to me?"

"I don't think what I'm doing is considered nice. All I did was give you food and water, which is kind of essential to life, you do realize I'm still one of the people keeping you here, right?" He defends himself.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to give that to me." Lauren replies.

"I guess I just felt like it, then." He pauses for a brief moment before giving her a soft smile, "You know, if Brad didn't have his eyes so firmly on you, I would love to get you alone in that room too. Actually, I'm sure James could say the same."

Lauren moves away from him after hearing what he just said. What if Brad gets bored with her and he does allow the other guys to 'have a go at her.' The thought of it makes her shudder and she soon grows extremely uncomfortable under his gaze. He sits down right next to her as she tries to subtly inch away from him, but he grabs her waist instead. She is pulled onto his lap and begins to shake again. This has already happened to her once today, it can't happen again.