Paper Cuts (COMPLETED)

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Virgin Suicides

As with every party we rocked up late and a little bit tipsy. All of us had packed into Will's car and pulled up a street from Eliza's house, but even from there we could hear the pounding music. I held Will's hand as we walked around the corner to the party.

Harry and Matt mucked around with the cars, jumping onto their bonnets like hyper-active nine-year-olds, acting out painfully wrong karate movements. Shiloh pinched the bridge of her nose in mocked irritation, and I laughed at their idiocy.

Inevitably, they set a car alarm off, and we broke into a sprint, racing the last hundred metres or so to Eliza's house. We burst through the open door with hysterical laughs, and immediately fused with the crowd. I grabbed a fresh can of cider from the esky out the back, popping it open with a satisfying fizz.

Harry, Shiloh and I danced like toddlers on pogo sticks, according to Will. Song after song, we moved with rising fervour as the alcohol went to our heads. Shiloh and I got closer and closer, swaying up against one another to the beat as we laughed our heads off.

As I shook my head back and forth, I caught Will standing at the kitchen bench in the corner of my eye. The rest of my body continued to move as I looked at him. My vision took a second to focus and I felt myself go still amongst the dancing crowd as I saw him smile at Thea, who slid her arms along the counter with shaky movements, obviously drunk as she giggled.

I watched as she stumbled and he pulled her upright. I felt my face flush and my fingers began to twitch. I pushed through the crowd in search of the bathroom. I went into Eliza's spare room on the ground floor, and used the ensuite there. I locked the door, turned on the light, and let the tap run.

Cold water collected in my cupped hands and I raised them to my face, splashing myself with some accuracy in my hazy state of mind. I scowled at my reflection in the mirror, frustrated with myself. I'd been back with Will for less than a week and I was already a jealous mess.

But maybe that was why I was feeling that way - I was afraid of losing him again.

The bedroom door opened outside, and I jumped. Unsanitary sounds came from the bedroom as people fell onto the bed. A girl moaned and a boy laughed seductively.

Holy crap. I was stuck in a bathroom, drunk out of my mind, as two people were having sex outside. I suppressed a laugh.

Another moan came from the girl, and it wasn't a pleasant one. I frowned and stumbled towards the doorknob. I made a massive conscious effort to subtly open the door, flicking off the switch before I did so. I cracked it open, and saw one figure atop another, too dark for me to make out who they were.

Curly hair spread out on the bed from the head of the person on the bottom. The girl moaned with sluggish movement as the boy atop her ran his mouth over her neck and mouth. She turned her head to the side, and I saw her face as my eyes adjusted in the dark.

Thea was only able to avoid the boy's mouth with her head, and even then she was too slow. Her eyes were screwed shut, and she continued to moan like a sleepy child. Even in my drunk state, I knew what was happening. The boy leant back and began to unbuckle his pants, and then reached up Thea's skirt to pull down her underpants.

I found myself frozen in place as Thea whispered a quiet, 'no'. I watched as the boy pushed her down. Thea tried to bring up her arms to push him away, but the boy gripped them and forced them to her side. She groaned in pain, and I found my eyes glued to Thea's drunk frown as the boy leant over her and began to move inside her.

I would like to say that I stopped him. I would like to say that I had pulled him off her, saved her from this boy.

But I couldn't.

Thea's eyes opened slightly, and met mine as her body jerked back and forth on the bed. I felt the breath leave my chest as a tear fell from her right eye, sliding over her nose to drip onto the bed. It was then that I shook myself out of my horrified trance.

I wrenched open the door to the bathroom, and felt all delirious feeling leave my body as I marched over to the groaning boy. I grabbed him by his hair, wrenching him back with as much force as I could muster.

He screamed in pain as he stumbled back, pants around his ankles, and collapsed to the floor. I squinted in the dark, making out a blonde mop covering a freckled face. I wasn't surprised as James cursed at me, flailing drunkenly on the floor of the bedroom. I turned around to where Thea lay splayed on the bed, legs bent oddly as though she'd fallen from a high building and landed awkwardly.

I hooked her knickers with shaking fingers, pulling them up under her skirt with trembling arms. Her chest began to heave as she sobbed. She knew what had happened to her.

I grabbed her arm and pulled her upright gently. She swayed unstably, and I hooked my arms under hers to lift her up. I staggered, half-dragging her to the door.

It was as though I'd entered another world. I left the dark room and stumbled back into the party, where people danced and laughed, oblivious to what had just happened on the other side of the wall. Thea tried to stand several times, each time falling back onto me. I began to hyperventilate as I wrapped my hands around her chest, putting all my strength into getting her out of there.

My mind sobered almost instantly as I dragged her down the hallway and out of the house. I immediately thought of everything I'd been told. What do I do in this situation? I let Thea slump on the front steps, and I propped her against the wall of the house with an exhausted sob.

"Sarah?" Will skidded out of the house and his eyes widened as he looked down at where I was crouching over Thea's half-conscious body. "What's going on?"

I began to sob uncontrollably, and stood to face him, "W-Will.. Help me. He-he... did bad things to her," I cried, and Will pulled me into his chest, eyes widening in horror. I pushed myself away, shaking my head.

"He raped her..." I muttered, the word finally surfacing. The weight of what had just happened fully hit me then, and I gasped.

"Help me," I said, "Get her in the car."

Shiloh ran out of the house, and stopped with wide eyes as she looked at us, and then at Thea.

"What's going on?"

"Help Sarah get her up," Will said, and pulled his keys out of his back pocket. Shiloh lunged into action, helping me heave Thea upright. We carried her into the car. Shiloh hopped in the front seat next to Will, and I rested Thea's head on my lap as she sprawled out against the back seat.

"We need to go to the hospital," I said, and Shiloh nodded, opening her phone to look up the closest one. Will started the engine and drove off. I brushed Thea's curls away from her face.

Thea's eyes cracked open, and she stared up at me, her brown eyes glinting under the street lights as they passed through the window. She tried to move her mouth, but nothing came out. I smiled down at her, and a strange understanding passed between us, unspoken.