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Chapter 8

I'm sitting outside the doorway of Mr.Fara's classroom while a swarm of people surround me, their conversations indistinct. An EMT bandages my arm where I had apparently gotten stabbed by a wooden easel. His hair seems to be graying and his eyes are losing their color, he's aging. He hands me an ice pack for my bruised wrists, packing all his things back into his crimson bag with his calloused hands. He speaks to me before he leaves but all the sound has become muffled around me so I just nod a response.

Cole stands speaking to an officer, his head is bandaged and so are both his knuckles. His plaid shirt is wrinkled and hangs loosely on his frame. The officer holds a small pad of paper in his hands, quickly copying down every word Cole was saying.

I see my parents rushing towards me, worry painted on their face. They kneel down on either side of me, checking me all over, and attempting to comfort me by rubbing my arm and my face. My mom's eyes are red and puffy, accentuating her blue eyes. Her hair is tied back in a ponytail but some red strands hang by her cheeks. My dad seems to look like he just spent the afternoon at the gym, he looks so out of breath. He squeezes my hand and strokes my hair, never letting his eyes leave me. Looking at him this close up, I begin to notice wrinkles starting to appear. They're around his mouth, his eyes, on his forehead. He's beginning to look like the EMT. They both speak to me but everything still seems to be on mute, it's like my brain just shut my ears off for some reason.

An officer approaches my parents causing them to stand up. My mother seems aggravated with him for some reason, and I see my father gently touch her arm to try to calm her down. The officer leads them both away, leaving me to watch everything happen around me.

I was almost raped.

The thought seems to finally appear in front of me, as if it had been lurking in the fog, watching and waiting until it was the right time to show itself. I should've seen it coming, it was so obvious. He was always staring and was always too eager to stay after with me or assist me in my drawings. It's not normal for a teacher to treat his students like that, nor is it appropriate.

What's going to happen now? Will he go to jail? Will they even believe me? What's going to happen at school tomorrow? Will people know what happened?

My thoughts are interrupted by Harlie and Blake who show up, suddenly by my side. Harlie's mouth is moving at ninety miles per hour and Blake just rests his hand on my shoulder and stares at me, as if I was a ghost. I can barely hear Harlie but, I can make out some of what she is saying. I catch a little of what she was saying. I hear "Give me a heart attack" and "Never leave my side".

My hearing seems to be recovering as Harlie's voice gets louder and louder. Finally, it's to the point that it's hurting my ears and I begin to cover them.

"Could you stop yelling?" I ask her.

Her face widens as if she's shocked that I can actually talk. "Audrey!" She pulls me into a huge hug as Blake's hand falls away from my shoulder.

"What?" I ask.

"I thought you were gonna be mute forever! The officer had told us that you hadn't said anything since they got here." She pulls away.

"Well, I'm speaking now." I state.

"I know and I love it!" Harlie squeezes both my hands.

"Who called you?" I look at both of them, Harlie not letting go of my hands.

"Cole did." Blake responds.

"Yeah, he said that you needed us and that it was an emergency." Harlie pauses. "What exactly did happen?"

I take a deep breath, I might as well tell them. I mean, they're my best friends. "Mr.Fara tried to... he... he tried to take advantage of me and..." I could barely speak the word.