More than Best Friends?

Chapter 15 - Tears ⚠️

⚠️- Warnings for mentions of rape and sexual assault.

Pe didn't show up to school the next day.  Everything else seemed to be normal, but Henry knew that something was wrong.  Pe had never missed a day of class as long as he could remember; she would still show up, even if she wasn't at her best.  He had texted her at least five times in the past few hours and even left a voicemail for her, but she never replied.  A long list of horrible scenarios ran through his mind, and he was hoping that none of them were true.

Kyle saw Henry sulking in the hallway and went to greet his friend.  They weren't terribly close, but he could tell that something had definitely happened, as he appeared to be very upset.  He clamped a hand down on Henry's shoulder and yelled an enthusiastic "Hey!"  Henry simply shrugged his hand off and gazed at the tiled flooring.

"You okay, dude?" Kyle asked, "You don't look so great.  No offense, though." He waved his hands as he said it, trying to keep on his good side.

"I'm fine.  It's just that Pe hasn't answered any of my messages today, and she wasn't in class," Henry said and shook his head.

"Oh, yea.  I thought you might have known about that already.  Yuki said she's at home.  She must have caught something nasty because he said that she's not feeling too good."  Henry felt a twinge of jealousy prick him, as she'd told them what she was doing and not him.  He didn't want to be overly controlling but was too worried about her to let his thoughts go.  He decided that he would go see her after school to ask what it was all about.

~*~

Henry knocked on the front door to Pe's house as he held a plastic grocery bag of freshly trimmed flowers and her favorite snacks.  He wanted to make her feel special, and remind her that he cared deeply for her, so he had stopped by one of the convenience stores on his way there.  To his surprise, it wasn't one of Pe's brothers who answered the door, but it was Yuki.

"I figured you might decide to show up," Yuki sneered.  Henry scrunched his nose in confusion, as it was wasn't normal for Yuki to be so snarky.  "I'll take that and bring it upstairs.  I don't think she wants any company right now."  Yuki reached out for the bag, but Henry's grip on the translucent handles tightened.

"Then why are you here?" Henry asked, "She didn't even tell me she wasn't coming to class today.  Did I do something wrong?"

"So you wait until she's sick and at home to ask that?  Weren't you worried about her at all before?"  Yuki snapped, furrowing his brows in anger.

"Wait!  Just, let me see her, please," Henry said.  He tentatively reached out with his free hand, afraid that Yuki might slam the door on him.  Instead, Yuki opened the door further and let him in, quickly shutting it as he walked inside.  Henry set the plastic bag down on the kitchen counter and turned to make his way upstairs to Pe's room.

"Don't try anything funny," Yuki mumbled, but it was loud enough for Henry to hear.

"Excuse me?" he asked, and crossed his arms, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what you did.  You're the reason she's stuck up there.  She won't come out and it's all your fault."  Yuki wasn't usually this upset, but Henry had hurt Pe, and wouldn't let his actions go unpunished.

"Frankly, I don't," Henry said, shaking his head.

"You raped her, idiot.  More than once, might I add."

"What!  I did no such thing," Henry retorted, "I'm disgusted you think I'd do something so awful."  A hand flew to his chest in his offense at the accusation.