SAVE ME

Ch#16 Towards the Leaders

Ch#16 Towards the Leaders

As we walked closer towards Riley, I could see her worried expression which was directed at me. She got up and walked towards me while Bethany let go of me. I thanked her and asked, trying my best to not sound bitchy.

"No offense, but could you please leave? I don't mean to be rude. I just want to speak with Riley privately."

"Yeah, sure. No problem", she laughed off and left. I turned towards Riley and she helped me sit down.

"So, what is it that you want to speak with me privately?"

I contemplated for about 3 seconds whether or not to apologize for my rude behaviour earlier when she came to help me. But threw that thought right out of the window. She doesn't deserve my apology, but she needs my help and so do the others.

"Let me get straight to the point. What deal is it that Dave always speaks about? When I first came here, remember I had forgotten my bag in the office and returned back for it? I overheard your conversation. You were telling something about your deal being on the weekends only. Also on my first day here, Dave told me that he had to break his deal with you because of me. Just what exactly is this deal?", I ranted out in frustration. Riley avoided my gaze. She felt embarrassed to answer my question. But why?

"Riley, look at me. You need to help me out for me to be able to help you guys. We'll be getting nowhere if we won't open up to each other." She looked at me with uneasiness.

She feels uncomfortable with you, Al.

She doesn't trust me.

"Riley, I am here to save you guys. I won't ever turn my back against you. No matter what. I've been there, I know what it feels like when those whom you once called friends walk out on you. I won't ever leave behind the people who ask for my help. Trust me", I uttered each word with determination. I won't ever let someone else go through what I went through.

"Dave sexually harasses me", she opened up. My eyes widened. I did expect that though, but not what came ahead.

"At first he only used to call me words. He then started touching me. Later he began to force me to strip", her eyes glittered with tears. I didn't interrupt her and let her take a pause. It's not easy for a person to open up about their sexual abuse. I let her take her time.

"I started to fight back. I never let him strip me. But he enjoyed this. He told that he likes it when I become aggressive." Ugh, disgusting bastard. Such a pollutant on this planet of Earth!

"That is when I stopped fighting back. I couldn't let him enjoy my sufferings. But things whirlwind due to this. He began to physically abuse the other students before my eyes as a punishment for me. He knew that I wouldn't mind if he abuses me, but abusing anyone else in the Base would make me follow his orders. I held in well but ultimately I had to give up. I fell into his trap. That is when he cracked the deal. Every weekend he calls me up and makes me wear the most revealing clothes and takes pictures of myself. He even forces me to strip and has the videos of it as well. Because of that I can't even speak up to him. He had threatened me that if I won't do as he says, he would upload the pictures on the internet." She looked into my eyes with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Am I being punished for what I did in the past, Alana? Your eyes, your smile, it resembles her a lot. Looking at you, stings my heart every time. My past keeps haunting me. Why, just why did I do that back then? It's all my mistake. I'm only being punished for my actions", she sobbed.

I was taken aback by her words. She remembers.

She still remembers you, Al.

I pulled myself out from the daze. It's not the time to dwell about the past.

Words are never enough to comfort a person who went through sexual abuse. Even while being abused like this every weekend, she managed to put on a smile on her face. She managed to survive a day more, each day. Tears rolled down my cheeks even before I realized they did. I did my best to pull her into a hug with my bruised ribs and a hurt arm.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you. But now I'm here. You're not alone anymore. I care about you and I'm here to listen or help you in any way I can," I tried to console her. She let go of me remembering about my bruised ribs.

"You're hurt, Alana. Don't be in pain trying to comfort me." Both of us wiped off our tears before others would catch it. I hope y'all remember that the main room of the Base doesn't have any privacy.

"I need to know one more thing. You told that you stopped reporting about the incidents that take place in the Base, right. Why? And Dave let you do that?" As soon as I asked her, her face masked with guilt.

"I was never a spy to begin with. Just because Dave kept summoning me whenever he wanted to fulfill his lewd desires, everyone thought I am a spy. Eventually, he started to threaten me with my pictures, to reveal the happenings of the Base. But ever since Ellis, Yohan and Bethany asked for my help, I stopped reporting. All the students trapped here look up to them. They pray that one day, these three will save them all. One day, they will all be able to go home. Therefore, the Leaders tried to get a spy onto their side. They asked me about Dave's routines and many other things. That is when I decided to not report anymore. They believed in me and came forward for my help, I couldn't back stab them. But its consequence was the cut on Ellis and Yohan's neck."

She thinks she's responsible for it.

I nodded for her to continue.

"But they don't trust me anymore now. Especially Ellis. That guy's got trust issues. I don't know what more will Dave do if I won't report to him. But I have resolved to not to report and to not even go to him when he calls me to satisfy his filthy needs." Her eyes were burning with determination. That's the Riley I once knew. The brave, courageous and the righteous one. I smiled at her proudly.

"But then what about those pictures? Didn't he threaten you with them?"

She sighed. "I don't care about them anymore. If he wants to reveal them, he can. Anyways, I'm an orphan. Neither do I have a family who would be ashamed of me, nor friends who would be worried for me. I'm all alone in this world now", she whispered.

I felt bad for her. The once loved-by-all Riley, has now become a nobody. I snapped myself out before I fell into the pity party. It's not the time for this. I stood up and was met with yet another jolt of electricity. I grumbled but ignored the pain and grabbed her hand.

"What are you doing?", she seeked.

"What else. I'm taking you to the Leaders, duh."

"But why?"

"We need to gain back their trust, now, don't we? Both of us are sailing the same ship whose captains are the Leaders. We don't want them to throw us into the sea and drown to death, right?" She gave me the 'you-are-the-most-idiotic-person-that-I-have-ever-met' expression. That is a look that Aiden shoots at me very often. I smiled at her like a fool who is about to get free food and marched forward.

"Towards the Leaders!"

"They are on the other side, Alana."

I turned around and called out again with my fist pumping in the air.

"Towards the Leaders!"