2013: Carmen meets Pete Wentz on a rainy evening. His kindness and mystery draw her in, and she begins to fall for him. He comes with a dark past and secrets but she's willing to stay by his side and fight them. Even if it could cost her life.
Is hi...
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"And I want these words to make things right But it's the wrongs that make the words come to life "Who does he think he is?"
CARMEN woke up in a panic, suddenly remembering the night before. She felt cold and shivery and her hands ached with pain; she was thankful that she had managed to clean them off. She wanted to remain cosied up in her duvet, the mysterious stranger was probably in another city by now, and her existence was next to nothing in his life. Carmen groaned and forced herself to get up and shower, the warmth of the shower felt good on her tight muscles, and she hissed as it reached her stinging cuts on her hands. Once she had dried off, she threw on a new skirt and a warm, mint coloured jumper. The sun outside was glowing warmly through her windows, but she still felt a shiver in her bones. She sat for a few minutes at the end of her bed, eyes drawn to herself in the mirror opposite; her soft brown hair fell in curls just below her shoulders. Carmen knew she was average looking, but yesterday's encounter with Pete had her questioning herself. She shut her eyes and imagined his lips next to her neck, whispering softly, sending vibrations shivering through her body.
Carmen forced some tea into her body, once she had finished daydreaming and she glanced down at the front door as she took a sip. A neat little parcel and letter lay on the mat, and she smiled, her parents would often send her little gifts from their travels. Carmen carefully placed her cup of tea down on the counter and floated over to the parcel, she opened the little letter and smiled, ready to hear about her parent's crazy adventures. Her heart skipped slightly as she read the single sentence:
'St Chicago Street, Flat 104. Come find me. P x.'
Nervously, she took the parcel to the counter and sat down at a chair; with her hands still holding the brown paper of the parcel, she finally breathed out. He had thought of her, she couldn't believe it. Drifting back into reality, she opened the little parcel and found another scrap of paper with a number scribbled on it. Carmen laughed to herself, why did he feel the need to wrap up his number? Did he think his number, the only way of her contacting him, was a special gift? She let the piece of paper float to the counter and pushed her chair away, she wasn't going to get involved in that situation. Carmen, however, could not busy herself with anything and swept back to the number and added it as a contact to her phone. Clutching the address on the other piece of paper, she gave in and decided to investigate. Something about him enticed her in, wanting more.
The street wasn't too far away from the stadium, and so she felt relatively confident in her sense of direction until she rounded the corner into a dodgy area. Carmen panicked slightly but kept her head down and walked across the parking lot, trying to stay away from the group of men who sat on a wall smoking and day drinking. Her pace picked up as one of them noticed her walking past and called out loudly, "Nice tat girl, can I get a closer look?"
Carmen picked up her pace just the slightest and kept her head down, pretending not to hear him. She heard a bottle smash and she looked up in fear as he started to walk over to her, she tried to walk the opposite direction, but the rest of the men had walked over.
"You going to ignore me? What you doing down here love, it isn't safe," the man spat before smirking at his friends.
Carmen swallowed and shrugged, trying to act confident and not scared in front of them, "My friends live around here, so if you'd excuse me," she spoke and tried to walk between two of the men.
One of them shook their head and flicked his cigarette in the direction of Carmen, who recoiled in fear and brought her arms across her chest. Her eyes darted between them and she took a couple of steps back before one of the men behind her wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Carmen flinched and, out of instinct, threw a punch in the direction of his face. The man cried out, clutching his bleeding nose, before regaining composure and smirking, looking at the rest of guys and nodding. In a split second, another had grabbed her hair and dragged her close to him. Carmen cried out, "Please," but the men just laughed between them.
"I'm sure we can make use of her," the bleeding man spoke, spitting blood on the pavement in front of her.
Carmen was terrified, she couldn't move, and she couldn't scream. It was a secluded area, there was no one around. Her mint jumper was torn away from her, as the men started to undress her. Carmen fought back, sending kicks in any direction, hoping for a hit. The men started to get impatient and threw her on the ground, hoping they could subdue her. Carmen's head hit the floor hard and she moaned as she felt a trickle of blood down her face. This was it, she thought, it was how she was going to die. She cried softly, whilst the men attempted to wrangle more clothing off her until her vision clouded, and her eyes flickering shut.
The last thing she remembered seeing before she blacked out was a pair of beaten up converse coming into view.
