Year by year

Chapter 8

TW: PTSD flashback, sexual assault mention, mention of abuse
Italics=thoughts Underline=flashback

**A few days later**

In the past few days Michael, Ivy, and I have all gotten a lot closer. They have been working with me to get over the fear of boys and have been helping me with my PTSD flashbacks. But they of course aren't around when I need them the most. I'm sitting on the stairs listening to Dr. Wells arguing with Agent Briggs and Agent Sterling about taking me back to the factory where I was tortured.
"She needs to go back there so we can confirm that Gabe has not been using that as a hiding place." Briggs argues. "Why can't one of your lackies do that instead?!" Dr. Wells demands.
"My 'lackies' could do it but they don't know that place as well as she does!!!" He practically yells causing me to flinch slightly.
"She may know that place better than anyone but I've told you repeatedly that she not ready for that much stress yet!!!" Dr. Wells yells at him. They argue back and forth like this for hours.

I can't listen to this for more than a couple minutes. So I burst out of the house and into the garage behind the back of the car, Michael and I are working on, and melt down to the floor in tears. After several minutes Michael walks in to work on the car and hears me crying. He walks around the car to see me curled up in a ball crying softly fighting off a flashback.
"Hey what's wrong?" He asks carefully approaching me. I tell him about the conversation that I overheard between Dr. Wells and Agent Briggs.
"I just......I-I don't think I can go back there..." I finish as he sits next to me. "Well that makes sense especially with what happened there. They can't force you to do something that you're not ready." Michael sympathizes and puts an arm around me in an act to comfort me. I lean up against his chest as I try to get myself to stop crying.

After a few minutes I've calmed down to the point that I'm not crying anymore either that or I ran out of tears.
"Hey, I have an idea meet me in your room in about 30 minutes." Michael announces jumping up and helping me up before he runs off. Okay well that was weird. But I guess everything with him is weird. I'm so glad to have him as a friend even if I see him as a brother. I wonder why he wants to meet in my room. I think as I walk out of the garage and into the house. When I enter I hear the agents still fighting with Dr. Wells and head to my room to see what Michael's big idea is.

When I get to the room that I now share with Liv, I find that everyone except for Michael and Lia have gathered. I sit on my bed waiting for Michael to arrive and tell us why he told us all to meet. As I open the container of blueberries that I snagged on my way up to my room Michael enters followed by Lia.
"So why did you call us all to meet here of all places?" Dean asks.
"Because it is the farthest place away from the argument downstairs." Michael reports.
"Technically there is a place farther away but there is a 99.9999% chance that you wouldn't want to go there." Sloane states.

After a while Michael announces
"So we are going to be playing truth or dare or spin."
"Spin, what is that?" Cassie asks.
"Who's in? I'll explain after you say that you'll play." Michael smirks.
Everyone agrees to play and he explains that it is truth or dare combined with spin the bottle. "By the way does anyone happen to have a bottle, any kind will work." He finishes.

"I think I might have one just give me a minute to find it." I say hopping off my bed and going over Liv's bed to get to the closet. When I get to the closet I climb up the ladder, that was installed after they added a wood shelf above to rack to put all kinds of different stuff, get onto that crawl through the vent and into the little secret room that I found when exploring one day. I crawl through one of the offshoots in the room, the offshoots lead all around the house, to the part where I spend the most of my time and find a glass bottle that we can use. Just I am getting back to the part in my closet I hear Lia sauntering in saying "Hey, do you have it yet or not?"
"Yeah, I'm coming I'll be in there in a minute." I announce emerging out of the vent and climbing down the ladder.
"How did you do that?" Lia asks as I reach the bottom of the ladder.
"Oh crawl out of the vent, there are is a little secret room with lots of little offshoots." I explain.
"Cool." She states walking back out.
I follow her out and back with the others. As I climb over Liv's bed to mine I hand the bottle to Michael.
"So who wants to go first?" Michael asks.
"I'll go first." I says.
"T or D or S" Michael remarks.
"Dare." I reply.
"I dare you to sit in Ivy's lap for the rest of the game." Michael smirks

After we've been playing for a while when Dr. Wells walks in with the two agents.
"Eliza can we talk in private." Agent Sterling asks. I nod shaking slightly because I know what's coming.
"No!! Whatever you have to say you can say in front of us." Ivy says pulling me closer to her as I try to get up.
"Eliza the only person that I'm talking to?" Agent Sterling asks again.
"Its okay whatever you have to say you can say in front of everyone." I whisper half to myself cuddling up closer to Ivy in order to stop myself from trembling so badly. She wraps her arms around me to comfort me as the agents say the words I've dreaded hearing since I woke up in the hospital room.
"I hate to say this but unfortunately we have to take you back to the warehouse where we found you." Agent Sterling announces.