Gone Girl

Chapter 5

It's Monday and I'm going to work in a bit. It's barely 5:45 AM, that's when I usually leave my house.

It doesn't take long to walk to Kaylee's Cafeteria but I'd rather be on time and look decent.

I put on very little makeup, mascara, natural peach lipstick, and blush. Also the usual outfit, but my apron is at work.

Since it's summer, it's not too cold to wear a skirt rather than putting it on later at work. And it's also not very short. I usually add tights to it.

A few flashbacks regarding what happened last Saturday pass my mind and I fail to push them away. I didn't have much time to think about it. I promised myself to never go there again. It's just not my kind of place. I don't know about Nicole, though.

I haven't talked to Louis since then, all I can think about is our kiss. That night we went home by cab and he was still passed out. The next day, he was mostly sleeping and I was busy tidying my room and spending some time with my parents. They indeed asked a lot of questions.

I frankly don't even know if Louis remembers anything. How did he end up drinking more than Nicole?

I can't believe he kissed me... Does he feel the same way about me or was he just too drunk? I wonder what will Nicole say, well, it's not her business anymore when she hangs out with sketchy people like James.

I put my keys, phone, and wallet in my dark blue purse and I leave the house.

A few hours later...

"Veronica, please, go clean the espresso machine, Jen is sick and couldn't come today," Kaylee says and I nod. She always speaks so nicely to me.

As I finish cleaning the last part, a customer enters. I look up and I see the same middle-aged man from last week. He doesn't look at me this time, he looks down and fidgets with his hands. He looks awkward, damn, this man is weird.

I go up to him and smile. "Hello, may I get you something?" I speak in my customer service voice, it's quite funny how different is from my usual voice.

"A glass... of sparkling water." He finally looks into my eyes and it sends shivers down my spine, it feels like he is staring into my soul.

I quickly grab a glass and pour water into it, and sprint to him. As I slightly bend to put the glass on the table, I feel something touching the back of my lower thigh, I look down and I notice it was his hand. What the fuck?

"W-what are you doing?" I take a step back and my heart starts beating fast.

"I'm sorry... it was an accident," he says while taking a sip.

I just decide to leave, maybe... it was an accident, but it felt intentional. I realize how weak my knees are only as I walked away from him. I can't shake off the sense of uncomfortable violation I feel.

A few minutes later, Nicole calls me and I go to the bathroom to take the call.

"Hey, Nicole." I'm still a bit startled from before but I don't let it get to me.

"Hey! We need to meet tomorrow afternoon at my place. I wanna ask you something."

I won't lie, sometimes I feel like she doesn't even care how I feel, she rarely bothers to check on me. All we talk about these days is James. I know she cares about me, but she is so obsessed with him, it's unhealthy.

"Can't you ask me now?" I frown, I hate when people say that, I'm so impatient.

"No... It's about James, and I'll also invite Louis." I can feel she is uncomfortable, she knows very well she fucked up. I thought it was over?

"Seeing him with Shanice wasn't enough?" I scold her harshly.

Yes, I am judging her.

"Who?"

"That girl with curly hair you said he kissed." My impatience is getting bigger.

"How do you.. even know it was that girl?"

I cover my mouth with my hand and I want to slap myself.

"You told me..." I lie.

"Oh... okay. He told me that- wait, no, I'll tell you tomorrow. Bye." I barely get to say bye and she hangs up.

After what James did to me, I honestly don't even want to hear his stupid name anymore, but she seems to have gotten over his hookups.

Tuesday

Sometimes I get a bit bored at work, the usual routine, waking up at 5 AM, but I barely have two months left. 

I rarely have breakfast, I just eat lunch and dinner.

I lock the main door and start walking towards my workplace. It's quite dark but our neighborhood is safe. Also, there are usually some people running or walking their dog, although who runs so early? I could never run, in general.

It takes only fifteen minutes to get there, so I start looking for a song and plug in my headphones.

Minutes pass and I suddenly feel a hand over my mouth. I try to scream but only a whimper comes out.

"If you make noise..." the man threatens me and I can feel the tip of a blade against my skin, I start shaking uncontrollably and he drags me to a deserted place.

He pushes me to the ground and I start crying as hard as I can.

"Please..." I try to gasp for air and I look to the side. "Leave me alone," I try to scream but he immediately slaps me and shows me the knife. My cheeks are burning red and my head is spinning.

He gets between my legs and that's when I realize what he is about to do... I look at him in horror and try to push him as hard as I can, but he barely moves an inch, he's way stronger than me and that knife is making everything worse.

He slams me against the hard cement and my vision gets clouded. I feel completely drained and in distress.

He lifts my skirt and rips off my underwear and touches my private parts. I freeze and I cannot physically move... it feels like I'm not there anymore. 

It doesn't feel real... this is a nightmare. It's not real. I'm waking up. I want to cry, but not a single tear comes out anymore. It's not happening. It's not real.

——

This was an emotional scene and it wasn't easy to write it. I put a TW in the description and first chapter. I didn't want to put another one in this chapter as I wanted to make the readers feel like it was moderately unexpected.

Thank you so much for reading, please don't forget to vote and comment. A new chapter every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.