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          Slowly, I fluttered my eyes open, trying to adjust to the yellow light shining from the street lamp. Looking around, I found myself laying against a brick wall, next to a stinky dumpster. The constant pounding in my head was killing me to the point I could barely see clearly.

          "What the hell?" I whispered to myself as I shut my eyes and held my aching head in my hands. Through the gaps between my fingers, I noticed blood lathered on my inner thighs. My face grew pale as realization hit me in the face. Tears stinging in my eyes, sobs broke through me. "No, no, nooooooooo!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "This can't be happening. Oh God, no."

          Hot tears continued to stream down my face mixing with the mascara that stung my eyes. I needed to calm myself down and look for Sophie. Crying was not going to help right now. Going home and crawling into my safe space was what I needed desperately.

          I pulled myself up and dusted the dirt off. Picking up a rag from beside the dumpster, I cleaned the half dried blood that boiled my blood, reminding me of how stupid and vulnerable I was. Making my way back into the club, I spotted Sophie frantically typing away in her phone. Her worried, slightly angered eyes shot up at me when she noticed me walking towards her.

          "Where the fuck have you been? I've been looking for you for the past hour," she spat. Looking me up and down, her eyes widened in fear. "What happened?" She asked, her voice shaking with distress.

          "I want to go home right now. Please." I managed to say between my whimpers.

          Grabbing my hand, she pulled me out of the club and rushed towards her car that was parked down the street without any further questions. As soon as we sat in, she asked, "Are you going to tell me what happened? You're scaring me."

I just shook my head no. I didn't want to talk about what just happened. I didn't want to talk about how scared I was. I didn't want to talk at all. She started the car and drove towards my house.

The entire car ride was a painful one, the recent event playing over and over again like a broken tape. The feeling was inexplainable. I felt many emotions rushing through me. Fear, disgust, sadness, loathe, anger, hate. It was all there. This was the worst birthday ever.

          Before I knew it, we were back in Queens and in my driveway. I got out quickly and ran towards the door. I swung it open and closed it slowly trying to make as little noise as possible. I didn't want to wake Aunt Wendy up. I skipped up the stairs and made it to my room.

          Closing the door, I stood with my back against it. A long held breath ripped through my throat as I slowly melted to the ground sobbing. "Why me? Why did it have to be me?" It started out as a normal day with me just skipping a class and hanging out with my best friend. This was supposed to be a good day, not the worst day of my life. I continued to sob making my way to my comfortable bed. Before I knew it, I fell into a deep slumber and I wished I didn't wake up again.

***

          Consistent knocking on the door woke me up. "Morning, mermaid!" Aunt Wendy opened the door with her left hand behind her back. "Since you came home late last night, " she took out a small box from behind her, "here's your birthday gift." A gift wrapped box was placed on the bed next to me. I got up and leaned against the headboard. "And I guess you're wearing the outfit from last night. Is it Sophie's? Must have been one bad hangover," she chuckled. She cupped my cheeks in her soft warm hand. "Have you been crying?" Her eyes scanned over my puffy, red ones.

          The mere mention of the word crying forced tears to crawl down my cheeks. I felt like a fucking sob queen. "What happened, Arie? Tell me." I didn't say anything and continued my river of tears. "Arie, you're honestly scaring me right now. Tell me what happened," she demanded.

          "I-I," I stuttered, unable to form words. I felt disgusted even thinking about it, but I couldn't hide this from her forever. "I was raped last night," I cried out.

          Her face grew pale, losing any color it just had. Her eyes widening and jaw dropping to the floor while a few tears escaped her distressed eyes. She didn't say anything, instead she pulled me into a warm embrace. "Oh my God! My little baby," she wept, holding me tight. Her tears rolled down her cheeks and onto my neck. We both cried in each other's arms wishing it was untrue. She pulled back moments later, wiping away her tears then mine. "How?" She queried.

          I started to explain everything from the start. "Well, I skipped my class yesterday to hang out with Sophie, right?" She nodded and let me continue. "We went to Manhattan and hung out around Times Square, going to random stores and goofing around as usual. Then we drove back to her apartment because she didn't think my outfit was 'club appropriate'. So when we got there, she pulled out this outfit for me to wear saying that I'm going to pull many guys tonight and finally get laid," I chuckled at that stupid memory. Now that I realize it, if I hadn't put on that outfit maybe he wouldn't have noticed me at all. "And I think I left my other clothes at her house."

          "Worry about the clothes later," Aunt Wendy interrupted. "Tell me what happened next."

          "Then we left her and her douchebag ex, Rob's apartment and headed for the Club Cater in downtown Manhattan. It was around seven when we got to the club. Since we were the first ones to get there, we stood at the front of the line. Leaning our backs against the wall, we talked and that's when a white Lamborghini came to a stop in front of the club with two black suburbans behind it. Both doors to the Lamborghini slid up letting out two men. The man that exited the driver's seat caught my eye immediately. A huge scar from under his left eye stretched down to his sharp jawline. His rough appearance intrigued me and that was a huge mistake," I cried out. Reliving this terrible memory all over again, my heart raced like a horse on steroids and it hurt. Too much.

"I looked away as soon as he caught my eyes staring at his face. He exuded a bad vibe and I should have listened to my gut," I glanced up at Aunt Wendy who had another layer of tears in her eyes before staring back at my lap. "His brother didn't seem that bad. Once we were in, Sophie and I sat on a sofa near the bar so that she could get easy access to the drinks. She tried to make me drink alcohol but you know that I don't drink, so I asked her to fetch me some water. When she left to do that, he came up behind me and started talking to me and I was swooned by his Irish accent. He kept calling me beautiful and shit, and I was flattered for the first time and fell for it like a dumbass. I tried to give it a try, you know. He introduced himself as Astor Aguillard and then he introduced his brother Alicio to Sophie." I stopped for a second to swallow the huge lump stuck in my throat.

          Aunt Wendy squeezed my hand slowly and gently. "And?"

          "And then he pulled me to the dance floor. I turned to Sophie to get me out of dancing but she got busy with Alicio. So reluctantly, I went up with him against my wishes. We swayed to the loud music and he began to touch me inappropriately. I told him to stop but he wouldn't, so I yelled and pushed him aw.. away." I began to choke on my words as I could still feel his hands grope me. Aunt Wendy patted my back carefully and gave me some water from the bedside table. I panted after chugging it all down without stopping.

          "And then," I continued, "I ran out of the club and went to the alleyway next to it to clear my head and get my mind straight. I was infuriated. Nothing like this had happened before and I hated being treated and touched like that by a stranger."

          "I know, mermaid," she comforted me with light strokes to my arm.

          "Then he came behind me with two huge men. He said that I couldn't run from him and that I'd pay for what I did inside. I was extremely confused and didn't know what to do and that's when he told his men to grab me. I started to cry out of fear. I tried getting away but their grip was too strong. Astor then walked towards me and started undoing his pants. I panicked and kneed him in his groin. The men that held me released their hold to help him. I saw my chance and bolted but someone grabbed me and threw me hard against the wall due to which I passed out. And when I woke up a while later, I found blo... blood around my inner thighs."

          "My baby," she pulled me into her chest again. "Why didn't you wake me up when you got home last night?"

          "You were sleeping and I didn't want to bother you."

          "You never bother me, mermaid." I witnessed her expression change from sadness to anger, her cheeks flushed. "I will kill that bastard," she spat. "I'm calling the police." I just nodded and continued to stare into my lap.

          "Many rape cases are unreported and you're not going to be one of them." She lifted my chin up slowly with her index finger, gazing into my teary eyes. "You're my strong little mermaid and I'm going to put that bastard behind bars," she said while caressing my cheek.

          "I agree with her." A voice called out from the doorway. Me and Aunt Wendy shot our eyes towards the door to find Sophie with tears in her eyes and a sympathetic smile on her face. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you guys." Taking quick steps, she darted, putting her arms around me. "I'm so sorry. I'm such a shitty best friend. I shouldn't have let him take you. If I wasn't too occupied with that motherfucker's brother, I would have been by your side the entire night. It's all my fault." She continued to cry.

          "It's not your fault. I shouldn't have even talked to him." I said frowning and wiping away my tears. "What happened after I was... missing anyways?" I inquired as she pulled away.

          "Astor came back in with dirt on his pants and whispered something into his brother's ear. Alicio was just like 'what the fuck' after Astor told him something and nudged him hard in the chest. He then told me that he had to leave and they both departed without saying anything else. Then, I started looking for you but I couldn't find you. I tried calling and texting but no reply. I sat there for an hour waiting for you so I decided to text your Aunt but then I saw you walking towards me with dirt and runny mascara. I realized something was wrong but you didn't want to talk, so I didn't push too hard. If I hadn't come here right now to return the clothes you left at my apartment, I would have never known about this unless you told me." Another tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm so sorry."

          "It's not your fault." I furrowed my brows and looked at her. "Well, I need to take a shower. I feel disgusting."

          "Yea. Of course," said Aunt Wendy. "And I'll call the police while you're in there."

          "Let me do the honors," Sophie said.

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Well that was the first chapter. I hope you like it. Please vote, comment, and share. :) And have a good day.

Much love ❤️
~Reet