Chapter 1

An Empty Sense of Safety

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BE- click.

Her eyes were still closed tight when her slender arm slowly slung over her head and her sweaty palm hit the SNOOZE button. Curious to what time it was, she opened her eyes slightly, just enough to read the time. It was five o'clock in the early morning. She closed her eyes and thought, today was a Thursday. Class doesn't start until nine o' clock, but Emily Fields, MVP swimmer of the Rosewood Sharks swimming team wakes up hours early for her daily morning workouts. Even on the weekends, she goes on a run through the woods behind her house. It was a way for her to clear her mind, especially when things begin to weigh her down; however, today was different. She didn't feel like running, not even a walk or to get out of bed. How could she? She couldn't even move. Her head was already throbbing and parts of her body ached, and on top of that, she was drained of all energy as she barely slept through the hours she had left last night. Her eyes closed and remained shut tight, but her mind was racing. Racing from the tiny bursts of images in her head from the incident that occurred hours ago. Her body shook as she remembers his cold finger tips gliding its way up the bed sheets, creeping up to her thighs and harshly groping and marking her olive skin. She can still smell his breath, clouds of air breathing heavily on her face and his sticky wet tongue slithering forcefully inside her mouth.

Tears fell down at the tiny corners of her eyes, and she let out short, quiet whimpers. Finally, she pulled the edges of her covers and cocooned herself for some empty sense of safety.

Hanna

The cafeteria was usually packed as I maneuvered myself from the herds of students. I was running later than usual since begging Mrs. Montgomery for an extension was nearly impossible- let me correct that, it is impossible. Now I can't get my mind of that paper or the smell of the soggy burritos- I hate being late. I definitely need some retail therapy after school. Across the outdoor cafeteria, I quickly spot the girls sitting at our regular table, already eating their lunch. I began shuffling my feet hoping I could avoid all these people but the next thing I knew I'm tripping and bumping onto all these corners, even so accidentally slamming the bottom of my food tray on the cafeteria table. The tray clattered loudly on the surface of the table, leaving out a loud thump that I was able to grab all attention.

"Woah! What's wrong Han?" Aria said in a surprised tone.

"Mrs. Montgomery doesn't want to give me an extension on that English paper", I said frankly. I was intentionally looking at Aria, eyeing her with a sarcastic but harmless glare.

"Don't give me that look! Even I don't get extensions - even if SHE IS my Mom." Aria beamed defensively.

Spencer let out a quiet laugh, enjoying the stare down between Aria and I, knowing full well that this quarrel will end before everyone knows it.

"Where's Emily?" as Spencer fleetingly scanned the people standing behind me.

"Beats me." I replied, while I shrugged my shoulders upwards. "She wasn't in class today."

"Yeah, I didn't see her in Algebra either, and we just had a huge test. I texted her right before class started, but I didn't get any text back from her." Aria only adding worry on her voice.

"She's probably sick or something," Spencer said as she played with her peas and carrots with a fork on her plate. "Let's check up on her after school, I realized I left her some of my notes that I need for tonight."

We all agreed and quickly changed the topic and eventually shrugged it off, not knowing then what really happened and what we were going to witness after. If only we knew, what was going on with her right then and there, we would have raced to her house in a heartbeat and would have tried to do anything to save her.

Emily

The night before...

Mom was out of town for a few days, visiting Dad in Texas. My boyfriend Ben and I planned a study date, it was a perfect night for us to hangout and talk. Even though he was the type of guy that every parent likes and trusts, it was still nice having the place for ourselves.

It was a quiet and cool evening, we were in my room and I was sitting next to my window seat, trying to memorize formulas for our Algebra test tomorrow. Ben was on my desk, fixing the lens on his new video camera. He brought it with him to show it to me. He was so excited about it that he said it was for us about making memories for each other, that I couldn't tell him right off the bat that he needed to put it away. He kept fidgeting around it and I couldn't help but notice his facial expression and the outline of his smirk at the corner of my eyes when I would glance towards his direction. Slowly he sat up and walked towards me, his head leaning in slowly next to the side of my cheek, forcing myself to jump in surprise as I felt his tongue lick my neck.

He pulled away and read my face, I couldn't help but feel unease, I've never seen Ben act this way.

"Ben! C'mon, we have to study!" I said in a flustered voice. But Ben kept going, pushing me to the limits and it's not because I didn't like it, it was just that I wasn't ready to do anything like this with him. But it was getting heated, and he was getting pushy and a little aggressive. I couldn't think straight when he was gently caressing the skin on my neck with his tongue, slowly nibbling the tips of my ear. My body shook as I felt a slight tingle on my spine and I eventually turned my body towards him and touched his lips. It was soft, wet and felt good. I lost myself for a moment.

I didn't even realize that I was standing up, locking my body with his. My palms softly brushed through the back of his hair and his arms embraced my waist. Suddenly, he began sliding his hands under my shirt, making me feel uneasy; my eyes flew wide open and pushed him away from me.

"Um okay, uh, we need to study for the test…remember?" I turned around, going back to my study spot next to the window.

"Ugh, you're such a tease, Em." Ben said in an angry and frustrated voice.

"Excuse me?!" I said quizzically, not sure if I heard him right.

"I said, YOU'RE SUCH A TEASE! What?! I'll never be good enough for you?! How long do you have to keep me waiting?!" Ben took a few steps closer to me, his face right in front of mines. His hands gripped tightly on my shoulders and I could feel his nails clawing through my skin.

"Ben! Let go of me! You're hurting me…" I cry out as my heart began to race. In a quick second, I felt gravity pushing me towards the wall, my back slamming so hard behind me, then recoiling towards the floor. As I felt my body fall limp, my head caught the edge of the table, and in an instant everything was dark.

I woke up in a darklit room, laying down on top of a bed, my wrists bound by the opposite polls of a bedpost. My ankles felt the same rough ligature wrapped around my skin, pulling my legs on opposite sides. I lift my head up, trying to get a look on my body's stinging sensations, but I only see covers on top of me. Then I gasped. I realized I was naked in my room, and could feel the texture of the covers onto my cold and sensitive skin. In the dark, I can see Ben's masculine figure standing up next to me with eyes wide, filled with hunger. I began to panic, as my vision became clearer and focused on the dark silhouette in front of me.