I awoke to sharp sounds of heavy breathing in the middle of the night. The clock read 2:13 AM.

As my eyes adjusted I could make out two figures in the room: one being Jesse’s, the other...Andy?

Before I could say anything, a sliver of fabric was slipped around my head and in my mouth. I was being gagged!

Andy’s fingers were swift, without even slight hesitation. He did this as if he were trained.

Why?

“-eesseee!” I screamed. He stirred, but my efforts were to no avail. My eyes widened at the sight of Andy’s readied hand, preparing to flick me unconscious.

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The first thing I felt was a stinging pain in the back of my head. My eyes burst open, and to my surprise and relief, Andy was not present. The room was small but neat. He had stacked books in two corners of the room, along with a filled bookshelf that hit the ceiling. His walls were blue and bordered with dark oak. He had a beige carpet that looked to be vacuumed regularly. There was a twin size bed across the room, neatly made. It even had a green skirt underneath.

The door opened and Andy walked in. I feigned sleep, unmoving. I felt the thumps of his footsteps near me. Then, his fingers roughly tore the gag off, and I couldn’t help but cough.

“Sleep well?” he asked, mocking.

“Why would you do this?!” I yelled, realizing that I was sitting on top of another, shorter bookshelf.

“You shouldn’t speak to me like that. After all,” he continued, inching closer to me, “your fate is in my hands.” Andy proceeded to graze my thigh with two of his fingers. I backed up, against the wall. There was nowhere else for me to go. I was trapped.

Andy grabbed hold of me, “Can I get a first kiss on our first date? Would I be moving too fast? What do you think?” He asked, bringing my body close to his mouth.

Betrayed, I called to him, “Jesse will be coming for me soon enough!”

“What if you’re gone by then?” he teased.

“Andy, don’t do this!” I yelled, tearing up.

“No kiss then?” He shook his head, “Bad girl.” Andy threw his head back, opened his mouth wide, and hung me by the strap of my dress over him.

I screamed as I plummeted into his mouth, burning with saliva. I began sliding backwards, gasping to breathe in the damp air. Andy let his head back down and flicked me around with his tongue. I was being thrashed towards his back teeth, desperately trying to get out. My heart was racing, and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know anything.

I hadn’t even realized we’d traveled to the bathroom until he spit me out in the sink. I felt hard solid marble catch my fall. He turned the water on, and instantly, I was rinsed with freezing ice water. I shivered and attempted to get out of the sink to escape the water, but was only pushed back in by Andy’s colossal hand.

“You’re going to do what I say?” He wasn’t asking.

“Yes! Please, stop this,” I cried. My form was drenched, the dress ruined. I could still smell the rancid stench of Andy’s mouth.

“Take off the dress.”

I immediately did, whimpering. It slipped off my body in all of it’s grace, and he threw it onto the floor. I was naked and cold, my breasts numb.

Andy turned the water off and grabbed me roughly. His grip was choking, but he soon threw me onto his bed. I ran to the edge, where I saw a dark crack. There was enough time for me to jump down.

I made a run for it. When I approached the daunting void, I had no regrets. I jumped down, only to hit the carpet underneath. It wasn’t too painful a fall. Andy apparently hadn’t seen me escape, so I was relieved when I bought myself time. Andy was searching under the bed, but I was able to hide behind the bed skirt.

***

The door swung open, and Jesse stormed in. It was only 7 AM. He made his way in, Andy’s parents following, concerned.

“He stole something of mine!” He was screaming, frantic. “HE STOLE IT!” Andy was on top of the bed.

“What? What’s wrong, man?” he asked, getting up to his “friend.”

“Give. Her. Back,” he whispered. I watched the entire event play out from their feet. Jesse’s converse were not moving. He wasn’t leaving without me.

“She’s gone?”

“Drop the act, you fool! Where the fuck is she?”

“What’s going on?” Andy’s mother asked sweetly.

“Mom, this is personal. Can you shut my door on your way out?” Somehow, she did. She left. I didn’t know if that was worse or better.

“She’s mine, not yours, Jesse.” Andy stated. Jesse, building with rage, slammed Andy in the face, knocking him to the floor. He was still conscious as Jesse picked his head up by his hair.

“Now tell me.”

“I don’t know shit!” he murmurred.

I began to crawl towards the foot of the bed. When I got there, I checked out the situation. Andy had gotten up, but Jesse was closer to me than him.

I bolted.

Andy caught sight of me and began racing towards me, but Jesse pushed him away. Jesse, quickly, caught sight of me, and grabbed me. I felt so relieved to be with Jesse that I began sobbing. Even with my clothes off, I still felt happier than humiliated.

The honorable boy raced out of the door and threw me in his coat pocket. I welcomed the soft fabric warming my freezing body.

As I sobbed I was hugging myself tightly the rest of the run home. Being jostled around had no effect on my mental state; I was broken inside. When I saw the light break, Jesse had taken his jacket off and left it on my pillow. I crawled out, shaken. Instantly, I covered myself in the sheets of my bed.

There were two knocks on the door, and then Jesse slowly and cautiously entered. He attempted silence, though I would always be rattled by the presence of anyone. He came in holding a silk dress.

“My mother made this for you,” he stated so lightly it could be rendered a whisper. This piqued my interest. Jesse told his parents about me!

I didn’t reply. I allowed him to leave the fabric a few inches away from me. He proceeded to exit, but I called first.

“C-could I get a bath?” I whispered. His eyes widened, taking in the idea of Andy abusing me.

“Hey,” he whispered, walking back to sit on his bed, “you can have anything you want.” His kindness brought emotion to my eyes.

“Cry to your hearts content,” Jesse encouraged. He paused, looking unsure, “I’m so sorry.”

It wasn’t his fault. It was Andy’s fault. Wasn’t that obvious?

“I’ll go get a bath ready,” he started, walking to the bathroom connected to his room. I heard the sink turn on, and my heart began racing.

“It’s ready whenever you are. Uh, I won’t look, if you can just stand…” Normally, I would bust on him for being so awkward, but right now, I was hoping for the same thing.

“You can look,” I cleared my throat, “you’ll walk into a wall.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” I sighed. You know what? It was going to happen someday.

He was blushing like a mad-man. And he just stared. Intrigued. His eyes were even studying my body.

“Can you bring me over...please?” Jesse’s face turned stark red. He laughed stupidly.

“Yes! Yeah. I mean-yes, yes I can-” This cheered me up, believe it or not. His innocence made my heart beat and chilled my skin.

“Have you ever seen a naked girl before?” I asked, covering my privates.

“Not in person. I think you can tell...whew, I need to stop acting like an idiot.” Jesse delicately came over to me. He let his hand down, staring in the opposite direction.

I stepped on, wobbling. “I’m just going to kneel,” I announced. When I got on my knees, we each took a breath as Jesse opened the door to the bathroom.

The marble sink looked quite familiar. His bathroom wasn’t a replica of Andy’s, but it was damn similar. He let me down onto the counter. I dipped my toe into the bubbly warm water. It felt like heaven. I slipped the rest of my body in, covered by bubbles. As I washed myself, I called to Jesse, who was in his room.

“Your mom knows?”

“Well, turns out,” he began, then got up to step outside the bathroom, “she was the one who brought you here.”

“What?!” My mind was blown. Melissa knew I was here all along, hell, she brought me?!

“My mother worked for the government. I always knew that. I didn’t know that she was the one who practiced a chemical to immunity to diseases. Somewhere, there was a mixup between chemicals… Combined with the immunity was some kind of hormone. I don’t know the details, but they injected this into test subjects. You were one of them. Your mother...she donated you,” he said gently. “My mother was one of the first people notified of the mix-up, and she immediately brought you home when you were a child. She would feed you everyday until you were able to get your own food. Then she pretended as if you didn’t exist, for fear that me or Sam would harm you. My father doesn’t even know. She had already been making clothes for you though in hopes that one day you would turn up. Here you are,” he smiled.

“I have to thank her!”

“Soon. Let’s get you cleaned up. There’s a towel...well, washcloth, on the edge of the counter.” I stepped out of the sink, feeling relieved and safe. Quickly, I dried off and stepped into the silk dress.

It was bright green, and had a small flower pattern across the skirt. There was a band that held the waist, and the rest of the dress poofed out.

“Even cuter than the last one,” I smiled, throwing the outfit over my head. It fit perfectly. My hair had practically dried from the towel, and I again, felt like a princess.

“I’m done!” I announced, standing on the counter.

“You look beautiful. You always do,” Jesse said shyly. I backed him up with a reassuring smile and let him walk me back into his room.

“Can I meet your mom?”

“Not yet, we have to wait until my dad brings Sam to her soccer game. Then we can. I promise.”

Jesse went to sit on his bed but took a detour and grabbed a book off of his shelf, “Divergent.”

“Wanna read this together? I’ll read it aloud,” he offered.