A Drop In The Lake

scared

**WARNING: This chapter contains mention of sexual assault and abuse. Do not read if this is a triggering subject for you. Reader discretion is advised.**

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Alessa

    "Bye Alien!" Exclaims my dad as I hit the sidewalk that leads to my dorm.

Turning around, happiness swimming through me, I reply, "Love you dad!"

With that he waves a final goodbye and I turn around to head inside of my dorm. Although the somberness of no longer being with Cameron chips at the back of my head, the excitement to move on rings through me, ricocheting off my insides.

Some of my excitement settles at the exhausting trek I have to take up three flights of stairs to get to my room. When I hit the landing, breathing hard, I move around the doorframe to the stairs to get to my room. That's when I hear it.

"What the fuck do you mean it was an accident?" Thunders a voice.

Dread fills me as I shuffle through a playlist of voices to figure out who's screaming.

It's definitely a male voice.

There's a beat, then another voice yells, "I mean that I was sick and tired of your ass so I went looking for someone who actually loves me —"

Her words are cut off by the sound of skin hitting skin, followed by a voiceless squeak.

Brook.

Without hesitating, I drop my bag and lunge for Brook's door, finding it locked.

"Brook," I scream out in desperation. "Open the door!"

"Like hell. You think I'll let her just walk out of this conversation. Not this time." Booms Tony's voice.

Fear grips my throat like a turtle neck as I respond, "You better not fucking touch her! I'll call security!"

At the sound of my threat I hear Tony's feet trudge towards the door and unlock it. When he emerges, all sense completely evades me and I slap him across the face. Before he has a chance to retaliate I grab the door from him and swing it open, running inside and pushing him out, locking it.

"Are you okay Brook. Where'd he hit you?" I ask, scrambling to cradle her face.

When she doesn't respond, I grab her by the shoulders and embrace her in the tightest hug I can muster.

"I've got you. You're safe now. I'm going to call campus security and they'll deal with him." I soothe, the thoughts coming out like a set of instructions.

Instead of responding, Brook holds me tighter as I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial Campus security.

When I get off the phone, I drop it on the floor and whisper into her hair, "They'll be here in twenty minutes... do you want to talk about what happened?"

She wipes a bit of dribble from her chin and moves away, crying, "I slept with Amara!"

"Shh. It's okay Brook. They'll be here soon." I soothe, trying to calm the outburst of sobs that follows her confession.

I've known Brook since freshman year, and while I know her to be a blunt person, seeing her like this now tears me to shreds.

While her confession leaves me speechless, it comes as little surprise to me...

A few weeks ago I saw Brook and Amara sitting on one of the picnic tables outside of our dorm. While this wasn't a weird sight, what was weird was that Tony wasn't there. Amara is Tony's cousin, so whenever Amara's around, Tony is usually nearby, but alas he wasn't there. When I went up to Brook to ask her where Tony was, she jumped and scrambled, desperately trying to justify the situation. I don't see any problem with them seeing each other, even though Brook's currently in a relationship with Tony, because, secretly, I've wanted her to drop his ass for the longest time. I know I should have done more before it could get to this point, but I didn't feel like I was being heard. Whenever I brought it up to Brook, she'd change the topic or pretend like she didn't hear me. Now I realize it was because she was scared of what Tony might do, not what I would think.

A loud pounding has us jumping into each other's arms again.

"Who is it?" I yell, scared to hear the reply.

"It's security. We've escorted Anthony out of the building and around the back, we'll talk to him there, but we need to bring Brooklyn to the health Center so we can get her checked out." Replies the security guard.

"No. Don't let me go with them." Quivers Brook.

"She doesn't want to go." I yell back, looking over to Brook for a reason.

That's when I see it. No. No. No. No.

I pray and I pray, but as reality settles in I find myself yelling back, "Get a female guard!"

I don't get a reply. The only indication that we're alone is the retreating sound of the security guards' shoes hitting the floor.

I turn back to Brook, a fresh set of tears coating her eyes as mine bubble over. "Brook." It's all I manage to get out before I throw myself into her arms, squeezing her into my neck.

I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do. The only thought that rides around my head like a merry-go-round is the desire to get another shot at knocking the life out of Tony's head.

When the female security guard shows up, the furthest I get from Brook is holding her hand as we walk out of the dorm and into the awaiting golf cart. All the way to the health Center, we ride in silence, silent sniffles filling in the background noise. My head is pounding and my hands are hurting from the death grip I'm giving Brook, but either she doesn't care or she welcomes it, because she never asks me to lighten up.

We're shaking around in the back of the golf cart on the trip down the hill to the health Center when the words find their way into my heart. I close my eyes, attempting to shut them out, but it's too late, it already happened. Anthony assaulted Brook. 

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In trying to be sensitive to the topic matter this chapter contains, I will keep this short.

Future chapters will continue to call back on this event so if this topic is triggering for you, DO NOT READ AHEAD.

Till Sunday.