Struggling into a sitting position, Christiano heard someone scream his name. He looked over at Maria and saw that she was unconscious with the shorter of the two men on top of her.
"That's right, Gregg. Take off her shirt so that we can see the full thing, huh?"
unable to move from his position without falling over and passing out, he watched as the one named Gregg who was straddling Maria took the top of her shirt and ripped it open, exposing her stomach and her chest. Christiano wanted to move so badly. he wanted to rip their heads off, scream foul obscenities at them as he ripped out their hearts. he could not move, could not speak. all he could do was sit there and watch. watch as they laughed and took the rest of her clothes off. laughed as they played with her unconscious body.
it was just like it was three years ago when she was being raped while he could not do anything. he sagged in defeat, knowing he could do nothing. no! his mind screamed at him. I will not allow this to happen again! I will save her this time!
somehow, Christiano regained some of his strength. repulsed by the fact that the shorter one, Gregg, was now getting up and pulling up his pants while the taller one, Cap, was now getting between her legs and fixing to do more stuff to her, he stood up. careful not to fall from the dizziness that wanted to sweep him under, he stumbled one step, then another, towards the men. "get your filthy fucking hands off of her!" Christiano yelled at the men.
cap looked back at Christiano and then turned to Gregg. "deal with him." then went back to doing things with Maria that would forever be etched into his mind just as the others had been. Gregg charged at Christiano and right before Gregg would have ran into him, Christiano dodged the man and outstretched his arm so Gregg ran right into it, falling backwards onto the ground, breaking his nose and cracking something in the process. it knocked the man unconscious.
cap looked back and frowned his friend on the ground and then at Christiano. when Christiano started towards him, he got up and pulled out a knife. Christiano stopped a few feet away from him. after sizing him up, the man charged Christiano. he did not know what happened to the man, but the next thing he knew, he was sitting on the path with Maria's head in his lap. crying, he pulled up the pants she had borrowed from him and closed her shirt so that she was finally covered.
"I'm so sorry Maria. I am so useless. totally useless. I could not protect you. he raped you and I could not do anything…I could not save you…" he cried and sobbed into Marias' neck as he cradled her to him.
"Shh Christiano." stiffening, he leaned back to look at Maria. she was indeed conscious and looking up at him. "I'm fine. I'll be okay."
Maria could not open her eyes to look up at him, but she could feel the tears falling on her cheeks. she put a hand on his cheek to comfort him.
"I'm so sorry, Maria. I couldn't-"
"it's okay Christiano." she interrupted. "I'm fine. I will be fine. but the bigger question is are the girls safe? are they okay?"
sighing, she felt him move her into a sitting position. "I was hoping that maybe you could do that. They might trust you more than me."
