After a tragic event drives her out of little Hillsborough, NC, 19-year-old Meghan Greene finds herself living in a Manhattan apartment with her best friend Chelsea Matthews. Officially enrolled in NYU and wanting to forget about her old life in her...
+I listened to Dream by The Boxer Rebellion while writing this. I suggest you do to.
Chapter dedicated to moonraess for being my number one and checking up on me after I went MIA updates wise. ilyyyyyy girl.
Meghan
We'll do everything we can to help you.
We don't take cases like this lightly.
You're safe with us.
That's what I was told at the police station when I went down with my army of friends. They sat me down in a plain grey room, a large metal table in the middle with two chairs on either side, and there was even that one-way glass you see in movies when they bring in the criminal for questioning. I would have laughed at the cliche had I not been so terrified of what they'd tell me.
I was half expecting them to say that they couldn't do anything. That I needed proof. That all I could do was try to keep an eye out. But when the officer asked for my previous records to be transferred over from North Carolina, the look in his eyes told me everything I needed to know.
"We'll have an officer stationed outside your apartment building at all times. We don't want to take any chances of them trying to break into your home."
I relaxed when he said that.
"Also, we highly encourage you not to go anywhere alone. Always have someone with you, whether it be one of your friends or a classmate. Stay within sight of people at all times, and don't leave your apartment at night.
"We'll do everything we can to help you, Miss Greene. I'm not joking when I say that we don't take cases like this lightly. If at any point you see them, give us a call immediately and we'll dispatch officers to your location. You're safe with us."
"Sweetie," Melissa's voice brought me out of my thoughts and back to the present, with me snuggling under a blanket on the couch of her hotel room and Melissa holding out a cup towards me.
"What's this?" I ask as I reach out and grab the steaming mug. Melissa smiles and takes a seat beside me, her oversized sweater and grey sweatpants combo bringing a smile to my lips. I was completely thrown off guard when she opened up the door to her suite wearing such comfy clothes, considering that when I met her two nights ago she was the epitome of class.
"It's chamomile tea with honey," she said as she grabbed the TV remote and began surfing through the guide, "it helps me sleep when I have a lot on my mind." I nodded my head and took a tentative sip, not wanting to burn myself with the hot liquid.
Sebastian had dropped me off at his mothers hotel while he went to go speak with Melissa's lawyer, I had insisted that I was fine staying at the apartment, but in light of recent events he immediately shut it down and I found myself knocking on her door. She was more than happy to keep me company, which I was grateful for, and it gave me time to fill her in on whats been going on.
I really thought that it would have been difficult to share my past with a woman I barely knew, but then I remembered that she raised the man I was in love with. And since Sebastian took it so well when I finally opened up to him, and he says he's half as good as his mother is, I figured that she deserved to know about the girl who her son was in love with. All the good and the ugly.
"I really am sorry that you're going through all of this," she whispered and placed a hand on my knee, "no one as young and as pure as you deserves to live with that kind of sadness and fear." I didn't want to cry, but the fact that my own mom was so far away and not able to comfort me made the waterworks break free.
I had kept it together when I told the boys I was being followed and the reasons why. I kept my cool when I was sitting in a cold room speaking to a police officer. I was even smiling as Sebastian kissed me goodbye and told me he'd be back as soon as he could. But right now, in this moment, with Melissa giving me mugs of chamomile tea and telling me that I'm pure and that I don't deserve whats happening to me is what finally seemed to snap the thread I've been holding on to.
It started off slow, my breathing coming out in short, heavy pants and my eyes watering. Then my shoulders began to shake as I gripped tightly onto the mug I was holding, trying not to spill any liquid over the edge as I shook with silent sobs. And then the mug was gone and I was wrapped up in Melissa's arms, my head cradled against her neck as one of her hands buried in my hair.
"Let it out," she whispered, "just let it all out." And I did, I cried uncontrollably against her and mumbled between my tears about how I really didn't deserve this. I didn't deserve to lose Sam. I didn't deserve to lose a part of myself the night he died. I didn't deserve to be violated the way those men violated me. I didn't deserve to have to take medications to sleep. To feel like myself. To have the nightmares that I do. To be followed without my knowledge. How someone as fucked up as me sure as hell did not deserve to have someone as amazing as Sebastian by my side.
"Sebastian loves you so much, Meghan," Melissa whispered against my hair, "I see it in his eyes. The way he looks at you is just-" she pulled away enough so that we faced each other, "he looks at you as if you were his whole world. And I cannot thank you enough for the happiness that you have brought him." Tears were spilling out of her eyes, just the same as me. "Don't ever think that you don't deserve to have something good, because you do. You, my sweet girl, deserve all the good in the world."
I don't know how long we sat there, engulfed in each others arms, but a knock at the door startled us apart and we laughed while wiping away the remaining tears on our cheeks. "I'll get it," I told Melissa while standing up and giving her the blanket. She gave me a grateful smile, grabbing the TV remote again as I turned and walked towards the hallway where the door was. I couldn't wait to see Sebastian again, his presence alone put me at ease and after the hectic couple of days we've had it was a much needed comfort.
I opened the door with a smile.
"How was the talk with-"
A hand wrapped around my face, muffling the scream that threatened to escape. The sound of a gun being cocked resonated through me, the cold and hard metal pressing against my throat painfully being enough to shut me up. I scrunched my eyes up, trying to push myself further against the wall in an attempt to distance myself from the two men standing in front of me. The door slowly clicked shut, my heart was thumping loudly in my chest as both men turned their faces to look at me.
I didn't see what their faces looked like the night of the attack.
But their eyes I recognized.
Theirs filled with amusement. Anticipation. Want. Revenge.
One pair blue and one pair green.
Their smiles were malicious. Sickening. My skin was prickling.
Fear.
Disgust.
Familiarity.
Pain.
All of those emotions ran through me all at once.
"I told you we weren't done with you."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
+Authors Note: I am so sorry. work has been absolutely killing me slowly and I haven't had any time to write anything :(
