Chester grunted angrily and breathlessly as he climbed off of Grace who was shaking beneath him. She curled up into a ball, the world feeling as if it was closing suddenly in on her. Chester glared back at the broken woman, sneering at her with malevolent eyes before putting his clothes back on and leaving the room.
At least I'm in my own bed, grace thought. At least everyone else has left the party, grace thought.
She felt worthless, used, dead as she lay naked on her bed which was blanketed in his DNA. Its DNA. The memories kept flooding back: the amount of times grace said, 'no' or 'please don't put that there' or 'please don't do that' echoed in her head.
~~~~~
Grace woke slowly in her new and still slightly unfamiliar house, goose panting in the corner. Her whole body ached and she had marks all over her from what happened. She had never felt so scared and broken. She limped heavily to the kitchen, and as she did so, gathered her greasy hair into a messy bun. Her head soon fell into her shaking hands. Everything felt like it was crashing down beneath her, a feeling of helplessness took over her body. A few seconds or minutes later, she shuffled over to the bathroom where she could wash away any reminders of his body.
~~~~~
'9 missed calls'
Grace read as she picked up her phone.
"Hey, hannah"
"I was worried, you didn't answer me"
"Well, it's only- oh, it's 2pm"
"Anyway, I was wondering if I could come over today."
"Oh, yeah, of course. Just let me clean the house up a bit-"
"Don't worry, grace, I'll help."
~~~~~
Around ten minutes later, hannah arrived, and helped clean up the house as she had promised.
"Are you okay, grace? You seem a little- distant." Hannah asked, picking up things that had been knocked over the night before.
"Um yeah, of course. I'm just tired." Grace lied, fidgeting with her hands and trying to forget everything.
Hannah walked over towards Grace's bedroom to clean up. She stopped walking and turned back around to grace with a 'wait, what?' look painted across her face. Grace panicked, wondering what was going on and if hannah knew something. She bent down and picked up a pair of grey boxers from underneath some copies of Grace's Guide.
"It's not everyday you see hannah hart holding male underwear." Grace laughed nervously.
"You totally fucked someone last night." Hannah whispered.
Suddenly grace started to shake and she lost feeling in her body. She clenched her chest and her lungs felt like they were being punched over and over. Grace started panting involuntarily as she leaned over to her door for some balance. Struggling to breathe, she turned bright red and her eyes started to water.
Hannah rushed over quickly. She gently held grace, breathing slowly for grace to follow.
"Breathe gently grace, in and out." She instructed kindly. "In and out. See? Just breathe, everything is okay Gracie. Don't worry. I'm here. Breathe."
"I-I c- I can't." Grace struggled to string her words together as she panicked more and more, feeling dizzy and nauseous as she tried hard to keep standing up. She couldn't get chester out of her mind. Grace's knees started to give out and hannah guided her over to the bed where she could try to relax. She finally started breathing better again.
"You're fine." A gentle kiss was left on Grace's cheek as hannah leaned in to hug her, rocking her side to side gently in effort to comfort grace. Grace reciprocated and held hannah tightly and sniffing back her tears.
"Is something going on, grace?"
"No. I'm fine."
"Is this about the mystery-boxers guy?" Hannah saw Grace's face drop at her words and concluded that it would be wise to change the subject.
"I'm sorry. Hey, chester and I are filming a kitchen later. You want to come over?" Hannah asked.
"I- I have to um, send off some books today. Maybe another time?" Grace trembled as she spoke. She was terrified at the thought of being anywhere near chester. Hannah's eyes fell to Grace's arms.
"That looks sore." Hannah stated in reference to the dark bruises camouflaging Grace's tanned skin. Her butt-forehead mode activated as she looked into Grace's eyes, scowling in concern.
"Look, I'm, like pretty busy. Goose needs walking and I- I don't know. Sorry if I seem impolite but I think I need to be alone right now."
"Grace. How did this happen?" Hannah demanded to know as she looked back down at Grace's arms.
"It's nothing. I'm serious."
"Come on, grace. I know you're unbelievably clumsy but this looks serious.
"Hannah. It's nothing."
"Don't say I wasn't concerned. But honestly, talk to me if something is going on. Please. You're worrying me."
