I urge you guys to go check the tws at the beginning, before reading this chapter. I'll do a quick summary at the beginning of next chapter to resume this if you choose to not finish reading this one.
Nothing too detailed, just stuff that can be a lot for some.
I wake up in a dark room, and although I'm not sure how long I've been in here, it can't be too much time, because the blood I feel on my scalp when I touch it isn't fully dried up yet.
What the hell is it with all these white men ruining my hair, in the last fucking twenty-four hours. First, Elijah and his eggs, yesterday, and now Daniel. Jesus.
When I get out of here I'm spending all of Elijah's money on new hairstyles.
I need to get out of here.
I look around for a window or anything to try and get out of here, but this room looks a lot like fucking bunker: no windows, no doors that I can see and no light.
A door opens and my attention quickly goes to it. Three men walk in, and I immediately notice Daniel. The other two walk behind him whispering in Greek. Daniel's eyes remain on me, malice and hate shining in them.
When they're standing in front of me, the two men are shushed by Daniel. He tells them something in fluent Greek, that I don't understand, which takes me aback because he told me he couldn't speak Greek.
"What the fuck is this Daniel?" I ask, standing tall. "Where am I? Where's my husband?" A sinister look crosses his eyes and my heart halts for a second, thinking that he could have Elijah in his possession too.
Still, he doesn't answer my question. "Fucking answer, you bastard!" I make a move toward him, but the other two men come to his rescue and push me back.
"He doesn't talk unless I tell him, darling." The voice comes from the door, and I'm even more confused when I see Oron.
But it starts to click in my mind: Daniel, Oron, this fucking dodgy bunker-like room. It's the Gatalas family. Looking at how Daniel seems subservient to Oron, I understand that he must be working for him.
He motions to the other two men I don't know to hold me back, and I let them. He approaches me, and caresses my cheek with his index finger, moving the strand of hair that fans my face.
"Truly beautiful. . ." His warm breath hits my face, and as fucked up as this situation is, this is the worst thing happening to me. "Haze has to be the luckiest man alive." The way he scans my body with his eyes makes me cringe.
I can almost predict it, which is why when his lips touch my neck, I'm not surprised. Knowing this is probably as vulnerable as he'll be, I take my opportunity and kneel him in his stomach, followed by digging my elbow in the men holding me back to free myself from their hold.
Oron is doubled over, holding his stomach, so I grab the gun I can see. I turn around and point it to them.
"One move and I start shooting everyone."
I maintain eye contact with all of them and start moving back towards the door. I'm by the door when someone grabs me from behind and uses something to hit my head, making me drop the gun and fall to the ground.
Oron walks toward me and uses his foot to turn me so my back is against the ground.
Any confidence that I'll make it out of here unharmed disappears when he crouches down to my face, palms my waist and whispers, "I'm going to have so much fun with you."
The two men from before, pin me to the floor again, and my protests and panicked pleas fall to deaf ears, while Oron starts to strip me of my skirt and tights.
I turn my head to the side, refusing to watch him undo his belt.
God, please come save me.
God, please come save me.
God, please come save me.
Elijah, I'm begging you, come save me.
My screams get caught in my throat, as I feel him thrust into me. My body stills and so do my tears. My world goes dark, and every bad thing that has happened to me up until now suddenly becomes insignificant.
Oron's mouth comes to my ear, "I want you to feel this. To know that your husband isn't here to save you. That your mother has abandoned you. The very people that were supposed to protect you, are the reason you are here, losing your dignity, losing any fucking pride you have."
Any physical pain seems to fade as the ache in my chest intensifies.
It doesn't take long for him to be done with me, make me stand up, and toss me to Daniel, "It's your turn."
After taking multiple turns with me, Daniel and Oron are ready to leave. They're having a heated, hushed conversation, that I can't hear properly. What I do hear is the outrage in Daniel's voice when he says, "We're not killing her?"
Through exhaustion, I try to keep my attention on their words. "No, we're not. I want him to live with the shame of knowing that his wife was raped by me." There's an underlying tone of pride in his voice. "Let him come find me. He won't, but I will love seeing him lose his mind."
"That was not the deal, Oron. If she's not dead she can tell him I'm alive. If she's dead I can fake my death."
"That's not my issue," Oron says, "She'll help you hide. She's the one that involved you in this."
With that, he leaves the room, and with another distasteful look in my direction, Daniel follows him.
"Lilliana."
That voice.
"Lilliana, open your eyes and look at me."
I do and tears well in my eyes as I look at my dad in front of me. "Come on, baby, grab the gun." I look at him. I missed you, dad. I'm ready to come be with you. Please. Please, just take me with you. I don't want to stay here anymore. I don't want the gun, I want you to hug me and take me with you, dad. Please.
"I'm sorry, Li, but I can't. You're so strong. But I need you to grab that gun. Look, just by his belt."
I look at the man hovering over me, stealing any remaining pieces of my soul. I can see his gun, so I grab it.
I think I close my eyes for a second, but it must be longer than that, because when I open them the two men that were in the room with me are dead.
Too tired to question what happened, I lean back against the wall again, too tired, too fatigued. "Lilliana, I need you to get up and follow me, okay? I'll guide you."
How are you here, dad? If you're not here to take me with you, then why are you here?
I follow him without question as I used to as a child. Somehow, I make it out of the building uninterrupted and find myself in a forest.
I run. I don't know for how long, but I run, refusing to stop. Everything hurts, but still, I keep going.
"Now, Lilliana, do you see that cabin? Go in there. He'll help." I see the small cabin he's talking about and run faster to try to get to it.
When I'm at the door, I knock hard and hurriedly. The door is opened quickly and the man inside looks at me and immediately ushers me in.
I can tell from his expression that he knows what happened.
"I need help, please." That's all I can say
He steps towards me, and I back away and flinch, immediately. "I can drive you to the hospital, there's one not too far-"
"No. . . I need one further away. . . They'll come for me again. . ." My voice is strained, barely letting the words out.
"Okay. I won't touch you, but I need you to come to the car with me. I'll drive you there." I shouldn't trust him. He could take me back to Oron. But, I don't care anymore. If he does take me back, I may get to die, finally.
A beeping noise wakes me.
That noise is getting really annoying. I try to scratch my head, but my hand feels heavy. I open my eyes but close them again because the light is just painful. I try again, now prying them open slower.
I move my head and notice my arms are filled with tubes.
I hear noise from somewhere in the room, followed by the door opening and someone asking for a doctor or nurse.
The door opens again and this time I manage to lift my head to look. It's the man that drove me here and a doctor.
"Miss, I'm Doctor Aetos. I was the one treating you." I manage to give her a small smile. "Do you think you could give me your name?"
"Lilliana Campbell."
"Okay, Miss Campbell. Do you have any family we could contact?" I nod my head, and with some effort, I give her Elijah's number.
She notes it down and hands it to a nurse.
"You have suffered consecutive seizures, for the past hour. It's due to your increased anxiety levels."
There's more she wants to ask me, but she seems to hold herself back from doing so.
"I'll send your family here when they arrive, Miss Campbell. And I'll be back soon with some more extensive test results." I thank her and she leaves the room.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" The man that saved me by driving me here is standing by me and I nod, "I don't know. Thank you for taking me here." He smiles at me, "It's okay."
I'm not as on edge as I thought I'd be around a stranger, which is weird because my heart rate increases every time I even glance at a man outside my room, from my window.
"I'm Azriel."
Silence passes between us, and he goes back to sitting on the sofa in the corner. I spend my time looking at the wall in front of me, futilely trying to stop the replay of today's events, and flinching each time I see something move in the room.
The door suddenly opens and Elijah walks in. When our eyes meet, I see the relief wash over his. He strides towards me and pulls me in his embrace. My body stills for a second, and then, I panic. I try to move away from his body by pushing against his chest with all the strength I have.
"No, no, no, no, no. . ." That's all I continue repeating, while I close my eyes and continue pushing him away. Eventually, I realize all the noise in the room. It's my screams.
Then my body starts seizing before I fall into darkness.
The room's lights are dim and as I look outside the window and it looks like it's about 5 am. I hear movement from the corner of the room and when I glance over there, I see Angelo and Elijah, sitting on sofas on opposing corners.
"Hi," I say struggling to pull my body up so I can sit up and look at them properly.
Both heads turn in my direction and stand. Thankfully, no one gets too close. Elijah's eyes are fixed on me, and when we make eye contact, we maintain it for a long time, until Azriel breaks the silence in the room, "I'll get going, now, Lilliana."
"Thank you so much for . . . Everything. I don't think I'd be alive if you weren't there. I owe you my life." He gives me a sad smile, "I hope you get your justice. And hope you heal from today's atrocities."
I nod in acknowledgement, as I watch him exit the room.
"Lilliana, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that I wasn't there. That I trusted Daniel to keep you safe. I'm so sorry." Elijah's voice is vulnerable and he looks physically exhausted.
At the mention of Daniel's name, my tears start falling. "He took everything from me, Elijah. I trusted him with my life, I saw him as family and he . . . He pinned me to the ground and took everything from me."
The ache in my chest intensifies.
"He wi-" his next words are interrupted by the door opening. Dr Aetos walks in, "it's good to see you awake, Miss Campbell. The police have asked me to allow them to interview you in the morning. It's your decision but they will be here at noon." She looks at her papers, before asking the next question. "Since you've been here, we have had to infer a lot about what happened, and although we've hypothesised what happened, I need to confirm with you. Were you raped, Miss Campbell?"
Hearing those words out loud for the first time makes my body flush with shame. I break eye contact with Dr Aetos and look at my intertwined hands, "Yes."
"The police will take your statement, as they've done with your husband and the man that brought you in. However, there is more. Your baby. . ."
"I lost it, didn't I." I knew already. I think I felt it, the moment I lost the baby. "Yes, the severe bleeding and injuries you suffered caused you to have a miscarriage. I'm sorry."
She continues telling me about the injuries I have, but I don't care. Losing that child is something else I should be ashamed of, today. Something else I've failed at.
I refuse to look at her or at Elijah, who is still standing far from me.
I want to die. I told you to take me with you dad.
And because you didn't, now I'm left resenting you, myself and God.
Note to readers:
Okay.
I'll make somethings clear.
If you've ever been a victim of any form of assault or abuse, you should never feel shame - you're a survivor. Lilliana's feelings of shame are because the men that did that to her, made her feel like that's what she should be feeling.
This chapter is something I'll have to re-edit in the future to ensure it's not a rushed over topic, because it'll be an an important part of a story, but it won't be everything that defines her as a character. In the same way, that sexual assault, rape or any form of harassment doesn't define the victims.
The new chapter may take longer to be uploaded because I'm in the middle of exam szn.