After returning back to campus I headed straight to Ron's room. I banged on his door. "Ron! Open up!" I didn't get any response. I knocked two more times. Still nothing.
A guy across the hall opened his door in response to the noise. "What's with all the banging," he asked posting up on the door frame. I turned around. "Sorry. Have you seen Ron?" His face lit up as he begin to recognize who I was. "Oh shit. You that girl from the video," he laughed. "The dick must have been bomb if you down here banging down the door? What does Kevin have to say about this? He break up with you yet?"
"Unbelievable," I said slightly turning away. "The jokes never stop do they?That video is old. It happened almost two years ago. I didn't even know Kevin then."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," he said holding up his hands. "Aye listen. Whenever you done with Ron you wanna come over here and share the love? You working with a little suntin'," he said looking me over and grinning. "I could use a little bit of what you got. From the looks of it you know what you doing."
"Yeah no," I grimaced and then I walked away. I was so upset that that guy had the audacity to stand in my face and tell me those things. I was humilated once again. It's like every time I see someone new I keep reliving the shame all over again. It just keeps following me wherever I go.
I headed in the direction of Ronny's dorm. Lord only knows how this was gonna go. I didn't even know her room number. I had to ask a few girls before someone was willing to tell me anything. Girls who didn't even know me were giving me the side eye. "Excuse me," someone said to the right of me. I turned around to greet them. "Yes?" The girl smiled at me. "Hi I'm Haley. I heard you were looking for Ronny's room. She's in room 115." I sighed. "Thank you so much girl." She smiled at me. "No problem! I heard what you said to her earlier and I believe you. She's a bitch for releasing that video and Ron is an ass for having it in the first place."
"Wait a minute. You know she released it?"
"I mean, yeah. Don't you?"
"Of course I do. I just didn't know anyone else did. I mean outside of a few people I know. How did you find out?"
"I heard her talking about it to some of her friends."
I pulled her to the side. "Are you willing to testify to that in court?"
"Hell yeah."
"Seriously?"
She nodded her head. "Women gotta band together in times of distress. Not shut each other out."
"Heard that. Hey! Lets exchange numbers." I gave her my number and then she called my phone to give me hers.
"Okay. Got it. Thanks Haley."
"No problem."
"We'll talk soon," I said walking away from her.
I headed around the corner to find Ronny's room. When I saw 115 I knocked on the door. Ron answered it. "Oh my G---this is why I couldn't find your ass."
"Why were you looking for me?"
"Because the video went viral and you said you'd take it down. Where's Ronny?" I asked trying to step around him. Ron blocked me. "Ron move. I need to speak with Ronny."
"I can't let you do that."
"What the fuck? Why?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Ron move," I said pushing past him. "What the fuck are you hiding," I said as I stepped into the living area. I started to head toward what I thought might be her room, but Ron stopped me. "Don't move," Ron said. I turned around to fuss Ron out, but was met with a gun in my face. "Ron what are you doing? Where's Ronny?" I tried to keep calm. I could hear a muffled voice coming not far from where I stood. "Ron put the gun down. This is not worth taking a life." Ron looked so upset. "You weren't supposed to be involved. I didn't want you in here."
I had to figure out a plan to get me and Ronny out of here. "You don't have to do this to me or Ronny. Just put the gun down Ron." He didn't budge. "Okay. If you gon' shoot me at least do it with the door shut so there aren't any witnesses. Ron looked behind him and saw that the door was still open. "Anybody could have walked by Ron." He went to shut the door giving me the opportunity to quickly unlock my phone and call Kevin. When I was sure he had answered I turned my screen off and started talking. "Ron you gotta let me and Ronny go. You don't have to do this."
He walked back over to me. "Why'd you come to Ronny's suite anyway?" He asked me, his voice shaking. I wanted to talk to her about the video. Why are you here?" I said nodding my head towards him. "I just want this to be over." I looked confused. "You want what to be over? You and Ronny's relationship?" He nodded his head. "You know how I feel about her. I don't love her and I'm tired of her always clinging to me. I don't know how else to end it."
"Okay. Here's an idea how about you just tell her the truth," I paused, "without the gun of course."
"Don't do that Alyssa. Don't be condescending." He shoved the gun in my face. My eyes began to well up.
"Ron put the gun down. If you kill her or me there will be consequences bigger than any of what's going on right now. It's not worth it. You don't want to be in jail for the rest of your life do you?"
"Shut the hell up," he yelled. "Stop trying to talk me out of it! I'm glad the video is out. Now you get to hurt like I do."
"It's not the same," I said through blurry eyes.
"The hell it's not! Isn't everyone rejecting you? Freezing you out! That's how I feel every time you turn me down. Ronny's love means nothing to me, because it's not you."
"Ron we've been through this. When you knew I had feelings for you, you ditched me for Ronny. Don't I have a reason to be angry at you? To hold something against you? But I don't. I don't have a gun pointed at your head. Do I? No. I dealt with the rejection and moved on. You should do the same."
Ron waved his gun in my face. "Don't tell me what I should do!"
I looked out of my peripheral and saw the door slowly opening. It was four police officers on the other side of the door. I made eye contact with one of them. Janelle, Kevin, and a few of his friends were standing outside the door behind them. I was breathing heavily. "Ron. Don't do something that you'll regret later. You're young. You still have the opportunity to find love. It just won't be with me. The quicker you come to terms with that, the sooner you'll find someone who's all about you. Isn't that what you want?"
"You think I don't know what you're doing?" He pointed the gun back in my face again. One of the police officers slowly moved forward with her gun withdrawn. "This is the police! Don't move!" Out of fear Ron fired his gun. On impulse I quickly got low onto the ground. Thankfully the bullet missed me. The officer grabbed Ron and pushed him to the floor. "You are under arrest," she said as she put his hands behind his back and handcuffed him. The officer, who I later found out is named officer Brady, picked Ron up off of the floor and told him his Miranda rights as she led him out of the room. I got up off of the floor and looked for Ronny. I opened and closed doors until I saw her on the bathroom floor. I ran to her. I unwound the rope from her hands and feet and removed the tape from her mouth. Tears were streaming down her face. I pulled her into a hug. Kevin, Adrian, and Janelle ran into the bathroom behind me. "You okay," they asked me. "I'm fine, but Ronny's not. We gotta take her to the hospital. She needs medical attention. Ron beat her up pretty bad." Her left eye is swollen shut and her face is bruised. Janelle helped me pick her up from the floor and Kevin carried her out of the room. People were standing in the hallway trying to figure out what had happened. They were shocked to see Ronny in the state that she was in. When I got outside one of the four police stopped me for questioning. I walked over to his car and told him everything that he wanted to know. After they let me go I met up with Janelle and we drove down to the hospital. Kevin had already left with Ronny.
"Are you okay?" Janelle asked. "I'm just a little shook up, but I'm okay. I'm really concerned about Ronny though. She didn't deserve that."
"Yeah I know."
After about twenty minutes we arrived at that hospital. The nurse said that Ronny was going to be okay. She was responsive enough to give them her name and her emergency contact information. Her parents were on their way. We sat in the waiting area for about ten minutes when one of the nurses approached us. "Which one of you is Alyssa?"
"I am."
The nurse turned to face me. "Veronica asked to see you."
"Okay. Thank you." I went to the front desk for a visitors badge and headed down the hall to her room. "Hey Ronny. How you feeling," I asked once I entered her room.
"Horrible," she said weakly. I walked over to her bed. "I'm sorry that you had to go through this. You didn't deserve it Ronny." She shook her head. "No. I'm sorry. I should have never released that video. You were telling the truth all along. I wished I would have believed you, then I wouldn't be in this mess." I grabbed her hand. "Hey. Don't worry about it." She offered me a smile. "I don't know what I would have done without you. Your timing was perfect. Thank you for not running when you had every reason to. I owe you big time."
"Don't mention it. Like I said, you didn't deserve what happened to you." Before I left I stayed and talked to her until she started getting other vistors. I was with her for at least an hour before we said goodbye.
When I was ready to go I rode with Kevin back to his place. When we got there I was completely wiped out. He pulled me into a hug. "You alright," he asked rubbing my back. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm okay," I mumbled tiredly. "I think I need to go take a shower and go to bed. I'm not really up for talking tonight."
"Okay. Let me know if you need anything," he said after letting me go.
"Okay."
I started to strip out of my clothes as I walked down the hall. Tonight I had no desire for a long shower. I just wanted to be in and out. I wanted the night to be over. I stepped out of the shower and dried off. When I got back in the room I threw on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts and climbed into bed. The thought of losing my life had me pretty shaken up and kept me thinking about a lot of things that night; that all could be lost in the blink of an eye. The thought kept me up for a while. As soon as I started to fall asleep I felt Kevin scoop me up into his arms and hold me close. He buried his chin into the side of my neck and wrapped his arms around my waist. With him was the most safe I felt all night. I was so thankful for him.