"Mom, I'm home." I call and look around the house for her. "Mom?" I fall again. I know she's not at work.
I walk upstairs and stop once I pass by a room. Lily's room. There is sound coming from it so I walk inside my sisters room.
To say I was shocked was an understatement. "Mom?" I question tears already in my eyes.
"Good morning Tyler." She responds simply. "What's going on?" I ask already knowing what was happening.
"Well we hired some workers to move a few things." She says not looking me in the eye.
"Mom, Lily's whole room is gone." I tear falls down my face. "Tyler, we had to face it at some point." She says grabbing my hands.
"Face what? Why did you feel this was necessary?" I ask her. "Even if you don't believe it, this is very necessary." She says.
"Face what Mom? Because you're not making any sense." I say and she rubs her face.
"Tyler, your father he-" I cut her off. "No, mom what do we need to face?" I raise my voice.
"That she's not coming back!" Mom yells and I back away from her. I shake my head.
"You're right. She's not but the only thing you need to realize is that erasing her won't make it hurt any less." I say walking away.
She calls my name and I ignore it. I see my dad coming toward me and I ignore him too. He grabs my arm telling me to listen to my mother.
"She's right." He says sternly.
"You're no better than her." I cry out wrenching out his grip. "Instead of helping and supporting your family through tough times. You try to ignore the problem by shutting yourself away in your damn office." I say. "It's not going to make Lily being gone any less difficult to handle." I say before walking out the house all together.
...
Two hours later I find myself on the sidewalk of some trashy neighborhood.
My eyes are red and puffy and I can't breathe. I can't believe they really got rid of everything. All of it. Gone.
When a man walks a bit close to me I get off the curb and move away. I had no idea where I was so I couldn't walk home.
He follows. I walk away and he continues to follow. Once I gain speed he runs at me.
I scream as he slams me against a building. "What's a pretty girl like you doing in these streets?" I says his disgusting breath going in my face.
"Get the fuck off me!" I yell trying to push him off me. He pushes back harder.
"Mm, I like them feisty." He licks his lips and I nearly throw up.
"Get off!" I yell again and he puts his dirty hands up my shirt. I kick and scratch at him but that only results in him putting my hands above my head.
He starts to unbutton my pants and I scream and kick. He has them halfway down my legs and he grins evilly.
I'm bawling and screaming as he touches me. He grinds his erection on me and I try pushing him off again.
He growls and pushes me back my head slapping the brick wall with a loud crack. My vision is going blurry and I force myself not to pass out.
Fight. Fight.
He starts to unbutton his jeans and I take the chance. I knee him a hard as I can in the balls.
He lets out a stream of dark curses. I take off as fast as I can and don't stop for a good ten minutes.
Its 2am but I try to call Kat and Devyn anyway. They don't pick up as expected.
I hesitate before calling Jake. He doesn't pick up either. The last person I try is Colby. Colby and I have gotten the closest I would say.
Because Colby didn't have anything better to do like me him, me and Jake hang out lot. Kat and Devyn had Sam and Corey.
He picks up on the third ring. "Tyler? Why are you calling at 2am?" He answers tiredly.
I don't say anything. "Tyler? Are you okay?" he asks.
I sniffle. "No. Could you please come pick me up?" I start crying again. "Yes I can pick you up, where are you? What's wrong?" He asks and I can hear him rushing down the stairs.
"I'll explain when you get here." I say looking around. "I'm at that drug store downtown." I say.
"That's pretty far from your house, are you okay?" He asks his car starting.
"I will be." I say and hang up.
...
It takes about twenty minutes for him to get here and every minute I was looking over my shoulder.
He pulls up and rolls down the window. "Tyler, come on." He says waving me in.
I get in the passenger seat and he examines me. "Tyler, what happened to you?" He asks and I look down.
"Can you just drive please?" I ask. "Do you want me to bring you back home?" He asks.
"No." I yell and he nods. "Okay, but are you gonna tell me what happened?" He asks and I nod.
I explain to him the moment I got home and what happened there to now.
"Tyler, I'm at so sorry." He says tearing up. "I don't want you to ever experience anything like that again." He says.
"I'm just glad I could get away or god knows what would have happened." I say and he nods.
The rest of the ride is in comfortable silence until we arrive at the Traphouse.
Colby helps me out because I'm not steady on my feet. "Tyler, you're head." He touches it and I wince.
"Sorry." He mutters and holds up his bloody hand.
"Come on." He says and helps me inside.
Colby cleans up my wound and we start arguing. "You need to go to the hospital Tyler." He says.
"Colby, no I don't." I say. "Yeah you do." He says.
"Colby, I'm fine." I raise my voice. "You're going to tell me you're fine after all that?" He asks.
I roll my eyes and walk out the bathroom. And of course with my luck I slip and hit the back of my head on the wall. I let out a loud yelp and Colby rushes over.
"You're a mess." He laughs. Devyn, Corey and Jake come around the corner at the same time.
"Tyler? What's going on?" Jake looks at Colby.
"What happened?" Devyn nearly yells.
I sigh. "Colby please explain it. I can't do that again." I say and he nods.
I lay on the couch as Colby explains. Jake and Devyn come and sit with me. Devyn hands me some clean clothes that I take gratefully.
I change and then walk back down to find Jake with his head in his hands. "Hey, whats wrong?" I sit next to him.
" I just feel like this is partly my fault." He says. "What? No, how is this your fault?" I ask .
"You called me and I didn't answer."
He says. "Jake it was 2 two in the morning and you were sleeping."
"I still feel guilty." He says and I hold his face in my hands. "Jake listen to me. I'm okay. And what happened wasn't your fault okay?" I say softly and he gives me a small smile.
"Okay." He says. I remove my hands and lay on the couch. "What are you doing?" He asks.
"Trying to sleep." I laugh curling into a ball. "You can sleep in my bed." He says and I look at him.
"Jake, that's your bed." I say and he shrugs. "So? It's not like I don't have enough room either." He says.
"I'm fine down-" before I can finish my sentence I'm being picked up by Jake. "Ugh fine." I groan and he laughs walking to his room.
He gently places me under the covers and then covers me with them. He walks away and I call out to him "Where are you going?" I ask.
"To get you aspirin. Your head might not hurt now but it will later. Kinda like a hangover." He laughs.
I smile gratefully when he runs back in the room with water and two aspirins. "Thank you." I say and he smiles.
"I'll be right back." I say getting out the bed. I walk down to Colby's room and knock.
"Come in." He calls and I walk in. "Hey." He says and I wave. He's wrapped in blankets with his hood on and he's on his laptop.
I sit on the end of the bed and he sits up. "I never got to say thank you." I start. "Tyler, you don't have to-" I cut him off.
"But I want to. Thank you Colby. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't there for me." I feel a tear leak from my eye.
"Tyler." He says and pulls me into a hug. I sniffle and pull away from him after a minute of me crying.
"I'm sorry." I laugh. "Don't be, your hugs are the best." He smiles and I get up.
"Goodnight Colby." I say and give one last smile before walking back to Jakes room.
He had a pallet made on the ground pillows and all. "Jake what the hell are you doing?" I ask and he looks up.
"What you don't like my fort?" He smiles and I take a minute to admire it and just him in general. As cheesy as it is. I was grateful for Jake. For him Colby Kat and Devyn and everyone else.
"What?" He asks.
"Nothing." I smile getting into the bed. "Jake get your ass in this bed. It's you're bed." I say and he doesn't hesitate to get in the bed.
He keeps his distance but I roll over and find myself face to face with him. "Hi." I say. "Hi."
"Can't sleep?" He asks and I nod my head. "I'm I don't know, paranoid?" I say and he frowns slightly.
"Come here." He says and wraps his arm around me. "I got you." He whispers and I cuddle into his chest.
I soon find myself falling into a deep sleep.