Jeremiah
"Jeremy!"
I kept walking. I didn't stop for a second, not even with Kingsley right behind me, calling my name, trying to get my attention, trying to get me to stop.
"J!"
I was going to stop at the glass balcony anyway, so if he really wanted to talk, he had to catch up on his own. I took a deep breath, coming to a stop in front of the huge glass at the end of the hall, that allowed you to see outside from up there. I exhaled, placing my hands on my hips, as everything that had happened began to play in my head. I was having an anxiety attack, coupled with a lot of stress. Why did I feel so angry? Why did I act the way I did back there?
"Jerry!"
I turned to Kingsley the moment he called my name again. He was really close to me this time, really really close. He came to a stop in front of me, and looked at me for quite some time.
"Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you?" He asked me the moment he noticed I was trying to rub my forehead. "What was that back there?"
I honestly wished I knew. I drew a deep breath, and then turned back to the glass. Pretending to be too concentrated on what was going on outside. I hoped he could see and understand that I wasn't sure why I got so angry, and more so, that I wasn't going to talk about it, because I didn't want to. I turned to him quickly.
"I need air." I told him after I drew one last breath. He squinted his eyes, he was probably wondering what I meant.
"Huh?"
"We don't have any more classes today, do we?" I didn't even wait for him to reply to that. I gave him a quick tap on his shoulder. "See you around."
I turned around quickly, and hurried out.
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Kora
I drew a deep breath.
I had locked myself up all day in the closest storage room I could find to the music hall for hours, since after I had walked out from everyone in the hall, crying my eyes out and reminding myself of how much I hated my life. Of how much of my past I hated. I was so angry with everyone, hurt, embarrassed, and disappointed. There were a lot of emotions welling up within me, some, I hadn't even defined yet. All I knew was, I had to stay in a place where no one was ever going to find me. I was too ashamed of myself to try and show my face to anyone, too ashamed to even walk to my room.
Just a few more hours Kora.
Just a few more hours and the entire lecture building was going to be empty, or at least filled with a few people. I slowly reached for my phone from the floor. I held my breath when I stared at the screen. There were no missed calls, none at all. I didn't know why I felt disappointed, even though I knew no one was ever going to try and reach out to me, not that I had a lot of friends anyway. Grace was the only friend I had, even though lately, she was kind of far to reach. We barely did the things we used to do, or talked like we used to. She said she was too busy preparing for test week, so she didn't call, or want to hang out all the time, and I respected that. She hadn't even picked my calls all day. Thinking about Grace made me so worried. I couldn't help but ask myself why she was being distant. If it was really the test, or she was just trying to avoid me. If I did anything wrong. I exhaled, and then buried my head on my knee.
Churn
That was my phone churning.
It was the sound it made whenever I got a text message. I raised my head slowly, after taking about five seconds to myself, raising the phone to my face again.
Yes, I was right. It was a text message, but you wouldn't believe who it was from. I didn't believe who it was from either.
"Meet me at the pool in twenty minutes,"
Jeremiah.
He really texted me? I scoffed. I spent the next twenty seconds contemplating in my head. Asking myself the same questions over and over again. Why did I have to go? Why did I have to listen to anything he had to say? He was probably just going to walk over me again. I didn't need his pity, his help, or his explanations anymore. I was fine. I was going to be fine without any of them, without him, or anyone.
Sigh.
I hated myself.
For some reason, I got up as fast as I could. I didn't know why, but I wanted to see him. For a moment, I wasn't scared of going out in public anymore. The swimming pool was halls away from where I was, I didn't want to keep him waiting either.
"You're so stupid Kora."
I know you're probably thinking that, I thought the exact same thing. Why? What was it about him that I couldn't stay away from? Why was it that no matter what he did, no matter how much he humiliated me, I kept coming back for more? Wasn't it enough? Wasn't I tired of the humiliation? I wanted answers to all the questions in my head. Did I just have a soft spot for Jeremiah? did I like him? Was I attracted to him? Was Grace right all along? Now that I thought of it, I didn't fight him off at the gala. I could have, but I didn't, and I needed to know why.
I wanted to know why my heart kept skipping beats whenever I was with him, the same way it was with Luke. Even though I knew I had the answers to the questions I had, I just wanted more. I couldn't like him. Someone like Jeremiah, someone that disrespected me every chance he got, wasn't the kind of man I had always dreamt to be my recovery and escape place from what happened between Luke and I. How could I have feelings for someone that didn't even think of me as someone deserving of him? Someone that didn't like me? Someone that couldn't even bring himself to look at me?
Pathetic, Kora. Very pathetic.
Maybe this was for the best. Maybe I needed to actually meet him. Maybe I needed to hear him disrespect me one more time, or at least push him to the point where he could actually disrespect me more than he ever did. Maybe that way I could get angry to the point where I could actually hate him. Maybe it would make me worry and think less about him. Maybe I would stop caring whatever happened to him, if I just faced all of it heads on.
I took a deep breath, and shook my hands a little. I was in front of the door now, convincing myself that it was okay to walk inside that room, even though I knew that the moment I did, a lot was probably going to change. I could feel a chill breeze sweep through my skin. A weird feeling, a strange atmosphere. There was something about the hallway, It felt so cold, and there was no one in sight. Not like there used to be anyone in sight every other day, but that day, that day felt so different. I opened the door slowly, and then walked in. The lights came on.
I held my breath. Every where was still, too still. I could hear the whooshing sound of air, echoing around the room, even when the water remained so still. I could hear my own footsteps, with every step I took towards the huge swimming pool. I looked around, hoping to find him without actually calling his name. I didn't want to. He was obviously not around the pool, and it didn't look like he was close to the diving area too.
"Hello?" My voice echoed as I came to a halt in front of the glass leading to the shower room. "Is anyone there?"
I was sure he wasn't there when no one responded to my call. I turned around to the glass. Unlike every other day, it wasn't locked. It was opened just a little bit. Was that it? Was that where he was? Maybe. I pulled the door open just a little bit, so I could have a better look. Maybe he was in there.
Churn!
My phone beeped again. I hurried to look at it. It was another text message from him again.
"Come inside. I'm in the changing room."
I exhaled. If he was there, why didn't he just say so?
I walked inside, trying to see through the blue lights. Come to think of it, what happened to the lights? Why were the bright lights turned off, and the dim blue lights on? I wasn't going to be surprised if he had a thing for darkness anyway.
"Hello?" I called again. My voice echoed lesser now. "Jeremih?"
There was no response.
What was this? What kind of a game was he trying to play now? Was he trying to waste my time? To think that I had come all the way. I exhaled. Now I was getting really irritated, and I was going to have to lash out on someone or something eventually. I raised my phone once again and dialed his number. I waited patiently.
I could hear a phone ring from behind me. I paused for a minute, and then slowly pulled my phone from my ear, had he been standing behind me all along?
"Looking for someone?"
I froze.
Something wasn't right. I stood still for a minute, trying to figure out what wasn't. Of all the voices I knew, of all the people I knew, that wasn't a voice I could recognize. It wasn't his voice. My heart began to beat slow, and I was too scared to look back, because I was almost sure I had an idea of what was going on. It was a trap.
Stay calm Kora, stay calm.
I swallowed hard, trying to stop my hands from shaking so much. All I had to do was turn, and explain the fact that I had made a mistake by coming there, and then leave. I slowly made my legs to move, so they could rotate my body clockwise, until I was facing the figure in front of me. From the sound of the voice, I knew whoever it was, had to be a male. He looked a few inches shorter than Jeremiah, so I just knew it couldn't be him. I could feel my heart pound so hard, when I noticed that I couldn't see his face. Not because the lights weren't bright enough, but because he was wearing a mask. A black scary mask. He stood there, with his hands in his pockets, and his eyes glued to me. He tilted his head a little bit to the side.
"I-" now I was stammering. My entire body was trembling. I was beginning to feel so suffocated, I managed to scoff out a faint chuckle. "I think I'm in the wrong room." I finally got myself to say, even though it didn't look like he cared. "I must have lost my way again." I continued. "It happens all the time. I'm just going to go."
I took three steps to leave, but he stood in my way with just one step. I froze, and counted my heart beat for the next two seconds. He examined me carefully. What was he doing? Why was he looking at me like that? He raised a phone.
"You're at the right place." He told me.
Right place? No. I didn't think I was. I just said I wasn't. I began to hear more footsteps approaching me. It made me turn quickly to the tiny doors behind me, just as about three more boys walked out of each door, looking just about the same as the first one, wearing the same mask. They were walking towards us. Now it was obvious. I was being cornered, and I was scared. I was beginning to breathe fast too. The exit was just a few steps away, fewer steps, if I did the maths right and ran when I was supposed to. Maybe if I did, I had a better chance of escaping them.
I made a run for the door, but I wasn't fast enough. The first boy caught me by my hand and then pushed me back to right where I had started, but this time, harder, hard enough to make me fall on one of the sinks at least. I had scratched my elbow on one of the sharp edges and had started to bleed immediately.
"Just stay calm, so you won't have to hurt yourself." He told me, as the boys started to approach me, taking their time. I could feel beads of sweat forming on my forehead, even with all that cool air from the air conditioner. The first one was getting really close to me. Even when I refused to look at them, even when I shut my eyes, hoping and praying they all just went away, I could smell his perfume. My entire body was trembling, I was barely even standing straight, because my legs were trembling so hard that they failed me each time I tried to. I just leaned on the sink, holding on tightly to it, my blood slowly forming a circle under my elbow. I let out a tiny wince, the moment I felt his cold hand on my jaw. He pulled it to face him.
"Look at me." He told me.
I didn't want to. I was scared to. I had a thing for situations like this, more like a trauma.
"P-please." I knew that was the point where I had to beg. "Please just let me go. I won't tell anyone about this. I swear." I had tears in my eyes, a lot of them.
"Shhhh." He pulled himself closer to me, whispering into my ears. "We're not going to hurt you, we are just going to have a little- fun."
"Please." I knew I shouldn't stop begging them. "Please don't."
"Don't scream." He told me. "You can anyway, the front door is sound proof. No one's going to hear you." I opened my eyes, the moment I began to hear his belt rattle. I was numb everywhere. Why was he loosening his belt? What was he trying to do?
"No." I tried to push myself away from them, but they surrounded me. "Please don't."
"You know, I've been seeing you." He kept his eyes glued to his trousers. "And after today, I couldn't just help but wonder what it is about you that's making everyone lose their minds." He chuckled. "Even Sadiq mentioned it. Should have seen the way Jeremiah threw a punch at him in your defense, he probably doesn't like to share."
The boys laughed so hard. Their laughters pierced through my skin. I cuddled myself up, trembling under my uniform, not daring to look at any of them.
"You know, I envy Jeremiah a lot." He continued. "Not in a good way though. Let's just say I have scores to settle with him." He pulled his zipper down, and looked at me. I slowly raised my head to him too. "He doesn't even know I do. That guy! Thinks he's so high and mighty, because he's popular here and there, because he's on every TV screen, and he gets all the girls? He thinks he's all that? Let me tell you what he did to me, as a matter of fact, let me tell you the kind of a person your boyfriend is."
"B-b-boyfriend?" I stammered. "He's not my-"
"He's the kind that takes things from people, and I heard that that's the kind of person you are too." He scoffed. "No wonder you two are attracted to each other." He chuckled. "Birds of a feather indeed."
I sniffed
"This is a misunderstanding." I said in my defense. "There is nothing going on between-"
"My girlfriend left me because of him!" He yelled at me. "My girlfriend! She threw three years of our relationship away, and took a six hour flight to the United Kingdom, because she was invited to a party he was going to be at. He slept with her, and kicked her out the next day. Like a dog, couldn't even remember her name when she bumped into him at the mall weeks ago. Who on earth treats people like that? He's less than a pig. The thought that I can't break up with my girlfriend, I can't leave her, because I like her so much, the thought that I can't even be with her, without seeing his face all the time disgusts me, and the fact that I can't do anything about it, I can't make him pay for what he did, or hurt his fiancée because of who her family is, that annoys me the most. It's all I ever thought of, since I heard he was back, and that announcement he gave at the gala just spiced things up for me, coupled with the fact that you have been given a black card, which means, anyone could do what they wanted to you and get away with it. You, on the other hand, your family isn't all that. I even heard you don't have a father. I can easily get away with whatever I do. Since I can't settle it with him, I'm just going to have to settle it with his little bitch instead." He turned to his friends. "Grab her."
"No," I tied to stop them, as they all grabbed me. "No, wait, please wait."
They were barely listening to me, and no matter how I jerked and tried to fight my way off, they were just too strong for me. One of them placed his hands tightly on my mouth, to stop me from screaming so loudly, as they pulled me to the ground, pinning me so I didn't move, while the other one stood in front of me, trying to pull down his trousers. I could barely breathe. Everything was happening so fast, and the more I cried, the more it felt like my lungs were trying to collapse.
"And once I'm done, my friends are going to have a taste too." He squatted in front of me. "For the record, I have nothing against you. You just have a black card. and I'm just taking advantage of it like everyone else, to settle what I'm being owed. Blame Old money for this. They did this to you, not me."
He pushed himself against me, and started to struggle with my buttons, while his friends just kept on pinning me and making sure I couldn't speak. He fought so hard, until he decided to rip them all out. He pulled my shirt open, while I just stayed there, all my efforts to get away from them, going down the drain. I was terrified. Scared that I was eventually going to get tired of fighting, and they were going to have their way. I couldn't, I couldn't go through that again. My entire legs were going numb, as I watched him throw his hands into his trousers as fast as he could, I could barely even see him, with all the tears in my eyes clouding my sight, but with the way he was moving his hands inside his trousers, right after he spat on them at intervals, I just knew he was forcing himself to get an erection as fast as he could. He kept jerking and jerking.
"Hurry up." One of the boys said to him. "Before someone comes in."
"Just a moment." He told them. Going as fast as he could. "Just a minute."
"Guy," another one said. "She's right in front of you. Do what you have to do, I don't want to get in trouble."
He was barely listening to them. I just kept trying to free myself, but all my attempts were useless.
"Done! Done." He announced, and then pushed himself to me, and at that moment, I knew there was nothing that was going to stop him, to stop them.
I screamed.