Hey guys! I have been writing this story off and on for awhile, and I finally decided to post it. I know this chapter is short, but I promise that my chapters are long, usually 7-12 pages on Microsoft Word I have quite a bit of it written, at least half, and will be posting whenever I get a chance to type things up. I hope you like it, let me know if you do by reviewing! - - Stephanie.

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Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed. --- Corita Kent

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"Peyton?" Lucas yelled throughout her house.

"Peyton! Are you in here?"

He was at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at the level above him. Tables were overturned; pictures were hanging upside down or were broken. It worried him to see her usually clean house this untidy.

"Hello? Peyton?"

He took cautious steps up the stairs. As he got closer to Peyton's room he could tell something had happened. He slowly entered her room and gasped at the sight of it. Her lamps were over-turned and broken, records and papers littered the room. He picked up one of the papers; it was a picture of Peyton. He started picking up the others, and to his surprise they were all different pictures of Peyton. It mad his stomach churn. The bed was a mess too and it had blood on it. Lucas could only hope it wasn't Peyton's.

"Peyton, are you in here?" There was no response.

As he turned to leave her heard as whimpers and spun around, searching for the site of the noise. Peyton was huddled in the corner, naked and blood splattered, crying into her hands.

"Peyton…" Lucas whispered before rushing to her side.

She coiled back from his touch making tears come to his eyes.

"Peyton, it's just me, Lucas. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise." He grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her body. He pulled her into a hug; she flinched at first, but quickly leaned into him and sobbed into his shoulder.
"Lucas… I tried to fight him, but I… he was too strong, I couldn't get him off of me." Tears came to his eyes at her confession.

"I know, Peyton, I know. It'll be okay. I promise. I'm going to go over there and use my phone. I'll be right back." Lucas went to get up, but Peyton was tugging at his shirt.

"No, please… don't leave me… please."

Lucas leaned back down and softly touched her cheek, "I'm not going to leave you Peyton, I'm just going over there to make a call, I'll be right back, we need to get an ambulance here."

Lucas walked away, towards the window but still kept his eyes on Peyton, who was shivering now. He quickly dialed 911.

"Hello this is Sandra, what is your emergency?"

"Hi, my friend, she was attacked in her home. I need an ambulance."

"Okay, I will send one. Is the attacker still there?"

"No, I don't think so." Lucas said, even though he did not know for sure.

"Okay, an ambulance will be on it's way, along with the police. Stay there."

"Okay," Lucas muttered, then hung up. He went to sit back down next to Peyton. She was still shaking and sobbing.

"Peyton, listen to me okay?" She looked up at his serious tone and nodded. He was about to ask her a question he hoped he'd never had to ask.

"I know that you are scared, but I need to know if he… If he… um did he ra- pe you?" He said, near tears himself. He waited for her response which he hoped was a no, though by the look of her mangled body, he knew it probably was going to be bad. It took Peyton a minute to gain her composure.

She nodded, "Yes" she said before bursting into tears. Lucas sucked in a rapid breath.

He wrapped his arms around her broken body, "It's going to be okay. I promise."

"He was here when I got home. I tried to fight him off, I really did, but he was so strong." Peyton whimpered. It broke his heart to hear her say that.

"It'll be okay. He can't hurt you now." Lucas said.

Hearing the distant sirens he wrapped his arms tighter around her, blaming himself for not getting here sooner to protect her, to save her.