Chapter One- The Trick Is To Keep Breathing

"Emily?" I whispered into the phone, after years of late night calls this was nothing new but something felt different...wrong. She sobbed and tried to catch her breath desperately gasping for air as if being held underwater. My eyes widened as I subconsciously stood and grabbed my jacket from the hook in the hall momentarily forgetting all about both Melissa's presence and my fear of being alone right now. "Honey what's wrong?" I asked, although I knew that the last thing she needed was to questioned right now,

"I'm near the Applerose Grill...can you come get me?" she murmured weakly, she had barely uttered the words before I was out of the street,

"I'm on my way buddy, just stay on the phone, okay?" I placed my cell phone on the seat beside me, not wanting to break any more laws than the speed limit which I was almost sure I was double by now.

Ten minutes later, I pulled up outside the entrance to a small alley, praying that my intuition was right. I saw a dark silhouette on my right shrink back into the shadows and could almost feel my best friend tense all over, as I stepped towards her.

"Emily?" I whispered, crouching down next to her and reaching for her hands, "hey buddy it's me, its okay," she said nothing but her silence spoke a thousand word. I stood up and pulled her with me,

"God, Spence , you scared me, I thought it might not be you and i-i..." she stammered before trailing off and clutching to me, I pulled back, alarmed by what she'd said, but the way she was clinging to me made it impossible to get a closer look. "I promise I'll explain this, this and everything, but can we please just go home now?" her eyes pleaded with me and my heart sank as I nodded. I took her hand and guided her to my Mercedes which was park at the side of the street. I saw the wave of relief rush over Emily's face. Normally, I would have smiled at the cute expression she had on, but in our current situation, I couldn't do anything but worry.

I placed my hands on her hips to steady her as she slid into the car, noticing as I did two large, red marks on her tan legs just under the hem of her jean skirt. I started to ask her, yet again what had happened, but bit my lip…there would be plenty of time for questions later, right now, I needed to focus on Emily's safety, a damage assessment could be carried out at a later date. We sat in a heavy silence for the remainder of the journey back to my place, during which Emily had squeezed my hand so hard it was turning blue.

I was grateful to be finally out of the car by the time we got home solely because this meant I could hold Emily. I wrapped my arms around her, right there in the driveway and I could tell by the way she held me back that she was grateful of the reassuring contact. I lead her, still holding her by the shoulders into the house and up to my room where she sat tentatively on the edge of my bed.

I closed the door, my instincts screaming at me that tonight, whatever it ended up being, needed to be private.

Emily POV

I relaxed into Spencer's arms and began to shake, allowing the events of the past few hours to finally catch up to me, she sat and she held me there, no hesitation, no questions asked. I felt the sobs rack through my body with back breaking force, and without either of us speaking a single word, as Spencer's tears intermingled with mine, I knew that she understood.

I heard her speak but her words remained blurry, as if she were underwater or far, far away.

His feet pounded heavily along the street; I could feel him closing in on me and I dared myself to look round, not slowing my pace. He was a mere three feet away. I psyched myself up, running faster and faster. Trying harder and harder but going nowhere. I felt his arms close around my waist, his hands creeping lower and lower over my body. I closed my eyes and I screamed.

"Emily?" Spencer's voice broke through my nightmare like a beacon of light, "Emily baby, can you tell me what happened?" I winced at her touch but let myself slowly relax into her grasp, I shook my head as I felt myself start to cry uncontrollably. "Em, I know it's hard, believe me, but buddy you have to tell me. And then I'm going to need to do a physical exam." I screamed. A blood curdling scream. Spencer held me and rocked me, gently shushing and whispering quiet comfort in my ear.

"I know darling, I know." She whispered as she gently kissed my temple. "But sweetheart you're hurt and I need to see, either that or we go to a doctor right now." I clung to Spencer, mentally paralyzed by the thought of strangers' hands touching me once more.

"You Spence," I murmured. "It has to be you." She nodded sincerely and stroked my hair, gently separating us slowly.

"Alright Emmy, I need you to undress so I can see how badly you're hurt. But I need you to remember that it is only me," she paused and took my hand, "alright?" she asked, tipping my chin up with her finger so she was looking me in the eyes, "You can trust me, Em, I'm not going to hurt you, baby." She took my other hand and squeezed it reassuringly. I felt her gaze on me as I started to pull my top over my head, I'd already felt exposed due to the rips in the fabric. It's only Spencer, I repeated to myself over and over, it's only Spencer. I squeezed my eyes shut in pain as I lifted my arms over my head and I saw the pain in Spencer's eyes.

"Here, let me help," she said quietly, helping me sit on the bed before gently pulling the material from my body. I heard her sharp intake of breath as she surveyed the damage. She gently put her arms around me and locked my gaze on hers, "Trust me Em, okay?" she whispered as she unhooked my bra.

"Get away from me!" my panicked yell did nothing to stop the man who had pressed himself up against me. Trying to muster a glare I stepped backwards only to endure a sinking feeling in my stomach as my back scraped against the solid brick wall behind me. He smirked at the terrified look on my face as his tongue made its way into my mouth. Hands gripped my arms and neck in a vice like grip preventing me from moving, let alone running away. I felt his hot breath against my neck and, doing the only thing I could think of, dug my knee hard into his crotch, knocking him backwards and making to run.

"Bitch!" he screamed, grabbing my wrist as I tried to run away, wrenching me back and against the wall again. Taking both of my wrists in one of his hands he pinned my arms above my head as he fumbled in his pocket. I closed my eyes as I felt the sharp, cold metal blade run softly across my throat, not quite breaking skin, but enough to stop my heartbeat for a few seconds.

"Now," he leered, "this blade, will hurt a lot, but this one," he gestured to the undone zipper on his jeans, "won't hurt so much...take your pick." I shuddered and squeezed my eyes shut again, trying desperately to be anywhere but where I was.

"Stay here with me," Spencer said sternly, yet her voice held so much comfort for me. "Don't go back, Em, no-one can hurt you here, open your eyes." Spencer coaxed gently, she reached for her robe and gingerly helped me into it as she unbuttoned my jean skirt, somehow sensing how uncomfortable being entirely exposed would make me. I made to stand so Spencer could remove my skirt but my legs could no longer hold my weight. "It's okay," she whispered, "lay back." She guided me down to the bed with one hand, the other holding mine as a small reassurance.

Spencer POV

I tried to keep it together; really I did…For Emily's sake. But the sight that greeted me was almost more than I could handle. Across my best friends legs were scattered cuts and bruises. Starting at her ankles and scattering upwards, increasing plentifully at the very tops of her thighs; two deep cuts penetrated her tan, muscular legs. The bruising outweighed the cuts in terms of severity, if that was even possible.

"Son of a bitch." I cursed under my breath, "Emmy, I swear to God I will find out who did this and personally, I will destroy him." She laughed, but it wasn't her laugh. Emily's laugh was sweet, and charming, and could instantly brighten someone's day…more than that; it could make you fall in love with her. But this laugh was nervous and edgy, like if she didn't laugh, she'd cry. And that's exactly what I was afraid of.

I moved up to sit beside Emily on the bed, hating to hurt her further but afraid of what would happen if I didn't follow this particular instinct.

"Babe," I whispered, holding her hands in mine, "I hate to hurt you like this, but I need you to tell me what happened today. Can you do that for me?" I asked her very gently. Emily closed her eyes softly and shuffled closer to me, I opened my arms and she gladly relaxed into them. I wrapped them very tightly around her and held her close, stroking her hair absentmindedly as she began to talk.

"I-I I was walking home from practice c-cause I-I left my car at h-home a-and I-it was g-getting dark a-and I-I was grabbed f-from behind and h-he pushed me…I-I tried to- to run but I-I but h-he got me…" she sobbed silently into my shoulder.

"Em, did he?" I asked the question that I already had the answer to. She nodded into my chest and I rocked her soothingly in a protective embrace.

"Honey, you need to have a rape kit done. Now, I can take you to a clinic, or I can do it here. I have an emergency one in the bathroom." She looked me in the eyes like a rabbit in headlights and it broke my heart.

"Okay, here it is. Do you want me to call Aria or Hanna? It might be helpful for some comfort or distraction," she seemed to consider it for a second before she nodded,

"Not now, but after, do you think they could come over?" she asked tentatively, I smiled and kissed her temple,

"Of course," I sent both Hanna and Aria a simple SOS text with the words 'my house' stated at the bottom. They would both know what to do. I slipped out of the room and returned with a tiny green box in my hand;

"Okay sweetie, I'm ready when you are; this is gonna hurt, but I will be as gentle and quick as possible," I paused, "Are you ready?" I squeezed her hand and she nodded her consent; I set Emily down on her back and gently raised her knees and commenced the exam. I had to force myself not to look at her face because I knew, if I did, I wouldn't be able to continue. And she needed this done, just in case she decided to press charges.

"Okay baby, all done." I whispered tearfully as I moved her legs back down and kissed her head; "Do you want to go take a shower?" she nodded tentatively and I helped her stand up and escorted her to the bathroom. I helped her up on to the counter while I started the shower and found her a towel. "Alright, are you ready?" I asked her as she slid down and untied the robe; as she let it fall I noticed for the first time the true extent of the damage and gasped.

"What is it?" Emily asked as she turned to look at me, I paused and thought quickly, deciding that I could only cause more damage than not telling her.

"Babe, your back...it, it…"

"I know," Emily answered, "He cut it pretty badly,"

"Well, it maybe be worse than you think." I answered gently, she looked at me and her eyes filled with more pain than I knew existed, "It says 'Thank you –A" and with that Emily turned and threw up. As I held back her hair I started to think, I'd like to think that at this critical time I had only one focus; one problem…one tragedy. After all, tragedies are like chances, sometimes we only get one. Sometimes it's more. Either way, there's always one tragedy in your life that's worst than the rest. There's always one where you can never fully get over. This was it for Emily. Unfortunately, our problems always seem to overlap and interlink in the same way as our thoughts and laughter. And no matter how many times you laugh and love, it doesn't ever make it any easier to live.