I decided to take a short cut that night. It wasn't the prettiest route, but my stomach was nonstop grumbling, and I was craving comfort food. My mind was racing from the events that had unfolded in front of me. Clare was dying, there was no other way to look at the situation. Eli had already been through the ringer with his life, he didn't need this.

I decided I was going to start a vigil for Clare. I whipped out my phone and created an event on Facerange.

"Hey, kid."

I turned around to see who had called out to me. A man with dark short hair in his mid 30s was standing about 20 feet away from me. He was impeccably dressed in a blue fitted blazer and well pressed khakis. I narrowed my eyes to get a better look at him.

"Um. Yeah? Can I help you?" I called out.

He slowly made his way towards me, his smiling eyes never wavered from mine. I backed up a little, but felt my back hit a tree. He was right in front of me, still smiling. I shuddered as a chill iced my body.

"Yeah, actually you can help me. See, I've been watching you lately and I have grown rather fond of you," he stated.

What a fucking creeper. My feet tried to take off and run, but for some reason, I was paralyzed. He was even closer to me now. Why did I even acknowledge him?

"Yeah, okay, I've got to get home, now." I finally felt my legs work and I kicked off the tree to run. I didn't get very far before I felt strong hands on my hoodie, yanking me back. My cell phone flew out of my hands and cracked on the pavement. His arms wrapped around me; I kicked out to try and break free. He dragged me into a bushy area, away from the beaten path. I screamed out for anyone to come and help me, but this short cut was absolutely deserted. I gagged as his hand clamped around my mouth. Pure panic was building inside of me.

"Hush, hush now, my little boy. Don't you dare try and spoil my fun. I quite like you, and I'd hate it if I had to hurt you."

"What the fuck do you want with me?" I cried as his hands came away from my mouth.

I could hear his breathing become panting. "I want to teach you. I want to teach you so much, my boy." His right arm still held me tight against his body, and I could feel something harden against my back. "Now, be still, or I'm going to have to get aggressive," he whispered softly. I felt him struggling with something in his pocket, and before I knew it, my hands were bound with duct tape behind my back. I started to scream in panic again, but this time I was rewarded with a hard blow to the back of my head. I fell limp onto the ground, whimpering with pain.

This isn't happening. This isn't fucking happening to me.

The man rolled me onto my back and stood over my body. He gazed down at me with a smirk. "Now see what you've made me do. I don't like hurting you, so please don't make me hurt you again. Just cooperate with me, and this will be a great learning experience. Consider me a mentor," he suggested as he ripped another piece of tape.

"Go fuck yourself you frea-" I started as he smashed tape around my lips. Tears started to pool in my eyes. No. No, I was NOT going to cry.

The man threw me over his shoulders and carried me farther into the brush. He dropped me to the ground with some force. Groaning, I tried to get to my feet, but he pushed me down and fell on top of me. God, it was getting dark out early because rain was coming. This was not happening to me.

"Looks like it's going to get shitty out, might as well teach you quick," he breathed. He licked my neck and nibbled at my ear. My heart beat was escalating faster and faster. He was exploring my body over my clothes and rubbing himself against me. I wanted to vomit. His hand stopped at my crotch. "Mm, I want you to get hard for me, boy," he groaned.

"You sick fuck!" I mumbled through my tape covered mouth. I don't know if he understood, but he laughed and laughed. Growing impatient, he yanked my shirt open and stopped. His face contorted with confusion as he fingered the ACE bandage around my chest. I gulped.

"What in the world is this shit?" he asked. He ripped the bandaging off that I painstakingly apply every day to maintain my boyish image. Now, I was revealed to him. My small, but undeniably feminine breasts were exposed, showing my true sex. Shaking his head, he savagely yanked my pants down also grabbing my boxers. Now there was absolutely no denying in that moment that I was female.

He just stared for a moment, almost disgusted at the sight of me. He seemed to be wrestling with himself internally about what the hell to do with me. "Well, this is not at all what I had expected, I can assure you that." My heart skipped a beat; would I be freed? I was not what he wanted, he had to let me go. I almost felt relieved as he reached down to pull off the tape that was keeping me silent.

"Please, please let me go. Please, you don't want me, I'm a girl. I'm not a boy!" I almost couldn't believe that I was actually saying this, but to save my life, I'd say anything.

I could tell that he was conflicted with the situation. But then his eyes turned black with desire and lust. He raked my naked body up and down with his eyes, almost imagining that I had all the parts of a boy.

"You aren't a boy, that's true," he started. He brought his head down to my ear. "But you are as close to one as ever," he breathed.

Panic built in me once again as he grabbed his pants zipper and forced his huge ugly cock out in the open. It was swollen and pulsed with lust. I squeezed my eyes shut in anticipation of violation. I couldn't have been warned of the pain it would bring me. He grabbed my breasts awkwardly, almost as if he had never touched one. He raked his hands up and down my body, and then he flipped me over onto my stomach. I couldn't get my head up to breathe. His hand whipped my bare ass over and over again; my tears now free flowing were mixing with the dirt beneath me. I screamed out as I felt his awful cock against my ass. He paused, as if to debate where to stick it. Then there was absolutely no indecision. His tip brushed my virgin crevice, and then with violent stabbing motions, he speared me over and over again.

I didn't even know I was screaming when the rain came.

Eli's POV

I guess I must have fallen asleep when Adam left. I stretched out my arms and yawned, almost too loudly, as it startled Jake who was also napping next to the bed.

"So how long have I been out"

"About an hour and a half." Jake yawned. He slowly rose from the chair and stretched his legs. "Dude, that was not the position to fall asleep in. I feel like I got hit by a truck."

My phone started to buzz, and I carefully got up off the bed to retrieve it. It was the Torres household.

"Yo Adam, when did you leave, man?" I yawned.

"Eli? Eli, this is Audrey Torres. Adam isn't with you, is he?"

I quickly regained my composure. "No he isn't, Mrs. Torres, he left a little while ago, I believe." So Adam wasn't home yet? That was odd.

"It's getting late, and I'm getting a little worried about him. I know he can get himself into some trouble. If you see him, can you tell him to come home immediately?"

"Absolutely. If you want, I can go and look around for him. Would you like that?" I offered.

She paused. "Eli, I know how serious Clare's condition is right now, Sweetie, I don't want to force you away from her."

I shook my head. "No, no problem, Mrs. Torres. Clare's condition hasn't changed within the last couple of hours, I really need to get some fresh air as it is."

"Oh thank you, Eli." She sounded relieved. "I'll text Drew to join you. He should already be at the hospital to see Clare."

I hung up the phone and waited for the older Torres brother to walk in the room. It was strange that Adam wasn't home yet, he had to have left over an hour ago. I wasn't really worried about it, I was sure we'd catch him at some point. Drew finally walked in about 10 minutes after I had hung up with Mrs. Torres.

"Yo man, so we are going to go looking for my little-" Drew stopped short of ending his sentence when his eyes fell on Clare. "Oh my God." Drew stepped over to Clare's bedside. "How is she doing?"

I shook my head. "She's not good, but her vitals are stable and there hasn't been any bad news since she fell into the coma."

Drew looked up at me. "I'm sorry, Eli. I really am praying that she gets better and comes back to all of us." He glanced over at Jake and nodded.

"Thanks, Drew. Let's go find your brother, okay?" I said quickly before I could get emotional. "Jake, you want to stay here and let me know if anything changes with Clare?"

"I'm all over it."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I don't know, he could have taken that damned short cut. I've told him over and over again not to ever take it alone, the fucking idiot."

"Well, he hasn't been at any of the other places he'd likely be, let's try the short cut," I suggested. Drew and I went to the Dot, back to Degrassi, checked out the swim team practice just in case he was there to see Becky, but he wasn't at any of those places, and no one had seen him since he left school earlier. Drew was getting worried, and frankly, so was I. I had so much to be worried about already, I was praying that I didn't need to be worried about my best friend.

Half way through the short cut, I saw something sticking out of a puddle. "What's that?" I pointed it out to Drew. Drew leaned over and picked it up. His eyes grew wide with fear.

"It's Adam's cell phone…" he drifted off. My heart started to pound furiously.

"ADAM!" Drew called out. Drew began frantically searching for another sign of his little brother. I spotted some irregularity in the brush beyond the path.

"Drew! Drew he may be over there!" Drew and I ran through the bushes and followed the irregular pattern of brush. It looked like there was some kind of struggle.

My eyes were glued to the ground, making sure I was following the right path. Drew stopped suddenly.

"Oh my god- ADAM!"

My head snapped up just to see Drew sprinting towards a petite body on the ground. I was right behind him. I gasped as I saw my naked best friend sprawled out face down on the ground, blood pooling around his…her crotch. He looked dead. "Oh my god, Drew, is she- is he dead?"

Drew scooped him up in his arms. "Adam, Adam, come on, little bro, wake up….Gracie come on!"

A small but audible groan escaped from Adam's lips. His eyes fluttered open. "Drew? Eli?" His eyes shut and he sighed as he passed out again.

Drew gingerly picked him up and started to run back to the hospital, not waiting to see if I was behind him.

A/n: Please review. Thanks.