Next morning everyone was just sitting around the room drinking coffee and chatting when all the sudden Jade opened her eyes; she looked around confused and then sat on the bed so they all turned to her. "Jade! You woke up, thank god" Tori said gladly as they walked towards her but she couldn't understand anything.
"You don't have to be afraid anymore" Cat said and smiled but Jade stared at them confused.
"What…what's going on? Where am I?" Jade asked anxiously.
"You're in a hospital, you're safe" Beck informed and she stared at him for several seconds but then she started crying into her hands so they looked at her sadly. They couldn't tell if she was crying of happiness or sadness but she didn't stop shaking. "It's okay, you're going to be okay" He said sweetly and embraced her in his arms to let her cry into his chest. About a minute later she moved back and looked around anxiously.
"What's the matter, honey?" Mr. West asked as she took small breaths, she couldn't stop shaking and she was starting to sweat.
"I…I'm dying…" She whispered.
"What's happening to her?" Andre asked worriedly as the doctor joined them.
"She's suffering from withdrawal symptoms" He informed as he walked towards her. "Jade, I'm your doctor…I know that you feel really bad but it's perfectly normal"
"Make it stop, please, please…" Jade begged while struggling to breathe properly. "Please!"
"Give her what she needs, just look at her" Andre commented.
"I can't, she needs the substance they gave her to keep her under control" The doctor informed. "She was heavily drugged every day, her body developed a need for those things and we need to stop that, this is the first step"
"Jesus…" Beck said mortified as Jade suffered on the bed; she truly felt like she was going to die and they could see it.
"You have to help me" Jade demanded as she trembled. "I'll do anything! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP"
"This will pass, Jade, just give it some time" The doctor said and changed her medicine. "This will help you a bit but you need to be strong" he added and left the room so she gasped desperately and pushed her hair back.
"Jade, calm down, it'll be okay" Tori said nicely.
"Guys, please, please I promise this will be the last time…I need a shot" Jade affirmed. "This will be the last time ever, I swear but please give me a sho or anything, anything!"
"No, Jade, you need to get all the drugs out of your system" Her father said and she stared at him angrily.
"Get out! GET OUT!" She screamed madly. "You've always hated me"
"Because I love you, I want you to be okay and stop this addiction those bastards forced you into" Mr. West said and she covered her face. "I'm so happy to see you alive, god, we thought we'd lost you" He commented sincerely with tears in his eyes.
"Jade, what happened with you? How did you end up in that house?" Tori asked and Jade took a deep breath. "We thought you were dead"
"I wish" Jade responded and they looked at each other sadly. "Those men…they were angry with me for killing their colleagues so they wanted to kill me, they hit me with a stick but then the boss said that was too easy" she said trying to speak properly but it was obvious she was having a hard time. "He figured that since I'd killed those pigs for trying to rape me, the best punishment would be to get raped by others, that way I would suffer" She said with tears in her eyes and anger dripping from her voice. "So the next day they took me to that house, sold me to Rick and left…"
"Sons of a bitch" Mr. West whispered angrily and Jade took another breath trying to control the shaking of her body.
"I was so scared, I tried to run but there was no way out…He made me wear an ugly dress and sent me into a room with a man but I hit him, I didn't want to be with him" Jade informed. "The man complained and then Rick came, he came…and then he beat me and…and then… he raped me" she said with lots of tears streaming down her face. "Then he called some other of his friends and…and they did it too" she said as she broke out crying and they stared at her mortified. "It was so horrible, an animal would have been treated with more dignity…I passed out after a while, I don't remember much what happened and when I woke up the next day, I was laying down on a cold room, there were beer bottles around me, I had bruises, my body hurt and I realized what my life would be like from that day on…I just wanted to die"
"Oh god…" Andre said appalled and Beck was trying his hardest to hold the tears back, he wanted to be strong for her but it was so hard.
"Then Rick taught me how to behave whenever a man was with me in the room: take your clothes off, let them touch you, obey, don't talk, don't scream, don't cry… he said that if I didn't do as he told me, he would make his friends come again and teach me another lesson" Jade commented. "He started injecting me things, at first I didn't want him to and I was scared of him but then…then I was so happy whenever he came to me with the needle, I can't remember a lot…it's just flashes of things" she said and looked down. "I can't even remember those men's faces or how many of them I had to be with every night but they're still here, I can feel them all" Jade affirmed with lots of tears streaming down her face.
"Oh Jade…I'm so sorry" Tori said sincerely as she held her hand.
"You don't know what it's like to be in that place, you don't have rights or any worth…You're just an object and men come, touch you, hit you, use you and leave you on the floor just so another one can come minutes later and it starts over again and again and again until your body can't tell if you're dead or alive…" Jade said as she stared into space. "Then you spend the day locked up in a room with many other girls, just staring at the ceiling waiting for hell to open its doors again and it all becomes a routine…a never ending cycle of torture" She continued and they could feel their hearts breaking but also anger going through their veins, especially Beck. "And then you lose sense of time, you lose sense of who you are, who you used to be and you just…exist while you don't, you're empty and whenever you recover some clarity, you need it to go away, you need the needles and death seems a wonderful dream" She commented as a tear streamed down her face. "That house taught me what real pain is"
"You're never going back to that place, no one is going to hurt you again" Beck affirmed and he held her hands and she turned to him.
"I was a prostitute" Jade said.
"You were a victim, you had no control of your situation…You just explained it yourself" Beck responded.
"Yes, I did…It was horrible, hell indeed seemed a paradise when I was there" Jade responded. "But that doesn't erase the fact I was a prostitute, Beck and I am a killer too, you saw it yourself"
"I know and I promise I'll do everything I can to make you forget it" Beck said and she stared at him disconcertedly.
"You don't mind it?" She questioned sadly with tears in her eyes and it broke Beck's heart, he simply embraced her in his arms and kissed her head.
"I love you, always, no matter what" He affirmed on her ear and she hugged him back so everyone stared at them with a little smile on their faces. About a minute later they broke the hug and Jade looked down at her arms, she stared at the injection marks and then tuned to Beck.
"Please…" She said and he sighed sadly.
"He made you an addict and you need to fight it, now you can" Beck affirmed and she shook her head.
"You don't love me…" Jade said sadly. "I'm dying!"
"No, the drugs are leaving your system" Beck responded. "You'll be okay, just resist"
Hours went by and everyone took turns to be with Jade while the others went home to take a shower and then return. It was Daniel's turn to be with her so he bought pizza for her and played a movie. "Come on, just eat…You haven't touched your food" He commented as Jade stared at it.
"I'm not hungry" She responded and put her plate on the table.
"You need to eat more, Jade, you have to gain some weight" Daniel said and she turned to him.
"Daniel…" Jade said and got on her knees on the bed as she moved towards him. "I just feel so grateful with you…" she commented as she put her hands on his shoulders.
"Jade, what are you doing?" He asked confused and she smirked while stroking his neck seductively. He stood up and tried to move back but she was holding him and he didn't want to push her back.
"Come on, I know you like me…You said it, remember? We are alone" Jade said and kissed him but he moved his head back. "We could do anything"
"Stop it" Daniel demanded trying to be nice.
"I know you want me, come on!" Jade exclaimed and put his hands on her hips so he was confused. "You can take me home, I'll do anything you want…just give me what I need, give me a shot and I'll make you very happy" She affirmed as she basically rubbed her lips against his and he grabbed her hands to keep her back but trying not to be rough.
"Jade, please…don't, don't do this" Daniel said sadly but she continued trying to kiss him.
"Please, please Daniel, you can do anything you want with me…just give me a shot" Jade said as she kissed his neck and basically rubbed her body against him while he held her hands trying to keep her back.
"What's going on here?" Beck suddenly asked when he stepped into the room and saw what was happening. Jade turned around nervously and Daniel sighed.
"Nothing, Beck, nothing happened" Daniel said.
"What do you mean nothing happened? You two were kissing" Beck said angrily and Jade looked down.
"No, we weren't" Daniel clarified. "And this is not what you think, far from it"
"Really?" Beck asked coldly. "I left for an hour and I come to find my girlfriend all over you"
"I'm not your girlfriend, you dumped me remember? You said I was a mistake" Jade commented. "I'm free to do what I want" She said and he stared at her surprised. He'd thought they were back together but she apparently still remembered what had happened at the school.
"Jade, stop it…" Daniel said and turned back to Beck. "This is really not what you think, Beck, she doesn't like me like that"
"She has a strange way of showing it" Beck commented.
"No, what you just saw is an addict doing everything she can to get her hands on some drugs" Daniel explained and Jade turned to the other side angrily so Beck sighed. "She couldn't get you to give her what she wants so she tried with me and she'll try it with any person that comes near her, she needs it…This is not about her feelings, it's the addiction talking"
"I'm sorry" Beck said to him and he nodded.
"No problem" Daniel responded. "Now I think I should go, neither me nor my sister have been good for you guys so I think it's better if we stay away…goodbye Jade, i hope you recover soon and goodbye, Beck" He said and extended his hand so Beck shook it.
"Thank you for everything, Daniel, this wouldn't have been possible without you" Beck commented and Daniel smiled before leaving the room. Beck simply took a breath and sat down on the bed next to Jade so she stared at him emotionlessly.
"What is it? You can't believe the whore I am now?" Jade asked but he didn't respond so she chuckled. "You found me in a brothel, what did you expect?"
"I expected you to be dead" Beck responded.
"Sorry to disappoint" Jade commented and he rolled his eyes as he sighed.
"Let me finish" He said. "I expected you to be dead and you have no idea how much I've suffered for the past three months imagining your corpse, and when Chloe told us you were alive, when we went there and saw it with our own eyes, do you want to know what I felt?" Beck asked and she sighed. "Happiness, so much happiness and at the same time, I wanted to die after seeing what those beasts had done to you but I just wanted to get you out of there, I wanted to protect you, I wanted to love you…I still do"
"Really?" Jade asked sadly. "Do you really love me after everything you've seen? I'm a killer and until yesterday, a prostitute, don't forget it"
"I don't forget it and the answer is yes, I love you" Beck affirmed. "I'm sorry for how I behaved in the school and for not doing enough to protect you but that will never happen again, they'll have to step over my dead body before anyone can hurt you. I won't fail you again" He said as he stroked her face and some tears streamed down her cheeks. "Jade, please…you have to promise me that you'll fight this, you won't give in to the addiction, please" He demanded and she stared at him with a small smile on her face. "Promise me"
"I promise" Jade said and threw herself into Beck's embrace so he wrapped his arms around her back. "Hug me, just hug me…" She demanded. "I've dreamed about this for months, whenever I recovered some clarity I just closed my eyes and imagined you holding me like this…" she commented with tears streaming down her face. "But I thought it would never happen again, I was sure I would die there and even if I didn't, I thought you wouldn't want me again…not after all the things they made me do" She said sincerely and Beck closed his eyes in frustration as he held her tighter.
"God, no...I could never blame you for that and I'm sorry that you even had to doubt it" Beck responded and kissed the side of her head. "This is all I've dreamed about too, I wanted to hold you like this, to protect you, to love you…but I thought you were dead" He said as he held her close and felt her breathing on his neck so he smiled with tears in his eyes. "You have no idea how much I love you" He affirmed and Jade smiled a little while enjoying the hug, she loved to be in his arms and it felt like a beautiful dream after all that time.
"I love you too"
Jade was sent to an institution to continue her treatment for the addiction, she had to take lots of vitamins to nourish her body and after three months she was finally recovered so she came out of the clinic but she had to continue her psychological therapy. Beck and Jade got back together, she told him everything about her past and he listened without judging; things slowly got back to normality but Jade had to work very hard to maintain her nightmares and the pain of what had happened under control, she went to therapy and did everything she was told to be able to return to her regular life. She was just happy that she had Beck, her friends and her father by her side at all times.
Rick and some other men were arrested and Mr. West did everything in his power to make them pay for what they'd done to Jade. He wanted them to regret being born and they did. It took them longer to find the kidnappers but they localized them in Canada so it was easy to bring them back and make them pay as well.
Daniel and Chloe were never seen again, they moved to another city where they would be able to start over because Los Angeles wasn't the right place for them. Daniel didn't want to be a burden in Beck and Jade's relationship and in the end, moving to another city helped the siblings to grow out of the previous phase of their lives. The gang never saw neither of them again but Jade texted Chloe one sole time saying something she needed to get out of her chest: I forgive you. To which, Chloe replied by saying four words, the same words Jade had been expecting for a long time but had not received before: I forgive you too.
I hope you guys liked the story!
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Thanks for reading! :)