She was curling up in fetal position on her bed, sobbing into her pillow. How did this happen? Was she really worth nothing more than being a sex toy to these guys?
Her phone buzzed. She looked at it. It was a text from Roman.
"I'm here. I can't see you anywhere. Where are you?" He asked.
She threw her phone on the floor. There was no way she was going to answer him. What could she possible say? She heard it buzz again shortly after. No doubt it was probably him again. She couldn't deal with him right now. Shortly after the phone began ringing.
"Shut up!" She screamed and threw her pillow at it on the floor.
Not that it had any effect at all but she felt helpless and had no idea what to do. Finally the sounds of the phone died out after three missed calls.
Around 15 minutes passed when she heard the doorbell. She had no idea who it was and she didn't care. She wasn't about to open the door for anyone. The world could go to hell right at that moment.
She didn't hear the door open. In her confused and scared state of mind, she had forgotten to lock the door behind her when she got home. She had just went straight to bed and curled up in it. She didn't hear the boots walk through the house and into her bedroom. She didn't notice anyone until she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She got scared, screamed, jumped out of bed and curled down in a corner of the room.
"Please don't hurt me," she cried.
"Relax, it's me, Roman," she heard his voice.
"Roman?" She asked and looked up at him.
He went to her and put his arms around her.
"What happened? What's wrong?" He asked.
She couldn't speak. She was just sobbing into his shirt.
"It... It doesn't matter," she finally managed to say.
"Of course it matters. Something has made you sad and I want to know what it is," he said.
She pushed him away and got to her feet fast.
"It doesn't matter!" She shouted.
He looked at her ripped dress and then at her face that was all wet of tears.
"Don't shut me out like that. Does it have something to do with John?" He asked.
She cringed by the sound of his name.
"Why do you wanna know?" She asked.
"Because he's at his party telling everyone how you and him just hooked up in his bedroom," he answered.
There was no accusing tone in his voice but she still she shouted at him.
"And you believed him?"
"If I believed him, I wouldn't have come here. I came hear to hear your side of the story. I find you all messed up like this so I don't know what to believe. What happened?" He tried asking again.
She was beyond angry. She was furious. She stopped listening to what he was saying.
"Hooked up? He said that we hooked up? Motherfucker!" She screamed and stormed out of the house.
He was right there behind her.
"Seriously, please stop and tell me what's wrong," he tried reasoning with her but she was blind of rage.
She was spitting out all the curse words she could think of: motherfucker, asshole, dickhead.
They reached John's apartment. She slammed open the frontdoor and stormed in. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at this angry woman. She went to John and pushed him hard in front of everyone.
"We hooked up? Is that what you're telling everyone? You raped me!" She screamed.
Everyone was completely silent, not sure how to process this accusation that just threw through the air.
"If that's what you need to tell Roman to protect yourself," John just casually said.
She slapped him.
"You hit me, you forced me down on your bed, you ripped my dress and you fucking raped me! What a pathetic excuse of a man you are!" She screamed.
John leaned in and spoke in a cold tone.
"No one here will ever believe you. Everyone knows what a slut you are."
"I believe her," Roman's voice suddenly sounded through the room.
She turned around and faced him. She saw pure anger in his eyes as he was moving towards John. John looked scared. Roman was a big guy. His fist connected with John's jaw and John went straight to the floor.
"You wanna hurt my girl, huh?" Roman yelled while his fist went down again. "Not so tough now, are you?"
He continued yelling while his fist went down a third time and then he stood up.
"If I ever hear about you laying your hands on any woman again, I'll come back here," he said in a threatening voice.
"I won't. I'm sorry, Melissa," John cried from the floor.
People slowly started leaving the party. They all realized that John had actually raped her earlier that evening and no one wanted to be near him.
Roman went to Melissa and took her hand.
"I'll always be here for you," he said.
She just nodded. She couldn't find the right words to say. She had never had a man fighting for her honour before.
They walked home hand in hand in silence. It wasn't until they came home that she broke down again. She sat on the floor in the hallway crying. He sat down next to her and held her in his arms. She started telling what had happened earlier that evening. He listened, stroked her hair and held her close.