I'm sorry this took so long, but then again this always takes long so you can't really say your surprised.

This chapter is dark. It involves an attempted rape, and attempted suicide, quite a bit of language and violence so if you don't like any of that I suggest you don't read.

For those of you who do read.

Enjoy!

P.S. As usual I was too lazy to proofread so excuse any mistakes and stuff.

---

Chapter Eleven - Attempts Of Darkness

Henry Burke stood across the road from St Judes. He was watching Taylor bid a due to her boyfriend. This was a little ritual of theirs. Henry knew because he'd been watching both of them closely for the past week. Every time he watched them he noticed familiar things about Joyce. He was almost certain he'd seen him before except Henry had no clue where exactly. He figured he might have mugged him before since Henry had mugged a lot of kids but he was certain that he would of remembered that. So Henry just shrugged off the familiarity and continued studying the Bass girl's pattern.

As she began to walk around the corner to the Constance he followed. He walked on the other side of the road a few meters back from where she would be if she was on his side of the street. It was a simple process of following, and it worked every time. Although this time Henry had done something wrong. He wouldn't have realized it if it wasn't for Daphne at the doors of Constance staring right at him with a furious expression. He wasn't quite sure why she was angry until she started shooing him away. Why was she shooing him? Didn't she want him to hurt Taylor.

Henry heard his phone bleep from his pocket. He pulled it out to see he had received a message from Daphne.

Get out of here!

Meet me after school in the park.

I'll explain later.

D

Henry looked at her with a confused expression. Was she going back on their deal?

He couldn't' have that. He needed the money. He was in deep debt with his dealer so the sooner the better.

Henry made a mental decision that if Daphne didn't pay he'd get it out of her. She may be fiery but deep down she was still just a little Upper East Side princess and getting money from her would involve minimal force.

---

As Phoebe Sparks walked the halls of Constance something felt different. It was true that a lot of things were indeed different, but she felt the difference this time, and it was a big one. It wasn't just the fact that her boyfriend wasn't walking her to her locker, or the fact that she hadn't spoken to her mother in exactly three days and counting. It was the simple yet depressing truth that Phoebe Sparks was now completely alone in this cold cruel world. It hadn't taken long before all of Jake's friends found out about her mother's cruel ways and shut her out. And of course all of Jake's friends knew her friends so those bitches ditched her too. Phoebe didn't even get a chance to explain herself, before she knew it everyone was gone. No one wanted to be around her, honestly she couldn't blame them. She despised her mother. She couldn't bring herself to even look at the woman in the mornings.

So today when Phoebe Sparks walked the halls of Constance Something did feel really different. It felt different because Phoebe realized just how lonesome life on the Upper East Side can be. It was a dark and scary thought and she hated thinking like that. But there was nothing to stop her. After all, when you don't have anyone who's gonna save you from yourself?

---

Henry sat on the cold, wooden bench in Central Park. He was hungry and the little red-headed brat was late. He looked to his right and saw two freshmen from Constance. They were both giggling wildly at something. Must be a private joke Henry thought to himself, those always seem to crack best friends up. He looked the other way to see Daphne walking perfectly poised in his direction. Her face was neutral and unreadable.

"What?" Henry asked when she sat herself beside him.

"You bug me" Daphne stated.

"Is this conversation important or can I go get lunch?" Henry asked urging her to get to the point.

"You're sloppy. Wanna know why? Every morning this week I can see you watching her" Daphne said.

"It's just research, besides she hasn't noticed" Henry said.

"It's only a matter of time before she does" Daphne said. "I think the sooner you get rid of her the better. Your starting to make me doubt whether or not you're really gonna go through with this."

"I'm gonna do it" Henry insisted.

"Well you haven't made much progress apart from the not-so-subtle stalking" Daphne shot at him.

"I'll do it tonight" Henry said without thinking. It wasn't a stupid thing to say, he could do it. But it would be sloppy.

"Like I said, the sooner the better" Daphne said to him. She stood up and started to stroll away. Henry listened to the clacking of her heels get quieter with every step she took. He was deep in thought about how he was gonna do this. Then he decided to do it in the most effective and traumatizing way. The same way he had done to that socialite years ago. He didn't quite remember the girl's name though. He knew it was Poppy something. Not that it mattered. It's not like Poppy and Taylor had some sort of mutual connection or anything.

---

Taylor Bass sat with her legs crossed on the Humphrey couch. She was reading one of Serena's fashion magazines. Her head was resting on Joyce's lap. He just stared down at her. He couldn't help but think she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Every little detail about her had him mesmerized. Just the way she pouted slightly when she concentrated hard on something, and she didn't even realize it. The way her eyes were almost the same color as coffee in the dark but in the daylight they were a very milky chocolate color. The way she looked exactly like her mother but when she smirked she was almost a reincarnation of Chuck Bass. Joyce couldn't think of anything that bothered him about her. She was pure perfection, even in her imperfections. She made him feel happy just by thinking about her. Joyce knew that you didn't come across people like that often so he soaked in every second he spent with her. He knew that these would be the greatest memories of his life.

"Why do you look at me like that?" Taylor said breaking his train of thought.

"Like what" Joyce asked.

"Like that" Taylor said unable to specify his stare. Joyce shrugged.

"You're fun to look at" he admitted. Taylor gave a shy, flattered smile.

"How am I fun to look at?" She asked, milking the compliments for all they were worth. Joyce knew what she was doing. The Bass girl loved the attention, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. So instead of answering her question and giving her what she wanted, Joyce did something even better. He leaned over and kissed her forehead in the most loving way possible. Taylor knew right then and there just how much she meant to him. It gave her a nice feeling inside. Like butterflies. She knew butterflies were childish but she also knew it wasn't very common that you got them. It only happened when you were sick or when you found some one really special, and Taylor knew she was one hundred per cent healthy.

Right then she couldn't help but think about how her father had described butterflies to her. He had told her about how he got them every time he saw Blair. And every time he thought about her, and every time anyone even mentioned her. There was no getting rid of them, they were always there. Taylor had a feeling that they'd never left.

When her father first told her about the butterflies she thought it was corny and didn't understand how some one like him could feel something like that. But now, lying here knowing that Joyce was staring down at her with much love in his heart, Taylor understood everything perfectly.

She was in love with him and he was in love with her. Neither of them needed to say it, it was just there. And it was the most amazing thing either of them had ever felt.

"Taylor your dad called. He says you have to go home now and that you should charge your phone every once in a while so he doesn't have to call me" Serena said as she entered the room. Taylor sat up and placed the magazine on the coffee table.

"Alright I'm leaving" Taylor said getting up and grabbing her coat from an armchair beside her.

"Oh and he didn't send the limo as punishment" Serena added as Taylor belted her coat up. She sighed. Her dad could be so damn stubborn sometimes, if he wasn't so easygoing most of the time Taylor was sure that he'd drive her insane.

"Bye Mrs Humphrey" Taylor said to the tall blond actress despite the many times that she had insisted Taylor to call her Serena. Taylor just didn't like calling parents by their first names. It felt rude. And calling adults by their first name wasn't how she was brought up.

Taylor turned to her boyfriend and gave him a long passionate kiss that didn't stop even after Serena cleared her throat loudly to remind them of her presence. When they eventually broke apart they stared into each others eyes. Taylor's coffee, brown ones and Joyce's sky blue ones. Taylor ended up giggling, Joyce made her giddy like that.

She bid her farewells to Serena again and left the house. Joyce watched her walk away. Analyzing every single step she took. The sound her heels made when they clacked off the marble floor. The way her hips swayed in a feminine fashion. Joyce didn't know what he'd be doing right now if he'd never met her bu he knew it wouldn't be half as enjoyable.

---

Henry watched Taylor leaving the Humphrey house. She'd been there for hours and he wasn't necessarily the most patient person in the world but he knew that waiting would pay off. So he followed her down the street. Once she turned a corner he crossed the street so that now he was only a few meters behind her. He watched her chestnut curls cascading down her back and bobbing with every elegant step she took. Henry could understand why Daphne was jealous, the girl was like a human porcelain doll only without the scary eyes.

Henry power-walked a bit so he could get closer to her. Eventually she started walking down a dark lane way. Silly girl, dark lanes are dangerous at night. He figured it must be some shortcut to the her home, and she probably thought she could take care of herself.

Henry started walking a little faster so he could catch up to her. He managed to make his steps quick but quiet so she had no idea he was there. Henry waited a few seconds and then he took his chance. He grabbed her. One hand covering her mouth the other pulling her back by the stomach. He pulled her with great strength and pressed her up against a wall. He could see the terror in her eyes although he didn't look directly at her because he didn't want her to know exactly what he looked like. He heard muffled attempt of scream coming from under his palm. It tickled his hand a little. This only made him smile menacingly at her. She brought her hands up to his and tried to pull them off but he was too strong for her. He started pulling at the zip at the side of her skirt. It was hard to do with one hand and the fact that the zip was on his right and he was using his left hand made the process even more difficult. He kept trying to pull it down but he just couldn't get it unless he switched hands and he wasn't going to risk her escaping. In the midst of all that fuss he felt something warm but wet on the side of his hand. He realized the girl was crying. He glanced up at her and realized just how terrified she was. Getting rid of her was gonna be easier than he thought. He could feel her shaking with fear. Then he couldn't help himself, he wanted to see her terror. He wanted to feel the adrenaline rush of seeing her fear. So he looked up deep into her brown eyes.

Taylor saw something familiar in his eyes. She could remember their sky blue color from anywhere. They were the exact image of Joyce. Taylor was sure of it. She dreamt of those eyes, there was no way she was wrong. And then a frightening thought hit her. Was this man Joyce's father? He could be. Maybe the guy remained a rapist all these years. The thought made Taylor even more scared. The she realized something. She could get free. So while he was too busy trying to tug her skirt off she kneed him right in the genitals as hard as she could. He immediately let go. Both his hands went straight for his now painful balls. He let a moan of pain slip out.

Still overwhelmed by the whole situation Taylor didn't move. She was panting heavily in fear. Then she did the only thing she could think of.

"Henry Burke?" She whispered.

The rapist looked up with those sky blue eyes Taylor loved but were now haunting and sinister. She had no clue what to do next so Taylor ran back to the Humphrey house.

---

Phoebe looked at her watch. It was already eight thirty. She'd spent practically the whole day in the school library. She couldn't stand to go home and it wasn't like she had any other friends houses that she could go to, so she stayed in the library studying all day. She figured now was time for her to leave. This way she could grab some food and hide in her room for the rest of the night.

As Phoebe walked down the halls she couldn't help but think that this was it. This was what the rest of her high school years were going to be like. She wasn't going to make any new friends with the history her mother had. She had nothing left and she couldn't stand it. She hated her life, her family. She hated herself. She had nothing left in this world, nothing made her happy anymore so she made up her mind about something. If no one would miss her if she was gone then what was the point of staying in the first place? So Phoebe made a decision she never thought she'd ever make. She decided if there was no point in her staying, then she wouldn't bother any longer. So instead of heading to the doors she made a detour to the nearest bathroom. She popped open a little orange pot of pills her mother had given her in case she ever felt sick in school. And one by one she swallowed every last white tablet. Then she sat herself down, her back leaning on the cold walls. And she waited for the pills to do something to her. She just hoped to God that it would work 'cause she couldn't stand another day stuck in this hellhole called her life.

---

Joyce heard a loud incessant knocking coming from the front door. He figured some one else in the family would answer it but no one came rushing down so he got up and walked over to the door casually despite the urgency of the knocks. When he opened the door his girlfriend launched herself on him and hugged him so tightly that he could barely breathe.

"What's going on are you okay?" He managed to get her to let go. He cupped her face with his hands. Her make up was running as if she had been crying. Then suddenly a feeling took over him and all he wanted to do was find whatever made her cry and destroy it. He tried to raise her face so that she'd look at him but she couldn't do it. Every time he tried her eyes moved to anywhere but his eyes.

"What happened? Tell me" Joyce insisted with a comforting voice. He walked her over to the couch and let her calm down. She still didn't look him in the eye. He held her hand and rubbed it lightly and soothingly with his thumb. When he felt her breathing get steady again he asked on more time what happened.

Taylor told him everything from the moment she left the Humphreys to the moment she came back. She told him everything in the most detail possible. Throughout the whole conversation she never looked at him.

Once she was finished Joyce could understand why she couldn't look at him. It was the eyes. The eyes that she was once so in love with now terrified him because of that sick bastard.

"How long did it take for you to get from there to here?" Joyce asked keeping his voice neutral. He didn't want her to know what was going through his head. She didn't answer.

"How long Taylor?" He asked again.

"About ten minutes. But he's probably gone. Don't bother going after him" Taylor insisted. She finally looked at him with a pleading expression but it wasn't enough. Joyce was furious. It was enough that that man was the reason his mother lived such a traumatized life but now he tried to do it to his girlfriend too. Joyce couldn't stop himself. He didn't even grab his coat he just walked right out the door. Not even closing it. He left Taylor the choice to follow or to get help. But she didn't know what to do. So she called the only person she knew wouldn't call the cops and stop Joyce form getting his vengeance. She called Daphne.

---

Daphne entered the Humphrey house and saw Taylor pacing back and forth in the Humphrey living room. She was surprised that Serena hadn't found her yet.

"Where's Joyce?" Daphne asked. Taylor turned to look at the red-headed devil before her.

"He went after him" Taylor said.

"After who?" Daphne asked, confused by Taylor's simple answers.

"Henry Burke" Taylor answered.

"What?!" Daphne exclaimed loudly. "He wasn't supposed to do that. Henry was supposed to go after you and Joyce was supposed to forget about you and go back to me!"

"What?" Taylor asked confused by Daphne's random crazy talk.

"I paid him to get you" Daphne admitted without thinking.

"What?!" Taylor shouted. "You paid Joyce's rapist father to go after me!"

"What do you mean Joyce's rapist father?" Daphne asked realizing she was missing a piece of the puzzle.

"Henry is Joyce's father and now Joyce went out to find him and kill him in a blinding rage!" Taylor shouted at the scheming girl in front of her. Realization dawned on Daphne and she realized exactly what she had just done.

"Oh my God" She whispered to herself in shock.

"We have to go find him" Taylor said revealing the purpose of her phone call.

"Have you tried calling him?" Daphne asked putting her hatred for the Bass aside.

"He didn't pick up" Taylor said. "Look if you were working with Henry then do you know where he lives?"

Daphne nodded.

"Let's go" Taylor said grabbing the arm of the red head and pulling her out to get a cab with no hesitation.

---

Louise Van Der Woodsen walked cautiously down the halls of Constance. She had forgotten some books for her homework and luckily enough the doors were still open. She didn't know why they kept the school open this late, it was basically like an advertisement for burglers. She went to her locker and got the books she needed. She turned to walk back to the door and leave but she really needed to use the bathroom. It was a sudden need but she had to either way so she ran to the nearest one. She pushed the door open and ran straight into the first cubicle. When she was done she walked out and saw some freshmen girl lying on the floor pale and unconscious. She recognized the girl. She'd seen her before at a family party.

She could remember clearly actually. She was her cousin, Jake's girlfriend. Phoebe or something. Louise knelt down to see if Phoebe was breathing or if she was dead or something. She could see the young girl's chest rising and falling really quickly in an unsteady manner. Then she saw a little orange tube with a white lid beside Phoebe's un-moving body. Louise suddenly understood what was going on. She quickly took out her cellphone and dialed 911.

When some relaxed lady answered Louise ordered an ambulance quickly trying not to panic but she couldn't help herself. He cousin's girlfriend was on the verge of dying and she couldn't do anything to save her except call an ambulance. Once she'd given the school's address and hung up she tried to remember what the recovery position was. She had taken a first aid class in seventh grade, now she was desperately wishing she could have listened better so that it Phoebe started seizing or something she'd know what to do.

So she just sat herself beside the fifteen year old girl and waited nervously for an ambulance to come soon.

---

Joyce watched Henry enter his shabby, cheap apartment that obviously had rent overdue. He could tell just by the look of it.

Joyce had rushed back to the lane Taylor was talking about and just as he had hoped he found a man to Henry's description nearby. So he followed Henry home and thought about his attack plan. He wasn't quite sure what he was gonna do to him but he knew for a fact that if no one stopped him, he'd probably end up killing the bastard.

He went up to the doors of the building. Henry had idiotically left the front door open so Joyce just walked in. He saw what number the name Burke lived in and he went up two floors to the right apartment.

He knocked loudly on the door but held back a little, trying to save his angry strength for Henry's face. Two or three seconds later Henry opened the door and was greeted by a hard box in the face from his long lost son. Henry stepped back on impact, practically letting Joyce enter his home. Joyce punched him again and again. He didn't stop even when his fists were bleeding. He needed to do this. All the hatred he had for Henry that had built up over the years. It was all finally coming out, and he couldn't stop.

Eventually Henry fell to the floor unable to stop Joyce. Joyce knelt down and kept using Henry as a punchbag until Henry finally shouted between punches.

"WHO...THE...FUCK...ARE...YOU?!"

This made Joyce stop. He looked down at his father. The two sets of blue eyes practically a reflection of each other.

"I'M YOU FREAKING SON! I'M THE GUY WHOSE GIRLFRIEND YOU TRIED TO RAPE TODAY YOU SICK SON OF A BITCH!" Joyce shouted furiously. He was so angry. He couldn't contain himself any longer, so he started punching again. Only this time Henry fought back. The two men wrestled each other around the room violently. They were both so deep in their fight that they didn't notice Taylor and Daphne enter through the wide oped door. The two girls gave each other knowing glances. Daphne took out her cell and called 911 while Taylor grabbed a vodka bottle from a table nearby and smashed it off of Henry's head, knocking the man out cold.

Joyce fell backwards after that. His nose was bleeding and every time he tried to sit up he moaned loudly in pain.

Taylor knelt down beside him and hugged him tightly while Daphne screamed nervously to the woman on the other end of the line. Joyce grabbed his sides in pain and Taylor pet them softly with her perfectly manicured hands. Her touch was soothing to Joyce. She lifted up his shirt to see what was wrong and they both saw that his sides were purple almost as if they were horribly bruised. It had only been a somewhat small fight so she didn't understand why it was that bad but neither of them spoke about it. She just kept touching him soothingly and he just sat there and let her.

Once Daphne was off the phone she looked at the two and realized that they really really loved each other, and no matter what she through at them Joyce would never want her like he did Taylor. She realized the stupidity of what she had paid Henry to do. All of a sudden she felt the guilt creeping up from inside her. Daphne realized just how psycho she really was. She needed help, but she wasn't gonna admit that.

---

Yikes! Told you it was dark.

I have to admit, when I was writing the almost rape part my heart was racing so it goes to show that it's as exciting for the writer as it is for the reader.

Taylor and Joyce are in love. Ah bless.

Daphne realized she's psychopathic.

Phoebe's had enough and Louise found her just in time to give her a friend.

I'm sad to say this story is nearly at it's end. How sad! It's been fun writing for you though.

-Marina

In The Next Chapter: Three people recovering in the hospital, but one doesn't make it. :( But just to lighten things a little...CB! :D