On Her Own

Chapter 11

Giving the blanket to Richard, Victor sighed. He knew Richard was keeping something from him.

Getting off the bed, Richard threw on a sweatshirt. Laying the blanket flat on the bed where he had been, he reached over and lifted Rachel onto it.

Lifting her up with the blanket, he turned to Victor, who fixed it so she was covered.

"You do know it would have been easier to just wake her up, right?" Victor commented as he went and opened the door for them.

Richard didn't answer as he left the room, frustrated that he had to leave her in her room.

He didn't think she'd spent a single night on her own since it had happened. Walking down the hall to the stairs he began making his way to her room. Tightening his hold on her, he placed a kiss to her forehead. She stirred, slowly opening her eyes.

"Richard, where are we?" Her voice echoed loudly in the silent stairwell.

He leaned down and placed his lips against her forehead again, murmuring against her skin, "Shh, baby. I'm taking you to-"

"Oh this is just too good." Richard looked up and saw Roy standing at the bottom of the stairs, arms crossed.

Rachel saw him and started trembling, burying her face in his chest. Her heart was pounding so loud she thought for sure Richard and Roy could hear it.

"Aw, Rach, aren't you happy to see me?" Roy asked cynically, moving closer, step by step.

Richard backed up a few steps. Easing her onto her feet, he stepped in front of her. "Stay behind me Rachel. You're going to be fine." He spoke slowly but firmly. " I promise."

"Oh, is little Richie going to save you?" Roy grinned, watching her wrap her arms around herself.

"What do you want with her Roy, haven't you done enough?" Richard reached a hand behind him and rested it over one of hers.

"No, I've barely even begun. Believe me Richard, you haven't seen anything yet." Roy was smirking, pleased that he had been able to get under Richards skin so easily.

Fisting his hands, Richard growled and took a step forward before punching Roy in the jaw with everything he had. He heard Rachel gasp behind him but he didn't stop there. Roy took a step back and Richard advanced again. He swung and got him in the nose, which began bleeding almost immediately.

"Richard stop!" He looked and saw Rachel looking at him in horror.

That lapse in attention was all Roy needed to punch Richard in the cheek.

"Stop it, both of you!" She screamed at them. Richard ducked a swing and punched him in the stomach.

She ran past the both of them and grabbed the railing, doing a front handspring down to the first floor. Without looking back, she ran down the hall to her room.

Toni wasn't there. Figured.

She leaned against the door and shivered, she had dropped the blanket when she went over the railing.

It was only a few moments before she could hear footsteps on the other side of the door.

"Rach?" He tried the door knob.

It turned before he had even touched it. The door slowly swung open, revealing his girlfriend. "Rachel, are you all right?"

"I hadn't expected you to hit him." She stepped back, noticing he had the blanket in his arms.

"What he was saying, I am not okay with that. I'm not going to give him the chance to hurt you again." He shut the door and draped the blanket around her, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

Turning around in his arms she laid her head on his shoulder and tugged lightly on his necklace. Her breathing ragged.

"I'm sorry I scared you last night." He whispered as he slowly picked her up. Bringing her over to her bed, he laid her in the middle of the mattress before taking a seat on the edge. She looked up at him, her eyes big and scared. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"What about your cheek?" She raised a hand to the offending mark, leaning on her arm.

He placed a hand over hers and turned his head, kissing her palm. "Roy may act tough, but he's not very strong. I'll be fine." She closed her eyes and looked away, letting her hand fall to land next to her. Bending down he kissed her forehead.

Roy had been strong enough to pin her to the floor. He had been strong enough to brake her.

"I need to get back to my room," He murmured softly as he sat up again.

"No, please don't…" She grabbed his hand and held it to her chest so he could feel her pounding heart. Roy was probably still out there, just waiting for Richard to leave.

"Rachel, don't do this. The teachers are coming around to do a bed check. What do you think they'll say if they find us in bed together?" She didn't let go of his hand, but she shrugged in response.

"If I thought there was a way around this, you wouldn't be here. I hate the idea of leaving you alone, especially if you don't want to be, but I don't think there's a way around it this time."

She looked up at him, knowing and hating that he had to leave. "Will you come back later?" She didn't want to be on her own right now. And Richard had shown her, had shown her that she didn't have to be. She was realizing that she didn't have to do everything alone.

He gave her a soft smile. "Sure, I'll come back after they check my room. I'm just hoping you'll be fast asleep by then."

"If you look on my desk, my key is there. Take it, so you can just come right in." He wanted her to sleep, but she was planning on waiting up for him.

"I'll take the key with me, but only if you lay down and promise to try and go back to sleep." She replied by laying down and he fixed the blanket so it was better covering her before pulling the actual sheet and quilt up to cover her as well.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." He whispered before getting off the bed, grabbing the key and silently leaving the room.

She fought the urge to follow him and instead closed her eyes like he had asked, and tried to sleep.

She laid there in the dark, completely still for what felt like hours. Sighing she began counting sheep, finally losing consciousness somewhere around two hundred and thirty something.

Richard stood outside her door at four in the morning. He was sure that even if she hadn't wanted to, that she would be asleep by now and he didn't want to wake her up by getting in bed with her. But he had told her that he would come back, so as quietly as possible he gave in and went into her room.

The temperature had easily dropped fifteen or twenty degrees. The halls were even colder than the dorm rooms were. Looking at the bed, he saw her curled up in a little ball. Shivering.

Kicking his shoes off, he crossed to the bed and picked her up. Setting her down on the inside of the bed he laid down beside her.

Almost as if she sensed that he was in bed with her, Rachel shifted backwards so her back was flat against his chest. Shaking his head at her lightly, he wrapped an arm around her waist and drifted off to sleep.

Richard woke up the next morning shivering, he guessed it was around fifty degrees, if not colder. And considering that the room was deadly quiet, he assumed that the power was still out.

"Mmm, Richard?" He looked down at the beauty in his arms. Her eyes were still closed, but he knew by the way the muscles in her body tensed that she was awake.

He raised a hand to her cheek, it was freezing.

"I'm so cold," She whispered, nuzzling her nose against his side. Her nose was colder than her cheek.

"I know baby, I know." He whispered back wrapping his arms tighter around her and tucking her head under his chin. He wondered if it would be a little warmer upstairs, after all heat rises.

Rachel laid there, thinking. Roy had her terrified last night. She knew he'd never stop if he knew he could get away with it. Roy terrified her. But the idea of telling someone terrified her as well.

She couldn't keep being scared of him. She was on her own because of what he had done to her.

She felt Richards hand running through her hair.

Richard.

He helped her see things differently though. She was beginning to see that, maybe…she didn't have to be alone. She didn't think she wanted to be alone because of this anymore.

"Richard?" He sat up with her in his arms, along with the extra blanket he had brought down the night before.

"Pull on some sweatpants. I think it'll be a bit warmer upstairs." She looked at the floor as she put on the pants and grabbed a hoodie of his that he had let her borrow a while back, and pulled that on as well.

He draped the blanket across her shoulders and they went back upstairs to his room. She was on edge the whole time, expecting Roy to appear at any moment.

Richard had been right, it was warmer up in his room, but not by much. Victor was laying on his stomach in bed, doing something on his computer. He glanced at them over his shoulder before readjusting the blankets that were covering him.

The couple climbed into Richard bed with three extra blankets added on and curled up together. Richard sat up and pulled his shirt over his head before laying down again, he knew Rachel was mulling something over just like he knew she liked it when his shirt was off, it comforted her.

She sighed and laid her hands against his chest. He rolled onto his side and wrapped his arms around her, one under her head and the other around her waist. With her head on his arm, she rested her forehead against his chest.

She didn't want to tell anyone what had happened to her. But she didn't like feeling like she was on her own because of it, separated from everyone else.

Rachel hated herself because she was afraid of Roy. She hated Roy even more because he was the reason she was on her own.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Richard asked quietly. She didn't look up at him. He frowned and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Hey, Rach?" He knew she wasn't asleep, her breathing was too fast. "Talk to me, don't shut me out."

She hated herself for being on her own, for what happened, for being afraid of Roy.

"Rachel?" He felt her tensing against him. Whatever she had been thinking about hadn't been good and had upset her, he knew that much.

She hated that she hated herself. She hated that she was alone. Always alone.

"Rachel, baby…talk to me," She didn't want to be alone, and she hated that she couldn't stand being alone anymore. She had always done everything on her own. She had never needed anyone before.

"I hate myself." Her voice was muffled but Richard caught it.

"Don't say that Rach, you don't mean it. You're just upset." She rolled onto her stomach, her breathing shallow and uneven, he knew then that she was trying to keep from crying.

"Rachel, whatever it is, I promise it's all right. Rachel it's all right." She shook her head.

Richard rubbed small circles on her back. "Talk to me Rach, you don't have to handle everything on your own. Just please don't shut me out." She was shaking with silent sobs.

"I hate myself, and I hate Roy for doing this to me." She hated Roy, hated that she was afraid of him. He broke her, and she couldn't stop him.