Lisa felt her body quake with terror as the men advanced on her. Her lips went thin, and she could feel blood rushing to the center of her body. Her arms and legs tingled in anticipation, her limbs screamed at her to move, to run, to do anything, but she couldn't will herself to move. Her feet felt glued to the floor. Her mind felt empty save for a single panicked thought: two men, two men, there were two men in front of her, and they were getting closer.

Everything felt foreign, the room swirled and Lisa's legs went rubbery, unable to support her body. Her body felt weightless. It was as if she were floating, in the midst of some bad dream, one of her recurring nightmares, disconnected from the room, from reality.

She heard the men's taunts echo in her ears, like distant screams from some faraway entity. Her breathing felt shallow, then slow, and she wondered if she had forgotten how to breathe, or why she was breathing. She felt raw terror pulse through her as Avery seized her bicep and pulled her close. He ran a bony hand through her hair and pulled her into a rough kiss.

Lisa moaned in pain and disgust as she felt his tongue in her mouth. Reflexively, she brought her teeth down and bit him as hard as she could. Avery screamed in pain and yanked his face away from hers. He clutched his mouth and fixed her with an angry, primal glare as he seized her by the shoulders and shoved her to the ground. The cold concrete against her forearms and neck briefly grounded her to the present, to the room. She wondered briefly how she had gotten here. White hot pain brought her back to her reality as Blaze moved toward her and dug his long nails hungrily into her back.

The scratches stung like hot agony as she cried out. Her limbs began to move, as if some primal instinct guided her movements. Was it anger? Was it survival? She didn't know, it all felt surreal.

Lisa snapped her head forward and heard a loud crack and subsequent yell of pain. Her forehead collided with something, and she looked up through blurry eyes to see Blaze stumbling backward, and seething. He clutched both hands to his face, trying to stop the blood that gushed from his twisted nose like a geyser.

Lisa felt hot tears brimming at her eyes as the hard concrete beneath her back morphed into the pavement of the parking lot. She could see the thick yellow painted lines, just as they had appeared on that fateful day. She wondered how she had gotten there. Where was he? Her rapist? Where was he? It couldn't be happening again.

A rough hand had tangled itself in her hair, and the pain brought her back to the present. Avery was leering over her, one hand caught in her hair, and the other to strike her. He was standing with his legs spread wide like a v over Lisa's.

"You like it rough huh?"

Lisa heard the words but barely processed them. It was as if she were watching someone else control her body from a distance. Avery backhanded her hard across the face. A primal anger burned in her chest as pain coursed through her face. She flung her foot forward, kicking Avery squarely between the legs. He yelled out and cussed, doubling over like his Blaze, who was still hissing in pain and clutching his broken face.

Lisa fell back against the concrete as the man was forced to relinquish his grip. The concrete felt so cold beneath her back. She felt a cold, cerrated blade against her neck but could not see one.

The room morphed into the sun-drenched parking lot, and Lisa squinted her eyes to adjust to the bright light. He was there. The man who's name she never learned. He was there. How did he get there? How was he back?

It can't be happening again.

Everything was spinning, and she could see his face, feel his knife.

"Lisa!"

She heard her name echo in the distance of the imagined parking lot, but she couldn't see its source. Everything flickered, and the sun began to disappear, the sensation of the blade against her throat began to fade.

"Lisa!" The voice grew clearer as the room around her began to reappear in its various shades of grey.

Lisa could make out the faint outline of a familiar man, the blue-eyed devil, the wolf in sheep's clothing, the only other man she dreamed about.

"Jackson." She muttered his name uncertainly, and breathlessly. The spinning sensation was disappearing. Lisa's stomach churned and quivered. Her body trembled, and still felt unreal, but the ground beneath her felt firm and anchoring.

.