Crumbling Earth Fourteen:
Mike swore, jumping up from the table, "I'm going to kill Colby!"
The Sheriff looked around in confusion, "What was that?"
Emily groaned, "the remains of a prank war." She explained moving leaves from a potted plant to reveal a hidden camera, "Kevin and Jayden added speakers to freak out Mike and Antonio, they honestly thought the house was haunted. I think they accidentally turned their mike on."
Outside the boys froze, they had forgotten about that.
"What's going on here?" Jayden asked, concern by Mike's sudden outburst, "Who is Colby?"
"The guy who attacked Emily," Antonio said, shaking his head, "I should have realized that was what was going on, it explains her behavior when I first got here."
...Earlier that morning...
`Antonio had gotten home late the night before and therefore hadn't gone over to Shiba House until now. He pulled up in his truck and unloaded the ice chest from the back. In it he had specially selected some of his best fish for his friends.
Judging from the collection of motorcycles and cars in the driveway, not only was Mentor and Jayden home but Mike and Lauren was there as well as someone he didn't recognized. He shrugged, maybe one of the others got a new car.
Jayden was the one who answered the door, "Antonio, you're home, I was debating on rather or not I needed to call you. Is Emily fighting severe depression serious enough for me to call you?"
Antonio frowned remembering the way Emily had acted before he left, at the funeral, she must have been fighting it even then.
As soon as he was allowed, he entered Emily's bedroom, leaving the door wide open as was protocol, he knew something was wrong, having lost his mother at a young age, he knew what it was like to lose someone special to you. But he could tell that something else was bothering her. The way she pulled back away from him the moment she caught sight of him. That wasn't normal.
"Emily," he called out.
Emily flinched, and tried to make herself invisible. Antonio frowned, "Are you okay?"
Emily nodded her head, "I'm fine, I just want to be left alone."
Antonio sat down on the bed, and pulled out his phone, opening up his photo album, "You should have seen the fish I caught in Peru."
He held the picture out so Emily could see it, it was him holding up a fish that was almost as big as he was, "That's amazing," Emily stated, "Did you enjoy the trip?"
...present time...
Mia walked over, "So she's finally spoke up," She said, "If she hadn't spoke up by the end of the day, I was going to drag it out of her."
"How did you know?" Mike demanded.
"I've volunteered at a Children's crisis center, I've seen the signs before," Mia confessed.
...Earlier that morning...
As soon as Mia had hung up with Emily, she headed over to Shiba House, unaware that she wasn't the only teammate with a sinking feeling when she heard that Emily was moving back to Shiba House.
When she arrived she had discovered Antonio and Mike in the bedroom with Emily. Mike and Antonio were sitting on the bed, while Emily sat on a chair against the wall farthest from the bed.
She seemed happy, but she didn't seem to trust the boys in front of her. Mia knew immediately what was wrong. She saw it from time to time at the center. Someway or another, someone, possibly a male, had somehow taken some type of advantage of Emily. The lost of her sister and the fact that she was a former power ranger would have compounded the problem.
With Mia in the room Emily seemed more at ease, so much so that she climbed up onto the bed and rested her head on Mike's shoulder.
...Present time...
As Mia finished pointing out the strange behavior Emily was exhibiting, Kevin and Mentor walked over.
"I noticed that as well, but we don't know what happened, and we aren't going to hassle Emily about it. Do you hear me?"
"But we already know what is going on," Mike stated, "She was raped, we heard her talking to the sheriff."
"You mean you were eavesdropping again," Kevin said with a smirk.
"I needed to know what was wrong so that I could help her," Mike protested, before pleading, "How can we help her?"
"We need to let her know that what happened was not her fault, and get her to the point were she is comfortable around others again," Mentor said.
"The main thing we can do is make sure we are careful around her. Approach her slowly and ask her for permission before you touch her," Lauren stated, causing everyone to stare at her. She shrugged, "I read it in a book."
They were discussing how best to help Emily when the sheriff came outside, having left Emily inside. He felt like smiling, usually he doesn't approve of people listening in on an interview, but he understood that they wanted to know what they needed to do to help.
...
Emily was unpacking her bag when Mike entered her room, making more noise than he normally would so he wouldn't scare her. Emily looked up, fear flashing through her eyes.
"Can I come in?" Mike asked.
Emily knew that Mike knew now, he probably wanted to tell her that he couldn't date her anymore, that he couldn't date someone like her, someone broken and used. She shook her head trying to back away from him, but she soon hit the wall, "I'm sorry," she called out.
Instead of taking another step forward like he would like to have done, he forced himself to step back. Giving Emily the space she needed, "I'm not mad at you," he said, "what happened wasn't your fault."
Emily stared at him unsure if she believed him or not.
...
A/N: please review.