Chapter 14

Knight In Bloodstained Armor

Warning: this chapter contains a part depicting attempted rape. If you do not feel comfortable with that, skip it.

Sara Lee never thought she would ever say this, but... going to a party didn't really sound that bad. She had never been the kind of person who would enjoy visiting every party she got invited to, but hell, she could actually really use it right now; it sure would be nice to get a break from all the bullshit she had to endure at her workplace for the past couple of months.

'Now let's see, what to wear...' Sara mumbled to herself when she opened the wardrobe, studying her clothes. Most of the fashion that was hanging in her wardrobe consisted of clothes with a plaid patterns, she always had a thing for that. Sara always had believed that plaid patterns had something rebellious, which was why she enjoyed wearing that. It made her feel... strong, in some kind of way. She was everything but a girly girl, she had always considered herself a bit of a tomboy. There would be rare times where she would wear a dress, but there were only two dresses hanging in her wardrobe, hiding between all the other clothes she would much rather prefer to wear.

Sara decided to go for a black top, sleeveless blue and purple plaid vest and black shorts; she remembered that she still had a pair of black sneakers somewhere that could match with the outfit.

Her knees were still slightly sore from the fall she had at work, there was a chance that she would wake up with bruises on her knees the next morning. Her boss, who also happened to be the chef, couldn't give less than a damn if she couldn't even walk from the pain, he demanded that she would finish her shift. And just like always, Sara would be relieved if her ordeal was over and was free to go home, but she knew in the back of her head that this would have to return to that diner the next day, much to her agony. As much as she wished to quit her job, Sara was afraid that she would be unable to find a new one sooner or later; hell, she already had struggled so much to get a job in the first place. Sara was so goddamn happy when she got that phone call, confirming that she could start working the next day... but now that happiness felt like a distant memory.

Today wasn't actually the worst day she had, no, there had been far more humiliating things she had endured during her time working at the diner. There was this one time where a disgruntled lady in her fifties had thrown a full glass of orange juice in her face, just because she found a hair in it and was convinced that it came from Sara. And then there was this one time her boss was so infuriated due to the fact that she wanted to go home earlier because she was struck by a heavy case of the flu, he had furiously yelled at her at in front of all the customers; Sara swore to God that she had never felt so many tears burning in her eyes when she felt the gazes of the customers piercing into her soul. Mandy was the only co-worker she had considered as some sort of friend. No, that was wrong, she wasn't a friend to her... just someone she could tolerate at most, because Mandy was the only one who was willing to treat her a bit more friendlier than her boss or other colleagues. Sara noticed that Mandy would act distant to her most of the time, but she didn't mind it.

She was used to be alone.

Sara had to be honest, she did hesitate at first to go to the party. She didn't know any of Mandy's friends, she was afraid she was going to feel like a total stranger in the middle of all those people; she almost instantly regretted the moment where she agreed to go when Mandy invited her. But now it didn't sound bad at all; she could use a bit of fun.

And who knows... maybe she could meet Mr. Right Guy at that party. That thought made Sara chuckle, but not in amusement.

She quickly brushed her hair and went downstairs to fetch her sneakers. And she was right; they did match with her outfit. She grabbed her house keys, which she had put on the dinner table when she came home from work, put it in her pocket, decided not to take a jacket with her and left her house.

Mandy's place wasn't too far away, so she decided to go on foot. It was a warm summer this year, you could still feel some heat in the evening. Looking up, Sara saw that the night sky was already showing the first stars, which had always reminded her of miniscule diamonds. But despite the pretty sight, she couldn't ignore that strange feeling that suddenly developed in the pits of her stomach. It was like it was trying to tell her that something was awaiting her at the party... something wicked. But what...? Sara stopped walking and almost wanted to head back home, but managed to convince herself to pay no attention to that feeling. Damn it, she was twenty-three years old, she was still young, she needed to have fun before it was too late and she fucking deserved to go to that party, because she wanted to close the darkest chapter of her life.

And it was an insanely long chapter.

Sara took a deep breath and slowly breathed out through her nose, trying to make that uncomfortable feeling go away. And it worked, for a bit. The feeling was light enough to completely ignore it, thankfully. She started to walk again, convincing herself to never think of that unnamed feeling again and have fun. She could already hear faint music in the distance; Mandy's place wasn't that far anymore, just a couple of streets more and she would be there.

Sara had absolutely no idea that a certain ink demon was silently watching her from the shadows of the street.

'Ah, Sara!' Mandy exclaimed with a big smile on her face when she saw the young woman. She walked towards her and pulled her in for a brief, friendly hug; Sara was not really pleased by the way too sudden hug, but because she wanted to be polite and not offend her 'friend', she awkwardly patted Mandy on the back. 'I'm glad you could make it!' Mandy said when she let go of her. 'Do you want something to drink? There is plenty of beer, you know.'

The first thing that Sara immediately noticed when she got close to Mandy's house was that the front door was wide open, everyone could walk in and out whenever they wanted. Sara couldn't help but shake her head in disbelief; Mandy obviously hadn't thought of the possibility that total strangers could enter her home and do whatever they wanted, like stealing her damn TV without her even noticing it.

The second thing that Sara noticed was that there were more people attending the party than she thought, all of them were in their twenties. Everywhere she looked, she saw someone having the time of their freaking life. Jesus, she had no idea that Mandy actually had that many friends. This automatically made Sara assume that her colleague used to be that one popular girl back at high school that practically had a whole army of friends who all wished to become popular as well by hanging out with her; and it looked like Mandy's popularity still mattered, judging by all the guests she saw. But then again... some of the people could easily be strangers who snuck in to have a good time. Some people were dancing to the pop music that blasted out of the stereo, others were talking to each other in groups. Almost everyone was holding a can of soda or beer.

Sara chuckled and shook her head. 'No thanks, I'm not planning on getting drunk just yet.'

'That's fine. There's soda and water in the kitchen, you can help yourself.'

'Sure, thanks!'

Mandy opened her mouth to say something else to Sara, but then a female voice called out her name. 'Oh, hold on, some of my friends are over there. I'll see you later. Try to have fun, okay? And who knows...' Mandy curled her mouth into a playful grin and winked at her. 'Maybe one of the guys here could be your type! Drinks are in the kitchen, by the way!'

And before Sara could say something back, her co-worker turned around and walked towards a couple of girls.

'Damn it, don't leave me...' she mumbled under her breath. Looking around her, Sara had never felt this awkward in her entire life. Unbelievable... barely five minutes had passed and she already felt like a stranger, an unwelcome intruder who wasn't supposed to be here.

'She invited me because she felt sorry for me.' she thought. 'She invited me to her party because I'm the laughing stock of the diner. Because I always get yelled at by my boss and treated like crap by most of the customers. She felt pity for me, that's why she invited me.'

She meant nothing to her... that's why she was always acting so distant towards her.

Sara clenched her fists and tried to suppress the urge to walk out, because if she would, Mandy would probably ask her why she left when they would meet up at work the next day. And she was convinced that she would never talk to her again if she would blatantly tell her the truth, let alone invite her to another party. Sara let out a sigh. Fine, she was here now, so she should at least try to have some fun.

Drinks were in the kitchen, Mandy had told her. Sara walked to the kitchen, which was almost impossible to enter because there were already so many guests there, drinking and chatting. She maneuvered herself between the people and grabbed a plastic red cup from the kitchen counter, which she filled with water from the tap. Maybe she could get a soda or even a beer later on. While holding the cup of water in her hand, Sara walked back to the living room and spotted an empty spot on the big, brown, leather couch. She sat down and looked around, occasionally taking a sip from her cup. Just like she had expected, it was like she was invisible to the rest. Nobody who bothered to even glance at her, but that's what she had expected as well. There were brief moments where she did miraculously find enough courage to step towards a group of people to strike up a conversation, but the courage immediately sank to her feet when she pictured their cold gazes staring at her as soon as she spoke. Sara decided to remain on the couch and snack on a little bowl of roasted peanuts.

She felt the leather pillow dent in and the smell of cheap beer filled her nose. Looking to her right, she was met with the thin, grinning face of a young man from around her age.

'Hey there, babe.' he said; another whiff of alcohol made Sara nearly unable to breathe. 'What's a fine-looking chick like you here, sitting alone on the couch? Don't you want some company?'

Jesus Christ, this guy was absolutely fucking wasted. Sara wanted to get rid of him as quick as possible. She shook her head. 'No thanks, I'm good.' she said as politely as she could.

But it looked like the guy didn't take 'no' for an answer. He scooted a big closer to Sara, making her feel even more uncomfortable. 'Oh, you must be shy. That's okay, I have a thing for shy girls. But don't worry, I won't bite. I know what to do to make girls like you like me. How about we go upstairs and have a little fun, you know? Just the two of us, baby...'

From the corner of her eye, Sara saw that this drunk creep was about to put his arm around her. Filled with disgust, she pushed him away from her. 'I said: no thanks. Get the hell away from me!' she hissed.

The drunk creep stared at her for a moment with a blank look in his eyes, scoffed, stood up and walked away.

Sara let out a soft sigh of relief and took another sip of her cup of water; thank God, he was gone. Only now she noticed that goose bumps had appeared all over her arms. She was actually surprised that it was so easy to make the guy back off, but at the same time, she was glad. If any other guy would try to flirt with her like that, she would shove them away from her as well. She would never allow a creep like that guy to touch her; Sara hoped that message had reached his alcohol-drenched brains.

But that creepy drunk was not the only one at the party who had his eyes set on Sara...

Just when Sara wanted to grab another roasted peanut from the bowl, she felt a hand grabbing her arm. Goddamn it, it was that guy again! Just when she wanted to shout, she saw (much to her relief) that it was Mandy.

'Hey, are you still alone?' she asked. 'Come on, I'll introduce you to some of my friends! I bet they would love to get to know you!'

Just before Sara could respond, Mandy had pulled her off the couch and dragged her away... leaving her cup of water on the windowsill.

'She's doing this again because she pities me.' Sara bitterly thought to herself when she allowed Mandy to drag her to her friends, but she didn't say anything. A small group of girls were waiting for them near the kitchen and Sara automatically assumed that they were friends from Mandy's carefree high school years.

She tried not to sound awkward and tried her best to make a proper conversation with them for a while. Much to her surprise, Sara could hear that they were genuinely interested in her when she said that she was a colleague from Mandy. But since Sara was around their age, they immediately assumed that she had the same interests as they had, like going out every weekend and visiting clubs, bombarding her with questions of which clubs and bars she had visited so far. Sara had chuckled and told them that she would rather stay at home watching a good movie or reading a book, but from the moment she told them that, she noticed that they became less interested in her. Maybe they thought she was wasting her young life away by staying at him... which made Sara feel less comfortable with talking to them by the second.

And of course she wasn't going to tell them about her past; she was planning on keeping her mouth shut about that as soon as they'd ask her.

Suddenly, Sara noticed her mouth was dry and she remembered the cup of water she had left on the windowsill; she hoped that nobody had touched it.

'Excuse me, I'm getting thirsty. I'll be back in a second!' Sara said. She turned around and maneuvered her way back to the couch. She saw that her cup was still on the windowsill, thankfully nobody had removed it. All that talking had made her thirsty, she could use some cold water. Sara grabbed the cup and took a big gulp. The cold water cleared the thirst in her mouth, maybe she could quickly go back to the kitchen to get some more water.

It took just a few steps for Sara to make the world around her look like it was spinning.

'What the hell...?' she whispered to herself. She tried her best to ignore the dizziness, but it was impossible. The strange feeling slowly climbed all the way to her head, making it feel light, nearly numb even. She hadn't been drinking any alcohol yet, not a single drop. But then why was she feeling so dizzy? She had a good dinner before she went to the party, she even had dessert... but then... why? Sara rubbed her temples in an attempt to make that strange feeling in her head go away, but it had no effect.

Then the realization struck her like a lightning bolt.

Oh God.

God, no.

She was roofied. Someone had spiked her drink.

A sickening feeling emerged in the pits of Sara's stomach when she realized it. Oh Jesus Christ, this wasn't happening, this was too messed up for words... She had heard so many stories of young women having their drinks spiked with some kind of drug at clubs or bars, the results would almost always be the same; as soon as they would pass out, the guys who had drugged them could have their way with them. It was that one goddamn thing that every woman feared for when they went out, their worst nightmare... and it was happening to her right now. A drop of cold sweat trickled down Sara's face as she felt her heart beating in her head like a drum. She had left her drink on the windowsill for maybe five minutes, anyone was able to slip a drug into it without anybody else noticing it. Oh God, no, how could she have been so stupid?!

She had to get out, she realized. She had to get out before someone would do God knows what to her.

Her limbs started to become numb when Sara moved into the direction of the door in an attempt to escape her impending doom. Nobody noticed her condition, nobody who batted an eye to her; everyone was too busy talking with each other, drinking, texting or making out with their significant other; not even Mandy and her group of friends noticed her. The open front door was her only chance of escape, as soon as she would breath in the fresh night air, she would try to make a run for it for as long as her legs would allow her to, maybe even knock on the neighbor's door to ask them to call the police. Hundreds of thoughts ran through Sara's roofied mind as she got closer to the door; one of those thoughts was the fearful thought of what could happen to her as soon as she would pass out. Oh God, she didn't want to think about it, she wanted to get out of here!

Despite the immense dizziness and numbness in her limbs that washed over her like a tidal wave, Sara managed to enter the empty hallway, where the open front door was waiting for her, like the gates of Hell. She hobbled towards it, she could already feel the cold wind of the night on her arms, she was so close...

'Not so fast, babe.'

A hand grabbed her arm and for a moment, Sara was convinced that it was the bony hand of the Grim Reaper; she was convinced that she was going to die from that touch. But when she looked up, she saw something that was even worse; it was the drunk that had been creeping on her earlier on. The grin on his face had something devilish as dark lust brewed in his eyes.

'You and I are going to have a bit of fun. Let's go upstairs, shall we?'

Sara's breath became shallow as she began to panic even more. It was him. God fucking damn it, it was him who spiked her drink! That sick fucking bastard! Sara wanted to fight back, break free from his grip, run away, but she was too weak for all of that; her limbs had never felt this numb. Escape was impossible when the guy helped her up the stairs, she wanted to scream for help when they nearly reached the second floor, but it felt like her throat was stuffed with sand. Tears of fear formed in the corners of Sara's eyes, oh God, was there really no-one who was going to save her?!

When they got onto the second floor, the drunk creeper turned right, opened a door, peeked inside and his grin grew wider. At this point, Sara's sight started to become blurry, but through the mist she saw that he was taking her into a bedroom. ('Is this Mandy's bedroom?' was the one of the few clear thoughts that went through her head) Once they were inside, the attacker closed the door, dragged Sara through the bedroom and tossed her onto the bed like a ragdoll. Nobody could've heard the creaking of the mattress, the loud music must've overlapped that sound. Sara tried her best to sit up, but her body had completely given up on her. Her body felt numb, her sight was blurry and all she could do was produce whimpering noises and tears. Footsteps... she could clearly hear them. The creeper was now standing in front of her and looked down at her, his perverted grin not leaving his face for a second. He chuckled and shook his head.

'This is actually all your fault, you know?' he said. 'If you weren't such a bitch and played hard to get downstairs, this wouldn't have happened. I put something in your drink to make it more easier for me, I'm not sorry for that. We could've gone upstairs and have fun in a normal way, but no, you had to be a bitch, like all of those other women are! Now you're gonna lie there, shut the hell up and let me fuck you, okay? And oh, one more thing... I'm not planning on going gentle. That's not my thing, you know...'

More tears of fear spilled over Sara's face when the words found their way through the mist in her head and reached her mind. Oh God... he was going to rape her! She was now going to be one of those many women who were unfortunate enough to go through this, she was going to be scarred for life in all kinds of way possible... and there was nothing she could do about it. More whimpering noises escaped past her lips when Sara felt her shorts being unbuttoned, followed by a pair of hands grabbing her shorts and pulling them off, taking her panties along with them. She clenched her eyes shut in humiliation, she had never felt this exposed in her entire life. The same pair of hands roughly grabbed her legs and spread them apart, exposing her even more. Then she heard the sound of a zipper going open, she felt the mattress dent in and something hard and warm pressing against her entrance. Loudly sobbing, Sara prepared herself for the worst pain she would ever feel in her life...

But it didn't come.

Instead, it came for her attacker.

It sounded like a blade being launched into flesh. Sara opened her eyes and faintly saw the drunk creep being pulled away from her by the collar of his shirt, his eyes widened with pain and horror and letting out a bloodcurdling scream. She couldn't lift her head to see it, but she could hear that the blade was being pulled out of the flesh, only to be launched into her attacker's body once more. The screaming became softer... was he stabbed in his heart? Then the most horrific sound came; the blade was ripping through his ribcage, shattering bones, tearing through his flesh. Blood was splattering on the floor, lots of it. Now drifting in and out of consciousness, it sounded like a huge waterfall was falling on the floor if you'd ask Sara. The soft screaming turned into eerie gurgling noises, as if... as if... he was drowning in his own blood. Something fell on the floor with a loud thud; it fell in the pool of blood, there was the sound of splashing. Then it became silent.

Still trying to regain her consciousness, Sara still tried to look up. Was she... saved? But who saved her? Footsteps approached her and she saw a man towering over her, staring down at her. Her savior had black hair that reached his shoulders, eyes as black as the night, was wearing a leather biker vest and his chest and right arm were covered in tattoos with different designs... and all of them were glowing. Yes, it was true, her eyes weren't lying to her; each tattoo was glowing with a bright color. Her savior kept staring at her, not saying a word. Sara tried to open her mouth to speak, she suddenly felt the strong need to thank him, but she couldn't speak a word. Instead, more whimpering could be heard.

Then her mysterious savior turned around and walked away from her, exiting the bedroom. With her last bit of consciousness, Sara heard him going downstairs. Screaming could be heard. Was that... Mandy screaming? More screaming followed, now from multiple people, Jesus Christ, it were the screams from Hell...

Sara Lee finally fainted.