Hello everyone! I'm back with another chapter! Thanks for reading and enjoy the story!

TRIGGER WARNING(scroll to the bottom if you need to see what type)

"At Lila's party last night, you went off into the woods."

The start of the story was already unsettling. Why was I in the woods? What was I thinking?

"Noah saw Spencer follow you and decided to find me."

"Who is Spencer?" I asked. Had I just forgotten him too?

"Your brother's friend from school." Alexei told me, "I had been talking to Jamie when Noah came to warn us. Jamie laughed it off and explained to Noah that he was your brother and he asked Spencer to follow you. I did not so easily trust him, so I went off to find you."

He kept speaking but I couldn't hear him. I did, however, hear the crunch of rocks and plants beneath my feet, familiar party music fading away, and felt the undergrowth brushing against my bare legs. The room was dark and enormous trees sprung up around me. The moon and beam of the flashlight that appeared in my hand were the only sources of light.

I could hear two people, a boy and a girl, having a conversation somewhere in the darkness. I felt my flight reflexes start to kick in, all I wanted was to find them and find safety in numbers. As I searched for them, I stumbled into some ancient ruins. Upon further inspection, I found the Society's mark etched in the tall wall in front of me.

After a few steps, I tripped over vines and overturned rocks. I grasped around in the air, searching for something to help me regain my footing, but there was nothing. When I hit the ground, my flashlight fell out of my hands and skidded across the floor, far out of my reach. I struggled to get up. Had something fallen on me? I looked back to see and only found darkness. The rest of the room was pitch black too, my flashlight lost to the ruins' depths.

I put my palms down, trying to stand, but there was something, no... someone on me. I was flipped on my back, wrists gripped tightly, holding me down. I screamed.

When I felt my captor's hands begin to wander, the tears started to stream down my cheeks. I wanted to scream again and again until someone, anyone heard me, saved me, but I was paralyzed with fear. I could feel my head bang against the cold stone beneath me and feel the man above me. All I could do was beg and plead and apologize.

The man on top of me was a mystery until I gave up. I stopped begging for someone who could actually reach me and started calling for people who would never come. My mother. My father. Alexei.

My cries for Alexei seemed to tick off my captor.

"Alexei," I cried, my voice hoarse and nearly silent, "please...please help me!"

"Too bad, Gracie," the man said, "Comrade Alexei will never hear you all the way in Russia."

Spence.

The man on top of me, tormenting me, was none other than my brother's best friend. Spence who'd shown up at the embassy yesterday morning with Jamie. Spence who'd been nice to me. Spence who'd offered to take some of my food to keep Grandpa and Ms. Chancellor off my back. Spence who taught me to hide what I didn't want in my potatoes. Spence who'd tagged along with Jamie in the hopes of seeing his ancestral home.

I begged again and again, but he just put a hand over my mouth and told me to shut up. He didn't want to hear me say his name. To hear me beg him to stop. To hear me ask him what Jamie would think.

I cried and screamed as loud as I could, and eventually, I heard Alexei. I thought I was dreaming, that maybe I was just imagining he was coming to whisk me away. I heard his harsh accent calling my name. I knew he wasn't there but I took the chance to scream louder than I thought possible.

Spence hit me after that, one good hit, right across my cheek. It stung but otherwise, it did no damage. I couldn't hear Alexei anymore, all my strength had left me with that final scream.

Before my consciousness left me too, Spence's weight on top of me disappeared and I was held firmly, by a warm and broad set of shoulders and arms.

Suddenly, I could see my room again, and I was shaking. I was crying and could feel Alexei's arms holding me securely once again. His shirt was balled in my fists, my face pressed into his shoulder, and his face pressed into my neck as he muttered apology after apology in every language he knew.

Noah's hands were pressed over his face, but I could still see his horrified expression. Megan had her hands pressed firmly over Rosie's ears and she was holding back the brimming tear in her eyes. Jamie stood in the doorway, he couldn't even look at me. I deserved this, I killed his mother, and now I had experienced something similarly horrible.

"I promise, Gracie, if I see that bastard again I'll kill him," Alexei swore to me, holding me an arm's length away, starring into my eyes.

"You're too late I'm afraid," Ms. Chancellor said from beside Jamie in the doorway, "As your grandfather and I just told your brother, Grace, John Spencer was found dead, washed up on the beach this morning."

Sexual Assault trigger