That night

Rory made herself comfortable in her room. She had decorated it and furnished it to suit her needs. She studied for a few hours and then tried to sleep. It was already 2 am. Tristan was still out, probably crusading around with some girl. She didn't understand the feeling that overcame her. Was she jeolous? Of Tristan out with some other girl? No, she can't be. Tristan is just a friend. Besides, she has Mark.

Rory fell into an uneasy sleep, tossing and turning, trying to rid herself of the jeolous thoughts that had somehow gathered in her mind. Suddenly, she screamed.

Tristan had just gotten home from his visit to the doctors. He had to have a checkup every few months, just to make sure that his physique was ok. As soon as he stepped through the doorway, he heard a piercing scream that cut throw the night. It was Rory.

He ran into her bedroom, relieved to find that it wasn't locked. What he saw wrenched his heart. Rory was having a nightmare, and she was screaming out something. He didn't wait to make it out, as he ran over to Rory's side and started making soothing noises to calm her down.

"Sshh, Mary. It's ok. I'm just Tristan." Comforted Tristan.

Tristan watched, appalled as Rory thrashed around the bed some more, all the while struggling vainly to rid herself out of his embrace. Suddenly, she stopped thrashing about, and lay still. This creeped Tristan out even more, and he shook her, trying to get her out of her nightmare, or trance.

Rory woke up. Her forehead was damp, full of small sweat beads. She could hear Tristan's voice, but still she couldn't get the thoughts out of her head. Thoughts of that night, many moons ago. The night when she…

"Rory are you ok?" asked Tristan. "Can you explain to me what just happened? You seem to be having a nightmare, and your screams could certainly wake up the dead."

Rory stood up. "I'm fine, Tris. It's ok. It was just a bad dream."

"Mary, if every time I had a bad dream, and I shout the angels off their clouds, it still wouldn't compare to your bad dream. What was it about?"

At this point, Rory had shut herself in, and she didn't allow anyone to come in. Apart from her best bud, Tanya. Tanya was, in her own case, a very nice girl. Although the fact that she was African- American, and many racial issues arose from that single issue.

"Tris, can you please call Tanya for me? I need some girl-to-girl talk. Her phone number is in my diary."

"Sure, Mary. Sit tight and I'll be right back. You do know that it's 3 am. Do you think she'll mind that you want her to come over?" Tristan spoke up.

"No, she won't mind."

"Ok then, I'll be back."

"I know, you just said so."

Tristan smile at her wit, even though it was too damn early to make out anything yet. He walked out and called Tanya. She was a little bit pissed off, but when she heard that Rory had a bad dream, she said that she would be right over. Tristan waited in the sitting room for the doorbell. As soon as he heard it, he ran to open the door.

"Tanya." Tristan stated.

"And who are you? As far as I know, Rory's got no homee's." Tanya spoke.

"I'm Tristan." He said, smiling.

"Keep on smiling boy, and I'm sure you'll attract some chicks. Now where's my home girl?" asked Tanya.

"She's in the second room on the right. The one with the blue walls." Tristan explained.

"Right-o. Be right back, Tristan."

Tanya walked into the said room and sat down, having a girl – to – girl – talk with her best bud.

"Rory, honey. I didn't know you've been having dreams like these again. How bad was it this time?" asked Tanya, giving Rory a hug.

Rory gave a weary smile. "Not as bad as some that I've had. I'll be fine now. Thanks for coming Tanya. I'll just go right back to sleep."

"I'll be right in the living room. Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite." Tanya whispered, giving Rory a kiss on the forehead as she tucked her in.

Tanya walked out into the living room, where Tristan was sitting on the couch.

"Tristan," she said. "How long have you known Rory for?"

Tristan looked up at the girl. "About 5 years now, although we've just caught up."

Tanya thought about it. "No wonder. I'm willing to bet anything that you don't know about her adventure?"

Tristan glanced up. "What adventure?"

Tanya bit her lip, and sat down next to Tristan. "I'm not too sure if Rory would want you to know about this, so for now, this is between us. Is that alright?"

Tristan nodded an affirmative.

"Okay. My home girl Rory was raped."

Tristan's mouth hung open as he tried to figure out the information. "What?"

"That's right. You remember her friend, Lane? Well, Rory was over to her birthday party one day and then, on the way there, right in the middle of Hartford, some guy picked her up and abused her. Little Rory, being the girl that she is hasn't told anyone about this. I'm not even sure if her mum knows, and you know how close they are."

Tristan closed his eyes. "How do you know about this?"

"I was the girl that found her stumbling along the road like a drunken sailor. I took her in and calmed her down. Since then, she told me all about it. She hasn't talked to Lane since then, and… I don't think she's been herself since then."

"She's changed a lot. This doesn't explain why she's crusading around, picking guys up." Tristan said, voicing the thoughts that ran through his mind.

"Oh. My home girl's been trying to find the guy that did this to her. I think she said something about him having a huge scar on his chest." Tanya looked at him, forcing him to look into her eyes. "I don't want you to tell her anything about what I've just told you about. The only person that she feels comfortable about discussing this is with me. I can tell that you and her are close by the way that she relies on you so much. That don't mean that I won't kick your ass if you hurt her though."

Tristan laughed nervously. "Don't worry, I won't dream about hurting Mary again."

"Mary? You are the guy who's been calling her Mary all the while?" Tanya asked, practically demanding an answer out of him.

Tristan looked scared by the sudden threat in her voice. "Yeah."

Tanya smiled at the nervousness in his voice. "She cares about you a lot, Bible Boy."

Tristan's heartbeat slowed down a fraction, but then sped up again at the meaning behind the words. "I care about her too."

Tanya nodded, and stood up. "I gotta go back to my home turf. Catch y'all later."

"Bye, Tanya." Tristan said. He led her out of the apartment, and then went to his own room for some rest. 'No wonder Mary's been so different,' thought Tristan.