RedBelle94: Me too and you are right there, well remembered! Thanks for your review.

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Chapter Seventeen

"How do you feel?"

Lily passed a glass of water over to Alicia, but she received no reply. Alicia was practically unresponsive, just lying there on the sofa with a blank expression on her face. Lily sighed and perched on the edge of the coffee table, wrapping her cardigan around her stomach. She sat and watched Alicia for a moment, hoping that she would eventually say something.

She didn't though.

"Did you want to watch something?" Lily asked, unsure of what to say.

Alicia faintly shook her head.

"Okay," Lily whispered, and nodded at her. "Look. Do you want to talk about it? You really scared me tonight, Alicia. You may not have gone through with it, but what if that happens again?"

"It won't," Alicia said, a small sob escaping her mouth.

"You don't know that," Lily said. "I know how it feels to feel so incredibly low about yourself that you really don't feel as if you can carry on. Believe me, I know how it feels."

"H...How?" Alicia cried, rolling over so that she was looking Lily in the eye.

"Come on," Lily sighed. "You remember why you trusted me with this secret, right? It's horrible, Alicia. It really is, and I blamed myself and thought about ending my own life on a number of occasions. You just need to try and think of the good things in life."

Alicia nodded and wiped her watery eyes, whilst sniffing.

"I'm sorry," she apologised.

"You need to stop saying that," Lily laughed slightly. "I think you need to talk to someone though, alright?"

"No, Lily," Alicia began crying hysterically at that point. "You promised!"

"I'm not talking about, Mrs Beauchamp!" Lily said, raising her voice slightly. "She doesn't need to know about what just happened, okay? I'm talking about a counsellor, someone who can help you properly and someone who will be able to make these horrible feelings go away."

Alicia didn't have a chance to say anything, as her phone began to ring. Lily picked it up from the coffee table, saw that it was a private number, and handed it to her. Quickly wiping away any evidence of tears, Alicia answered it.

"Hello," she said. "Yes. That's me. Sorry."

There was a pause, and Lily could see more tears forming in Alicia's eyes as she spoke.

"What?" She asked quietly. "Why? Um...Sorry, I...I'm not sure if I can."

Another pause.

"Okay. Yes, can...Can I bring someone with me?" She then asked. "Thank you. Okay, bye."

She hung up the phone and dropped it into her lap, before running her hands down her face.

"Was that the police?" Lily whispered, guessing by the tone of Alicia's voice.

"Yes," she replied and nodded at her. "They...They think they might have found the guy who hurt me, and they want me to go down to the station to identify him."

Lily nodded and took a deep breath nervously.

"Yeah," Alicia sighed. "Will you come with me?"

"Okay," Lily said and forced a comforting smile for her. "Right. Of course I will."

Lily and Alicia slowly walked through the doors of the secluded room. Connie and a kind-looking police woman followed them, and the four of them stood behind a sheet of glass. Across from them, stood four men, all of whom had been arrested. Alicia gulped anxiously and without thinking, reached across to grab hold of Lily's hand. Lily immediately tensed up and let out a small gasp, and Alicia suddenly realised something.

She wasn't thinking. Lily had been raped as well, hadn't she? Although she'd never reported it, surely it brought back horrible memories for her. She felt like the world's worse friend.

"Alicia. Are you okay?" Connie asked and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I...I'm fine," Alicia said.

It was clearly a lie though. She looked absolutely terrified.

"Alicia, just take your time," the policewoman said kindly. "But we need you to take a good look at these men, and see if any of them is the one that hurts you. Think you can do that?"

She was talking to Alicia as if she was a child, but Alicia was too tired and too anxious to point that fact out. She just nodded and turned her attention to the men, her hand still in Lily's. She scanned each and every one of them in turn, but her eyes remained on the third guy in the line for the longest. He was big with brown hair and a tattoo on his left shoulder. It was a very distinctive tattoo of a very big, oddly shaped eye.

"That's him," she whispered straight away and nodded her head at him.

"Are you sure?" The policewoman asked.

"Positive," Alicia said, recognising the eye straight away.

Lily loosened her grip on Alicia's hand, pushed past the policewoman and fled the room as fast as she could. Alicia gasped and went to follow, but Connie stopped her.

"I'll go," she offered, but then she looked unsure.

"It's okay," the policewoman told her. "I'll stay."

Connie nodded thankfully and left to go in search of Lily. She was outside the police station, pacing up and down whilst flapping her hands in front of her face. Connie hurried over in her heels and took hold of her wrist gently.

"Lily, it's me," she said. "Deep breaths for me, please. Can you do that?"

She was having a panic attack. That much was certain. Connie got her to stand still for a second, and placed her hands on her shoulders.

"Breathe," she whispered. "Listen to my voice. What happened, eh? What happened in there? I thought you were trying to stay strong, for Alicia."

"I was," Lily cried, as she struggled for air. "I tried!"

"Ssshh, calm down," Connie soothed. "Calm down. Please, talk to me. That's what I'm here for, isn't it?"

"You wouldn't understand," she sobbed and held a hand to her forehead.

"Try me," Connie said.

"It's him," Lily said, tears flowing down her cheeks at full speed. "The guy who...who...who r...raped Alicia is also the guy who raped me."

Connie shook her head in disbelief. She felt completely stuck for words and was struggling to understand what Lily was saying.

"It's my fault that Alicia got hurt," she said and surprised Connie by throwing herself into her arms.

"It's not your fault," Connie said, wrapping her arms around Lily's waist. "It's not your fault at all."

"It is though," Lily sobbed into her blouse. "If I had just reported it when it happened, then Alicia would not be going through any of this. It's all my fault."

I hope you enjoyed the update. Let me know what you think x