A/N: Hope You guys enjoy!
Maya Pov
I hear someone calling my name. It sounds like Riley. I start to run to where I entered this cursed ally. Just as I get to the entrance, I see a car rushing past the others. Confused I start to watch for a minute. It's a big black fancy SUV, but I can't tell which brand. The car starts rushing towards Riley's building when it starts to slow down. It begins to turn into the alley i'm in, and I start to realize who it is. The person in the car has a broad figure, but I can't tell who it is. Is A a guy? I start to run, and hide behind a box. "Maya! Where are you? I'm so sorry." Riley calls again.
"Maya please!" I hear another voice call. It's Josh.
"Riley! Get Josh out of here!" I then continue to hear a fight between Josh and Riley. Great that'll keep them busy. The car starts to realize where I am, and starts to drive toward me, speeding heavily. I jump up at the last second, and start to run down the alley where I know I will be trapped. I look behind me for a second, to see that box I was standing behind crushed.
I need to tell the rest of them that A is a guy. But how? If I were to scream, A would just speed up so no one could hear me.
"Maya! I'm coming!" Riley says. She can't see this. It would kill her. Before everything happened, she used to be so pure, I want her to get back to that place in her life. I start to run further down the valley. I know this can't end well for me, so I'm just trying to limit the damage it causes for everyone else. I turn around and the car is right in front of me. I just barely have enough time to scream before the crushing weight hits my body. The impact sends me back around ten feet. I scream from the pain, and can't breathe. I start breathing short shallow breaths. I try to stand up, and moan from the intensifying pain. So much for telling the rest of them that I'm pretty sure A's a guy.
I finally am able to sit up, and start to gag when I see my main injuries. My vision is blurring, and I have this sudden urge to go to sleep. The thing that scares me the most is that A and the car are both gone. Where is it? Is it after everyone else now? I decide that I'm fine, and try to stand up. I finally get up and put pressure on my feet, and I stumble and fall over.
"Maya!" Riley screams. The tone of her voice is significantly different than it was before. It is painfully obvious that she is more fearful than curious now. She rushes over, and I roll onto my back.
"Oh my god. Maya, what happened?" But before I can answer she is pulling out her phone, and calling an ambulance.
"Maya, Riley, where are you?" Josh screams. I start to hyperventilate. I lean over and throw up multiple times before Riley finally holds my hair back. I lay down on my back feeling dizzy.
"Maya, keep your eyes open, please…" Riley begs.
"Riley, tell Lucas to take Josh back to the apartment. Make sure he thinks everything is ok. I don't want Josh to see me like this."
"Maya, no… He loves you, a lot. He would want to be here."
"I'm begging you. Please. Riley, please."
"Maya, I don't know, I shouldn't leave you."
"I don't care about me. A did this. If they're still around in the area, I don't want any of you around this." I say. I lean my head back down, and relax.
"Ok, Maya, I'll be back in two seconds."
"Riley, thanks, you don't know how happy that makes me. I love you, and I'm sorry. Please help Josh get through this. Tell him to move on."
"Don't talk like that Maya," Riley says. "I don't know if I can go out there and pretend like everything is fine.."
"You can, and you will, Please Riley. Call them from the ambulance. Josh will forgive you."
"Ok. I love you too, Maya, and I forgive you." She places a quick kiss on my cheek, and stands up gently and leaves. I finally lay down, and tilt my head to the side. See a hooded figure, and close my eyes. I don't want to see anymore. Finally the pain just goes away.
Riley POV
I know it's a mistake to leave Maya, but if that was her dying wish, I will desperately try to follow it. "Maya!" Josh calls. Followed after a Riley from Lucas.
"Lucas!" I scream. Maya was right, how do we know A still isn't nearby.
"Riley!" Josh seems relieved he found me. Lucas follows shortly after him with a quick kiss.
"Where's Maya? Did you find her?"
"Yeah she's fine. Lucas you take Josh back to the apartment, Maya and I have to work out a chick flick."
"No, I have to see her." I finally get a good look at josh. He looks all bug eyed and nervous. He won't stop looking like that till he sees Maya safe and sound. Too bad that won't be happening for a while.
"Lucas.." I say in a stern voice, not allowing the tears to fall. I so desperately want to tell them what has happened.
"Riley, why are you covered in blood?" Josh asks skeptically. I look down, and notice that I am covered in so much blood, it looks like I'm a serial killer. Josh seems to understand where it came from, and starts fighting against Lucas's grip.
"Get him back to the apartment, it's not a big deal, Josh, everything's ok." This seems to get Josh settled down enough for Lucas to get him inside. Not thirty seconds later, and ambulance comes rushing against the oncoming traffic and toward me.
People start rushing out, and I beg for help. The tears finally start to fall while I'm rushing the doctors to where Maya is. "Help, please!" all of the paramedics follow me to where Maya is. Not soon enough she is on the gurney, and in the ambulance, on her way to the hospital, as well as on her way to helping us find out the name of our tormentor.
Josh Pov
Lucas finally hauls my ass back home, and I keep fighting the whole way. "Lucas, let go! Maya could've been raped, or worse!"
Everything bad keeps running through my mind, but I can't help but think about one specific situation from happening. Rape. I mean, come on, I don't think it was a coincidence that Riley gets raped and abused on the same day A comes to power.
"Riley is with her, and she would've said something. Wait be quiet!" He said abruptly. We both shut up, and can hear the tell tale sirens of an ambulance coming from outside. Before He can even say Anything, I'm out the door, and waiting for him to get into my car. He hops in, and we head to the hospital.
Riley POV
The ambulance rushes with Maya and I to the hospital as soon as we get there, the doctors rush her into the OR, and leave me alone to cry. I go and wait in the waiting room, tears streaming down my face. I quickly remember what Maya said, and about how she just wants Josh to be happy. I wipe my tears off my face and wait patiently.
Why would A do this? Was this just another tactic to scare us? But we're all already terrified, so why would they need to do more? Is this because of the flash drive? I can't believe I let Lucas talk me into trying to opening it. Without much more time to think, one of Maya's doctors comes into the waiting room. I rush up to meet him, and start asking questions.
No matter what I was feeling before, all I feel now is sheer panic. The look on the doctor's face is glum, and I fear for the worst.
"Is she going to be ok?"
"Miss, I don't know how to say this but-"
"Oh my god, is she dead?" I blurt out starting to sob.
"No ma'am, but it's not looking good. She endured some serious internal bleeding, and we're working to get that under control. She has a minor tear in her aorta as well, but that can wait for now. She also hit her leg pretty hard, so we're trying to save it."
"Save it?" I ask not quite sure what he means.
"We don't want to amputate it, but it's causing her body to lose too much blood. Also, it's broken in 6 places, and is even crushed at the bottom, so it would need a very long and painful recovery."
I sit down, trying to take in this information."
"Is she going to live?" I ask not sure I want the answer.
"It's very unlikely but we're doing all we can, miss." The pain is too much, I start to fall, not caring that I'll hit the ground. But something grabs me. It must be the doctor, I think. I start to cry, and someone wraps there arms around me. Thinking that this couldn't possibly be the doctor, I look up. Lucas is holding me, and being strong, while I am a shaking, shivering, crying mess. So much for being strong.
"Miss, we can get you a change of clothes if you'd like." I look down, and suddenly feel self conscious of the amount of blood on my clothes.
"Yes please." Lucas answers for me. He is obviously upset about this too, but I can tell he is trying to keep it together for me. Now it's my turn to do that for Josh. I stand up, and wipe my face. As well as how I look, the smell is becoming apparent. Maya's blood wafts up into the air, and I start to get a nauseous feeling. Without thinking, I quickly pull of my shirt, leaving me in my bra. Not caring who sees, I push past Lucas and find my seat.
"Riley?" Lucas says fumbling to cover me up with his sweatshirt. I guess I wasn't thinking about how he would feel with the whole hospital waiting room seeing me so exposed. I let him guide my arms and head through the sleeves and neck. Besides not being freezing anymore, the smell of Lucas's scent overwhelming my nose is somewhat comforting.
"Where is Josh?" I ask, continuing to fight back tears.
"I told him to wait in the car. I didn't know what he would see, or how it would affect him. But I'll go tell him now." Lucas starts to get up. My life will never be the same after this let alone Maya's. I grab Lucas's hand before he goes, and he turns to me with sympathetic eyes. If Maya and Josh do turn into soulmates, then it's likely he'll never be the same after this too.
"Give him a few more minutes.", Thinking some more, "Also, I should be the one to tell him." Lucas smiles, and sits besides me. Within the next few minutes, I decide it's time to tell Josh. I get up, when I get a text. I grab my phone, and before reading it, I look at Lucas. He has a mixture of pain, and anger swirling about in his eyes. He looks so angry that I know Texas Lucas isn't far, so I lie. "It's Josh." I say. His expression quickly changes. "Time to go tell him." I sigh. This isn't going to be easy.
"I think I know what to say. Will you wait here for more news?" He nods silently. All I want right now is to hear his voice, but I know he isn't going to speak. I know how he feels about Maya. She was my best friend, while he was my boyfriend. In a way they were competitors, but the were mostly friends. But I know he'll still want her to be on the main focus of my mind right now, and I'm thankful for that.
I walk out of the large hospital doors, and I don't know what to expect. Josh is in the car balling? Josh is in the car, and he's fine? I walk across the street to the large grey, four story parking structure, and find Lucas's car on the third level, exactly where he said it would be. I see the backside of Josh's head in the backseat, and freeze. I've gone over the wording in my head a million times, yet it's blank. This seems to be happening to me a lot lately. I sigh, I guess there really is no way to sugar coat it
I walk to the driver's side of the car, and gently knock on the door. Josh looks up, and presses unlock on the door. I smoothly slide in and close the door behind me. Even though no one else is really in the parking garage, this should be a private moment between Josh and I.
"I know this morning has been really confusing, and I want to explain."
"But first tell me this. How is Maya? Is she gonna live?" He says it like he's expecting an answer, but I don't know which one. His voice sounds coarse, like he's trying to fight back tears. So am I.
"We don't know yet, but the doctors say…" I take a deep breathe in, and try to control my eyes. They start to feel heavy, and once I say what I'm about to say, if Josh even looks like he might cry, then so will I.
Josh seem to get what I'm feeling, and he grabs my hand. "It's okay Riles… just take your time."
"The doctors say we should prepare ourselves for the worst." I say. A few rebel tears come, but I push them back, and regain my tear fighting strength. Josh lets go of my hand, and places both of his in his lap. He looks out the window like he's searching for something, but I can't tell what. The air suddenly gets chilly, and I shiver. How could this happen? A few weeks ago, we were all so happy. Relishing in the thoughts of summer. But now fall is coming, and with the cold weather on it's way, things are going to get harder. People meaner. Good times? There will be few, and far in between. Not to mention that this A thing is getting worse. A few days ago, A was threatening to ruin our lives, but now, he threatens to take them.
Which is worse? A life altered by A, twisted by the manic ways in which he controls us? Or letting A take a precious life away as he knocks us one by one? Eventually we'd all be gone, and together again, but we'd have to leave others behind as well. Like our parents… I could never imagine going that long without them. The most I've gone is like a day or two, or maybe three. But that's it. We're going to have to wipe all of our expectations for this. I can tell already.
Josh opens his door, sending a series of beeping through the car, pulling me out of my thoughts. I sigh, and look over to him. He closes his door and I open mine, following him into the hospital. We exit the garage, and walk across the street. We make it to the double doors, Josh still a few too many steps in front of me, when I'm greeted by a familiar voice.
"Riley?" I turn around to see of all people, Charlie Gardner, the one who A holds against me. Josh looks back at me, but continues to make his way to Lucas, who sits a respectable way from where we are.
I cough, for no reason at all. Everything just feels too weird today. Charlie makes his way up to me, and I greet him. "Hey Charlie. What are you doing here?" I know there is probably a good explanation for him being here, but it just feels to prepared.
"My older sister has appendicitis, and she's getting hers out today."
"I didn't know you had an older sister. What's her name?"
"Alexis, She's 19 now. Anyway, what about you? Is everything alright?" Yup. There it is. A golden explanation. That word though. Alright… We're standing in a hospital, how is everything supposed to be alright?
"No." I look down. Explaining this to people is hard, but I continue on anyway. If he cares enough to ask, he must care enough for a real answer, right? "Maya was hit by a car, and she might die." The tears start to come, and I will them to stop, but it's harder this time, than ever before.
"Gosh Riley." Charlie says. He looks sad too, but I can't tell if it's for Maya, or if it's for me. He pulls me in for a hug, and I have to stand on my tiptoes. It's still a lot easier to hug Charli than lucas though.
After a few seconds, I pull away, hoping to not cause awkwardness. "Great to see you Charlie." I look down, and I sigh.
"Ok. I give my best for Maya, you know."
"I know charlie, and your sister from us."
"Ok. Bye Riley." He turns around, and starts walking away. I do the same thing weaving through people and chairs until I find myself comfortably in Lucas's arms.
"I just realized something." Lucas says. I look into his eyes, and see another kind of sadness. "Do Shawn and Katie know?" I look down, and sigh.
"No, someone needs to tell them." I pull out my phone, and call my mom. I know shawn and Katie are the priority, but I just wanna talk to my mom right now.
"Hey sweetie, I'm at work, but I have a few minutes… Why are you crying?" It's then that I realize that I'm crying, and Once again, I can't stop. It gets to the point that Lucas takes the phone from me, and starts talking to my mom.
"Hey, Mrs. Matthews, it's Lucas."
"Hey Lucas. Why is my daughter crying?" I can hear her stern voice even through the phone. My muffled sounds are starting to get better, but still continue as I listen to my mother and Lucas talk.
"Don't panic Mrs. Matthews, but we are at the hospital. Maya got hit by a car."
"Oh my God! Is she ok?"
"It's not looking good. Riley and Josh are both here, and we're waiting on an update."
"Do shawn and Katie know?" She asks. For the first time, I hear the franticness in my mom's voice.
"We are calling them next, but Riley really wanted to talk to you. Do you suppose you could call Mr. Matthews for us?"
"Of course, and we'll both be there as soon as possible." Lucas sighs.
"Ok, see you soon." I suck up my nose not wanted my running nose to cause yet another problem for me right now. Josh seems to notice, and brings me a box of tissues.
"I'm sorry." I tell him. "I promised her I would be strong for you, but now you're being strong for me." I sob some more. Josh bends down and hugs me, and I start crying again. "I'm a horrible best friend…" I cry even harder. I keep telling myself to get a grip, but there's nothing to hold onto.
"Riley. It's okay. You were so brave when you told Lucas to take me back home. You can't be strong forever. She knows that, and she's proud of you. I'm proud of you. Lucas, mom, dad, and even Auggie are proud of you, Riley. It's ok to be a mess, it's understandable." Somewhere in between that, Lucas starts rubbing my back, and I start to feel better.
"Ok," I say starting to get a grip on my emotions. "I want to call Shawn first."
I dial his number, and it goes to voicemail. "I guess we call Katie then." Lucas says. I stare down at my phone, and get angry at the universe. Then I get mad for getting mad at the universe. The universe has given me a hell of a hard week, but it's also given me Lucas, and maya and Auggie. And it also gave me to Josh…
"Katie it is." I say. I dial, and it rings a few times, then answers.
"Hello?."
"Hey Katie." I say. My voice shakes, and I know she can tell something is up.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?"
"Are you driving right now?" I ask. I want to make sure that she is safe, and doesn't crash when i tell her the news.
"No, I'm at the hotel with Shawn, why?"
"I have to tell you really bad news…"
"Don't be nervous, honey, just tell me, it'll be ok." I get the growing feeling that she knows it won't, but wants me to feel comfortable, and for that, I am grateful.
"I'm at the hospital right now, Maya was in an accident."
I hear a gasp, and then in her almost crying voice, "Oh no. Is she gonna be okay?"
"We don't know yet…"
"I'm telling Shawn right now, and we are gonna be back as soon as we can. Hold in there."
"You too, love you guys, be safe." I hang up, and look at Lucas. He looks sad. Then I look at Josh. I can't tell what he's feeling right now, but I see a mixture of anxiety and fear, and hopelessness. This week has been bad, and my usually hopeful self just can't see any point in looking at the brightside anymore. Because all there's left to do is wait.
2 1/2 Hours Later…
My mom and dad got here a while ago. Still no news. Shawn and katie have been driving for two hours, and are almost here. Still no news. I know the surgeons are busy and all, but getting an update would be helpful, especially when we're starting to lose hope.
I finally decided to check my phone, getting the text from earlier. The one I lied about. So yeah, A has me lying to the people I care about. I look down, and see that I was right about why Maya was hit by a car. Give back the flash drive, or else: it says. Or else what? What more could they want.
I call Farkle, since he was one of the originals targeted by A. "How's Maya?" Is the first thing he says when he answers. We filled him in about an hour ago. He took it surprisingly well, but I'm pretty sure the only reason why is because Smackle is with him.
"There's no new info, but we're told we're going to get an update soon… Listen, farkle, can you and Smackle do me a favor?" This gets Lucas and Josh's attention. I hurriedly stand up, and start to walk away. I know Lucas is probably confused on why I need a favor at a time like this, so I look back and give him a nod that says, 'wait, I'll explain later'. I can tell he gets the memo as he turns around to talk to my mom, making her focus her attention to someone other than me.
"It depends. Is it about the flash drive?"
"Yes."
"I don't know Riley… What if Maya was hurt because of the flash drive?"
"That's why we're going to give it back…"
"What do you mean?"
"I need you and Smackle to make a copy of it. That way we'll give A his flash drive, but still be able to keep the information for ourselves."
"Smart, but there's only one problem."
"And what is that?"
"While waiting for news about Maya, we've been trying like hell to get into the flash drive's data base, to access the information."
"Yeah, so what's the issue?" I ask, but I'm afraid i already know where this is going.
"A is super smart. They created not one, but six different firewalls. We were able to get through the first two, but they're getting harder and harder every time."
"Farkle, I need this to work… A is already threatening us, and I think that we all know who has the power after Maya…" I can't even say it.
"Oh, Smack just got through the third one… I think we can do this Riley, but it's gonna take a while."
"That's fine, just please hurry."
"Ok, see you soon, and give our love to yours and Maya's families."
I hang up, and make my way back to the group. Maya's been in surgery for over three hours now, and we're starting to get a little antsy. My mom and I share a sympathetic look and then she looks over to Shawn and katie, who sit together, hand in hand. I decide to go over to them. I'm gonna make A pay for this.
"Hey Riley." Shawn says sadly. Katie just looks down.
"I'm so sorry." I tell him. My eyes start to feel heavy, and I look away trying to get a grip.
"Honey, It's not your fault…" He comes in for a hug, and I finally start to cry. We embrace each other for a few minutes. If it was just me here, it'd be a lot worse, but with our friends and family here together, it's making it a lot easier. I'm about to get up, when Katie grabs my hand.
"Tell me exactly what happened, and don't leave anything out." For a minute I'm dazed. This is the first time anyone's really asked me to explain what went down in my own words. But how am I supposed to tell them? I can't just be like, A raped me, made our lives hell, and now hit Maya with a car. I decide to keep it plain and simple.
"It's all my fault." This seems to get everyone's attention, as they all look over to me. "I didn't lie, but I didn't tell Maya the whole truth about something… And we got into a fight. She was so mad at me." The tears are slow and steady, but still present. I clear my throat, and continue, not wanting them to affect the way my voice sounds.
"She ran out crying, and we tried to follow her. I heard her scream, and found her lying on the floor across the street from my house. She was covered in blood. I ran to her, called an ambulance. That's when she started throwing up. I held her hair back, and tried to use my shirt to stop the bleeding. Then she told me she loved me, and that she was sorry for getting so mad at me. She told me to go and make sure Josh didn't see her like that." Josh looks at me, and he finally starts to cry. Seeing him like that, my crying gets worse.
"I didn't agree with her at first, so I tried to change her mind. She begged me though. I didn't want to leave her alone, but she needed it, so I told Lucas to take Josh back inside. When I returned to Maya, she was unconscious. I took off my shirt, and tied it around her leg. The the ambulance came, and we were here. And somehow, I was once again wearing my shirt."
Though that is the end of the story, it feels unfinished, like there s something else I should've mentioned. I hear my phone buzz, and look down. It's from Farkle. I pull away from Shawn and Katie, so that I'm the only one that can see my phone. It says: Almost done with 6, be ready in a few minutes…
I put my phone away, and look up. Katie pulls me into another hug, and when she lets go she says, "Thank you darling… Maya really loved you." I pull away and nod.
When I get over to Lucas and Josh, "Guys, we need to get home, something about the flash drive." They both look up instinctively.
"What about Maya?" Josh whispers.
"She's going to be fine as long as she's in surgery. We just need to make sure that we get it back to A before she gets out." I turn around, "Mom, Josh, Lucas, and I wanna go home to check on farkle and Smackle, we'll be back in ten minutes."
"Ok sweetie, and please tell them if they want to join us here, that would be a great way to be supportive."
We leave and get home. The further away we drive from the hospital, the sicker I feel. I actually start to get nauseous. Josh drives, and Lucas is in the passenger seat. The last time we were like this, Josh and Lucas had just picked me up from 'rape alley'. I shiver, and feel even more sick. Not a great thing to think about. I start to take deep breaths, and I know Lucas is thinking about that day too. He looks back at me, deeply concerned, "What's wrong…"
We pull up to a stop at the building. "It's just the last time we were in here like this." Not being able to hold it in any longer, I jump out of the car, and run up the stairs taking two at a time. I grab my key from my pocket, and shake as I try to put it into the keyhole. I finally get it in, and make a beeline for the bathroom. I soon as I make it, I throw up every ounce of food from the last four days. I use my foot and shove the door closed. After waiting in there for a few minutes to make sure I won't puke anymore, I hear a knock on the door. I start to feel better physically, while mentally, my mind is racing.
"Riley, I think there's something you should see." It's Farkle, this isn't going to be good…
I open the door, and Lucas and Josh immediately appear next to me. I walk into my room, and on my laptop is a folder called, 'CAMERAS'. Inside is footage of every room in all of houses, our lockers, our favorite places, topanga's, and a few other places, like our spot on the beach, and the alley I was raped in. I push past everyone to the trashcan, and throw up once again.