Beck had been calling Jade for about two hours and getting no response so he was confused, she had told him she would arrive to the dinner. "Nothing?" Tori asked and he shook his head.
"No, I don't understand" He said and called her again.
"Maybe she ran out of battery and couldn't tell you she wouldn't make it" Cat commented.
"I guess but I don't know, she never does this…just disappear for hours" Beck said disconcertedly.
"Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing…she was probably just tired after driving all day" Andre said but then Beck's phone rang.
"It's Jade's house" He said expecting it to be her and they smiled as he picked up. "Hey"
"Hello Beck, it's Mr. West" Jade's father said.
"Oh hi Mr. West, how can I help you?" Beck asked confused.
"Put Jade on the phone, she told me she had a party at your place and she won't pick up my calls…it's past 10pm, she was supposed to be here two hours ago but I guess she preferred to take my witness to your party" Mr. West commented coldly and Beck got confused.
"No, no Jade is not here…she isn't with you?" Beck asked back and the gang looked at each other so Beck put the phone on speaker.
"No, she isn't with me and don't lie, where else could she be? My informant told me she picked my witness up hours ago, just put her on the phone" Mr. West said.
"I'm not lying, my friends are all here to tell you…we haven't seen her since she left school this afternoon" Beck affirmed.
"We thought she had missed the party because she was tired" Tori added.
"Are you being serious?" Mr. West asked, his angry tone vanishing into worry.
"Yes, are you sure she didn't arrive somewhere else?" Beck asked.
"No, no she had to come home, that was the instruction" Mr. West said and took a breath. "Oh god, this can't be happening"
"What? What are we gonna do? Where is she?" Beck questioned worriedly.
"I don't know, I'm gonna call the police and see if they can help us find her" He said and the gang looked at each other nervously.
"Let's calm down, maybe she is just stuck in traffic and her phone died, let's not be negative" Andre said.
"I agree" Tori said.
"Can I come to your house? I wanna be there when she arrives" Beck said.
"Of course" Mr. West said.
"We wanna go too" Tori said.
"You can all come but please watch your phones in case she calls, maybe you guys are right and she is just in traffic or lost in the city" Mr. West said. The gang went to the West residence to wait for Jade but hours passed and she never arrived, the police didn't think it was a priority case because she'd only been away for a few hours so they were freaking out.
Jade couldn't close her eyes the whole night, she could only hear all the men snoring around her and she didn't know what to do, it was still dark but she knew the sun was coming so she reunited the strength to slowly get up; she didn't care about anything but she didn't want to be there when they woke up, she couldn't stand the idea of being raped again. However, she couldn't handle the pain so she fell down again and closed her eyes in frustration hoping they wouldn't wake up.
Jade felt dizzy and tired, her vision was blurry and her whole body hurt but she didn't turn back, she basically dragged herself through the grass and only looked back a couple of times to make sure they were still sleeping. She saw her car in the distance and crawled as fast as the pain let her but she finally arrived and simply got inside, she turned the engine on and drove away with Richard's corpse next to her, she didn't even care at that point, she was still in shock.
Jade drove straight to her house, parked her car in the same spot she always did and walked into her house calmly. She simply went to the living room and sat down on the sofa without doing anything, she only stayed there staring into space. She didn't change her clothes or clean her injuries, she simply froze there, she didn't know anything, she felt lost.
Mr. West and the gang had gone to the police station to keep insisting only to get a vague positive response that didn't make them feel any better but when they arrived they saw Jade's car parked outside so they smiled.
"Thank god" Mr. West said but when they got closer they saw Richard inside so they looked at each other.
"Is that your witness?" Tori asked still not realizing he was dead and Mr. West nodded.
"Yes, Richard son, come out" Mr. West said and opened the door of the car only to realize the man was dead and that the window on the driver's side was broken into pieces all over the car.
"Oh my god" Tori said shocked and they all stepped back, Mr. West stared at him not knowing what to do and the first thing that came to his mind was Jade so he rushed into the house followed by the gang.
They opened the door to the main hall and didn't see anyone at first but there were traces of blood and dirt on the floor leading to the living room, they looked at each other and followed the way. "Jade?" Mr. West asked loudly as they walked but nothing happened. However, as soon as they stepped into the living room they saw her from behind.
"Jade, what happened? Where were you?" Her father asked but she didn't respond so they walked towards her only be appalled by what they saw.
"Oh my god" Beck said in shock; Jade was sat in the sofa simply staring into space, she had an enormous bruise under her right eye, another one on her left cheek, smaller ones all over her face, there was blood on her nose, her mouth and her chin. She was almost naked, her broken shirt only covered her chest and small parts of her arms, so they could see all the whips, cigar burns and bruises on her arms and belly; her skirt was short and her stockings were gone so they could see huge bruises and blood on her inner thighs. She was also dirty and she smelled like alcohol.
They were so shocked that no one could even say anything, they were just looking at her and trying to comprehend how she was the same girl they'd seen the previous day; it was so overwhelming.
"What did they do to you?" Mr. West asked as lots of tears streamed down his cheeks and he took his coat off to put it on her but she didn't move. "Honey, honey you drove here, right?" He asked but she remained quiet so he stood up and covered his face.
"This is not happening, this can't be happening" Beck said as he looked at her, unable to believe his eyes. He saw her and all he could think about was the last time he'd seen her at school, her eyes, her smile, her voice and everything about those moments, he couldn't understand how that girl had been turned into what he was seeing.
"AAAAAAH" Mr. West screamed into his hands in rage and impotence, he felt so powerless and full of rage. He looked at his child and he only wanted to explode.
"No, no, no…Jade no" Beck said and covered his head, he couldn't cope with what was happening.
"She is so hurt, what beast did this?" Tori asked angrily with tears in her eyes, Andre and Robbie were just looking at Jade sad and disconcertedly, Cat was crying next to her, Mr. West was losing his mind and Beck couldn't assimilate what was happening, he was just there in shock, unable to move or react.
"I don't know, I don't know" Mr. West said and threw a lamp away. "I DON'T KNOW!"
"Beck, what are you doing? You need to collect yourself, look at her" Andre said when he realized Beck was just holding his head and looking away.
"I can't" He said with tears in his eyes.
"She is your girlfriend, she needs you now" Andre affirmed. "Come on, you can't do this…not when she is like this"
"I can't, Andre, I can't…I just…this is not happening, this can't be happening" Beck said and shook his head so Andre shook him by his shoulders.
"WAKE UP! You can have a crisis some other time, not now" Andre said seriously. "Be her god damn boyfriend, look at her! She is not well, she needs you" He affirmed and Beck took a breath as he nodded and gave himself the strength to look at her again.
Beck saw her and only felt the need to break out crying but he resisted it and got on his knees in front of her to look at her face. "Jade, can you hear me? It's me, Beck" He said but she didn't even blink, she wasn't crying or doing anything, she was just lost in her mind. "Come on babe, say something please"
"Why isn't she responding?" Cat asked worriedly.
"I don't know" Mr. West said, trying to keep himself together as well.
"Jade, you're home now…say something please" Beck demanded as he looked at her face but she didn't do anything. "Jade! God damn it Jade, SAY SOMETHING!" He screamed as he held her shoulders and shook her a little but she remained the same.
"Calm down" Mr. West ordered as he took Beck's hands away from Jade. "That won't help"
"I can't see her like this anymore" Beck said and stood up to look away.
"Take a breath" Tori said and he obeyed. "She is in shock, we don't know what happened but it was clearly horrible"
"I think we need to take her to a hospital right away" Beck said.
"I agree" Mr. West said and took a breath. "Come on honey, you're gonna be fine…" He affirmed and made Jade stand up, she walked to her father's SUV and he set her on the copilot seat, the rest of the gang got in the back and Mr. West turned on the engine but then he realized he was trembling.
"I'll drive, don't worry" Andre said and switched seats with him, they were all in shock but Beck and Mr. West were the most affected. They arrived to the hospital and they immediately took Jade into the emergency room while the nurses gave the rest of them some tranquilizers to calm them down.
Several hours went by and a doctor finally walked towards them with a resigned face, they stood up and took a breath to receive the news. "How is she?" Beck asked, more calm.
"Not well, not well at all" The doctor informed sincerely. "She was…brutalized and I want to know by who"
"We don't know, she won't talk" Mr. West said. "She went missing last night and she appeared this morning, in my house and she was like you saw her"
"What happened to her?" Tori asked.
"Well, she was brutally beaten…and whipped as you probably guessed, she was burned with cigarettes, she also drank a lot of alcohol but I wouldn't be sure it was voluntary and she was raped" He informed and they closed their eyes in frustration, from what they'd seen they suspected it but then they realized the doctor wasn't done yet. "She was gang raped, I meant to say…the tests revealed at least 6 men abused her last night" He informed and all their eyes wide opened in shock.
"No, no…you are lying, my baby…no, she wasn't…she wasn't" Mr. West said as shook his head and tears streamed down his face.
"I'm really sorry, I know it's horrible but it happened, those animals raped her, we think it was six because of the fluids inside her body but it could have easily been more, maybe some used a condom" The doctor explained sadly and they closed their eyes in pain and frustration as they listened, it was such a terrifying thought that they couldn't believe it had actually happened. "We just know they hurt her a lot, her body shows trauma consistent with very intense sexual abuse, as I said we know about six but we can't be certain there weren't others until she speaks"
"God, this can't be happening this is not real" Beck said as his eyes filled with tears as well and he covered his face, he couldn't even imagine the torture Jade had been through.
"This is so horrible, poor Jade" Tori said as she wiped the tears away.
"She was in shock when you brought her, we sedated her and we'll have to see if she reacts when she wakes up" The doctor said and they sighed as they tried to assimilate the news.
"What if she doesn't react?" Cat asked worriedly.
"We can have her treated by a specialist, that's my not my area but I'm sure she will eventually recover, just understand that she went through something…unspeakable, she needs time to process it" The doctor commented. "Follow me, I'll take you to her room"
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!
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