Chapter three – The Aftermath

Cass had woken to the smell of smoke, she was very groggy and stiff but as she lifted her hand to her face she realised she could move. She looked around hurriedly as the memory of the evening returned to her, she must have passed out after Se..no she couldn't say his name.

All that remained of her clothing was her blood soaked tee shirt, she sat up as quietly as possible and pulled hard, trying to make it longer to cover herself. A waft of smoke hit her again and she stood quickly to scan the room. Emerging from behind the stack of boxes she saw the cause of the smoke, someone had set fire to a few of the boxes and a small blaze had broken out. Forgetting her semi naked state, she sprinted down the room, calling Kerry's name in a hushed shout. There was no sign of Kerry or the other boys anywhere in the house. Someone had taken the time to light a few more fires however. Cass was sure the whole house would go up soon if it wasn't tackled quickly.

Outside fear gripped her as the pure blackness of the night pressed in around her but the thought of standing still in it scared her more than anything, so she ran as fast as she could, past her car that persons unknown had thoughtfully wrapped around a tree, all the way home.

Her parents had freaked when their blood soaked daughter flew through the front door sobbing uncontrollably and wearing only a tee shirt. She fell to the floor as great hacking cries ripped through her chest. Her mother fell to her knees beside her only daughter and cradled her in her arms,

"Baby tell me what happened to you" she whispered softly.

"He..he..oh mom, he drugged me then raped me" she cried out in agony as the full force of the truth hit her, she had been raped by a boy she had trusted, a boy she had actually considered having sex with that very night. It sickened her as she remembered his hands on her body and his face as he came inside her.

Her father grabbed her shoulders roughly and pulled her out of her mothers embrace

"Who did this to you" he screamed shaking her in his rage.

"God Damn it Cassandra who did this to you, I'll kill the bastard I swear I will"

She looked anywhere but in her fathers eyes as she whispered "Seth did, Seth Dawson".

Many hours later, after a medical examination and multiple interviews with the police, Cass had finally been allowed to go to home. She lay now in clean pyjama's in her warm bed, after scouring herself in a boiling hot shower. Her mother was perched on the end of the bed holding Cass' hand. She had been told by the police that the manor house was fully ablaze and fire-fighters were doing their best. No sign had been found of Kerry, Colin or any of the boys. It seemed all three boys had used fake details to enrol in Cass' high school as none of the addresses for them had been correct. Colin and Kerry were officially missing persons now.

"I let Kerry down" Cass sobbed.

"No honey, you mustn't think that, Kerry will be fine, you'll see" .

Her mother stayed with her throughout the night, holding her occasionally when the nightmares woke her and singing softly to her in the darkness to comfort her. All the while her father paced downstairs with a loaded shotgun, waiting for a hint from the police as to where the monster could be.

The three boys never returned to school, neither did Colin or Kerry. In the days after, Cass had small flashes from that night, mostly of Seth abusing her body but sometimes just of things he'd said. One thing in particular kept floating back to her

"your little Kerry had three friends to play with" he had said, but that wasn't right. Kerry had been with three boys yes, but only two who could have hurt her, Jason and Kevin. Colin was the third boy but she knew him, he wouldn't have hurt Kerry, no matter how much he wanted to fit in with the older boys, he just wouldn't, would he? Cass was doubting herself now, 'No not Colin' she decided firmly, he wasn't capable of hurting anyone.