Jeremy couldn't breathe. He supposed it was because he had just been violently raped by a vampire-something that shouldn't exist. Can't tell anyone. He stumbled home and into his room. He immediately took a shower before changing into some pajamas and drinking some water, trying to get the taste of blood out of his mouth. Every time he closed his eyes, flashes of what had been done to him populated his mind. Giving up on sleep entirely, Jeremy decided to read a book. He couldn't tell Elena or Jenna about this, he was too ashamed. It had been because he was out doing drugs that all of this had happened in the first place. And how was he going to tell them a vampire had drunk his blood? They would think he was crazy. No, he couldn't say anything; he would have to deal with this himself. Jeremy bandaged up his bleeding neck, knowing full well he wouldn't be able to walk tomorrow because of how rough Damon was.
Jeremy awoke the next day, not immediately remembering the events of last night. Fuck, how am I going to get to school? He checked the time and realized it was 9:30, a half an hour ago school had started. Deciding not to go, Jeremy limped out of his room and changed his bandage. Jeremy slowly limped to the kitchen. His entire body was on fire, he had bruises everywhere, his skin was badly cut, his asshole was bleeding, and he was pretty sure he had a fracture somewhere. He tried to sit but it was too painful, so he decided to stand for the time being. Then the events of last night hit him with full force. He had been raped. Full on, shove-a-dick-up-your-ass raped. How was he going to move on from this? He couldn't handle it, this was too much. He couldn't just forget about this, it was rape. The room started spinning as Jeremy went almost into a state of shock, trying to absorb what happened to him. He started to panic as he realized he truly couldn't tell Elena. It would ruin her to know what had happened to Jeremy, and he couldn't let that happen. Plus, he was fully humiliated. He knew that what had happened was not his fault, but he couldn't shake the overwhelming, soul-crushing feeling that he ought to be ashamed for what had happened. He was ruined, that much he knew. There was no going back from this, he saw Damon everywhere.
A couple weeks had passed since that night, and Jeremy was doing terribly. He was constantly afraid, constantly afraid that Damon would see him and decide to rape him again. It kept getting to him, his confession trying to claw its' way out whenever he saw Elena. The words 'Elena, I was brutally raped' were so simple yet so hard to say. His physical pain had mostly subsided, but he actually missed it. It gave Jeremy a distraction from what was going on inside his thoughts. Every night he had nightmares about his rape, nightmares about vampires, and all of this was making him sleep less and less. Jeremy had instead taken to working out as much as possible. He didn't want to feel weak ever again. Jeremy looked at his reflection in the mirror. Wow you look like shit. He had purple, baggy eyes, unhealthy sallow skin, and an overall look of defeat about him. He felt like shit too. His lack of sleep was causing him to have migraines, and he was starting to get sick more and more often. Jeremy smiled at himself; he was just a broken toy that couldn't be fixed. He had been avoiding everyone ever since, finding it much too hard to talk to them about anything.
"I'm just worried about him. He won't talk to me, he's not sleeping. Something happened" Elena's voice carried up from downstairs.
"Elena, I know you're worried about Jeremy. But we have bigger problems at the moment. Damon's trying to kill us" Stefan said. That couldn't possibly be right, Jeremy thought as his heart sped up and he fell against his wall. No, that had to be another Damon. Please, that had to be another Damon. Jeremy started hyperventilating as he tried to convince himself that it wasn't his rapist they were talking about. He grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked it out, trying to calm himself down. This only threw Jeremy further into madness, and he broke down crying. He couldn't take it any longer. Jeremy lay against the bathroom door and screamed as loud as he could while violently sobbing. Elena and Stefan raced up the stairs as soon as they heard Jeremy scream, and wrenched open the bathroom door to find him sitting up against the wall, tearing at his hair and crying. Elena immediately grabbed Jeremy and held him in her embrace, willing him to calm down. Jeremy vaguely felt Elena grab him, but this did not affect his state. Only one thing would help him.
"I-I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore" Jeremy's voice cracked as he entered another bout of crying, unable to stop himself.
"Can't do what anymore, Jer?" Elena panicked as she held her brother. What if he was going to kill himself? Jeremy did not answer, instead pulling at his hair while sobbing. His eyes were red, his nose running, but he had never felt better.
"Do something, Stefan! Compel him or something!" Elena yelled at her vampire boyfriend. She had known that something was seriously wrong with Jeremy; she knew he wouldn't pull away without some sort of reason. It was clear now that this reason was tearing him apart, and Elena felt helpless because she didn't know how to help him.
"Okay! Okay! Jeremy, what's wrong with you?" Stefan was panicking as well when he compelled Jeremy. In all his years, he had only seen something like this once: when he had rescued a rape victim in the Sudan.
"There's a lot of things wrong with me" Jeremy had calmed down because of the compulsion, and Elena was still clutching onto him.
"What has made you go into your current state?" If Stefan still had a beating heart, he was sure it would be beating fast.
"One night, about two weeks ago, I was out with some friends. I looked at the time and saw that it was late, so I decided to go home. Stupid little me decided to take a shortcut home through an alleyway. Anyways, I was walking through the alleyway when I saw a man. This man then attacked me, drinking my blood. He told me he was a vampire, and that he would normally compel me after he fed, but that he hadn't gotten laid that night, and that I was really cute. Then, after that he- he raped me. He said his name was Damon" Jeremy looked down in shame, the tears starting to flow freely from his eyes once more as Stefan and Elena gaped.
"No, no that can't be true. Damon's terrible but he would never do that. He would never rape some innocent kid." Stefan shook his head several times, trying to understand how his brother could be such a monster.
"Oh my god. I-I can't believe this. Jer, why wouldn't you tell anyone?" Elena demanded.
"I couldn't. Every day, I wanted to, but I just couldn't. I was in enough mental and physical pain as it was, I didn't want to feel guilty about ruining your life when I told you. I was ashamed. I let this vampire take control of me and hurt me and I didn't want anyone else to know. Happy?" Jeremy looked them both in the eyes and this almost made Stefan break. His brother, his own brother Damon, had raped a 14 year old kid, and possibly damaged him for life. Stefan could see the pain in Jeremy's eyes, and knew his brother had to pay for this. He couldn't get away with raping someone. Out of all the things he had ever done, this was by far the worst.
"Jeremy, you should've told me. It wouldn't have ruined my life, it may have actually helped you. Please don't be ashamed of something that wasn't your fault, it's Damon who should be ashamed. Please don't ever keep something like this from me ever again" Elena hugged Jeremy so tightly he wasn't sure she would ever let go. Maybe I should have told her. He could feel her tears slowly dripping onto his neck, and absentmindedly touched his bite mark, not completely registering the situation he was in. He had just told Elena and her boyfriend his biggest secret-that he had been raped, and it hadn't helped. In fact, he felt more damaged than before.
A/N: Hey guys, I'm so sorry it took so long for me to update this fanfiction. I was working on other fanfictions(which would be great if you checked out) and I published a book. It's Sketches by Sarah Jae Blake on Amazon/Kindle. I would really love it if you could check out the book as I worked on it for two years before completing it and would love it if some of my readers gave it a chance! Please let me know what you guys think of this chapter also! And also, rape is a very serious matter. If you or someone you know has been raped, please contact the police or tell another trusted adult. Also, feel free to message me about anything! Thanks! ~Rumzy1