Sorry this one took a little longer than usual. School workload is picking up a little and I had to deal with a family situation last week. I'm thinking of ending this story in next few chapters..maybe three or four plus epilogue. We will see.

Teresa: I'm glad you like how I incorporate the Perik storyline in this story.

Missout: Yeah, this story do have some dark undertones, but things will look up in the end. This may be mainly about Gail's journey, but Golly will happen. Don't worry!

Trigger warning: brief description on the assault and drug references in this chapter.

An aroma of rosy amber musk envelops Gail as she feels trapped by the darkness. The scent is slowly pulling Gail to consciousness, but she cannot find an ounce of energy to open her eyes and see who is holding her left hand. The touch is soothing and Gail wants to hold on, but the darkness is swallowing her in entirety and she isn't strong enough to fight it off…

Gail wakes up and finds herself trapped on a bed and she cannot figure out what is keeping her from being able to use her arms and legs. An invisible hand slowly drags itself along Gail's navel, through between her breasts, and aims for her throat. Shit, she's going to die right here and she cannot move her limbs at all. Focus, she tells herself. Focus on getting up and fight him… it off! The hand traps Gail's throat and begins to choke her airway, keeping air from coming in. Her eyes are not opening like she wants to. She cannot see who is killing her. Is she really going to die without even doing anything that matters in life? Will she end up a stupid girl who get herself killed because she was not careful?

"Gail"

Who is that voice? Who is calling her?

"Gail, wake up!"

She's trying! The hand is choking the air out out of her and she still cannot move. All of a sudden, she can feel two other hands grabbing her shoulders and giving her a small shake. She closes her eyes tightly and gives her all to open her eyes just one more time before she gives up to oblivion.

Gail wakes up and tries to sits up. Her heart is pounding out of her chest and she cannot breathe. She can feel the needles in her arms and she wants to rip them all out. She takes off the oxygen mask and tries to get off the bed. A strong pair of hands hold her back on the bed.

"Gail, don't take those out. You are in hospital. You are alright now." Sage tries to reassure Gail and stops her from continuing to freak out.

Gail wants to say something but her throat is tightening up and she cannot get any air back in her chest. Her gag reflex is acting up and she just wants to throw up. Holly shows up next to Sage and puts the oxygen mask back on Gail.

"Gail, you need it to get some air in you. Take a deep breathe and count up to three slowly before inhaling and do the same to exhale."

Gail obeys and slowly her breathing returning to normal. However, her heart feels like it's going to rupture her chest open. It hurts like hell.

"Sage, I'm going to get a nurse to come in and check on her." Holly runs out of the room.

Gail pants and looks around in the room. Her sight is blurry and she squints to try to focus on the other two figures sitting on a fuzzy purple something by the door. Looks like a couch and they stand up and walk over by Sage. Gail recognizes one as Ciara and it takes her a couple moments but the other person is that annoying dude she sat next to once in her Intro to Criminology class. What is he doing here, she wonders?

Ciara tears up and begins to sign a fist in furious circular motions on her chest, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Gail is confused by Ciara's clear angst and the memories reveal themselves in fragments in Gail's head. All she remembers right now is being beyond drunk at that house party and being pushed on bed. She can clearly remembers the sensation of a needle digging in her neck. She shakes her head in a feeble attempt to clear away those dark memories. She takes the oxygen mask off in order to speak.

"How did I get here?" Gail whispers and signs clumsily at the same time.

Ciara looks at the dude before telling Gail what is going on.

"Mitchell," she points at him, "heard what was happening in the room and stopped that monster."

Mitchell nods and simultaneously speaks and signs, "Yeah, I was lucky to hear you fighting him and came in before he was able to get far…"

Sage intervenes, "And who's fault is that?" She started sternly at Ciara. "You. You were supposed to be with her. What the fuck?"

Gail raises her hand. "Sage, just stop. I remembered walking outside to talk with you on phone, so she didn't know okay? This is all my fault anyway."

Sage's eyes widen in disbelief. "Your fault? Goddamnit, Gail. You got to stop blaming yourself for everything that went wrong. It's that monster-fucker's fault. I'm gonna ki-"

"Sage." Holly firmly calls from the door. "Why don't all of you get out of here for a little bit? Calm down, get some coffee, and let the doctor examine and talk with Gail."

Ciara and Mitchell walk out of the room together, and Sage fumes for a little longer before stomping out. Holly looks down and heavily sighs, allowing the doctor to approach Gail.

"Hello Gail, I'm Dr. Taylor and I'm your attending physician. How are you feeling?"

"Like shit. I can't seem to get my heart to stop pounding. I'm breathing funny… and my vision's blurry far away."

"Yes, that is expected with what you were injected with."

"Huh?" Gail recalls the needle. "Oh.. I remember the needle…"

"Yes, you've been injected with ketamine and ingested some flunitrazepam. Fortunately, you didn't take enough for it to have a long term impact on your health. You will still feel the effects from the flunitrazepam for possibly up to 24 hours and in next couple hours your heartbeat and breathing rhythm should return to normal. We are keeping you here overnight for observation and will release you tomorrow depending on how you feel and how your vitals look. How does your right eye feel?"

Gail touches her right eyes and flinches in pain. "It hurts when I touch it… is it bruised or something?"

"Yes some vessels ruptured but nothing is broken. You will have a black eye for a little while, but it should go away without any complications."

"Oh."

"Be sure to rest as much as you can tonight and I'll return in the morning to see how you feel. If you need anything, then please press the call button for a nurse." Dr. Taylor gives out her hand for Gail to shake before leaving the room.

Holly looks down at her hands to avoid looking at Gail and nervously asks, "do you want me to get Sage?"

"No. Can you sit closer? I still have hard time seeing you from afar."

Holly nods and sits in the chair by Gail's left side, but still doesn't look directly at Gail. Gail clenches her chest with her hand. "I wish my heart would just stop pounding. It's so annoying."

"Yeah, that is one of side effects of ketamine. It is mostly used as an anesthetic, although not really commonly used by medical professionals because of its hallucinogenic properties. It can cause high blood pressure, an increased heart rate, and irregular breathing among other things."

Gail closes her eyes and listens to Holly babbling some more about the medical uses of ketamine. Holly waves her hands in the air as she continues, "… it's really only used in some unique cases or out in the field like war zones or that sort of thing…" Soothing. Gail thinks to herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm talking too much here. I should be letting you rest."

"I'm in bed. Resting. Not doing anything. I think that counts."

Holly smirks and chokes a little. "I'm really glad you are okay… well, relatively okay."

Gail frowns and burrows her eyebrows. She only has a piece here and there of what happened to her. She can remember everything up to the point she was on phone with Sage. The nightmare still has a faint grasp on her. "I don't remember much. Do you know?"

"Well, I only know what Mitchell told me."

"Tell me."

Holly hesitates, "You should talk with Ciara and him. Plus, a police officer should be here in the morning to get your statement."

"Fuck. That means my parents know. How did you get here though?"

"I was with Sage when she got a call from hospital. Apparently she's your emergency contact."

"Yeah. I rather her than anyone from my family."

She cannot afford to have her mother know about what happened to her. She would be embarrassed and scold her for being stupid. Holly straightens up and look directly in Gail's eyes.

"Well, we came and we met Ciara and Mitchell here. Ciara was such a mess… I think she blamed herself for everything. Mitchell said he heard some commotion upstairs, so he decided to check since he was the only hearing person in that house. He said he saw this man standing over you… you were on the bed and passed out…" Holly pauses for a second, "and he was grabbing your shirt. Mitchell tackled him and punched him in the face. I'm not sure how exactly but he said he got him on the floor, sat on his back, and used his cellphone to call police. God, I'm so glad he was there tonight. I will never mock him in our classes ever again. It could've gotten worse… it's terrible enough with what already happened to you and it could've been worse… I could have… we could have lost you tonight, Gail."

Holly begins to sobs and Gail's heart constricts as she listens. She starts to remember the shots she got off the table. That's probably where he put in the roofie. This is all her own fault for being so reckless. She allows her own anger to blind her from seeing what was happening in front of her face.

"I'm so stupid…" Gail murmurs.

Holly looks up and in Gail's eyes for the first time tonight. Her eyes are full of wrath. "It is NEVER your fault, Gail. It is that asshole. No one deserves that. No one should have to worry about being taken advantage of like he did to you. I am so infuriated that we have to be wary of trivial things like drinks in hope to avoid being abused. I hope he rots in jail."

Gail blinks in wonder. She always put herself down, because that is how her family views her. Being someone that does not fit in her family's imagery of the perfect Peck member is eating her alive and she slowly realizes that. She knows that no one should feel it is okay to do what that stranger did to her, but she can't help herself feeling stupid for not being careful. Holly has this wonderful ability to see good things in Gail, and she starts to feel her heart beating faster. She is not sure if it's entirely due to the aftereffects of the drugs.

"Prison."

"What?"

"Prison is where criminals serve long sentences. Jail's more temporary. Sorry, I'm just…"

"It's okay."

They remain in silence and it comforts Gail. She's surprised at first because she usually gets so uncomfortable around people when there's no talking. However, this is Holly. Of course she can just be next to Holly with nothing being said between them and it's like being comforted by a blanket from childhood. Holly grabs Gail's hand and holds it tenderly in her hands without saying a word. Gail feels like she is almost content if only for a short time. It is almost like every shitty thing that happened to her does not exist in this moment. She wants to feel like this always and not feel like the world is always against her. She lets out a relieved sigh and Holly hears her. She looks up at Gail and gives out an adorable smile and Gail smiles back at her. They remain like this for a short time, although it feels like lifetime to both of them.

The television sprouts out random lines about a pointless fuzzy blanket like pajama thing that looks beyond ugly on everyone in the infomercial. Ciara and Mitchell checked on her earlier and have gone home for the night. They both promise Gail they will be back in the morning to help with the statement even though Gail told them not to. She knows she has to give her account alone and she really does not want anyone to deal with her parents' inevitable arrival.

Sage has gone to get some dinner for both Holly and her. Gail is not sure why she didn't insist on staying in the room with her instead of Holly. She wonders if Sage is too ashamed of her or something. After Sage leaves, Holly grabs Gail's hand and simply holds it while they both pretend to closely pay attention to the television without being obvious to each other. Suddenly, Holly turns around and confronts Gail with a serious face.

"Gail, I heard what you said to Sage on the phone earlier."

Gail freezes in shock. "What?"

"Sage set the phone on speaker so we both could talk to you, so I heard the entire conversation."

"Oh. Well I guess congratulations is in order. You guys look great together. I just hate being around couples being mushy and all that crap, so I didn't want to be around both of you."

Holly slightly bends her head to the left, gesturing Gail to cut the bullshit. "Gail, you got it all wrong. We are not-"

Steve burst in the room and jogs over to the other side of the bed. He has an angry face and barely holding himself from screaming. "Gail! What the hell happened? Why did I have to get a phone call from Oliver at the station and not from hospital?! Who did this to you?"

Holly takes her hands away from Gail, and Gail misses the warmth instantaneously. She stands up, "I'm going to check on Sage and see where she is with dinner," and quickly leaves the room.

Gail groans in frustration. "I woke up not long ago okay? I am okay. Nothing serious happened to me. Just almost got myself raped by a psycho at a party. You can go home."

Steve recoils in anger. "Okay?! Rape is not something you brush off like a cold! I'm going to make sure that bastard get what he deserves, death. Don't you worry sister, Mom and Dad will make sure of that too. They're at the station right now taking care of lawyers."

Gail looks away. "Great. They are just cleaning up the mess. Making sure it all goes under the carpet, so the public won't know."

"You know that isn't true. They're angry and afraid."

"Then why aren't they here? They can't even look at me and ask if I am okay?"

"Who's your emergency contact? Why isn't it any one of us?"

"Sage."

"Why? She isn't family?"

"She acts like one more than any of you."

Steve collapses in the chair and looks bleakly at Gail. "Really? Even me?"

Gail looks down at her hands. "I felt that way when I changed the information."

"When was that?"

"Day after my 18th birthday. I didn't want Mother to have any control over me. So I put down Sage's information to ensure I had control over myself if I ever went to the hospital. Like now. She can get to you easily. You know it. I know it. That's just how she is."

Steve swallows in embarrassment. "I'm sorry you can't trust me."

Gail looks up at Steve and shrugs. "I know. Not really your fault. We both just happen to be born into the same insane family. Not exactly our choice."

Steve nods in acceptance. "Are you sure you okay? I know you didn't get… but you almost did."

"I know. I am okay at the moment, but I'm not sure where to go from here. I… I know what I want. I just don't know what to do to be where I want to be."