OHMYGOD, who's a terrible author-in-training? I personally hate it when authors take FOREVER to put a new chapter up, and look at me. I kinda got a bit addicted to all this Dramione (Harry Potter) fanfiction(; KAY THEN, I'll be super nice and try to redeem myself by giving an extra long chapter! And ohmygosh, thank you like a bajillion for the reviews and putting the story on your alert lists!
Rachel looks up into the eyes of one, shocked Noah Puckerman. She's too surprised that he's there to answer.
"Berry? What the hell happened?" Puck asks impatiently.
"Oh! I was at my dance class and we were rehearsing when someone missed their move and ended up hitting me in the face." Rachel answers, praying to God she sounds believable. She can't have anyone know what's happening to her. It's not like they'll care anyway. She's just Rachel fucking Berry, after all. Some haven't taken the time to get to know her, but her abrasive and determined attitude is just a shell. She builds all these walls up hoping no one can ever get through. It's just a mask to hide away all of her insecurities and weaknesses. She plays her part well; no one would normally suspect anything, until now and that's what scares her. She can't have anyone noticing. When they notice, they'll ask questions and she cannot have anyone asking questions.
"That's a load of bullshit. Now tell me who gave you those fucking bruises!"
"I just told you what happened, Noah! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go home." And with that, she bolts.
Puck stands there for a moment, contemplating what just happened. Berry obviously didn't get those bruises from dance classes. One way or another, Noah Puckerman was determined to figure out Rachel Berry.
Rachel hurries over to the steps of the school and sits there. 'How could I have been so stupid and careless?' she berates herself. She couldn't believe he saw the bruises on her wrists. 'What if Dad and Daddy ever find out he saw?' The thought alone makes her go into a panic, thinking of all the possible ways they could inflict more harm upon her. She tries to focus on something else to keep her mind away from those thoughts. She starts to think of glee. That proves to be a fucking terrible idea.
She thinks of the hateful glares she received after they read Jacob's blog. The way Quinn shoved her so hard, she fell onto her wrist. The white hot pain was unbearable. When she screamed, they sniggered. Mercedes, Kurt, and Tina were just oh-so-happy to praise Quinn on what she had done. Rachel wonders what the hell happened to the ones who she had become so close to being friends with and, how they turned their backs on her just like that; without looking back.
Tina used to be so sweet and caring. She used to help Rachel clean slushies out of her hair for the first couple of weeks and talk to her and make her feel better. She almost considered Tina her friend. And then, BAM! One day, she just decided to ignore Rachel and never talk to her again. Same thing happened with Mercedes. Rachel always told Mercedes how perfect she was and how she never had to change for anyone, when Mercedes would criticize how she looked. And how does Mercedes respond? A month later, she calls Rachel an attention seeking slut and joins Quinn's gang of bitches. And Kurt. He's a different story. Rachel had known Kurt since 7th grade. They were pretty close, too. They'd tell each other things nobody else would know. (This was, of course, before the beatings begun. They began in her freshman year.) They were practically best friends; joined at the hip. Then two months into their freshman year, right out of the blue, he tells her she'll never make it to Broadway because she's a spoiled, stuck up bitch and nobody would ever like her. That was when she first cut herself. She didn't even know what she did that made Kurt angry at her. She doesn't know what she did to make everyone hate her so fucking much.
Ah, she remembers the first time she saw Finn. It was her sophomore year and he was the quarterback. She fell in love instantly. Then she realized the Ice Bitch was his girlfriend. That put a damper on things, but she was still madly in love. When Finn and Quinn broke up, Rachel's hope increased. They stated to date and she was so happy. But, two months later he breaks up with her because he's still in love with Quinn. She was heartbroken, naturally, but she soon got over her pining for Finn. Now, he barely talks to her, in fear of Quinn. It's quite pathetic, actually.
Rachel eventually stops her trip down memory lane. When she looks at her surroundings, she realizes it's already around 5:00 and raining. SHIT! Her dads were gonna kill her for being home so late! There was pure fear coursing through her. She gets up and starts sprinting home.
When she gets about halfway there, she thinks she hears something. She turns around, but found nothing through the haze of rain. She nervously continues, but goes a bit faster. She hears it again and stops. All of a sudden, someone comes out of nowhere and starts to pull her into the secluded area. She screams and cries, but it's useless over the sound of the down pouring of rain. She struggles as hard as she can, but whoever it is, is too strong.
"Shut up and stay still." The person commands in a harsh voice. She recognizes that the person is male, but she still wouldn't listen to him. He proceeds to punch her in the gut and starts to take her pants off. A cold sense of dread overcomes her. She continuously yells, "NO!" over and over, hoping he'll stop. But that was very unlikely.
He then takes off her underwear and his pants. She feels him enter and nothing could've prepared her for the pain she feels. It's worse than any of her other beatings. She tries to block out the pain but nothing can prevent that. She's still a virgin and he ripped that virtue away from her like that. It's so painful; Rachel starts to see spots of black clouding her vision. She ends up blacking out because of the white, hot pain she feels.
When she wakes up, she's still in that secluded, woodsy area he brought her to, except now he's gone. She finally feels like she can breathe again. She notices it's probably 7 in the morning and she's going to miss school, but after what just happened, she couldn't give a fuck. She looks down at her mangled body and saw all of the new bruises and the blood that's now on her inner thighs. She feels completely worthless and dirty.
It takes all of Rachel's strength just to stand up. She starts to walk over to her, now shattered clothes and tried to at least cover herself. Very slowly, she starts to walk back to her home. All of her willpower could barely keep her standing up. She gritts her teeth, trying to work through the pain that was now searing in between her thighs.
Twenty minutes later, she reaches her house and thanked God her dads weren't home. She makes her way to her bathroom to clean her wounds and take a long, warm shower. She can still feel him on her and starts scrubbing her arms harshly and rapidly. She needs him off of her now. By the end of her shower, her arms are bleeding. She finishes tending to her cuts and gets a good look at herself in the mirror. Rachel has another black eye, a large bruise forming on her stomach, and she has cuts and bruises everywhere else. She looks so terrible she starts to sob. Heart wrenching sobs could be heard all throughout the house for an hour straight.
When her sobs die down, she reaches into her drawer for the razor. At a time like this for Rachel, it's more than a want, it's an absolute need. She drags the shiny metal all the way across her wrist, though not deep enough to be fatal, and then moves onto her stomach. The cut on her stomach was much deeper than the one on her wrist, but still, Rachel feels nothing. She was so serene, just watching the droplets of blood form together and drip down her body and into the sink. She feels like she's flying. She never wants the feeling to end. The calm and serene smile on her face never leaves. It's as though she's been hurt so many times in her life, that pain just wasn't felt anymore.
She cleans the newly made cuts and bandages them before getting dressed. After, she goes over and sees that she has one new text from Noah.
Hey Berry. Saw u weren't in school today. Just wonderin' how ur doing -Puck
Rachel thought it sounded like he almost cared, but then she remembers this is Puck. He goes after cougars and puts drugs in cupcakes. No way did he care about her. He just wants to use her and hurt her, like everybody else in her life does. She decides to text him back, anyway.
Thank you for the concern, Noah. It is greatly appreciated. I just came down with the flu so I should be back tomorrow. –Rachel*
After that, she puts her phone away and decides to take a nap and forget all that has happened, for just a few hours. Unfortunately, her dreams would be plagued with the reoccurrences of what had just happened.
Hours later, she wakes to the sound of glass breaking. She's instantly up and alert. She then hears her dads' maniacal laughter. She's desperately hoping they don't know she's here. Rachel doesn't think she can handle any more pain at this point. That thought's, of course, crushed when her bedroom door creaks open and in come her dads. They don't seem to notice any of the bruises she just received, and they just stare at her, coldly.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" Her daddy demands.
She crouches in the corner and responds in a quiet voice, "I was at the library, studying."
They seem to accept that answer and move closer towards her. They tower over her and her dad grabs her by the hair and yanks her up. Leroy starts to kick her in her stomach and back, while Hiram is bending her fingers back. One at a time, until each finger on her left hand is broken. She cries out uncontrollably at this point and Leroy slaps her and tells her to shut up. The pain she feels is immense and she ends up passing out. It's seeming to become quite a habit of Rachel's now.
When Rachel wakes up, she sees that she's on the ground and her whole body aches. It's the middle of the night and she drags herself up just so she can sleep on her bed. In the morning, she awakes, still extremely sore. She takes a shower, puts on a long shirt and a hoodie, and covers up all the visible bruises. Then she's off to another day in hell.
When she arrives, just like any other day, she is met with a slushy to her face. She runs the fastest she can to the bathroom and starts to wash her hair, though she's already missed first period. She then realizes she left her makeup bag at home. 'Fuck,' she thinks. She's screwed. She can't rid of the bruises now. Everyone's going to see them and they'll all find out. Rachel is in the middle of a panic attack when the door suddenly opens. She forgot to lock the door and she freezes. In walks Brittany and her completely innocent-like composure. Brittany stops dead in her tracks when she sees Rachel's face. Brittany's face contorts into confusion at first, and then pure horror. She can't believe that the girl in front of her is in fact, Rachel Berry with bruises and cuts all over the visible parts of her body. Brittany, then, bolts out of the bathroom without a word.
Meanwhile, Rachel is still in the middle of her panic attack, when a minute later Santana runs in with Brittany at her side. Santana sees Rachel and gasps in shock. Santana runs to Rachel's side and tries to calm her down.
"Come on Rachel! You have to breathe, in and out, in and out. There you got it, just keep breathing with me!" Santana says to Rachel. Brittany looks terrified; she has no idea what's happening to Rachel. Santana is completely shocked at seeing Rachel like this. She looks at Rachel and sees she's completely broken. Santana feels an overwhelming sense of guilt when she sees Rachel's wrist and all of the self-inflicted wounds that her bitchy insults probably caused. She's not sure what to do and how to fix Rachel, but she's going to do everything she can to try.
Once Rachel calms down, she turns to look at the girl who just helped her. She feels a sense of dread. Santana's probably going to tell everyone, and then she'll be bullied even more. But when she looks at Santana, she looks completely concerned for Rachel. Rachel felt hope blossom in her chest at the thought of becoming friends with the feisty Latina and the bubbly blonde, but also complete fear that now Santana, Noah, and Brittany have seen the damage done to her. Her thoughts were interrupted when Santana spoke.
"Rachel, how did all of this happen?"
And just like that, all of Rachel's walls are built back up again.
"Rachel, you can trust us. Just tell us what happened." Santana persists.
Rachel replies in an eerily calm but deadly tone, "You want me to open up to the girl who bullied me all throughout high school along with Quinn," Rachel spat out her name like it was poison, "and think you won't tell the whole damn school! How could I ever trust you!? You've made part of my life shit for years and don't even care! Why should I tell you anything?"
To say Santana was shocked was an understatement. "Listen Rachel, hear me out please. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness or anything from you but, I want to apologize for everything I put you through. I know, I'm a bitch and I don't deserve your trust, but I have changed! I was only going along with Quinn and I know that's not an excuse, but me and Britt are here now and we want to help you!"
When Rachel looks into Santana and Brittany's eyes and sees the true sincerity and honesty there, she starts to cry. Heartbreaking sobs erupt from her and Santana and Brittany quickly leap over to her and rock her back in forth, holding her and whispering words of comfort to her. When her sobs quiet down to little whimpers, she looks up at the girls in front of her.
"Okay, I'll tell you what's been happening." Rachel whispers. Santana and Brittany hold her and comfort her throughout her retelling of everything that has happened to her. They hear each and every heartbreaking thing that happened to Rachel. From the beatings and insults to the rape, their heart hurts for her. By the end, all three of them are crying and holding onto each other. Santana and Brittany's' hearts break for this strong girl in front of them, who took each and every one of their insults with her head held high and a smile in place. They have the uttermost respect for the fragile girl in their arms. The three of them sit on the floor for hours just crying for the broken girl, who had to suffer through so much. All they want to do is take her pain away.
Through tears Santana says, "Rach, you're coming to stay at my house. My parents are gone on a vacation and Britt will stay with us too. We don't want you to ever have to go through this again, and especially alone. We're always gonna be here for you, remember that."
Rachel, looking up through tear-filled eyes gratefully accepts and thanks Santana profusely. The girls sit there until the last bell goes off and they head for Santana's car.
now it's one in the morning and I have school today so I better get off of this. Now be sure to tell me what you think!(: and what friendships you wanna see happen!