Disclaimer: I don't own "Skyscraper" by Demi Lovato!
Tori's POV
I think it was a few weeks after the deal with my uncle that I decided to at least try to get away from this awful place. I had an internal debate for hours before I said screw it and jumped out of bed and ran out of my bedroom. It was in the middle of the night, so the man was asleep. That made it easier to get to the front door and open the door. I closed it and I took off running.
We were in a really small neighborhood, but all of our neighbors never came out of their house. I knew that if I just kept on running that I'd eventually get into the better part of LA where I could expose myself and finally get away from my own personal hell.
Just as I turned the corner to get to the better neighborhood, the man jumped out at me. It scared me so badly that I screamed. Where did he come from? "What in the world do you think you're doing?"
"Um, nothing…I was just–"
"Just trying to get away from me?" he exclaimed. "Don't you even start lying! Come on!" He grabbed my arm and he kept a grip on it until we got back to the house. I was terrified for what he probably had planned. I'd never done something this brave while with him.
When we got to the house, he threw me on the ground; I landed with a loud thud. He closed the door and locked it. He walked up to me, ripped off my clothes, and raped me. It didn't hurt near as badly as the first time he did it, but it still hurt. I think the main reason why it hurt was because it was against my will. My hatred for him was always at its strongest after he raped me. That's what traumatized me the most.
Afterwards, he made me put my clothes back on and just sit on the ground. He left to go in the kitchen and came back with a metal cable in his hands, the same kind of stuff he used to tie me to the bed. He got it in a tight grip around his hand and started to swat me with it. It was leaving marks behind with every hit; it was as if he was hitting me harder each time. Each time he hit me, I would let out a loud scream. When he was finally done, I had red lashes all over my body and I was bleeding.
I laid on the ground crying. "Can I please just go to my room?" I begged weakly. "Please, I'll be good."
"No, you had your chance!" he screamed and slapped my head. "You knew you were supposed to be good and you ruined it! You know what this means, right?"
I began to cry harder. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. Just please don't hurt me anymore. I'll do anything you want."
"Too late!" he screamed and grabbed me around the neck. He pushed me up against the wall and lifted me off the ground. I couldn't get one breath out; if I didn't get him to let go of me, I'd be dead in minutes.
I grabbed at his hands and tried to pull him away. "Please…" I gasped out. My voice was barely heard. "Let…go." This wasn't the first time he decided to choke me, but it had never hurt this badly before.
"Oh, I'll let go." he said. "Once you fall to the ground dead! And then when I'm done with you, I'll go find everyone from your previous life and put them through a painful death, including your pretty little friends!"
"No…" I gasped out. "Don't…touch…my family…or…my friends."
A second later, he let go and I dropped to the ground coughing and gasping for air. I'd been on the ground for ten seconds when he picked me up by my shoulders and held me back against the wall. "Tell me…what are your friends' names?"
My heart started pounding a million beats a minute. If he wanted to know my friends' names that meant he really was gonna go try to kill them. I sighed and said, "No…I won't tell you."
He pulled me away and banged me back against the wall. "Tell me, Miss Vega…if you value your life."
I let out a sob. "Torture me…choke me, kill me…do anything, but…don't kill my friends. Please…don't touch them."
He stared me for a moment and then sat me back on the ground. "You'd really die for your friends?"
"In a heartbeat," I told him. "All five of them," I mentally slapped myself when I said that last statement.
He raised his eyebrows. "All five of them, eh?" He thought for a moment. "Well, in that case…" He pushed me back against the wall. "Tell me their names. Tell me five names," He put his hands around my neck, but didn't squeeze. "If you object, I'll choke you to death."
I shook my head. "You'll never know."
"Well, you asked for it…" He lifted me off the ground by my neck and pressed me against the wall. I'd barely caught my breath from before, so this was worse. I wanted nothing more than for him to let go of me.
Just when I thought I was gonna faint, I gasped out, "Jade West,"
He looked at me odd and then slightly released his grip, but not completely. "What was that?"
"Jade West," I said again. "The name of…one of my friends."
He smiled slyly. "Four more names to go…"
I gulped. "Beck Oliver,"
His grip loosened just a little bit more. "Three to go…"
I hesitated. "Robbie Shapiro," I hated myself for revealing this to him.
He was only half holding onto my neck now. "Two more…"
I let out a sob. "Cat Valentine,"
He let out a loud laugh, which startled me. "That is the stupidest name I've ever heard!"
"Don't…" I said angrily. "Don't you dare…make fun of Cat." I sighed shakily. "Okay…that's all the names."
"Uh, I don't think so." His grip tightened around my neck. "I believe you've got one more."
"No, I don't," I said quickly. "That was five names."
"I believe it was only four." he said. "Let's see, there was Jade West, Beck Oliver, Robbie Shapiro, and Cat Valentine." Dang, he had a good memory. "Now I don't know if you have trouble counting, but that's just four. You owe me one more name."
"Andre, I love you." I said so quietly that even the man couldn't hear me. I gulped and said, "Andre Harris,"
He completely let go of me and I dropped to the ground. I looked up at him. "Alright, good job," he said and smiled. "Now go to bed."
I gulped and nodded. I finally got up and practically ran to my bedroom. I closed the door behind me and slid down the door. I hid my face in my hands and cried. If I hadn't tried to run away none of this would have happened. I made a vow right then and there that I would never try to get away from this man again. I'd rather live with him forever and have my friends and family be alive than be away from this torture, but my friends and family be dead.
Andre's voice echoed through my head. "When I was a little boy, my grandma…before she lost her mind…she used to say to me, 'Andre…no matter how bad things get…you can always make it better by singing a song.'"
I sighed heavily and started to sing a song that I wrote a few days before called "Skyscraper." I had to grab my piece of paper with the lyrics on it since I didn't have them memorized yet.
Skies are crying
I am watching, catching tear drops in my hands
Only silence, as it's ending, like we never had a chance
Do you have to make me feel like there's nothing left of me?
You can take everything I have
You can break everything I am
Like I'm made of glass
Like I'm made of paper
And go on and try to tear me down
I will be rising from the ground like a skyscraper
Like a skyscraper
As the smoke clears
I awaken and untangle you from me
Would it make you feel better to watch me while I bleed?
All my windows still are broken, but I'm standing on my feet
You can take everything I have
You can break everything I am
Like I'm made of glass
Like I'm made of paper
And go on and try to tear me down
I will be rising from the ground like a skyscraper
Like a skyscraper
Go run, run, run, I'm gonna stay right here
Watch you disappear, yeah
Go run, run, run, yeah it's a long way down
But I am closer to the clouds up here
You can take everything I have
You can break everything I am
Like I'm made of glass
Like I'm made of paper
Oh whoa
Go on and try to tear me down
I will be rising from the ground like a skyscraper
Like a skyscraper
Like a skyscraper
Like a skyscraper
When I finished singing, I buried my head in my pillow and thought about my friends. I wanted so badly to see Jade, Beck, Robbie, Cat, and of course, Andre. I missed them so much. Remembering that I told that man their names made me cry. I hated myself for doing that.
When I eventually fell asleep, I had a nightmare.
I was walking down Andre's street and I had no idea what I was looking for. When I finally got to his house, I peered through the window. I screamed bloody murder at what I saw. The man had Andre on the ground and he was choking him. I pounded on the window and yelled for him to stop, but it was no use. He didn't hear me. I watched as Andre was murdered right in front of me.
I fell to the ground crying. "Andre, I'm so sorry…oh, Andre, I love you so much…you did not deserve to die. This is all my fault." I stayed there and cried until I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw the man. I jumped up and said, "I hate you so much! I can't believe you would kill Andre! He was like my other half and you just took him away! How could you torture me in that way? You should have killed me instead of him! He didn't deserve it!"
He simply smiled at me. "Oh, but he did, sweetheart. And so did everyone else." He grabbed my shoulders and spun me around. The first thing I saw was Beck, Robbie, Cat, and Jade lying on the ground…dead.
"No!" I screamed and fell to the ground bawling my eyes out.
I shot up in bed with a scream. It took me a minute to recover and realize that it was only a dream. This wasn't the first time I'd had a bad dream. In fact, I had a lot of them. A few stood out more than others, but I always woke up with the feeling of "Thank God that wasn't real."
I was walking through the streets of LA. Just when I thought we were about to arrive at a grocery store, we stopped at a very familiar school. I looked up at it and my breath caught in my throat. My knees got wobbly and I almost wanted to pass out. Hollywood Arts High School was staring at me in the face.
"Is it okay if I go inside the school?" I asked the man.
"Yeah, sure, whatever," he said and walked ahead of me. I looked at him weird, but then shook off the feeling and went in the school.
Walking through the doors to the main hallway almost felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. All the memories from sophomore and junior year hit me in the face. It looked as if I never left.
It was so weird, because it was during class, but yet there were so many people walking through the hallways. I pulled my sunglasses off and put them in my jacket pocket and looked around at all the people. I figured that they would recognize me since I didn't have my sunglasses on, but no one acted like they knew who I was. I figured that they just forget about me.
Just when I thought that no one would recognize me, Beck turned the corner. My heart started pounding extra hard and I smiled widely. I quickly walked up to him and said, "Hi, Beck,"
He looked at me and his eyes widened. "Oh, my God…Tori?"
I waved. "Hi,"
"What…what the…what are you doing here at school?" He was looking at me with a really weird expression.
I gave him an equally weird expression. "Beck…I've been missing for I don't know how long and you're asking what I'm doing here?"
"Well…it's just…I thought you were dead."
"Hmm," I said and crossed my arms. "It's good to see how much faith you had in me being found." Getting angry, I turned to walk away, but I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight in front of me. It was like my whole world came crashing down in that moment.
Andre was leaned against his locker while kissing some girl.
I gritted my teeth and ran up to them. I grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her away. "Get your hands off of my boyfriend!" I screamed at her.
She was about to yell something at me, but Andre quickly calmed her down and then pulled me aside. "Tori, what do you think you're doing?" he asked me angrily.
"I should be asking you that!" I screamed. "What are you doing making out with some girl while you're still dating me?"
"Dating you?" he snapped. "I was with you for not even a day and then you went missing. In a way, you left me. I think that gives me the right to find someone else. I can't spend all my time hoping you'll be found."
"But I'm found now!" I screamed. "Don't you see me standing in front of you?"
He crossed his arms. "Yeah, I do, but…you're a little late." He turned around, grabbed that girl around the waist, and started to make out with her again.
I rose up in bed screaming bloody murder. I looked around myself and to my relief, it was just a dream. I knew Andre and I knew he would never do that. He would never say something like that to me. I still spent the next hour in bed crying just imagining him with another girl, because there was that possibility that he had found someone else. That was one of my worst fears.
There were a few times, though, that I woke up thinking, "Why, God? Why couldn't that have been real?"
I was walking through a convenient store with the man. It was the same convenient store that we always went to. I'd probably been in there close to a million times. This was where the man always got the food he gave me, not like it was healthy or much to begin with, but it was better than nothing.
As we were walking down one of the very few aisles, I looked ahead of me and saw someone that I actually recognized. I say that because I hardly ever knew the people in that convenient store.
It was Andre!
I looked around myself and then started to take a few steps toward him. Suddenly, the man grabbed me and yanked me away. "What do you think you're doing?" he hissed in my ear.
I glanced at Andre and he quickly looked over at us. The look in his eyes told me that he didn't recognize me. I couldn't blame him since I was wearing my disguise. I gulped and said, "Nothing, I was just–"
"Don't lie," he said and smacked me hard across the head.
"Hey!" yelled Andre and ran over to us. Even though he didn't recognize me, he pulled me away from the man. "Sir, I don't mean to pry, but you are being way too rude to this girl. It's wrong to hit anyone, especially girls." He looked at me. "Are you okay?"
I was shaking all over. I cleared my throat and nodded.
"Come with me." snapped the man. "You're mine,"
I moaned and leaned into Andre. He put me behind him and took a step towards the man. "Don't you dare touch her." he said angrily. "I can tell by looking at her that you have not been treating her right. Just get out of here, okay? And if you try to fight me, I will start yelling and fighting back and the workers will come out and call the police. Either way, you're screwed."
He sighed angrily and then rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll just go find some other girl." He turned and stomped out of the store. I flinched at the sound of the door closing behind him.
Andre sighed and turned to me. I had tears streaming down my cheeks. "Hey, you're okay." He gave me a tight hug. I slowly put my arms around him. I loved being in his arms again. "It's alright, I've got you."
I sighed shakily and said, "Thank you, Andre."
He gasped and pulled away. He stared at me for a moment and then he slowly pulled the wig off of my head and dropped it to the ground. Then he took off my sunglasses. His mouth opened wide and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Oh, my God," he whispered. "Tori?"
"Hi, Andre." I said on the verge of tears. "Thank you…so much for saving me from that man."
He gulped and shook his head. "My God…Tori…I can't believe it's you right now." He slowly wrapped his arms around my waist.
He was leaning in to kiss me, but then, I opened my eyes and looked up. I was still living with the man.
I rose up and looked around the room. I got out of bed and looked out the window. It was dark since it was still very early in the morning; it was 4:45 am. It was a full moon and the longer I stared at it, the more I wanted to cry. Then I did cry. I collapsed to the ground and cried until light came through the window. I now wanted Andre more than ever before.
Poor Tori :(
But don't you think that the song Skyscraper really fits Tori's situation? Because I think it does…now you know why the story is called Skyscraper! Don't forget to review!