Ally's phone buzzes. It's an email from Dr. Brennick, with Trish's email CC'd in it. It reveals a test that she was able to take of Trish to evaluate her. Trish has Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. She looks down at the evaluation that Dr. Brennick took of Trish the day before, and she's no psychologist, but she can tell her friend exhibits many of the signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It's no surprise to her- her friend has repressed trauma. Ally sits before her friend and Trish says,
"Sorry."
Ally asks,
"For what?"
"For not telling you about what happened to me."
"Don't be. I'm just glad you got it out. You can always talk to me. You're safe with Austin and me."
Trish says,
"I appreciate this, more than you know."
"We're here for you."
"You know, when Dr. Brennick evaluated me, and I saw the tests, revealing I have PTSD, everything made sense. I was scared, I cried all the time, I did anything I could to hide it, and hiding it made it worse."
Ally says,
"I'm glad you're with us. We're always here when you need to talk about things or hug you."
Trish says,
"I love you."
Ally says,
"I love you, too."
Meanwhile, Chuck is drinking beer and has been messaging with a fourteen-year-old girl by the handle of SashalovesBluey10 on TikTok. He messages her saying,
Hey, girl.
She messages back,
Hi.
He messages,
Can I talk to you?
She messages,
Um OK sure.
He texts her,
Listen, my girlfriend broke up with me. She cheated on me and then she blackmailed me with revenge porn.
The girl texts,
I'm sorry.
Chuck is angry at Trish for resenting him and angry at Ally for stepping in and taking his ex-girlfriend's side. In his mind, Trish is an immature baby who sees herself as a victim only and won't listen to him or do what she's told by him. She took his love for granted, and she gets everything handed to her on a silver platter. Chuck goes into the bathroom, with his tank top and sweatpants on his body, and films a video of himself disrobing, as well as a video of himself masturbating, sending it to the teenage girl with whom he is chatting on TikTok. She reciprocates by taking off her top, sending him a photo of herself in her bra.
Later that night, Trish is asleep and what she doesn't anticipate is the nightmare she has about Chuck.
TRISH'S NIGHTMARE*
Trish is back in the bedroom of her and Chuck's old apartment. Her mouth is duct-taped, while handcuffed. Chuck has the key and unlocks the handcuffs. He smiles at her nefariously while he does that.
"Trish, I hope you appreciate what I'm doing. I'm unlocking you, and I'm going to ravish you. I know you want it."
Trish is terrified, but can't do much else, but look into Chuck's eyes. He proceeds to strip her clothes off and aggressively and rhythmically holds her down on the bed.
NIGHTMARE ENDS*
Trish is half asleep. She mumbles in her sleep,
"No, no, Chuck. Please stop! You're hurting me! You're hurting me!"
She wakes up and stretches, gaining more cognizance of her surrounding. She's not in Chuck's apartment. She's in her bed in her temporary room, in Austin and Ally's apartment. She puts her fingers over her lips- no duct tape. She's free to speak. Trish rolls over and glances at her phone charging- 2:30 AM. She decides to go out of bed, her throw blanket draped around her shoulders, to stretch. Trish decides to be as quiet as she can, peering into the wide open door leading to Austin and Ally's room, where they're both sleeping in a spoon position. Ally is in a bra, with a silky sleep mask covering her eyes, and Austin is shirtless. She thinks to herself,
Look at them. I wonder if they're aware that they're spooning each other in their sleep.
Trish then decides to go to the living room and crawls up on the sofa, staring at the Apple TV, Austin's X-Box, and X-Box games, hugging her blanket. PTSD is a bitch. She's tired, not just because she woke up out of a dead sleep, but because she's been through hell.
Her phone is blowing up. It's Chuck, blowing up her phone. She is receiving texts like,
Miss me yet?
Don't come crawling back to me if you need money to pay rent YOU SLUT.
I'm messaging this girl on TikTok. She's more obedient than you ever were.
You're a slut.
You're a whore.
You're probably out running with the porn stars. GO GET RAPED SLUT.
Trish texts back,
Leave me alone, Chuck. You've done enough to me.
He texts back,
You'll get what you deserve one day, WHORE.
Chuck spams her texts with images of himself messaging that teenage girl. He's seriously disgusting. It wasn't enough for him to treat her like garbage and enable his uncle to commit statutory rape against her, now he's grooming minors, too? Chuck is an evil, rotten human being.
She hugs her blanket and falls asleep, waking up at 6:00 AM to find Ally in a sports bra and leggings and filling her Stanley cup at the water dispenser at the refrigerator. Ally says,
"Good morning, Trish."
Trish says groggily,
"Good morning."
Ally asks,
"Did you fall asleep there?"
Trish says,
"Yeah. I had a nightmare about Chuck last night and I couldn't sleep, and I just wandered around the apartment."
Ally sits down beside her friend.
"Are you OK?"
Trish says,
"I don't know. I'm just going through it."
Ally says,
"I know. It's a process."
Trish says,
"I was back at Chuck's house, he duct taped my mouth shut, he physically restrained me and he raped me."
Ally cradles her best friend and says,
"Shhh, I'm here."
Trish asks her,
"How long does this last?"
Her best friend says,
"I wish I knew, but however long it takes, I'm here for you and Austin is here, too."
The Latina embraces her friend, trying not to cry.
"I appreciate you, Ally. Thank you for everything."
Ally says,
"I love you."
Trish sniffles and wipes a silent tear with her index finger.
"I found out he's also grooming a minor. He sent me screenshots and started threatening me."
She gives Ally her phone and Ally is flabbergasted at what she has seen.
"Trish, I'm going to see if I can file for a restraining order against Chuck. He's a threat to your safety. I need you to send those photos to me."