6: Damsel In Distress

Sometime close to noon, I woke up. I've been exhausted lately and this is finally one of the weekends where I have no responsibilities. Of course, taking advantage of that fact, I decided to just relax and not stress myself. Usually, on the weekends, I hang out with my friends or try to look for a job, but these past two months I've been in search of parties looking for Amelia.

I missed her dearly.

Shaking off the sudden feeling of disappointment and sadness, I get out of bed and stretch, allowing my joints to pop at ease and my body to wake up. Before I completely wake up, I walk out of my room to the kitchen looking for Belle, hoping she's decided to come home from her parents' house. In her absence, I look at the fridge to find a note from my parents:

Charlotte Rae,

Maritza got called in for a consult down near the city. Then she has to travel even farther for another consult. And then she has her scheduled surgery, so you won't be seeing her this weekend.

As for me, I'm just out with some of my work buds. If anything just give me a ring and hopefully I'll answer! Just kidding, of course, I'll answer, hun.

I'll be home around dinner!

-Dad :)

That was unusual at the idea of my parents being here long enough to leave a note. I don't even remember them coming in last night.

On the weekends, like today, they usually come to hang out with me and we'll go out. It's part of a tradition, but more of a chore. Maritza is a very busy surgeon. She works in the city as a Pediatric Specialist. Because of her career, she's sometimes not home as often as I'd like.

When I graduated high school, I told my parents I wanted to move out. Of course, without having the money to do so, I begged my parents for the money to be able to move out and live on my own with my two best friends. My dad came up with the idea that he'll pay my rent as long as every weekend we get to have one dinner or one family date. Obviously, I agreed because I wanted to do anything to be independent.

After checking my phone, I texted my dad that I was going to go grocery shopping once I took a quick wake up shower and got something to eat. Because I slept in so late, I was starving. There was leftover Kitchen Fridge Omelette, which is what my dad specializes in making! It consists of deli meat, three different kinds of cheeses, with onions and mushrooms. He usually makes that before I have to go food shopping. How coincidental that I'm going grocery shopping and he made his omelet!

When I finished my late brunch, I decided to go out and fix the garden before the sun starts to go down. Here, the sun starts to set around half past 6-o'clock. I have about three to four hours to fix the garden, but I like to do things before they need to be done. Since it's the beginning of fall, the summer flowers and plants have died, and I, for once, procrastinated pulled out the beautifully dead plants.

I slip on my gardening shoes and change into ragged clothing, that I'm not afraid to get dirty in. Grabbing the shovel and hoe, I get to digging up the dead plants and harvesting the last of the seeds I can salvage. A strong gust of wind passes me, blowing my hair everywhere and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I turn around as fast as possible, standing up in the process, looking at the trees that overlook my backyard. Feeling uneasy, I decide to head back inside and forget about gardening.

As I shut the back door, a soft growling noise travels with a soft howl. How odd, I thought, howling in the daytime! I try ignoring it as I run upstairs, changing out of my gardening clothes, getting ready to go grocery shopping.

I'm all for education and learning, but I absolutely can not wait to get out of college and finally be graduated. Granted, I still have 9-years to go being I followed in my mother's footsteps, but there's a difference of being forced to take basic classes versus learning in the field that I'm interested in. But of course, I have no doubts that I will do well.

Walking into the campus, I spot my blue-eyed bestie and run over to her, "Belle!"

She spins around wide-eyed looking for the voice that called her. Once she meets my eyes, her face softens and a slight smile appears, "Morning, Char."

I give her a small hug and she turns back to her friends and continues their conversation. This is the usual Monday morning. Everyone walks in, all groggy, catching up with their friends about the weekend adventures. Usually, I would meet Belle and Amelia outside the cafe doors, but because of recent events, there are reasons why I don't anymore.

My face falls at the memories of us in our freshmen year of high school saying how the doors were our spot, every day we'd meet there. My mind races to our sophomore year where one day it was so nice that we had lunch near the doors. And our junior year, sneaking up to the roof after school to watch our classmates leave campus. Then, finally, the first day of our senior year where we swore nothing would ever tear us apart, we are infinity, always will be ABC. Now here we are, our freshman year of college, and instead of a Trio, it's only a Duo.

My heart quickens and I gasped, earning the attention of Belle and her friends. I put a hand over my chest and shake as I hold in a sob. Belle quickly embraces me, falling with me to the ground where I softly cry. It wasn't normal for me to cry, but I missed my best friend dearly. We were all inseparable, practically soulmates. For her to leave us just completely broke my heart.

"Hey, hey, hey," Belle called. She caressed my head and played with my hair, "Lottie, you're okay. I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere. You've got me."

"B, I miss her so much," I cried. "S-she promised, we promised. Nothing would ever t-tear us apart." I pulled away and looked at her face, "now look at us!"

"No, no, Lottie, it's okay. She'll come back. She's strong. I've got you. I won't leave you, I promise," she assured me.

I said nothing and only pulled her close.

"Is everything alright, dear?" Someone asked. I recognized the voice of one of the librarians, Mrs.DePree. I heard Belle explain what had happened and why I had broken down. At that, Mrs.DePree suggested that I should be taken home to rest saying that we have our whole lives ahead of us to go to college.

Once I stopped crying, Belle told me she'd text one of her friends to drive my car home since she didn't want me driving. I slowly got into her car and waited for her to come with her friend. I adjusted my seat and seatbelt and put my bag on the floor. When I looked up at the rearview mirror, I saw a boy. I snapped my neck to look at the back window to only see it empty. I'm going crazy, I thought.

As I turned to face forward, a knock came from the driver's side window. I jumped in fear and turned to see a blond knocking. I unlocked the door and exhaled deeply. "Why so jumpy?" She asked.

"I don't know, Belle," I sighed.

She smiled, "I need your keys so that Analise can drive your car to your house." I threw her my keys and sighed, closing my eyes and leaning my head back.

Once we got to our house and Belle was sure that I was okay, she left. When I checked my alarm clock, the big red numbers flashed 9:27 AM. It had taken me two-and-a-half hours to calm down and get home! I shook my head and sighed.

I stayed in bed for another hour trying to take a nap, but nothing was working. My body and mind was already awake and weren't ready to go back to sleep. Determining that staying in bed and doing nothing was useless, I decided that I needed to get some type of food or drinks into my system.

Despite that I went food shopping the day before last, there's nothing that I want. I should have gotten a hamburger instead of pizza rolls, but the pizza rolls were on sale. After rummaging through the fridge, I decide on grapes and orange juice. A great combination that will totally keep me full, can't wait to explore.

Taking my food to the living room, I flip through the television channels, finding nothing amusing. Everything on there is either boring or boring. I shouldn't have come home too early because now I'm bored out of my mind. I am the type of person to keep myself entertained, but it seems like there is nothing to do. I feel the need to keep myself busy but instead, I'm on edge.

To kill time before Belle is home from her classes, I take a long hot bath. I turn on the tub faucet and add a few drops of lavender oil, my favorite scent. Once the tub is filled, I take my bath and scroll through my social media. One hour is enough time for a bath before I completely shrivel up into a raisin.

As I get into my room, I check my phone for the time: 1:37 PM. I have an hour-and-a-half to kill before her classes are over. Belle decided to take all of her classes in two days, so she's in class from 8-AM to 2:15 PM. Still hungry from my completely nutritious breakfast, I agree that I need to go out and actually get something to eat. Knowing that The Bean Juice will actually be opened, I take my drive over there.

*tw: sexual assault-- start*

As I make a stop at the stop sign before the cafe, I look both ways to make sure there are no cars or people crossing the street. When I park and get out of the car, an older man comes up to me. He doesn't look like anyone I know and that frightens me. There are barely more than a thousand people in our town, so I recognize almost everyone.

The man advances towards me and tries to grab my arm. "Don't touch me," I yell.

When he doesn't acknowledge that he's going to leave, I walk faster towards the door of the cafe. Unfortunately, there are only two cars at the lot, mine and the owners. I look into the cafe and don't see the owner, so I run the other way towards the woods. The man still runs after me as I try to run away from him.

As I cross the street into the trees, I quickly look back to see the man's only arm's length behind me. I scream, hoping anyone will hear me. To no avail, the man successfully grabs my arm and pulls me close to him, dragging me towards the trees.

I try to scream as he clamps his hand over my mouth, squeezing my face as he does. His nails dig into my cheeks and I cry out in pain, but my cries are muffled in his hand. His breath smells of alcohol and rotting teeth, his body smells like dirt and blood. I start to cry as he pushes me to the ground. I look around and no longer see the cafe or the streets. I'm deep in the woods.

With my mouth still clamped, he puts his knee on my thigh, restraining me from moving. His heavyweight, surely leaving a bruise. He pops open the buttons of my flannel, exposing my bra. I cry louder in the realization of what is going to happen.

Trying to scream louder, he yells at me to shut up and hits the side of my head with his fist. My vision goes blurry and my ears ring. I want to stop moving, make him think I'm dead, but all my body wants to do is to move. I sob through his hand as I feel one of his dirty hands snake down to my pants.

I scream as my ears stop ringing. A low growling noise of an animal could be heard, but he didn't seem to care. He was too preoccupied with undressing me. He takes his hand off my mouth to grope my body. I couldn't find my voice to scream any louder, sobs still coming out of my mouth.

My eyes, trying to regain their focus, see a dark creature run past me. I cry even louder, fear completely taking over. The man, unphased by the noise, continues to undress me. His face lowers to mine, his tongue out, licking my face like an animal. I whimper and sob hoping this would end. I feel his slimy hands attempt to take off my pants, but before he could, he was ripped off of me.

*tw: sexual assault-- end*

I heard him cry in pain and then it was silent. I quickly sat up, head spinning and feeling weak, and looked around. I looked around for the man, but he was nowhere to be seen. The only thing I could see was the dark creature with bright yellow eyes staring at me. It slowly came towards me, watching me like a predator watching their prey. I whimpered in fear, turning my head away.

Once the creature was close enough to me, it showed me its teeth, baring its canines, growling lowly. Afraid to cry or scream, I could only crawl back towards the tree. This didn't seem to phase the creature, only cause it to come closer.

As I did so, the creature whimpered like a dog and kneeled with its front paws out. It looked like an oversized wolf. Like the ones, I saw on campus last month.

I stared at it, slightly confused, extremely afraid. The oversized wolf makes a puffing noise and shook out its fur. Slowly, it crawled towards me, causing me to try to back up as much as I could into a solid tree. Once its head was at my feet, it made another whimpering noise. This animal is insane, absolutely mad. Just like a dog. I thought. I shook my head, a domesticated steroid-infused wolf?

Maybe it wants me to pet him? I thought. Slowly, I brought my hand forward, near its head, still shaking in fear. If not, it'll just bite off my hand. It moved slightly toward, nudging its head with my hand, causing me to retract it. Another whimper. It's as if the creature wanted me to pet it. Again, I brought my hand out and touched the tip of its fur. Slowly, and cautiously, I rested my hand on its head.

At this, it made an approved noise and completely backed up, standing tall. Quickly, it ran into the trees and back out, like a dog in turbo mode, completely excited. I took this moment to stand up and try to run as fast as I can towards the street.

The animal seemed unaware of my advances and didn't pay much mind until I was near the street. The large wolf howled, but I didn't see it or hear it come near me again.

Afraid of everything, I run across the street and into my car, driving away towards my house.

All of this for a goddamn muffin.