by Iris Taylor
So we said our goodbyes on Friday night, me with a heavy heart and a big smile plastered on my face. My mother chucked me under the chin and stroked my face, saying she would send me pictures once they arrived. Cole was nowhere to be found but Hans stood by the doorway, eating an apple as he waved Marcus goodbye.
“You boys behave yourselves,” was Marcus’ parting words. Hans rolled his eyes playfully. I watched, in both despair and awe at how well he kept that crazy side of him hidden. Being the recipient of that beautiful smile made you forget he wasn’t the all-American boy he portrayed himself to be. I felt my skin crawl when he turned to appraise me. Closing the front door, I silently turned around to head back to my room, my heart palpitating at the thought of being alone with the twins in the house. Susan had the entire weekend off, visiting some family in a town an hour away from here. I hurried back to my safe haven and locked the door behind me, trying to decide whether to leave for Sarah’s tonight or wait until the next day, as planned. I grew even more distressed by how rattled I felt, and how unsafe I was in what was supposed to be my own home now.
I decided to occupy myself by sending a text to Melissa. When she didn’t reply, I figured she was probably out on a date or binge-watching Netflix. I missed hanging out with her, and I felt ready now to tell her everything. She was so far removed from my new life I didn’t feel bad for telling her about the craziness around me. I figured if something happened to me, at least she would know the story.
Sighing, I put my phone away and forced my eyes shut. Shutting down my brain was an entirely different challenge altogether. My thoughts whirled around in my head, the edges of something just out of my mind's grasp teasing me. I was having trouble reconciling everything, and I felt there was a piece of the story that I was missing. But what was it?
The next morning, after an unsatisfactory night's sleep with lots of tossing and turning, I packed a bag to bring to Sarah's for the weekend. I wasn't keen on spending another night alone with the twins in that monstrous house, and would rather relax and stuff my face with pizza. Or even finish my English essay that wasn't due for another two weeks.
I drove my mom's station wagon to Sarah's place, feeling lighter the farther I was from the mansion. Sarah's neighborhood was in an upscale, modern part of town, where the houses were sleek and environment-conscious. Her house was just at the end of a neat, winding road, a compact but elegant version of what to me looked like a greenhouse. I wondered what a thunderstorm would look like behind those floor-to-ceiling windows.
"Hey," she greeted me when she opened the door. She looked incredibly relaxed in her cropped tee and shorts, her hair down, furry pink slippers that I wouldn't have associated with her looking right at home on her feet.
"Hi!" I replied brightly, giving her a half-hug, my other arm lugging the stuff I had brought from home. "Thanks for having me. I wouldn't last another night there." The words sounded funny coming from my lips, like some premonition. I suppressed a shiver that began to crawl up my spine.
"No problem. It's good to have company. I stopped asking my parents for a sibling a decade ago."
I laughed at that, instantly feeling at ease. Glancing around the house, I realized Sarah didn't flaunt her family wealth the way most girls did. And there appeared to be buckets of it, if her house was anything to go by. I liked how she was comfortable in her own skin, self-assured, in a way few others were. She reminded me of Melissa that way.
We spent the day chatting away, swapping stories about our childhoods and exes. I only had Randy to tell her about, so my story-telling was predictably short, and relatively uneventful. "He was more of a very, very close guy friend than a boyfriend, really. He was happy to just kiss me and listen to me talk to him for hours.”
Sarah's eyebrow cocked up at that. "So, he never wanted to sleep with you? How long did you say you were with this guy, again?"
"Nearly a year."
"Huh. And this was last year? Either he was getting some from someone else or he's gay."
My mouth dropped open at her declaration.
"Why can't a guy just be waiting for the right moment the way a girl can?"
She looked at me like I were a curious creature previously unknown to mankind. "Duh. Because guys aren't built that way. Go on. Look at his Instagram. I'm sure we'll find clues there."
And so a good half-hour was spent with Sarah convincing me that Randy was gay. I couldn’t believe how true her words were. He had his arms around this one guy far too often, and with a loving look I simply hadn't seen him bestow upon me - ever.
"God. No wonder it was so easy with him." I blew out a loud sigh.
"Who broke it off anyway?" Sarah asked, half-curious.
"I guess you could say it was a mutual decision. We realized we were happy going our separate ways and could still hang out with our mutual group of friends like before."
"Gay," Sarah repeated. "And never in love."
I threw a pillow at her, which she caught easily. A shrill ring sounded, and Sarah grabbed her phone from the nightstand and looked at me with wide eyes.
"Hey, Jules," she greeted. "Uh, no. No, it's okay, you go ahead. How'd you get invited anyway? Oh, she's with me. Yeah, you remember her mom's away this weekend. No, Jules, I’m pretty sure she doesn't want to go to that party."
She handed me the phone, looking exasperated. My heart sank as I remembered the twins' party this weekend. Jules would definitely want to go if she had been invited.
"Hey. Um, I left this morning. No, I don’t feel like going back there. They didn’t invite me anyway...yeah, I do live there but doesn’t mean I can invite anyone...um. Okay. Are you sure? Uh, okay I’ll ask Sarah. I’ll call you back.”
My heart plummeted after the phone call. I hated that I cared about people too much sometimes. “Jules really wants to go. She’s asking if I could just accompany her there briefly...and if I hate it, we can go.” I looked pleadingly at Sarah. “This is too much to ask, but I don’t think I’ll last two minutes if I go without you.”
Sarah sighed and put down the book she was starting to read. “Alright,” she said reluctantly. “But if it looks like one unoriginal drinking fest we’re out of there.” I almost raised my hands in silent gratitude. Sarah understood where I was coming from.
We quickly picked out some outfits from her closet that looked good enough to party in. I ended up wearing a leather jacket over a spaghetti-strap tank top that showed a good amount of midriff, and threw on my jeans with it. It wasn’t that I was a biker-style kind of girl, it was the only outfit that covered most of me and kept me warm at the same time. I left my hair in short curls, so that I looked like a naughty pixie of sorts.
“Looking good,” Jules said, giving me a high-five as we met her outside. Sarah insisted she would drive, which was perfect in case we wanted to get out of there early. Jules looked great in a red halter-neck dress and large hoop earrings. Her look of excitement made me feel torn – part of me was glad I had obliged her, but another part of me was annoyed that she was so fascinated by these popular kids. I decided I would have to talk to her about it.
Chapter 16
Ella
I almost didn’t recognize the house when we arrived. Already, cars were parked along the lawns, where people whose faces I didn’t recognize were milling around, red cups in hand. As we exited the car, the sounds of heavy metal could be heard blaring from the house, whose front door was thrown open just as we reached the front steps. Sean and Jeremy stood there, high-fiving some guys who had just arrived.
“Oh god, oh god,” Jules said under her breath, touching her hair self-consciously. “Do I look okay?”
Sarah looked at her incredulously. “Of course you do. Chill, will ya?”
I watched as Jules’ eyes widened as we reached the front door. “Shit.” Followed by, “Hey guys!” Her too-wide smile, to my eyes, appeared guilty. I guess she didn’t get an invite after all.
Sean looked at us up and down, rocking his sexy nerd look
in a black tight tee and faded jeans. “You girls look great,” he said finally, his eyes landing on Sarah and keeping them there. Sarah barely blinked, putting her arms around my waist to move us along. Jules was still gawking at the guys, and I was frozen at the entrance, my heart pounding, the way it usually did at parties, but more so now, knowing the twins were around.
The house was transformed, colors bouncing off the walls from the strobe lights, a bar set up in the large living room with a bartender mixing up drinks, partygoers dancing to the rhythm that made the vein on my forehead pulse as if in sync. I recognized some people from school, but most of them were unfamiliar faces.
“Who are these people?” I shouted at Sarah, as I made a beeline for the kitchen, suddenly feeling thirsty. I hoped my good luck in avoiding the twins would hold at least until I got to my room. Jules had already gone off somewhere.
“They’re from the other two schools in Gray Lake. Some show up uninvited though, ‘coz it’s well known the kids from Gray Lake hold the best parties.” Sarah stopped to talk to some girls I recognized from Biology and motioned for me to grab her a drink, too. I found some cold cans of diet Coke in the fridge and headed back towards her. After handing her a can and signaling to her that I was gonna disappear, I headed upstairs to my bedroom, preferring the peace and quiet to the scene before me.
On my way up, the staircase also packed with people, making me fervently hope no one was in my unlocked bedroom, I heard some voices coming from one of the rooms near mine – one of the guest bedrooms. I would’ve left it well alone – probably a couple wanting to be alone, after all – except I heard what sounded like a scuffle, and a girl scream before the sounds became muffled. I hesitated for a split second before deciding I had better take a look. Opening the door, I peeked inside.
Cole and Monica were fighting, it seemed. He had her backed up against a wall, her wrists held tightly above her head by one of his hands, and she was struggling, her legs thrashing, as if to escape. I would have turned away and let them be except her eyes were red and glistening with tears, and pure terror and hatred gleamed in those eyes.
“Let me go, you filthy monster!” She struggled again, attempting to knee him in the groin, which he avoided easily, and it was clear she was no match for Cole, who was appearing to enjoy watching her squirm, unaware that I was watching. Was he drunk? It just didn’t make sense that she would be avoiding his advances like this, or that he would have to force himself on her. Still holding her wrists in one hand, he unzipped his pants and forced her to turn around. “Cole’s too busy downstairs to care about you, you stupid whore,” he hissed, and I had a sudden lightbulb moment. Hans.
“Get away from her!” I shouted.
Hans whipped around, his eyes snapping on me. “Ahhh...Ella. Come to join our little party?” His mouth turned into a sneer, looking at me up and down. “You’re not exactly my type, but we’ll have to make do.”
He was definitely high on something. I could smell it in the room, even as I made to turn and call for help. “Somebody! Help! Please!”
“Don’t you dare!” The angry growl came as I felt my hair being yanked backward, the roots hurting like hell, causing my eyes to water. The sudden force made me drop onto the floor, and I watched as Hans hurried to shut the door. The click confirmed he had locked it, and my heart dropped. “Sadly, nobody cares about either of you. No one’s come to look.”
His pitying gaze landed on Monica before swerving to meet mine. He was right – it seemed the music downstairs only became louder, and a minute passed by without any knocks on the door, or someone trying to barge in, to save us both.
He looked at me loathingly before grabbing a pair of scissors on the table. “Get away from the door.” He waved the sharp object threateningly as he motioned for me to move further into the room.
“Now, where were we?” He stalked towards Monica, who had moved into a corner, his hands resuming its previous task, and soon his pants were on the floor. “Come on, you tease. I’m exactly like Cole, except I’ve got tons more experience than him.” He let out a smug, brittle laugh. “Too bad you made him into a wuss when you were with him.” His belt in his hands, he made quick work to tie Monica’s hands to the bedpost and pushed her face-down onto the bed. “I’ve always wanted a taste of the girl he refused to share.”
“Hans, please don’t do this,” I pleaded with him quietly, eyeing the pair of scissors he still held, and now used to trace a faint pink line on Monica’s neck. She whimpered, her eyes wide in fear, face distorted from being pushed into the mattress. I mentally calculated how long it would take me to get past him and to the door. Enough time for him to slash her neck. It was a gamble I wasn’t about to take. This Hans was on drugs, making him infinitely more dangerous than the guy who had put Hank on me.
“You can wait for your turn, Ella. You’ll both get a piece of me.” He said it with relish, as he used the pair of scissors to cut the back of Monica’s flimsy dress into ribbons. He pressed his mouth onto her skin and inhaled deeply, and my stomach lurched. Monica had gone completely still, her face pale. “See what you do to me?” He pressed his groin into her, eliciting another whimper, which made him laugh harshly.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to do something. I could escape and save myself, but at what expense? Monica’s body had begun to tremble, and she looked close to collapsing from the fear. I saw that Hans had begun to cut a line down her back, so that blood slowly started to snake its way across her skin, and Monica now began to shriek.
“Shut up, you bitch! Shut up!” He grabbed her head and slammed it against the metal bedpost, and I watched as she sagged and her knees gave way. It was now or never. I ran towards the door, quickly unlocking it before shouting at the top of my lungs. There were a few people at the foot of the stairs, oblivious to what was happening just above them.
“Somebody help us! Please! COLE!”
It was the last thing I remembered before I felt a sharp crack hit the back of my head, and I was swallowed into a blissful, black nothingness.
***
When I came to, I found myself lying in an unfamiliar bed. The room was white and austere, and I could hear a low beeping sound nearby. Turning my head, I felt pain sear through the back of my skull, causing me to squeeze my eyes shut. I tried to remember the events leading up to my being here. Hans. Monica.
I sat up, and immediately regretted it. I breathed as calmly as I could through my nose, waiting for the spinning and headache to subside.
“Honey? Honey! Marcus! She’s awake.” My mother’s shrill, uneven voice pierced my consciousness before I saw her. Giving myself a few more seconds, I slowly opened my eyes again, to be greeted by a flustered version of the woman who had, in all my life, stayed calm, even when our debts had meant we had only one real meal a day, and sometimes not even that. I was just short of my tenth birthday then – I remember, because my mom had had to borrow some sugar from Mrs. Hensley, our neighbor back then, just to bake me some birthday cupcakes.
“What happened?” It was a hospital room, I surmised. A private one, it seemed.
My mom glanced worriedly at Marcus, as if unsure what to say. His expression was one I hadn't seen on him before - a mixture of barely suppressed fury and an almost cold reluctance.
“You sustained a concussion. After...after Hans hit you on the head."
At the mention of his name, I dared myself to ask. "What happened to him? And Monica?"
This time, it was my mother who filled me in. "Hans is...undergoing counseling. We've placed him under strict orders not to go anywhere near drugs, or near you."
Even with my addled brain, her answer seemed thoroughly unsatisfactory. Perhaps that explained the palpable silence in the room, and Marcus' strange behavior.
"And Monica?" I added quietly. I couldn't imagine she would be willing to let the incident go unreported. He almost raped her, and had a knife against her throat, for God's sake.
"She's decided to withdraw her cla
ims of what happened. She understands Hans was under influence." Marcus' voice was clipped.
This was so unlike the Marcus I knew - or I thought I knew.
"But it's not the first time!" The protest came from some unrecognized deep-rooted fury inside me. "He's done this before. He got one of the guys at school to corner me in a lab!" My mom's hand flew to her mouth.
"Do you have evidence?" Marcus asked, coldly.
I shook my head, even as I realized how stupid I had been for not reporting it to anyone. "Hank never got to me. Cole managed to save me before he could lay his hands on me."
An eyebrow raised, and Marcus turned on his heel and disappeared out of the room. I looked in shock at the closed door, unable to comprehend how this Marcus was the same as the Marcus I knew the past year.
My mom’s sigh made me turn towards her. “It’s...been hard on him. To see the outcome he had feared.”
I looked questioningly at her, but she shook her head. “That’s not a topic for right now. Right now, I need you to rest and get better. The school knows you will be away for a few days. Hans has been sent off to a private rehab center to...fix his issues.”
My eyes must have grown as round as ping pong balls. “He’s been institutionalized?”
She shook her head again. “It’s only temporary, and we can’t force him to stay. Ella, I want you to understand this. If it had been any other circumstances, any other person’s child who had done this to you, I wouldn’t hesitate to report him to the police. But now...” Her voice trailed off, and I sensed she was asking me for my forgiveness. I wasn’t sure what to say to her, because a sense of betrayal had crept into the edges of my awareness, and I didn’t want her to know this.
Monica had had to withdraw her police report, and I wondered what she got out of it. Had Marcus paid her off? Given this new side of him I was seeing, it wouldn’t surprise me. Or had she been more forgiving of Hans, perhaps in light of what she knew about him and the family? I hated that I didn’t know the circumstances that my mom spoke of, and yet I was supposed to overlook the things that Hans had done to me.
