Chapter 8

-- A Note --

I awoke the next morning completely reenergized. I thought I’d spend that energy doing something fun with Roido and Enick so they’d be a little less cold towards the scolding and so it’d be a more interesting day for the three of us.

I got up, got a real outfit on, quickly groomed myself then entered the bedroom I remembered Roido and Enick entering. I opened the door and jumped in shouting, “Good morning!” but I realized they weren’t there. That confused me. I checked my bedroom, the other bedrooms, the bathroom, and the attic. Nowhere upstairs. I ran around downstairs calling for them and looking around but… nowhere. It made me wonder if I had just dreamt it all. I gave into my confusion, giving up on finding them.

“Where could they be?”

I plopped down on the couch only to hear the crinkle of paper. Now being even more confused, I lifted my butt and saw a piece of paper on the cushon with their language written on it. I picked it up and quickly read it… I read it again… and again…

“Wha…?” I wisped as a feeling of terror overrode me.

I fell back onto the couch completely shocked. I read it one more time…

"Dear Emma,

I’m sorry for pranking your friend yesterday… I guess I was getting jealous again. Sorry for any inconvenience…I left to go back home. I don’t know how but I’ll try to. I can understand if you’re still mad at me, but if you aren’t, then don’t worry about me. I’ll be just fine.

Yours Truly,

Roido Hellico"

"Emma, ignore the above note, I’ve gone to find him.

Be back soon.

Enick"

I didn’t know how to react to it. What I needed to do was go out and help Enick, but where could I find him or Roido? It’s not like I knew where they liked to hang out in my world or where they would go to first. I also didn’t know when Enick wrote, “Be back soon” so it was a little difficult to tell whether or not he stuck by his word.

I sighed and stood up. “Alright, I won’t accomplish anything just sitting around.”

I slipped on my socks and shoes and hurried out the door. As I did, I grabbed my bike out of the shed and peddled down the driveway, hoping that I’d be able to find at least Enick. I really wanted to find Roido, though.

When I reached the end of the driveway, I stopped for a moment to think. I needed to know which way Roido would take and which way Enick would take. Roido, from my knowledge of past experience, liked to try new things and Enick liked to stay inside the comfort zone, so I figured from that, that Enick went right—the way we had come when first coming to my house and when coming home from the party—and Roido went to the left—a road he’s never gone on before—so that’s the way I went.

The roads were real flat so it wasn’t much work, but I eventually got so far down the road that when I reached a certain place, I just spontaneously decided to pull on the breaks. When my bike had stopped, I looked over at the woodsy forest across the road from me trying to understand why I was looking in that direction anyway. Finally I put my feet on the ground and led my bike into the trees.

I had no idea what I was doing. All I knew was that I felt I needed to go into the woods. I walked straight for a while but then I stopped. Another strange urge came to me. Why would I want to hide my bike? It wasn’t like someone would steal it… Well, I followed my instinct and hid it even if it was stupid.

A long while later around five o’clock, a certain red-eyed teenager walked down the road with a glum face and sad eyes staring at the ground ahead of him. For some reason, he felt as if he’d die in his misery. Perhaps, he thought, it was just heartbreak. Either way, he wasn’t too happy, but as he walked down the road a convertible with a familiar group of guys in it pulled up to him.

“Rei?” the driver, Ben, asked.

Roido glanced at Ben but just returned his stare to the ground ahead of him.

“What’cha doing by your self? And what’s got ya so glum?” he asked.

“I’m going home and I’m sad because… I’m alone now,” Roido explained. “I have no family and no friends… well, not any loving ones nearby…”

The men in the car looked at each other with smirks then at Roido.

“Well, we can be loving,” Ben said.

Roido looked at him surprised with his heart jumping at the chance for another friend, but then he saw Ben eyeing him with the familiar sadistic smirk so the king walked a little faster and looked away from him, realizing what he had meant.

Ben only pushed on the gas pedal to catch up.

“C’mon, you said ya wanted someone to love ya,” he told him.

Roido glared at him, “I said I wanted a caring friend and family! And you are neither!”

The smirks on their faces disappeared and changed to glares.

“Hey, we’re just trying to be friendly,” Leo explained. “Look, since John ain’t with us, just hop in the back and we’ll take you to your favorite place.”

Roido stopped, thinking about this, so Ben braked and waited for his decision. He had a bad feeling about going with them, but his feet and legs were sore, he was thirsty, tired, and hungry. He also felt a little cold.

He sighed, giving into his fatigue, “Alright… what could it hurt?”

“Thatta boy,” Ben said.

He jumped into the back, and the car started to speed up. Meanwhile, Ken, who sat next to him put his hand on Roido’s thigh.

“Don’t worry, you won’t be disappointed,” he reassured him.

Roido just gave him a weird look and pushed his hand off, “Okay.”

Once the king looked away, Ken replaced his hand on his thigh and slowly moved it up. This time Roido slapped his hand away so Ken didn’t try to touch him again.

An hour later, the sun was setting and the convertible finally stopped, but when Roido looked at the surroundings, it wasn’t his favorite place. It was secluded and dirty.

“Where are we?” he asked.

No one answered him. Instead, Ben came out of the front and opened Roido’s door only to grab his upper arm tightly and pull him out of the car. The others got out of the car too and surrounded Roido.

“W-What’s going on?” he asked in panic.

Ben wrapped his arms around his chest and kissed his neck gently. Roido’s face immediately turned red with humiliation.

“Now, we can do this the friendly way or we can do it the forceful way. Behave and we won’t have to be forceful,” Ben told him.

Roido held his breath as the men around him enclosed on him, but once Ben’s words sunk in he flipped him off his back.

Enick sat down by the side of the road, realizing his fatigue had finally caught up with him, but something in the atmosphere and in his gut kept telling him to “stand up and look for Roido; something’s wrong” but his legs and feet were sore from running all day, his stomach hurt from starvation, and his throat burned from dehydration. He was also having trouble staying awake even though he knew he couldn’t sleep unless he wanted to get hit by a car. His gut suddenly flipped sides and was telling him to go through the woods, so, being able to drag himself to his feet, he started running through the forest.

Roido was running as hard as he could through the woods, dodging trees, ducking under low branches and jumping fallen ones. His heart was racing, and he was scared. He had attempted to fight them but only resulted with them successfully cutting his cheek with a knife and almost gutting him. He, as a child, believed rape wouldn’t happen to him, he’s a guy, but after the adventures with the heir hunting he became more aware that a guy has an equal chance of being sexually assaulted. At this point he was fully aware.

So far, they’d succeeded in ripping his shirt, which now flapped loosely behind him. Ben started to catch up so Roido told himself to move faster, but because of his fatigue, he couldn’t. Ben grabbed the back of his torn shirt and delayed him long enough for Leo to tackle him to the ground.

Roido laid there for a moment, stunned, but then they flipped him onto his back and began ripping off the remains of his shirt. While Ken pulled out a knife to cut off his belt Ben held his arms down.

“G-Get off!” Roido shouted, struggling. “Leave me alone!”

Leo got up close to his face smirking, “Save your breath. You’ll need it.”

Leo got a bit closer so Roido turned his head away, but the guy suddenly got hit back by a… bike? Ben, George and Ken looked back surprised.

“Get off him!”

George charged at the intruder but was knocked back, so Ken stood up with his knife, but before he could go anywhere he was knocked into a tree by a huge backpack. Now with free legs, Roido grabbed Ben’s head with his ankles and flipped him off, bashing his enemy’s head on the ground.

Now with a chance, Roido looked back only to see… me.

“Emma…?” he whimpered, tears forming.

Getting impatient with him, I quickly pulled him to his feet and began dragging him away from the attackers.

“C’mon! They won’t stay down forever!”

Ken let out a moan, “Holy crap… What does she have in this backpack? Bricks?”

He reached in and pulled out a brick.

Roido struggled to keep up with me, but his eyes kept trying to close on him.

“Emma…” he wisped. “Stop… please…”

I slowed down and stopped, but I looked back at him confused, “What’s wrong?”

He fell to his knees panting, sweating and grabbing his chest, “I’m sorry… I can’t… keep going…”

“Roido! Those guys back there will catch us if we don’t—!”

“Let’s get going!”

We looked ahead and there was Enick. He walked past me and lifted Roido up onto his back but didn’t wait for a “hello” or anything before taking off, so I just chased him. After a minute or so, we got back to my house. When we got inside, we put Roido down in a comfortable bed then locked and blocked every entrance and exit. After we felt secure, Enick just laid down on the couch out of breath and completely drained of energy. I could tell he worked really hard today so I thought I’d do him a favor.

When I walked into the kitchen, I pulled out a snack and poured a big glass of spring water then took it out into the living room where Enick was on the verge of falling asleep. I gently shook him, but he couldn’t even open his eyes.

“Please… I’ll… die…” he muttered.

“Just have something small to eat and have a drink of water,” I told him.

He tried to move but couldn’t, so I pulled him up into a sitting position and let him lean on me. I carefully tipped the water into his mouth, but his throat must’ve been so dry that when the water touched it, it stung because he seemed to want to spit it out. When the glass was done, he seemed a tiny bit more energized, so I unwrapped the snack and helped him eat it. Once that was finished, I got him another small glass, which he chugged down without trouble this time, but then he fell asleep.

I smiled at him and gave him a hug, “Sleep well.”

He mumbled something but was too quiet to make out, so I got some food and water for Roido who laid in a bed asleep. I walked up the stairs and into his room, but when I saw him I wanted to cry. He looked tortured; tattered clothes, bruises and cuts… It made me want to rat those S.O.B’s out to the police.

Either way, I made my way over to his bedside and gently shook him awake. When he realized someone had woken him up he wanted to cry, he was so miserable, but was able to contain himself.

“Yeah…?” he asked, sounding just as tired as Enick.

“I got you a drink and something to eat. It’s just a light snack. I didn’t want to bother you with a big meal since I figured this should satisfy you ‘til morning,” I explained.

He didn’t smile or nod, being too tired to do either, but opened his mouth slightly, ready to have something in his stomach. I did the same routine as with Enick, but once finished, I took a look at his dirty skin and thought he needed a bath.

“Roido?” I asked.

He opened his eyes slightly, substituting words.

“Would you mind if I gave you a bath?” I asked.

He managed to drag up a corner of his mouth slightly, showing it was all right, but then his weariness overwhelmed him so he closed his eyes to sleep.

Once dealt with, I gently moved him into the tub. Even though it felt like I was carrying a corpse of a fat person, I managed to bring him down into the bathroom and undress him, which wasn’t too hard seeing as his clothes were barely staying in tact. Well, I filled up the tub with warm water and placed him in it, hoping it wasn’t too cold for him. (After all, he’s from the fire clan. He might like steaming hot water.) I started to wash his torso, but then he opened his eyes and looked at me.

“Emma…” he wisped.

I looked at him, surprised he was still conscious but answered, “Yeah?”

“Do you still love me…?” he asked.

I held my breath, feeling my heart speed up and my face turn red. I had been so worried about his and Enick’s safety and behavior that I hadn’t thought much about what happened in the past or how I really felt towards them. I thought for a second, hoping the answer would come… but it didn’t.

When I didn’t answer, his eyes saddened for a moment, but then he closed them and fell asleep. I couldn’t help but feel bad about it, so I kissed his forehead and hugged him real quick. I felt a bit better… not much.

Pushing that question to the back of my mind, I finished washing him then redressed him in those dragon pants he had worn. Once he was placed in bed and Enick had a pillow and blanket, I took care of myself and crawled into bed myself.

As I fell asleep I told myself…

“I’m so lucky I had so much energy…”