Elodie

Part Two

(1)

A familiar and comforting hand was gripped onto mine and I could hear very muffled voices but that was all. Was I saying something? I could feel my mouth moving but no sound was coming out. All I could hear was a ringing in my ears and the muffled voices as the world tilted every now and then. The hand gripped onto my yet again and I tried to keep myself awake but I could feel myself sinking…sinking…sinking…sinking deeper into the darkness of sleep.

(2)

"El? Elodie are you awake?" Someone asked. I opened my eyes and saw the familiar dark blonde hair that belonged to Tom. Relief rushed through my body, as long as Tom was here I would be ok. Tom was the one I always relied on, he was the one who made things right. Ever since we were little Tom had always been the voice of reason. While Amy was the voice of crazy partying and unnecessary chaos Tom always looked after me no matter what.

"T-T-Tom? Where are we?" I asked while blinding white light hit me. My head was so painful that it felt as though it was going to explode everywhere but as long as Tom was here I would be ok, wherever 'here' was. "Where are we?" I said questionably to Tom.

"You don't remember what happened this evening?" Tom asked with a worried look on his face. I wanted to shake my head but it just hurt too much. "El, we're in the hospital." Tom said. The hospital? Why on earth would we be there?

"But…but why are we in the hospital?" I asked as I looked around the room.

"Well I was sort of hoping you would tell me that El." Tom said gravely. I tried to rack my brain for what had happened that night but there was nothing but fog.

"I don't know." I said as I began to panic. I gripped onto Tom's hand tightly as tears sprigged to my eyes. "Tom, I really don't know." I said as I began to sob.

"Oh El." Tom said as he pulled me into a tight hug.

(3)

The hospital smelt. I know people always say that hospitals smell but it really was true. My mind was fogging over but through all of that the burning sterile smell of the hospital seeped through the fog and made me want to throw up all over the floor. I felt a hand grip onto mine and it was only then that I realised I wasn't alone in the room. The hand gripped tighter and my stomach constricted. A memory flashed through my head; hands on my face, hands gripping onto my waist, lips against mine. The memories burned through my brain. My stomach turned and I heard myself vomit over the floor. My throat burnt and my eyes watered as my stomach voided itself.

"Nurse? Nurse is this normal? Is she ok?" I heard someone called out. The room began to spin as the fog saturated my brain yet again. "Nurse? Is this normal?" the person called out again.

"People can react to trauma in different ways but she has been drinking so this is a possibility. We are currently doing blood tests on her to make sure that alcohol was the only thing in her system so please calm down." A woman said. None of that made sense. What sort of trauma had I been through? I tried to think but I simply couldn't get through the bloody fog in my brain.

"Elodie? El can you hear me?" the voice asked. The fog was still saturating my brain but I tried to blink it away yet again. I had to blink the fog away. "El, please talk to me." The voice pleaded. I knew that voice, I knew it. I had heard that voice for years. Didn't that voice speak to me earlier on? He told me we were in the hospital didn't he?

"Tom?" I groaned as the fog began to slightly clear away. Thank God. The hand gripped mine tightly and I saw the oh so familiar smile. "Tom, that's you isn't it?" I asked.

"Yes, Elodie it's me. I'm still here. Are you ok?" Tom asked.

"What happened? How did I get here?" I asked. I couldn't remember anything about getting here. The last thing I could remember was throwing up in the street. There was a slight memory of Tom's voice but that was it.

"You still don't remember?" Tom asked. I shook my head. "You were sick and you kept babbling about something that didn't make any sense then after that you told me to call the police. I drove you here instead because I had no idea what was going on with you and you looked so terrible." Tom explained. The police? Why would I ask for the police? I tried to think through the fog in my brain, I tried to retrace my steps but I couldn't. "Elodie you need to tell me what happened tonight otherwise I can't help you…what happened? The last time I saw you was when you were dancing with Amy-"

"Where is Amy?" I asked when I realised that she wasn't there. Amy was one of my best friends so if I was in the hospital then she should be here right?

"She's not here." Tom said. I frowned thinking that it was odd that Amy wasn't there. "I told her not to come." Tom said sternly.

"Why would you do that?" I asked in annoyance.

"Because Amy is useless in a crisis" Tom said bluntly. "She is terrible with any situation that doesn't call for dancing, drinking and acting like a fool."

"Tom that's not-" I started to say but Tom held up his hand to stop me.

"It really does not matter at the moment Elodie. You need to tell me what happened this evening. Why did you ask me to call the police? I last time I saw you was when you were with Amy but after that you disappeared for nearly an hour. I asked Leah and Christina if they had seen you and they told me that you had been outside with Jeremy but when I went to look for you there was no one there." Tom said. Oh God I suddenly thought as I remembered being outside with Jeremy. I remembered needing fresh air so I had gone outside with Jeremy. The pair of us had smoked, something that I could never tell Amy, and we had laughed together but after that…after that…

"Oh my God." I cried with a slight rasp to my voice as I grabbed a nearby metal basin and promptly threw up into it. There was hardly anything in my system anymore so there was mainly just dry heaving more than anything else. It was painful and made my eyes stream even more with tears. "Oh my God." I groaned again as real tears began to well up in my eyes and course down my cheeks. "Oh my God"

"El? El can you please tell me what happened?" Tom said desperately.

"You called the police? You said that I wanted you to call the police. You told me that I wanted you to call the police. Did you call the police?" I asked. Tom nodded. "Good because I need to talk to them." I added. I closed my eyes for a moment until the fog overwhelmed me and I sunk back into sleep.

(4)

Someone bursting into the room where I was lying jolted me out of my foggy blindness. My elder brother Aiden stood in the doorway panting heavily until he spotted me. Aiden had been out for the evening with his current girlfriend Marissa and I didn't expect to see him till the next morning, yet here he was looking at Tom furiously.

"Aiden? What on earth are you doing here?" I asked.

"The hospital rang me. Mum and Dad were out for the evening and I had just gotten home with Marissa when the phone was ringing. I came here after I dropped Marissa back off home." Aiden explained as he walked over to me. "What's happened El? The hospital wouldn't really tell me anything over the phone. They just said that you had been emitted here and that I needed to be here for you as Mum and Dad weren't at home." Aiden said.

"I think I passed out…I don't really know." I muttered. Aiden turned to Tom and glared. "None of this was Tom's fault, he looked after me." I said quickly. Even with a head saturated in fog I knew that Aiden would easily kill Tom if he knew that I was in trouble in any way.

"Well what happened to her?" Aiden asked Tom. "She wasn't even supposed to be out this evening. When Mum and Dad left for the night they put me in charge because Bianca would just lock herself in her room and Skype her annoying friends. Mum and Dad told me that Elodie wasn't supposed to go anywhere tonight. How did she even get into the bars in town?" Aiden shouted.

"I am in the room." I muttered. Aiden turned to glare at me. Why was he being so mean?

"Fine then Elodie I'll talk to you about this, first of all how did you get out the house?" Aiden snapped.

"I walked out the front door while your hand was down Marissa's bra." I said bluntly. Why did I have to remember that of all things?

"Ok…how did you get into any of the bars in town?" Aiden asked.

"I used Bianca's I.D" I admitted. Aiden swore under his breath before turning to Tom. "It wasn't Tom's fault I didn't leave the house with Tom!" I said yet again.

"Then who did you go out with originally?" Aiden asked. I was silent for a long time because I didn't want to tell Aiden the truth. The truth would make him even more annoyed but he was glaring at me so fiercely that I had to admit to whom I was out with.

"Amy." I said in a tiny voice "I went out with Amy." Aiden rolled his eyes and swore again rather loudly.

"Seriously? You went out with that idiotic slut?" Aiden asked.

"She is not an idiotic slut!" I snapped.

"She has a point, you have to be smart to get away with sleeping with as many people as Amy has and still manage to look like a saint, well a bit like a saint." Tom said. Both Aiden and I glared angrily at Tom. "Sorry…" Tom said with a shrug.

"Look Elodie you need to realise that when bad things happen to you it is mainly because Amy talked you into doing it and now you're in the hospital because you drank way too much. Why on earth did let Amy give you so many drinks?" Aiden asked.

"Maybe because I didn't want to be boring and the sensible sober one for once." I said.

"You're an idiot." Aiden snapped.

"Aiden don't call her an idiot, she's not Amy." Tom said. Aiden turned to snap at Tom so I chose this as the perfect time to start drowning them out. I stared at the pair of them for some time. As some memories of the night filtered back into my brain I was terrified how either Tom or Aiden would react to what I was going tell them. I could have kept it to myself but I couldn't do that because otherwise it would eat me up inside for the rest of my life.

(5)

Aiden and Tom stopped arguing long enough to both announce that they needed food and/or a drink so they decided to go down to the hospital café while I stayed in the room I had been shoved into. I was glad that they had left actually. The noise from their conversation, well argument, was being to drive me up the wall and all I needed now was peace and quiet.

Instead of thinking I found myself looking down at my nails. Normally they were bare or maybe I would shove some that conditioning varnish that you put on during the winter. I wasn't big on the whole 'painting nails different colours'. Amy, on the other hand, was crazy about it. Her make-up draw had a whole section dedicated to nails varnishes and she owned about fifty different colours. Her nails were a different colour every single day; she got up an extra ten minutes every day just to paint them.

Tonight, instead of just being bare, my nails were a deep red that Amy had told me was called Sleazy. I could understand why anyone would want nails painted in a colour called that but Amy had told me that it would go with my outfit. I couldn't stop staring at the deep red colour and how it clashed with my skin, I started to scratch at it, making the varnish chip, when there was a slight knock on the door. I glanced up, thinking that it would be Tom or Aiden back with their food but instead it was two police officers. My stomach jolted and I was worried I would be sick again.

The two officers, both female, walked into the room with fluid movements and one of them even gave me a small smile. This could have been seen as comforting but it just made me feel even more nervous.

"Miss Roberts?" one of them asked. I nodded my head. "Miss Robert we received a call from a Tomas Parks saying that you requested to speak to us." The officer said. I nodded my head slowly even though it was still painful. I needed to say this. I needed to get it out my system before it consumed me.

(6)

The test was the worst thing that someone could ever go through. While they sat and swabbed me, examined me, I felt like my world was crashing down around me. The ringing in my ears had stopped while the fog was finally cleared from my brain. Now I was able to think…sadly I was able to remember.

After the examination I went back to my room where the police were still waiting for me. Tom and Aiden hadn't come back yet. Now I had to tell the police everything. The thought terrified me to the core.

(7)

There was a knock on the door that made me tear my eyes away from the two police officers. Both Tom and Aiden stood in the doorway and they were staring dumbly at the police.

"We were just questioning Miss Roberts." One of the officers explained.

"Do you have to do this now? She's been through hell so far this evening. It's late and she needs rest." Tom said.

"We're sorry but it is best if we speak to your girlfriend right now." The second officer said. Aiden was simply stood there looking incredibly confused by the whole thing.

"She's not my girlfriend." Tom said quickly. "She's my best friend."

"And you are?" The second officer asked Aiden.

"I'm her brother. Can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?" Aiden asked.

"Aiden." I snapped. Why did he have to swear in front of the police? Aiden looked away abashed and began to chew his lip furiously.

"Oh well…could you please wait outside while we talk to Miss Roberts please?" The first officer said.

"No…no." I muttered. "No…they both need to stay." I added quickly. "Please, I don't think I could do this without them."

"El what is going on?" Tom asked sitting down next to me.

"Miss Roberts has informed us that tonight she was sexually assaulted. The tests came back as positive so now we need to question Miss Roberts on what actually happened."

"Excuse me? What exactly did you just say?" Aiden asked. "Someone assaulted you?" he asked turning to me. I turned away from Aiden as Tom gripped onto my hand. "Elodie what happened? See this is why I hate you going out with Amy!" Aiden snapped. The police officers ignored Aiden as they both carried on looking at me.

"Now I know this is difficult for you Miss Roberts but do you remember anything about your attacker? What he was wearing or his hair colour. Anything that could help identify him." The first officer said.

"I can tell you everything. I can tell you what he was wearing, what colour hairs he has and what colour his eyes are. I can tell you where he is every Saturday morning and what he eats every Saturday morning for breakfast. I can tell you what he studies at college and what he wants to do in the future. I can tell you all this because up until a few hours ago I thought he was one of my close friends." I heard myself say. The words were pouring out of me in a torrent. Relief surged through me as the words tumbled out.

"Elodie, what's going on?" Aiden asked.

"It was Jeremy." I said looking from Aiden to Tom's face. I needed both of them to believe me with this, if they didn't believe me then I didn't know what I might do. "You both have to know that it was Jeremy that did this." I said.

"Wait…Jeremy?" Tom asked. "Elodie are you sure? Are you sure it was Jeremy? Why would Jeremy hurt you?"

"Tom please believe me, it was Jeremy." I said. Now that the fog was completely cleared I knew that I needed to act fast.

"Jeremy, as in 'Jeremy' Jeremy?" Aiden asked. I knew this would kill him; Jeremy was after all one of his friends as well as mine. I nodded by head as Aiden's face went bright red with anger. "I'll kill him. I'll kill him!" Aiden yelled as he went to storm out the room. The police officers acted quickly and dragged him back to his seat as Tom stared at me in disbelief clearly hoping that this was all a joke. That I was just kidding when I said that the guy we had known for so long had done this to me. Sadly I wasn't kidding. This wasn't all a joke, it was real and it hurt like hell.

(8)

Once Aiden had gotten over his initial anger he went very quiet. While the police were taking my statement and details Aiden sat in the corner of the room and didn't say a word. Tom offered me little bits of information on the night while I tried to remember everything. Aiden just carried on sitting there, silent and vacant.

(9)

Once both of the police left the hospital, taking my clothes and underwear with them, Aiden tried yet again to get in touch with my parents yet both of their phones were switched off or on silent as neither of them were picking up. No doubt they had gone out and once they had come home they would have just gone to bed. They wouldn't bother looking in on Aiden, Bianca or me because they would think we were asleep or on our laptops.

Part of me wanted my parents here; well at least I wanted my Dad here. He would pull me into a big bear hug like used to when I was little. He would tell me everything would be ok and not to worry about a thing. My mum on the other hand wouldn't know what to say because she never knew what to say to me. I wished that we had a good relationship like Amy had with her mother, they were more friends that mother and daughter, but my mum and I had never been close even if I wanted us to be.

"For fuck sake!" Aiden yelled as he slammed his phone onto a table near him. "Neither of them will pick up their fucking phones! They better have a fucking good reason for not doing this otherwise I am going to rip the fucking shit out them!" Aiden added.

"Aiden please watch your language." I snapped turning away from him. His anger annoyed me, it felt misplaced in a way.

"Well I can't in touch with them and they need to be here." Aiden hissed.

"Don't hiss at me Aiden. Can't you just be quiet?" I asked. Aiden narrowed his eyes for a second but then he seemed to remember where we were, what had happened to me.

"I'm sorry…Elodie I'm really sorry." Aiden said as he stood up and walked toward me. He sat down next to, on the opposite side to Tom, and pulled me into a hug. All I had wanted while being in the hospital was a hug from someone but now it felt claustrophobic. I remembered a dark room, hands on my skin and my heart began to race. Aiden needed to let me go. He had to let me go.

"Aiden, Aiden please let me go. Please stop hugging me." I gasped. Aiden let me go and stared at me. As my heart stopped racing and my breath stopped feeling short I tried to stop my mind from reliving the night. I really did try but it was no good. Instead I began to cry, a big fat sobs that racked my body. Aiden looked at Tom and both of them tried to comfort me but I didn't want anyone touching me, I didn't want to feel anything against my skin. "Please don't. Please just leave me alone. Please!" I sobbed. "Please can I just sleep? Please just go away, both of you." I begged. Tom looked from me to Aiden then nodded. He stood up and placed a hand on the bed, far enough from my hand but it still made me feel anxious.

"We'll be right outside if you need us." Tom said. I nodded and wiped tears away from my cheeks.

"Yeah…I'll try getting hold of mum and dad again." Aiden said with a shrug. The pair of them walked out the room and left me alone. For the first time all night I was alone. I curled up into a tiny ball and clung to my legs. I wanted to curl up until I disappeared but instead I stayed in the bed because I never actually got what I wanted. Sleep soon came but so did the dreams…so did the nightmares…

Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews so far, they really do mean an awful lot to me as this is my first story in a long time. I hope you enjoy this chapter; please do review it and tell me what you think. If you have any questions then please asked them, I'll be happy to answer them!