Loose Change~ Montgomery De La Cruz / Zach Dempsey/Scott Reed

Part 3 Chapter 12b

tw: heavy mentions of rape, heavy mentions of violence, mentions of parental abuse, mention of abortion

a/n: Montgomery's notebook is referenced again in this chapter. The full contents will not be shown until the next chapter, so I hope it is not confusing when it references Ophelia's section.

Please be aware this chapter has some dark topics.

*****

Montgomery had been in jail for two whole weeks, but Ophelia's nightmares had not gone away.

Every night was different. But also so similar.

At first, it was a nightmare of Montgomery on Homecoming night. He'd break into her room, like he had. But instead of talking to her, he'd slam her onto the bed. In her nightmares, she was raped again. But in these dreams, it was more violent. It hurt in the way Hannah described her rape hurting. It was a pain so intense that sometimes it woke Ophelia up completely.

But if she didn't wake up from the pain of rape, she woke up to the pain of being suffocated. Her subconscious would cling to the idea of Montgomery being a murderer. So while he had her on the bed, and while he was hurting her, her nightmare would also make him kill her.

Sometimes he wrapped his hands around her throat, squeezing her so tightly she woke up coughing. Other times her bed would disappear, and she would be at the pier, and he would hold her under.

It was always different, but always painful. And the nightmares happened every single night since Ophelia was told Montgomery killed Bryce Walker.

But that night, two weeks later, the nightmare was worse than ever before.

It began with Montgomery walking Ophelia home, like he on Homecoming night. But instead of arriving at her house, they ended up at the pier. Bryce was there. Then the dream got violent, like it always did. But this time, it wasn't just Montgomery forcing himself on her, it was Bryce too. Like the two of them planned on getting her alone so they could do what they wanted with her.

And she would never, ever admit it to anyone else, but Zach had been in her nightmare too.

She saw him beating Bryce, even though she asked him to stop. And then, all at once, it was Zach putting his hands on her. And it was Zach holding her down, forcing her still on the cold dock floor.

Ophelia wasn't sure who it was, but someone threw her over the dock, just like Bryce was thrown. Ophelia drowned in the water. Her lungs burning from it.

Ophelia awoke from the nightmare, gasping.

She immediately felt sick. Clutching her stomach, she ran to the restroom, falling to her knees just in front of the toilet, and vomiting into it.

Her throat and stomach were both killing her.

She tried to catch her breath, but every inhale sent chills of nausea down her body.

"...Are you alright?"

Ophelia cringed. Shit, she woke him up again.

She cleared her throat. "Y-Yeah, I'm okay. You can go back to sleep."

He flipped on the light switch of the bathroom, and looked down at her. "You don't look alright."