Stay//Poofless//discontinued

Chapter 20

Preston's POV

I can barely make out the feeling of somebody's hands on me. Fear washes over me and I begin to panic.

It's still happening. He's still here.

Faintly I hear him... Rob...

You only wish it was Rob. Rob can't help you now.

My eyes finally open and I immediately try to break free. I'm surprised to see the ropes aren't on my arms. I hear myself yelling as I immediately scoot away from the voice. There's a person in front of me, they don't have a face, but I think I know who it is. He came back for me. They keep claiming that it's Rob, that I'm safe, but it's just him. He is lying. I refuse to look at it, I can't see his sick, twisted smile again, not that I'll ever stop seeing it.

All of a sudden my face is lifted and I'm making eye contact with whoever found me. Everything stops and I can see. I see his eyes. I see Rob's eyes. In that moment, just for a little while, I let go of the fear that has been holding onto me ever since Lachlan first layed a hand on me. I let myself be weak and I let myself cry. I let myself just sob and release everything and I just let him hold me. For a little while everything is okay until I hear him.

"Preston take off your shirt." He whispers it in my ear. Then I'm stuck in the moment, tied to the bed, rag in my mouth.

"I want to hear what you sound like."

It's not over. It's going to happen again. It isn't Rob. I sneak a glance at him again but it isn't Rob anymore. It's Lachlan and he's wearing that sadistic smile. It's not over. I'm backing away, he's reaching out to me but the knife is in his hands, it's dripping my blood. I'm pressed back against the wall and there's nowhere to hide. He's going to get me.

"P-Please don't hurt me," I whimper out, squeezing my eyes shut, waiting for more punishment.

'Preston I could never hurt you." I open my eyes again and Lachlan is gone. Rob is scooting toward me. Rob is here. Rob is safe. I remove my shirt slowly, Lachlan could be back any second. Blood is still leaking from the gashes covering my stomach and my arms.

"P-Please help R-Rob," I cry out. Rob can help. Rob is safe. He takes me to the bathroom, cleaning my wounds and bandaging me the best he can.

Rob is safe. Rob is safe. Rob is safe.

I keep repeating that in my head. It keeps Lachlan from coming back. I can't look at him though. I'm afraid that if I look at him he'll be gone. I'm afraid Rob isn't really here.

Rob is safe.

"Did...Did he do this to you?" I nod weakly. I know who he's talking about. I think he knows what happened.

He takes me back into the bedroom and changes me into my pajamas. As he slowly undresses me, being careful to avoid my cuts and to make sure he doesn't scare me. Over and over I have to repeat it to keep Rob here with me.

Rob is safe.

As he puts me under the covers he asks what I've been dreading.

"If you can do you think you can explain this to me tomorrow?"

"I think so." I really don't want to but maybe he can help. I can't keep it all bottled up. I'm terrified for sleep to come but eventually it takes me. Somehow one thought keeps the nightmares away.

Rob is safe.

The next day I tell him. I tell him about Lachlan raping me. I tell him about his knife punishments. I leave out the details, when I think about it too much I get stuck back there. Occasionaly when it's really bad I see Lachlan again, I see him in Rob. It scares the shit out of me. I know Rob is different. I know he could never hurt me. Rob keeps me safe. I try not to look at him anymore though. Everytime I don't see Rob all the panic and the fear just hit me.

Rob begs me to go to the police but I refuse, I can't handle it right now. The best I can give him is a trip to the hospital. They stitch up a few of the especially bad wounds on my stomach and arms and they do a rape kit on me. I think everybody is afraid of breaking me, they all use voices like they're talking to children. Rob doesn't push, he doesn't make me talk about it. He doesn't make me go to the police. He said that the hospital can hold the evidence for a while so we can wait until I'm ready.

We found out from Vic that Lachlan left town, they were all confused at first, why he left with no warning without telling anybody where he was. Eventually I let Rob tell them what happened. Mitch got angry, he wanted to hunt Lachlan down and if he did I honestly thought he might've killed him. I think part of Rob wants to kill him too. Jerome and Vic are sympathetic, they try to help and cheer me up and though it doesn't really work it feels good knowing that they want to protect me.

I'm basically living with Rob now. I'm too scared to be alone and even if I wasn't he doesn't let me out of his sight. Rob is here to protect me and I need him. As the weeks stretch into months I stop seeing Lachlan so much. Everything is starting to feel more normal. There are still bad days, days where I can't bring myself to get out of bed, days when I still feel stuck in that day. When I don't get out of bed Rob stays in with me, we watch movies and he keeps me company. When I get lost in my head he helps bring me back. He is keeping me grounded right now.

I finally started looking at him again after we had our first "fight" in a long time.

"Why can't you just look at me Preston?!"

"I just can't!"

He stepped closer to me, placing his hands on my face, bringing my eyes to meet his. He's gentle about it though, still proving that he is so different from Lachlan.

"Please Preston just look at me! What is it about me that you won't look at? Please just... please."

I'm not so afraid anymore. There is one thing though, since that "fight" things have been different for me. I just feel something a little different and a little out of place towards Rob. It isn't a bad thing, it's actually kind of nice. I'm not saying I have a crush on him, I don't think I can do that, not right now. But I just feel something different.

Rob is safe.

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Hey if you are a little confused or anything Preston was hallucinating when he saw Lachlan in Rob... Just wanted to make sure that was clear. Anyway, enjoy! I'll update again in the next few days.

~Sky