The Trials of November

Chapter Eleven

Ben fell to the ground, hard. She realized that he was unconscious, and Victoria let out a shriek, realizing what she had done. She knelt down beside him quickly, crying. What had she done? This could not be happening. She began to panic again.
The back of her head was itching, probably because of her sweating. She scratched it quickly, and then started rubbing Ben's face. How could this possibly have happened? She kept thinking to herself.
"Ben no. Please. Please wake up." Victoria cried. She cradled his head in her arms, and there was a red mark on the side of his forehead where she had stricken him. She shed tears into his blonde hair. She held him close, vowing to never let him go. Should she call an ambulance? She didn't know.
Victoria stayed on the floor with her love for about twenty minutes, just crying over his head before he woke up, confused. He looked around, but Victoria told him not to move his head too much, as she didn't want him to get a headrush of anything that could damage him more than Victoria had already managed to do. She hated herself for doing that to him.
"Vic.. Victoria?" Ben asked, confused. Victoria held him tighter and kissed his forehead, beginning to cry again.
"Ben. I am here. I am so so sorry." Victoria said. She thought about him. She decided that she would make sure he is okay and then she would get him to a hospital. His head was not bleeding or anything so she thought that it would be okay. She helped her broken boyfriend sit up slowly.
"Vic. Its ok." Ben said. He rubbed his head, which was obviously in pain. Victoria had never been so embarrassed. She felt simply awful. She had a pain in her head even though she was not the one who had been hit.
"I didn't mean to. I thought you were the man. I am so sorry. I was trying to protect myself. I am so sorry." Victoria continued to cry. She covered her face with her hands. Victoria simply hated crying in front of people. She was trying to hide her face from her boyfriend, because she knew that when she was upset her face got red and that her eyes got puffy, and she did not want him to see her at her worst. Ben grabbed her arm with his hand and squeezed, smiling at her. He still looked at her as though she was the most beautiful thing on the planet. Victoria had never experienced that before, and she was stunned, but she loved it. She looked at him. He looked at her.
"Victoria. Honey. It is okay. I understand." He said sympathetically. Ben sat up slowly, trying not to get a head rush. When he didn't experience one, he hugged Victoria close, and she let out a sigh of relief. She melted into his arms, happier than ever before.
She was so happy to have him there with her. She was happy to have him hold her, and that she finally felt safe. Like there wasn't a being in the world that could harm her at that point. Victoria inhaled, smelling Ben's leftover cologne from the day prior. She loved the immense warmth that surrounded her as well as how it managed to work its way inside, all the way to her heart. She smiled and cuddled in closer.
Suddenly, they heard a noise downstairs. Victoria jumped, and Ben held up a finger, signaling for her to be quiet. Victoria felt her heart sink and her instinct was to run. She stood up quickly, but Ben was quicker. He held her tightly in his arms, not letting her move even though she was trying to escape. He held her so that his mouth was near the side of her face. She could feel his stubble.
"We have to hide." Ben whispered in her ear. He started looking around desperately, but Victoria, on the other hand, could not move at all. She felt as though she was paralyzed. Ben frantically ran to her closet and grabbed two blankets, then he ran to the window as quietly as he could, dragging the still frozen Victoria behind him.
Ben opened the window and looked out onto the snow covered roof. It was too far of a drop, and he was not confident that they would be safe if they jumped.
Ben turned to Victoria and whispered "We have to go on the roof." Victoria looked at him and was very afraid, but she nodded. She could not bring herself to go outside, though. She did not have shoes on and she knew that if they were out there for very long, that they would for sure get frostbite.
Victoria looked at Ben, and Ben could tell what she was thinking. He knew, though, that any injury or disease from the cold would be better than whatever the intruder would throw on them.
He pushed her out the window onto the roof, and quickly followed, closing the window behind him. He handed her a blanket, helped her sit down without slipping, and he wrapped her up so she wouldn't get cold, making sure to tuck her feet in. He then sat next to her and then huddled by her, just as the strange man burst through her bedroom door. Victoria gasped, suddenly able to move, but Ben grabbed her arm and held it, encouraging her not to budge.
The two of them sat outside, freezing on the roof, as the man was rummaging through all of Victoria's things. They heard things tipping over and crashing down, and they knew that they needed help desperately.
"Call the police." Victoria whispered to Ben. Her nose and cheeks were already red from the chill.
Ben rummaged through his pockets, but he could not find his phone. He then realized that he had accidentally left it at his house in his huge rush to get over to her house.
"I can't." Ben whispered back. "My phone is at my house." Victoria could feel the cold soaking through the blanket and her pajama pants, into her skin, and throughout the rest of her body, causing a thorough chill.
Victoria was shivering, and Ben was holding her close to him, trying with everything that he had to keep her warm.
"What is he looking for?" Victoria whispered into Ben's ear.
"I don't know." He replied honestly. Ben had no idea what would inspire the man to break in to Victoria's house and search through her room. If he was willing to do all of that, Ben was worried about what else he might do.
After about ten minutes, the man decided to give up. They heard him go back through the hallway, down the stairs, and out the front door, exiting right underneath them. The man began walking down the sidewalk quickly, looking around for any witnesses. If the man would only look up, they would be completely found. The two of them prayed that he would not look towards the roof and that he would keep walking, and thankfully, he did.
Once he was out of sight, the two went back inside to find Victoria's room completely trashed. Books were on the floor, clothes were spewed everywhere, her desk chair was toppled, all of her drawers were open, and the floor was littered with all of the objects that used to be inside of them.
"Why would he do this?" Victoria asked. She felt completely helpless and sad, and she felt as though nothing of hers was private anymore. She loved her privacy, but now everything that was once private is known by the strange man who had broken into her house.
Victoria fell on the floor in defeat, crying. Ben sat down next to her and kept looking around, wondering what the man was looking for.
"He... Everything's... How?..." Victoria said between sobs. Ben reached over and grabbed Victoria's phone, calling the police.
Once they arrived, Ben tried telling them everything, as Victoria could still not speak because of how upset she was.
"So you're telling me that this girl has been being harassed." A female police officer with a notepad and a pen confirmed. They sent two officers to Victoria's house after the breakin, and one was going through everything, and the other was questioning the couple.
"Yes." He replied. "The man saw her at a diner a few weeks ago and he got weirdly attached. He left her a note..."
"Do we still have this note?" The police officer asked.
Ben looked around desperately, but couldn't find it. He knew that it was on the desk before the man came because he saw it less than an hour earlier.
"The man... he must have taken it when he came in here." Ben said, confused. The officer wrote something down on her notepad and then looked back at Ben, obviously not buying anything he was saying.
The other officer came in the room and looked around one more time, grabbing his belt.
"Yeah, there is no sign of forced entry anywhere. Are you sure that there was a man here?" He asked.
"Yes! Why don't you believe me?" Ben asked, getting more and more frustrated. "He must have found a way in!"
"Well, the front door was unlocked." The police replied.
"But how could that be possible?" Ben asked. But that was when he realized that he had accidentally left the door unlocked when he came in quickly before. "Oh my god." Ben said. "This is all my fault."
"What do you mean?" Victoria said from the floor, where she was working on gathering her composure. She still had tears running down her face, and her face was red.
"Victoria." Ben said. "I am so sorry. I left the door unlocked when I came in. This is all my fault." He continued. The female police continued writing things on her notepad. The male one walked back out of the room again.
"No. It's okay." Victoria replied. She did not want him to feel bad about a mistake. "At least you were here with me when I needed you to be." She continued. And that was exactly how she felt. If he had not been there for her, who knows what would have happened.
"Well, we will file a report on this." The police officer said. Her mouth curled into a rude sneer. "If you hear anything else from the man, please let us know." She scuffed. The officer started to leave, but before she exited the room, she turned around one more time for one last comment. "You should really tell your parents about this." Victoria could hear the judgement in her voice, and she did not like it.
Ben nodded and the officer left. Suddenly the room and the rest of the environment in general, felt a lot less safe. More empty.
Victoria sat on her bed in defeat, and Ben sat down next to her, putting his arm around her. She nuzzled her head into his chest, and he pulled her tighter.
"Everything will be okay." Ben said, even though he was not entirely sure that that was true. He was afraid too, even though he would never show it.
"I know. Everything will be okay as long as you are by my side." Victoria concluded. She absolutely meant it, too. She felt as though she could not be touched as long as Ben was there. Victoria knew that she should be able to be independent, and she felt as though she possibly could be, but she really did not want to. She knew that everything would be harder without ben by her side. Her chest hurt even thinking about it.
"I am not going anywhere." Ben said softly and held her closer.
Victoria wished that she could stay that way with him forever. She wished that he would never let her go. But alas, that is not how things worked out.