• T W E N T Y • F O U R •

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This is your trigger warning. Nothing is detailed or anything like that, but if rape is a sensitive topic for you, I would recommend caution when reading this chapter.

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"The skies are crying with me."

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"Why are you crying?" I ask, coming near to Seraphina.

She bolts upright and frantically swipes at her tears, but only manages to smear them worse.

"Why do you care?" She hisses. "Gonna make fun of me? Hold this over me?"

Her icy blue eyes shine with anger and pure terror. They hold a haunted look that I know all too well.

I force myself to remain calm.

"No. What the hell happened to you?"

"Why? You think you can help me?"

I shoot back, "Well, I don't see anyone else trying to help you."

"You wanna know so bad?! Fine!" Seraphina snarls. "I'll tell you! Tell about the way that my boyfriend fucking rapes me and there's absolutely nothing I can do about it!"

Her outburst gives away as she bursts into a fresh bout of tears. I am stunned, not expecting that. I mean, I was more expecting her problem to be a broken nail or something. But, then again, I knew that it wouldn't be that simple. She has that look in her eyes.

"Who?" I demand in a voice devoid of any emotion.

Rape is no joke. I will fucking kill whoever thought they could do this to someone and get away with it.

"Y-You believe me?" Seraphina says, her eyes darting to mine.

They are filled with hope and fear.

"Are you telling the truth?" I ask her sharply.

"Of course!" She exclaims. "But most people don't believe me when it happens. They say I'm just a slut. That I asked for it. I didn't want it."

My blood boils. 'When it happens.' This isn't the first time. And no one took the time to even try and figure out the truth.

"Seraphina, give me his name. Now," I tell her harshly. "I'm going to kill the fucking dick who did this."

Seraphina sniffles and shakes her head, only causing my fury to grow.

"I don't want him to get in trouble. I just want to be safe. I want to get away from him. He won't let me even leave his sorry ass."

"And no one bothers to help you?!" I burst out, furious.

"No," Seraphina spits. "They said that if I was really being raped, I would do all that I could to stop it. That I wouldn't dress like this. Well, guess what. I tried that. Wearing baggy sweatpants and a loose turtleneck. It didn't do a thing except make me only more ashamed of myself. He still just ripped them off. My clothes are shit, I know that. But, really, showing off skin, getting guys to lust over me, it's really the only way I can feel good about myself."

Her nose is wrinkled in disgust as she stares at herself in the mirror.

"I fucking hate myself."

I look at her in silence, unsure of what to do.

"Why did you even bother with trying to help me?" She asks bitterly, her pale eyes glaring at me, but there is no heat or anger behind her glare.

I shrug and answer honestly, "I don't know, I certainly don't like you."

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