Charlotte and Reed did this to me.
Gasping, I roll onto my back. I need to breathe.
Deep breath.Hot tears run over my face.
I can’t. Why can’t I breathe?
I’m dizzy, and the darkness around me begins to spin.
It’s got to stop. It’s just got to stop.
Please.
I have no idea how long I sit there until it stops, if it even does at all. But I suddenly feel a light vibration in my back pocket.
My phone.
I have my phone with me. How could I forget that?
Not that it matters now.
Trembling, I sit up and pull it out of my pocket. The screen lights up. Caleb.
Relief floods through me. I swipe the screen and put the phone to my ear.
“Hey, Zoe, I wanted to—” he breaks off when I sob.
History is repeating itself.
“Zoe?” I can hear the panic in his voice. I’ve heard it before.
“Caleb,” I sob. “You have to come. Please.”
“What happened?”
“I... please. Just come.”
“Where are you?”
“In the theater. I... don’t know where.”
It takes twenty minutes and thirty-seven seconds until Caleb finds me and ends the call. He asks me what happened, and I tell him. Then I vomit my guts out. When he pulls me into his arms, I collapse.
Everything goes dark.
* * *
I regain consciousness but still can’t find my way back to reality. Caleb helps me to my feet and carries me to the car. History really is repeating itself. He takes me to the hospital even though I say I don’t want to go. But he’s worried about me, so I go anyway. On the way, he calls our parents and tells them what happened.
Then we’re in the hospital, and my parents are there. Caleb kisses my forehead and then disappears, and I know where he’s going. To the penthouse, to look for Reed and confront him.
I feel empty. There’s nothing left. Only emptiness. A doctor is talking to my parents, but I can’t understand what anyone is saying. I’m not listening. I don’t care.
Reed was the one who raped me.
Hedid this to me.
He stole me from myself.
