Unhinged

I wasn’t even supposed to be there. I was supposed to at home in bed. That’s where my parents thought I was, and where I so desperately wished I had stayed. I shouldn’t have put myself in this position. I shouldn’t have been drinking with people I didn’t know. Why had I let my friend drag me to this party? I should have listened to my gut when I was crawling out my window.
Earlier
I couldn’t believe what I was getting ready to do. Sneaking out wasn’t something I had ever done. Sure, my friends would sneak over occasionally, but sneaking out was something that had never crossed my mind. Even though I had a guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach, I couldn’t help but feel excited. I was going to my first real party. Not just a little get together with friends that I usually attended, but a full on party, with a keg stand! Not that I had considered participating in the keg stand, but the idea of it being there still excited me. I was the designated driver for Nikki and myself tonight so I had no intention of getting white girl wasted.
I spent what seemed like hours getting ready. I wanted to walk into the party and feel like an entirely new person. I finally decided on a black lace, skin tight, mini dress with glittery silver pumps I had worn to my homecoming dance last year. I reapplied my heavy, dark makeup for what seemed like the twentieth time, and put a few finishing touches on my curled hair, and then spritzed it with hair spray. I couldn’t have my curls coming undone when I was dancing, could I? I was so anxious I had jumped when I heard my cell phone notify me that I had a text message. I practically sprinted across my room to retrieve my cell.
*Hey b****, get your skinny ass out here!! <3* I giggled as I read my best friend, Nikki’s, message. I quickly replied *On my way SLUT. Get ready to partaaayy!* I grabbed my black leather jacket and clutch and opened up my window as quiet as possible. Before sliding out my window, I looked back at my room, pushed the guilty feeling out of my stomach, and smiled. “This is a night I’ll never forget,” I whispered to myself. I didn’t know how right I was. This night was going to be etched into my brain for as long as I lived.
******


Nikki and I had been driving for about fifteen minutes when we finally pulled up to a huge, three story brick house with a long winding driveway lined with cast iron light posts. My jaw dropped at as we drove down the driveway.

“Who lives here?” I asked Nikki.

“I’m not really sure, but it’s a kick ass house, right?” she replied. I nodded my head in agreement as we pulled off into the grass to park along the rest of the cars. I pulled out my lip gloss from my clutch and quickly reapplied it, then smacked my puckered lips together, and smiled.

“Let’s do this, b****!” I said as I climbed out of her mustang. It was freezing outside for an August night, so Nikki and I sprinted towards the house. Before opening the door I grabbed Nikki’s hand to stop her. She turned her head to look at me, but I was already fixing my winded hair and readjusting my bombshell bra under my dress. She rolled her dark eyes, understanding why I held her up for going in. She looked at me, her face questioning if I was done primping. I nodded and she turned the handle to the door. My stomach was in knots as I walked through the door frame. Nikki grabbed my hand, sensing my nervousness.

“Relax, baby girl!” she exclaimed. “This is just a little bigger than what you’re used to. C’mon, let’s go find Shane and his friends.”

Nikki led me through a group of girls already drunk off their asses checking out some random guys playing beer pong. We went to the kitchen where Nikki asked someone making drinks if they’d seen her boyfriend, Shane. They directed her toward the game room where a group of guys were drinking and playing pool. She let go of my hand and squealed as she jumped into her boyfriend’s lap, who was sitting on a bar stool waiting for his turn.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Nikki to death, she had been my best friend since second grade, but the one and only thing we had never agreed on was her boyfriend, Shane. He was the complete definition of a tool bag. He was overly obsessive with working out and his Camaro. He never took his relationship with Nikki seriously and constantly flirted with other girls, which always led to them fighting, and then making up with sex. I had tried to tell her that she deserved better, but she never wanted to hear what I had to say. She always told me I had no idea what I was talking about since I had never had a real relationship before. Their relationship had led us to many arguments over the past year they had been dating, so I slowly learned to keep my opinions about them to myself.

As Nikki was curled up in Shane’s lap making out with his neck, Shane looked me up and down. He winked at me, made a kissy face, and said, “Looking good, Lex.” I rolled my eyes and walked away. No way was I going to sit there and let him be a complete dog right in front of Nikki.

Apparently Nikki didn’t like his comment either because before I even walked out of the room, Nikki had slapped him, and yelled, “Way to hit on my friend in front of me, asshole.”

Shane got up and yelled back, “Let me know when you wanna f*** and make up baby.” Nikki ignored the comment and stalked past me, heading to the kitchen. I knew where this was going. She was going to get piss drunk, and then go crawling back to Shane. I rolled my eyes, and followed Nikki to the kitchen. She grabbed a red solo cup that the “bartender” was handing out and chugged ever last bit of beer in the cup. I could see a tear rolling down her cheek but she quickly wiped it away and grabbed two more cups. She turned to me and held a cup out for me to take. I shook my head and said, “I’m the DD tonight, remember? One of us has to be able to take us home before my parents realize I’m gone.”

Nikki rolled her eyes and said, “When are you going to stop being such a tight ass, Alex. Look around, everyone is having a good time. It’s just one cup of beer. You aren’t going to get tipsy off of one cup.” She shook the cup in my face. I silently contemplated whether to take it or not. Finally I shrugged my shoulders and grabbed the cup out of my face.

“What the hell, one cup won’t hurt right?” I said as I chugged all the liquid out of the cup. Nikki smiled and with excitement.

That’s where the night went wrong. That beer turned into two, and then three, and then before I knew it I could barely stand and everything was started to blur together. I looked around but didn’t see Nikki anywhere near me. I called out her name, but she didn’t reply. I asked if anyone had seen where she went, but no one seemed to care enough to answer. I set my drink down and tried to go find out where she had gone off to. I was stumbling around trying to find her when I ran into some guy.

Oomf. He knocked his beer all down the front of my dress, soaking it. “Sorry there sweetheart,” he said as leaned down to pick up his fallen cup. I was so drunk I was just staring at my dress. I finally looked up to tell him it was ok, when I realized who it was. Shane. He looked at me and grinned, “Too bad that wasn’t a white dress, huh.” I rolled my eyes, told him to “f*** off”, and started to push myself past him when he grabbed my arm, and pulled me back towards him. He grabbed my throat, and pinned me up against the wall.

“What the f*** did you just say to me? No one talks to me like that, b****” he yelled. Shane must have made a commotion because I heard footsteps coming into the hallway. My face was ghost white with fear. I had never seen this side of Shane before.

“Is there a problem here?” I heard a guy’s voice ask. Shane whipped his head around to see a tall, blonde haired guy standing in the hallway. His eyes were shifting from Shane’s hand around my throat to my face, frozen with fear. “I said is there a problem here?” he repeated to Shane, as he walked closer, his hands clenched into fists.

Shane looked at him, sized him up and down, released his grip on my throat, and replied, “None of your f*ing business,” Before he walked away, Shane turned to me and said, “I’ll see you later, b****. You can count on that.”

The guy down eyed Shane all the way down the hall. He walked towards me as I slumped to the floor in shock. He sat down next to me, and asked, “Are you ok?” I nodded my head. He eyed me for a minute, probably waiting to see how I was going to react to what just happened. But, I just sat there, breathing heavily. Finally, he said, “Let’s get you somewhere you can lie down.” Before I could reply, he scooped me up in his muscular arms and carried me down the hallway into a bedroom. He flipped on the light with his elbow, and carried me to the bed. He sat me down, and took off my heels. I looked up at him, and at the same time, his gorgeous, blue eyes met mine. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but quickly closed it. I crawled under the blankets, and said, “Thanks for helping me.”

He nodded and replied, “No problem, I’m glad I got there when I did. Your boyfriend has a really bad temper.”

“No, no, he’s definitely not my boyfriend!” I practically yelled. He looks at me puzzled and I continued. “He’s my best friend, Nikki’s, boyfriend. She gets to deal with him all the time, not me. I don’t like him much, and I guess you can see why. I’ve never seen him get that angry before, though. It just makes me wonder about Nikki. I’d kill him if he did that to her, not that she would admit it. She has too much self-pride.” As I talked, his gaze never left my eyes. I hadn’t even realized I was starting to ramble. “You can tell me to shut up anytime.” I said.

He laughed, and said, “I like listening to you ramble, but you sound really wasted. Do you want to lie down for a bit and rest? I can come back and get you later?”

“Can you find Nikki for me?” I slurred.

“Yeah, I can try,” he said as he turned towards the door. “I’ll have her up here before wake up, ok?” I nodded and he turned off the lights before he left. I laid there in the darkness reliving the scene that had just happened with Shane, he was so angry. Before I knew it, I had passed out.
******

I woke up to the feeling of not being able to breathe, and hands around my throat. My eyes flew open and I was face to face with Shane. I tried to scream but he clamped his free hand over my mouth. “I’ll teach you how not to talk to me, b****,” he growled. He lifted his hand from my mouth and punched me in the face. My head shot with pain, and I could feel my eye swelling shut. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “If you think you can tell me to f*** off and get away with it, you got another thing coming, sweetheart. No one talks to me like that. Got it? No one.” He raised his fist again, and I took another blow to my eye. I whimpered in pain and he punched me again in the nose this time. I heard something crack, and then felt blood begin to trickle down my face.

I laid there motionless, afraid of what would come next. He tightened his grip on my throat and moved his other had down my chest, to my underwear. I cried harder, and he said, “What? You’re going to dress like a whore, but not act like one. No one likes a tease, Lexi.” He moved his hand under my dress, and towards my breasts. He started kissing my neck, and grabbed the end of my dress, and tore it in a slit. He ripped my dress all the way to my stomach. I tried to push him off me, but he punched me in the face again. I cried out in pain. He lifted himself off of me to unzip his jeans and take off his pants. He grabbed my underwear and ripped them off of me. I tried to close my legs, but he just laughed and shoved them back open effortlessly. I started crying harder as he pushed himself inside me. I turned away, sobbing and praying he would stop.

Eventually he pushed himself off me. I laid there motionless. As he put his jeans on, he looked at me and said, “That was good, baby girl. We’ll have to do that again sometime.” He laughed, then walked over to me and choked me. He looked me in the eyes and whispered, “If you tell anyone about this, I’ll make sure you get it ten times worse next time.” He let go of my neck, and kissed me. He walked out the door without one last glance at me. I started sobbing uncontrollably. Finally, all my tears ran out, and I just laid there. I heard someone knock at the door, and I froze with fear. The door opened, and Nikki and the guy who helped me earlier walked in. As soon as Nikki saw me, she screamed.

“Oh my god! Alex, what the f*** happened to you?” she screamed as she ran towards me. I started crying as soon as she hugged me. I couldn’t force myself to tell her what had happened. I just cried harder. She held me, and stroked my hair to try and calm me down.

“Alex, you have to tell me what happened. I need to know,” she pulled my chin up so she could look at my face. The guy had walked over to her and was looking at me as well. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t have a guy looking at me. I felt so dirty. He kneeled down beside the bed, and reached his hand out towards me.

I jerked his hand back, and yelled, “Don’t f*ing touch me!”

He pulled his hand away so fast, and looked at Nikki. “I’m calling the cops. She’s f*ed up.” He pulled out his cell phone when I yanked it out of his hands.

“No,” I cried. “You can’t. He threatened me.” I sobbed harder into Nikki’s arms.

“Who threatened you? Who did this to you? No one is going to hurt you again, baby girl.” Nikki said.

“Shane.” I practically whispered.

Nikki’s body tensed up as she was holding me. “What the f*** did you just say?” She dropped her arms from around me. “That’s a f*ed up thing to say, Alex. Shane would never do something like this to someone.”

“Nikki, you have to believe me.” I cried.

“No, just no, Alex I know you’ve been jealous of our relationship, but you can’t put this on Shane just because you don’t want to tell me who hurt you. What kind of friend does that?”

The guy tried to speak up to Nikki. “Maybe you should listen to her. You didn’t see him choking her earlier like I did. You obviously don’t know what he’s capable of.”

Nikki was furious. She pushed me away from her and walked to the door. “You don’t f*ing know my boyfriend, so don’t even try to put this him!” she shot at him.

Before she walked out the door she turned to look at me, “This is the most f*ed up thing you’ve ever done to me, Alex. I hope lying to me when I was trying to help you was worth our friendship, because you just lost your best friend.” She slammed the door as she walked out. I was shocked. My best friend thought I was lying to her. I continued crying, as the guy just sat there, unsure of what to do. In that same night, I had lost my best friend, my childhood, and my freedom.
******