LOGINDerek's POV I poured the pills into my palm and swallowed them dry. I didn't bother with water, letting the bitter taste scrape down my throat. I just stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror for a second, hated the hollow, dark circles under my eyes, and grabbed my car keys from the counter. Shoving a black cap over my messy hair to hide how ruined I looked and headed down the stairs. "Hey. Derek, where the hell are you going?" Scott blocked the bottom of the steps, crossing his arms as he stopped dead right in front of me. "To the hospital, dummy," I snapped, not even slowing my pace as I tried to brush past him. He rolled his eyes, shifting his weight to stay firmly in my path. "Dude, you stayed up with Gabriel all night. Mike is taking his shift right now. You need to rest. Your look like a ghost right now. Go later." "Shift?" I let out a harsh, dry laugh that tasted like the pills. "You want me to trust Gabriel’s life to some stranger?" "A stranger?" Scott’s voice ro
Scott's POVDerek was zooming down the road fast enough to kill anything that crossed his path."Derek, slow down! You’re going to get us killed!" I yelled, gripping the door handle so hard my fingers went numb.He wasn't listening. His knuckles were clamped like iron around the steering wheel, his jaw clenched so tightly the muscles in his neck looked ready to snap. His eyes were bloodshot, staring straight through the windshield. I had never seen Derek like this before. When his mum died, he went quiet. He had shut everyone out. But this time... it felt like the rage he had suppressed for all those years was crashing down all at once.I stared at the dashboard, my hand hovering over my pocket. I didn't know if I should call Mr. Miller to warn him, or... no. Mr. Miller deserved every single bit of whatever was coming to him. Personally speaking, I couldn't wait for life to tear that man's world apart. He was the sole reason Aunty Jess died. His greed had driven him to absolute madnes
Derek's POV I was sitting outside the room. I was completely quiet now, the frantic chaos from moments ago bleeding into an unsettling, heavy silence. I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what to feel, actually. My hands were resting on my knees, my fingers fumbling over each other in a frantic, uncontrollable shake. Soon after, the heavy door creaked open. I tilted my head slowly, my heart stopping as the doctor stepped out first, followed by a quiet procession of nurses. The doctor didn't have a smile on his face. His expression was completely unreadable. I tried to catch the eye of the lead nurse, but she actively avoided my gaze, staring down at the floor as she and the others walked past, leaving the doctor standing right in front of me. I got up from my seat, my movements stiff and robotic as he walked closer to me. "Due to the severe psychological trauma, the physical injuries, and acute dehydration, his body went into neurogenic shock," the doctor explained, his
Derek's POV I woke up to a crushing, vice like grip on my fingers. I snapped my head up. Gabriel was thrashing violently against the hospital sheets, a thick layer of cold sweat coating his pale forehead. Tears were pouring from the corners of his tightly shut eyes, and his entire body was shivering so hard the metal bed rails were rattling against the frame. "Nurse! Nurse!" I roared, panic instantly clawing at my throat. I tried to pull my hand back to sprint for the door, but Gabriel’s fingers only clamped down harder, his nails digging deep into my skin. "Please... don't leave me here! Don't let her..." he whimpered, his head whipping from side to side as a terrifying fever held him hostage. "Gabriel! Gabe!" I bent over him, grabbing his trembling shoulders, trying to gently shake him out of the nightmare. "Gabe, look at me! Wake up!" "Nurse!" I screamed again. The door finally flew open, and a nurse barged in, lunging straight for Gabriel's side. The moment her fingers tou
Gabriel's POV Beep. Beep. Beep. The hospital room was finally quiet but the heavy, weight of my friends pity still lingering in the air. Mike, Erica, and Scott had all been here earlier. They had stood around my bed, their eyes wide with a fragile like sympathy that made me want to scream. But I couldn't scream. All I could do was force a plastic, fake smile onto my face until they finally left, one by one. I tilted my head slowly to the side. Derek hadn't left. He was sitting on a low chair right beside me, his broad shoulders hunched over, his head resting heavily against the edge of my mattress. I glanced up at the digital clock mounted on the wall. It was past 2:00 AM. The quiet room should have been a relief. But the moment the silence settled, the dark took shape. “We are going to make you enjoy women.” Oh fuck... oh fuck. The voices. The hollow ugly moans. The sound of shifting sheets and leather straps. It all came rushing back, echoing inside my skull like a loud, d
Gabriel's POV "Hey, boy. You ready for another round?" The voice echoed through the dim, suffocating space of the room. I couldn't answer. I didn't have the strength left to try, and it wasn’t like my answer would change a single thing. I closed my eyes shut, fresh tears burning their way down my cheeks as the familiar sickening weight pressed down on the bed once again. The tears wouldn't stop coming. Why wouldn't they just stop? I knew deep down that only one thing could put an end to this endless weeping and that was the day I stopped breathing entirely. For two days, different girls had been flocking into this room, treating my body like property. A cold hand reached out, caressing my bare, shivering skin. I was stark naked, my body a map of dark bruises and raw friction burns. I had been treated like an absolute animal. No food. No water. A hollow, broken laugh escaped my throat as I stared up at the girl hovering over me, her hands moving down to caress my lap. I forced m
Gabriel's POV The air in the room was thick, smelling like expensive cologne and the kind of raw, sweaty musk that made me want to gag. I stood there, my hand still trembling on the doorknob, watching the person I had loved for five years untangle himself from a nightmare. "Gabriel, wait. I ca
Gabriel's POV The ride back to campus was the loudest silence I have ever sat through. Derek didn’t say a word, his knuckles white on the steering wheel of that red sports car, while I sat in the passenger seat trying not to choke on the taste of him. My throat felt raw, like I had swallowed a
Gabriel's POV "Wow isn't this wonderful, this was all predestined by God," my mum chuckled, breaking the deafening silence in the grand dining. I sat stiffly, my eyes glued to Derek's plate. He was sitting across me, this was definitely not the reaction I was expecting. His head was buried in hi
Gabriel's POV "Is that me, Gabriel? What the fuck? I knew you were weird, but I didn't know you were a fucking pervert." The voice cut through the silence of the art hall like a jagged blade. I didn't even have to look up. My blood had turned to ice instantly, my heart hammered a painful rhy







