Chapter 1

THE HUNT FOR ANSWERS.

Chills raced across Ava's skin as she gradually opened her eyes.

Where was she, and how did she get here?

Ava's eyes dilated as she glanced through the large bedroom.

Who brought her here?

Different ideas reverberated through her mind as she felt a sudden intense pain in her head.

She gazed in the room once more to see if she could get any clue of how she got in there, but nothing seemed to be working in her favor.

Instead, it added to her aching head, which she now rested her hands on.

Fear gripped Ava as she visualized the worst of what could have ensued to her. Why was she in the room alone?

Ava was still resonant in her unsettled thoughts when a voice echoed in her head. “Reading books all day. Why don't you just come out for just a night and experience the other side of life.” The words replayed over and over in her head.

That was when realization washed over Ava, and she vividly recalled her friend persuading her to go out on a night party with her.

Images of the clinking of glasses, laughter in the air, and the pulsating sounds of her favorite music flash through her mind.

As the fluorescent light shone on her, Ava noticed she had been covered with a gigantic blanket.

Her eyes narrowed through the blanket. Her heartbeat accelerated as it almost stopped beating when she noticed she wasn't on her clothes.

She was stripped! A gasp eluded from her thin lips.

This cannot be happening to me!

No!!!!!

Ava wondered what would have happened in a room where she didn't find anyone in.

Battling with her thoughts won't get her the necessary answers she constantly sought for.

With her wobbly legs, Ava stands up from the bed. As if all she had seen weren't enough, she felt a slight pain in between her legs.

Before Ava could wrap her mind around what occurred in the room, she felt a cold liquid run down her legs.

Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she noticed blood dripping from who knows where.

Ava turned around to see a map of stains of blood on the bedspreads.

She didn't know what to feel any more apart from regret.

How come this happened without her not even remembering a single thing?

Tears slowly dripped down her cheeks as her heart was filled with regrets for accepting to go on a night out with her friend Lily.

She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ears as she wiped off her tears, biting her lower lips. There was nothing else she could do at that moment.

She knew something concerning her dignity had taken place last night, but she wasn't ready to unravel the mysteries behind it yet.

After sobbing for about five minutes more, Ava strolled into the bathroom to freshen up. I feel dirty!

She whispered to herself as she aggressively scrubbed off her body, almost peeling off her skin. She hated the fact that she knew nothing.

Different imaginations of what might have occurred swirled around her head as she tried her best to shove it away, even though it didn't stop coming.

Despite feeling pains all over her body, she managed to wash the sheets so as not to arouse any form of suspicion, even though she still hasn't gotten the puzzle pieces together.

She hastily dressed up in her blue flowery gown as she packed her messy hair in a bun.

Her eyes scanned through the room as she sighted her purse at the edge of the bed.

She quickly picked it up, and she rushed out of the room.

As the elevator stopped at the hallways, Ava tried searching for answers to how she got there.

She walked up to some of the hotel receptionists she found around, trying to start a conversation with them to clear the air, but none seemed interested in her demands.

She noticed their evident uninterested attitude as she exited the hallway.

Ava looked back and forth, trying to see if she'd find the person who had taken away her dignity.

Her innocence! Her heart deeply hurts as she didn't stumble upon any familiar face.

Even though it's hard to believe, she finally conceded the fact that someone had taken advantage of her dignity.

But who could that person be?

And how did it all happen?

Was the question left hanging in thin air as Ava shuddered through the large gates of the hotel room?

For a moment, she hoped all of these were just a nightmare she needed to wake up from.

She wished it were a dream that would never happen.

But reality hits her differently when she hears the sounds of cabs and little children playing around the streets with their bicycles.

This was a reminder that her biggest nightmares were now turning into a dark reality.

Tears threatened to flow down her cheeks as she boarded a cab, which stopped at the entrance of her college gates.

She paid off the chauffeur before dismounting the cab.

This was where she lived. Her hostel with her persuasive and wild coursemate and best friend Lily.

The thoughts of what her aunt would think of her if she found out she spent a night outside the hostel alone makes her stomach hurt.

She would rather not imagine her aunt's reaction.

Ava shrugged off the thoughts as she headed through the back gate of the college, which led to the hostel rooms for students.

The last thing she needed was to run into any of the students around. Thankfully, the hallway was as quiet as a graveyard.

That's because most of the students would have gone for morning classes.

What would her lecturers think of her when they noticed she missed a class, being the intelligent and punctual person that she had always been?

That was the least of Ava's problems at that moment as she tiptoed her way to the hallway.

Her eyes read through every door in the wide hallway as she searched for her room number.

She finally halted when she reached her room. Ava impatiently rummaged through her tiny purse.

Her heart raced at the thought of losing her keys. She heaved a sigh of relief when she sighted it in her purse.

As she placed it into the lock, she heard footsteps approaching.