MasukThird person POV
Intentionally avoiding the area Olivia was, Deborah looked around one more time, hoping to catch Caleb again. She pushed up her glasses nervously, her eyes scanning the crowd, searching each face with quiet desperation. Her heartbeat drummed in her ears, loud and hollow. Her palms were clammy, and she kept smoothing them over the sides of her dress. Somewhere in the distance, someone dropped a glass, the crash swallowed by the bass of the music. Then the speaker came on, the loud static sound jolting Deborah, as well as others around her. The screech echoed through the room like a scream, causing heads to snap toward the DJ booth. A murmur rolled through the crowd like the start of a wave. Deborahâs eyes shot up to the stage, her brows knitting in confusion. Her heart skipped a beat and her throat became dry again as she saw Olivia and her minions. Each of them stood with mocking grins, big-rimmed glasses perched exaggeratedly on their noses, their cheerleading pom-poms in hand. They wore replica versions of Deborahâs cream cardigan, only theirs were sleeveless and cropped into something ridiculous. The hems flared dramatically, and they had paired them with mini skirts and high boots like it was some twisted fashion joke. Deborah almost had her mouth agape. Her chest tightened again like someone had pulled a rope around it. The loudspeaker boomed, âCaleb, I have been in love with you for years. I think we will make a great team.â Deborah froze as ahe realised the words Olivia had played through the speaker like some sick remix were the same words she said to Caleb the day before. Olivia and her minions moved in sync to the sound of Deborahâs voice, mimicking every word as they danced and twirled, performing one of their cheer routines. It was like watching a horror film of her own life. Deborahâs knees went weak. Her fingers gripped the fabric of her dress so tightly her knuckles turned white. âIâve been saving myself for you and I want you to be the one to take my virginity before my eighteenth birthday next month,â the recording continued. Loud and ruthless laughter erupted from everyone one this time around. Deborah felt like her chest had cracked open. Her skin prickled with heat, then chilled. People turned to look at her, pointing, snickering. âOuch, thatâs a real kick in the lady nuts,â one of the students exclaimed making the others howl. âCould you be any more desperate?â another asked from somewhere near the back. âI donât know. Can you, Deborah?â Olivia replied smugly, flipping her ponytail as she pranced toward the center of the room. Her words ignited another explosion of laughter. Deborahâs heart pounded against her ribcage, wild and panicked. Her eyes welled up, the tears hot and sharp as her breath came in short, uneven bursts. âOkay, letâs go!â Olivia shouted, clapping her hands in rhythm. It was the same way she rallied her cheerleading teamâloud, commanding and practiced. The energy in the room shifted again, more people turning to watch what was happening. âTake my virginity! Take my virginity!â Olivia began to chant. Mindy and Cindy joined in with bouncing pom-poms and smug faces. Then, like a tidal wave, the chant caught on. The crowd roared the words, raising their cups, clapping their hands, stomping their feet. âTake my virginity! Take my virginity!â Deborah wanted to scream, but no sound came out. Her ears rang. The lights above blurred. Her knees felt like jelly. She stood rooted to the floor, unable to move. Tears pooled in her eyes as she watched Olivia humiliate her. âWhat crime did I commit?â she thought, her chest heaving. âWas being a virgin so bad?â The questions rang in her head with no answer in sight. Just the chant. Just the laughing. Satisfied with the noise and the attention, Olivia strutted toward her, pom-poms tossed aside. Her heels clicked sharply against the wooden floor. Deborahâs legs refused to move. Her muscles had locked in place. It felt like being buried alive in plain sight. Then Olivia stopped just in front of her. She reached up and took the gum she had been chewing out of her mouth. Strings of saliva clung to it making Deborahâs stomach turn. Without hesitation, Olivia reached out and pressed the gum above Deborahâs upper lip. Then she pulled out a small black fake mustache from her pocket and stuck it onto the gum. The room howled with laughter. Deborahâs face burned with shame. The smell of the gum was sickeningly sweetâwatermelon and something elseâmixed with the scent of Oliviaâs saliva. Deborah stood completely frozen. Her arms were limp at her sides. She didnât even have the strength to wipe the gum and the mustache away. As the others laughed, she closed her eyes and prayed. âPlease, Caleb⌠donât see me like this. Donât see what theyâre doing to me.â Deborah pleaded, but her silent plea was shattered by more movement. Cindy stepped forward, holding a stainless steel mixing bowl. Before Deborah could react, she slammed it gently over her head. The cold metal sent a shiver down her spine, and the bowl covered her eyes completely, pressing her glasses painfully down the bridge of her nose and lower to her lips. Deborah gasped, stumbling slightly from the unexpected weight. The inside of the bowl echoed with every laugh, every chant. Her vision was gone. It was dark and suffocating. Then someone elseâshe couldnât see whoâadded two rubber dildos to the sides of the bowl and they dangled like horns. Roars of laughter exploded again as everyone pointed towards her head. The room echoed with cruel amusement. Deborah couldnât see it, but she felt itâevery finger, every whisper, every laugh. She stood there, silent and shaking as milkshake was sprayed from tubes all over her body. The cold liquid hit her skin like a slap. It soaked her dress, dripping from her sleeves, clinging to her thighs. It was sticky, sweet, and thick. It smelled like vanilla and something artificial. But all she could think was what it looked like. âPlease, let me go,â she cried silently, the tears streaming down her cheeks. The liquid mixed with her tears, dripping down to her gown, then to the floor. And then, just when she thought it couldnât get worse⌠From a corner of the room, she heard Calebâs laughther. That same boyish laugh she had adored for yearsânow thrown into the storm of mockery. Her heart shattered all over again. All of a sudden, the laughter died down, leaving an eerie silence in the air. Olivia walked closer to her. âPlease, let me go,â Deborah whispered, her voice hoarse, barely audible under the bowl. âAwwn! Honey, you want to go?â Olivia mocked sweetly, clearly relishing the torment. âPlease,â Deborah whispered again, her voice cracking. âYou can go. We just want you to say it,â Olivia replied, extending her hand towards Deborah. Deborah squinted her eyes, trying to see through the tiny crack near the edge of the bowl. Then she froze. In Oliviaâs hand was a small microphone. The red light on it blinked makng Deborah's heart sink. âOne more time,â Olivia said with a grin. âSay, âtake my virginityâ,â Mindy added gleefully, stepping in close. âSay it,â Cindy echoed, her voice rising, encouraging the others. They began clapping their hands, the rhythm growing. âSay it! Say it! Say it! Say it!â Deborahâs shoulders shook as tears rolled down her cheeks, falling into the collar of her soaked gown. She opened her mouth. âI canâtâŚâ she whispered to herself. But her lips betrayed her as all she wanted was for he torture to end âTakeâŚâ she began to say. âStop!â A voice interrupted.Deborah's POV ***Two years later***I stood in front of my bedroom mirror, adjusting my graduation cap for what felt like the hundredth time. The tassel kept falling in my face no matter how many bobby pins I used to secure it."Stop fussing," Charlotte said from where she sat on my bed, already dressed in her own cap and gown from our graduation from college two years ago. "You look perfect.""I look like I'm wearing a very flat hat," I muttered, but I stopped touching it anyway.Today was the day. Graduation day. Not just any graduation either, but grad school graduation with honours. The gold cord around my neck marked me as someone who had achieved academic excellence.My phone buzzed with a text from Liam saying he was already at the venue with my mim rqcand the rest of our group."Ready?" Charlotte asked, standing and smoothing down her dress. She had taken the day off work to be here."As ready as I'll ever be," I said, grabbing my purse.The drive to the university auditorium
Deborah's POV The sunlight streaming through my dorm room window felt warmer than it had in weeks, or maybe I was just finally able to appreciate it again. I stretched in my bed, feeling the pleasant ache of muscles that had been worked hard during my morning self-defense session with Liam.Over the next few weeks, things slowly started to feel normal again, or at least a new version of normal that I could live with. We resumed our last semester in college. I laughed more. That was the biggest change I noticed. Real laughter that came from deep in my belly and made my cheeks hurt. Not the polite, careful laughter I had been forcing in those first days after the hospital, but genuine joy at silly things like Charlotte tripping over her own feet or Liam making terrible puns that were so bad they circled back to being funny."You're smiling," Charlotte observed from where she sat cross-legged on her bed, textbooks spread around her in organized chaos."Am I?" I touched my face and real
Deborah's POV My hands shook as I unfolded the letter, the paper crinkling softly in the quiet hospital room. Charlotte had moved closer, her presence a silent support, while my mother hovered on the other side of the bed looking worried.I read the first line, and my heart dropped.As I read the contents of the letter, tears dropped freely down my face, blurring the words until I had to blink several times to clear my vision enough to continue reading.The letter wasn't long. Maybe that made it worse somehow. All it said was how he loved me too much to keep putting me in harm's way and how it was best we separated because I was no longer safe with him.Each word felt like a knife cutting into my chest. I could picture him writing this, probably with tears in his own eyes, convincing himself he was doing the right thing. The noble thing. Protecting me by leaving me.But he was wrong. He was so completely, utterly wrong."That idiot," I whispered, then said it louder. "That complete i
The hospital hallway smelled like antiseptic and floor polish, sharp and chemical in a way that made Liam's eyes water if he breathed too deeply. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, casting everything in a harsh white glow that made everyone look slightly ill.While the police came to take statements and photograph evidence, Deborah and all those who had been injured were rushed to the hospital in a convoy of ambulances, their sirens wailing through the night like a chorus of grief.Liam had ridden in the ambulance with Deborah, holding her cold hand while the paramedics worked around him. Her face had been so pale, almost grey in the harsh ambulance lighting. Her breathing had been shallow and rapid, her pulse thready under his fingertips."Is she going to be okay?" he had asked the paramedic, a middle-aged woman with kind eyes."We're doing everything we can," she had replied, which wasn't really an answer at all.Now, hours later, Liam sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair in the I
Deborah smiled as she watched Emma play around the garden.The little girl was chasing butterflies through the rose bushes, her laughter carrying across the manicured lawn like music. Emma's dark hair bounced with each leap, and her small hands reached out, trying to catch the delicate insects that always managed to flutter just out of reach.It had easily been a couple of days since Liam brought her back to his family's home. Four days, to be exact. Four days of slowly piecing herself back together in this place that felt more like a fortress than a house, with its high walls and security cameras and armed guards stationed at every entrance.And though she still had a few nightmares about Noah and Alice and even sometimes Caleb, she knew she was getting better. The nightmares came less frequently now. Some nights, she even slept through until morning without waking up screaming.It was all thanks to Liam and Charlotte.She saw their effort in every small gesture. The way Liam never l
Liam's POV Please be fine. Please be safe.The words circled around my mind like a prayer. I couldn't stop repeating, over and over until they lost all meaning and became just sounds, just desperate noise filling the silence of my own fear.My hands gripped the dashboard of the lead security vehicle so hard my knuckles had gone white. Every second felt like an hour. Every mile stretched out endlessly in front of us.We were tracking the location of the last call Alice had made. One of my father's tech people had traced it within minutes, pulling strings and accessing systems that probably weren't entirely legal, but I didn't care about that right now. All I cared about was finding Deborah.Alice had ordered takeout and had it delivered to an abandoned warehouse at the outskirts of town, which was a bit far from the college. Too far. The distance made my chest tight with anxiety. What if we were too late? What if something had already happened?While I prayed for Deborah's safety, ano







