I wasn’t sure what time it was when I got the email, but it was sometime during the witching hour. Past midnight, but not late enough for most people to be awake.

I was completing some files of patients while simultaneously researching for my paper on mental illnesses and all about them. That was when my home laptop charging on my small couch behind me lit up with a notification.

I pushed away from my desk and let my chair roll me over to my computer. I opened my email inbox and clicked on the new message.

Hello fellow graduates of 2030!

We are hosting a high school reunion for our year on Saturday the 19th.

It will be held at The Heaven’s Restaurant and Bar from 4pm until midnight, and everyone’s name will be registered on the list once your RSVP is sent.

If you do not send an RSVP, your name will not be on the list, and you won’t be able to enter.

Please respond by Friday!

Thank you and we hope to see you on Saturday!

- Elizabeth (Liz) Weber and Maya (May) Hendriks

“Oh my gosh,” I mumbled to myself as my memories began to flood back. “Liz and May!”

That was when my door opened and Diane walked in again. “Hey, Lils, did you get the email?”

“From Liz and May?” I asked, putting down my computer again and pushing away from the couch. “Yeah, wanna go?”

“It’s a bit of a late notice, but do you think we can make it?” she asked me, coming to sit on my couch, carefully avoiding my pile of shit just sitting on my couch.

“Do you wanna go?” I asked again, leaning my elbow on the armrest of my office chair, resting my chin in my palm.

She shrugged. “Do we have time?”

I turned around and pulled my work laptop closer to me on the table. Clicked on one of the millions of tabs to open my schedule and checked the itinerary for Saturday.

“We’re free after five,” I told her, turning my chair back around to face Diane. “Is it okay if we’re a little late?”

She smiled. “Sure!”

...

Saturday rolled around, and we weren’t as booked as usual. Most often, Fridays and Saturdays were the most packed days of the week, but somehow, our Saturday wasn’t as bad as usual.

We had sent our RSVP just a few minutes after we had decided to go together. Unfortunately, we had not thought about what we would wear, which led to a lot of chaos after we closed. Isaac just looked on amusedly. He had replied that he’d go as well, and he and his boyfriend were already dressed and waiting on us.

I finally managed to dig far enough into my wardrobe to find my small reserves of ‘fancy’ clothes.

I chose a knee length pale blue dress with a white sash around my waist and wrapped a white ribbon around my head to match.

I picked up the same bag from my two nights of fun with Orchid, the white clutch with the gold chain strap, and strung it around my body. Dropped my phone and my wallet into the small bag before zipping it up and turning to find shoes.

Decided on plain white tennis-shoe-designed heels to make me look casual but also taller, along with a gold bracelet, necklace, and earrings set to match my bag.

I walked into Diane’s room once I had finished getting ready to find her dressed as well.

She was wearing a jumpsuit that was long sleeved but also off-the-shoulder with ruffles. It was a dark purple that suited her dark skin and near-black hair. She had her tightly-braided hair in another larger braid, loose and waist long. She had added purple extensions a month ago, and they matched her outfit perfectly.

She was wearing gold jewelry, just like I was, and her shoes were dark purple stilettos.

“Ready?” I asked her as I admired her outfit. “You look awesome, by the way.”

“Thank you,” she said as she smiled down at me and my measly five feet, three inches height. Even with my heels, I only managed her actual height of five foot six. But she was wearing heels, too, so now she was another three inches taller than me. “Let’s go!”

It was half past five when we finally left our shared apartment, but because the drive took thirty minutes, we arrived a good two hours late. Isaac’s boyfriend, Nathan, drove while Isaac sat shotgun, leaving Diane and me to take up the backseat.

When we got there, before we left the car, I demanded that everyone crowd around as I made Isaac take a selfie of us all using my phone.

“Okay, now we can go in!” I said as I smiled at the picture, and everyone opened their doors at once.

Diane and I walked behind the boys as they held hands and lovingly stared into each other’s eyes. I was surprised that they hadn’t tripped yet, as absorbed in each other as they were.

“Names?” the girl at the door asked. She was holding a tablet in her arms as she glanced at the two of us. Isaac and his boyfriend had already entered just moments before us.

“Lily and Diane Miracle,” I told the girl, and she looked at us. 

Glanced from her to me before nodding, smiling, and holding the door open for us as she said, “Have fun, ladies.”

The Heaven’s Restaurant and Bar was a restaurant and bar, as the name suggested. It was a chic place where a lot of people in their twenties to thirties spent their crazy night outs. I hadn’t been yet, but I was excited to be here.

We made a beeline for the bar and took a seat on the stools. It was relatively empty here because everyone was either on the dance floor already or sitting at the tables for their dinner.

I picked up the menu that was conveniently lying on the counter in front of us and opened it.

“So what should we get?” I asked her.

Then my eyes landed on the garlic fries, and Diane must’ve had the same thought because we simultaneously said, “Spicy fries!”

We laughed together. It was a little inside joke between us, from the day we met.

Our parents brought her home sometime while I was at school, apparently right before I came home, and introduced us to each other.

“Lily, this is Diane,” they told me. “She’ll be your new sister.”

I smiled shyly. “Hi,” I said.

“H-hi,” she nervously replied.

Seeing the hesitancy between us, our parents decided to take us out for dinner. I can’t remember where exactly it was. It had been nearly eighteen years since we met, so I guess lacking memory wasn’t that surprising.

But our parents ordered garlic fries for us to share as an appetizer as we avoided each other’s gaze and sat far from each other on the bench. Then the waiter arrived with a large, steaming plate of fries and set it in front of us, in the middle of the table.

“Dig in, girls,” our dad told us, and we each glanced nervously at the other before reaching a hesitant hand out to grab a fry.

In unison, we put the fries in our mouths, still avoiding each other’s gazes. I had barely chewed them for a second before the scorching heat of the spices and temperature stabbed my tongue and I said, “Spicy fries!”

It seemed that our minds had been in sync because she had said the exact same at the exact time, though neither of us noticed because of our preoccupation.

We spit out the fries into napkins and took gulps of ice water before setting the glasses down and letting out a sigh.

That was when we looked up at each other and smiled, just as we were smiling as we sat on the bar.

“Want a drink, too?” she asked me as we finally turned back to the laminated menu. “Alcoholic, non-alcoholic?”

“How about we start with plain soda,” I told her, and we laughed again for no reason.

“Soda it is!”

...

I don’t know what fucking happened, but I think I was fucking drunk. I think I only had, like, two drinks? And they weren’t even that fucking strong, right?

What the fuck?

I don’t fucking know, but I think I lost Diane about a drink ago, and the dance floor looked like a spinning kaleidoscope of bouncing shapes and colors, and I was swaying on my fucking feet. Why did I wear fucking heels?

It felt like I was floating and falling at the same time as I stumbled past the empty tables and chairs, weaving my clumsy ass through the crowd.

Who knew I was a fucking lightweight?

Well, I did. At least, I think I did. Hadn’t I gone drinking before? With my friends… what were their names? It started with a ‘D’ and some shit… I don’t know…

I couldn’t even remember where the fuck I was or what the fuck was happening. I’m sure I was a responsible-ass adult… wait, was I even a fucking adult?

If I was an adult, I surely wouldn’t be this fucking irresponsible, right? Why’d I get so fucking drunk at a party with no one around me? That seems fucking stupid, so I must be a dumbass teenager, right?

Yeah, I just had that stupid fight with my parents earlier today, right? Yeah, so now I’m here to get rid of my stupid fucking troubles.

Everyone did always say that alcohol seemed to wipe away your fucking problems… they didn’t say that it added fucking problems, too, those bitches.

Yeah, my mom didn’t fucking like that I went to that fucking Christmas party every year since I was a fucking freshman. She didn’t fucking like that I fucking lied about it, too.

Did something happen?

There was this weird, fuzzy image in my brain, but I couldn’t seem to focus on it. Something seemed to buzz on my face, my lips and cheeks, the back of my head, my hair. What was this feeling?

Something must’ve happened, but I didn’t know what, and what the fuck, I didn’t care… I mean, of course I fucking cared, but like, I couldn’t fucking care…

That made no fucking sense to my own damn brain, but again, it’s like I couldn’t fucking care. I was too fucking drunk. Imagine, my lightweight ass getting drunk from, like, two fucking drinks, how fucking pathetic?

But then I stumbled into someone, someone fucking tall and strong, and I knew this because they caught my ass as I practically fucking fell into their fucking arms.

“Oops!” I said in a voice at least two fucking octaves above my normal voice. I gave a fucking giggle like the dumbass teenager I was. Hiccuped once. “Sorry!”

I giggled again before slumping against this fucking stranger, still fucking giggling and hiccuping. This person was fucking strong to be able to hold me, but they didn’t seem that bulky. Not a bodybuilder, then!

It might’ve even been a damn girl for all I fucking knew, fucking smashed as I was.

“Hic-! Sorry!” I repeated. 

My vision was either completely fucking failing me or my eyes were fucking closed. Either way, I couldn’t see shit, so…

I tried to fucking climb my way back to standing using this person’s fucking body, their steady-ass arms helping me stand on my own fucking feet.

“You’re all right,” a voice finally said, and I felt the rumble of their chuckle from the fucking chest pressed against my fucking hand. “Hi, Lily.”

It turned out that my eyes had been closed, so I opened them to see the face of my savior.

“Grayson?” I slurred.

He laughed again, his hands not releasing my biceps as he kept me standing. “Yeah, it’s me. It’s been a while, Lily.”

“Oh my gosh, hi!” I replied bubbly. “It has been ssso fucking looong, right? Wow, like, shit, what the fuck happened?”

He looked at me with shock on his face before laughing again. “You sure are full of surprises, Lily,” he told me with a wide smile, reaching a hand out to trail the edge of my hair, my jawline, my collarbone. He was spinning. Or was I spinning? Or was the fucking floor spinning? I don’t know, but I was getting fucking dizzy! “You used to be Little Miss Goody Two Shoes! What happened? Are you still a fucking virgin?”

I laughed. “That’sss a rude question to asssk, Grayson,” I slurred giddily.

“Oh, I know,” he said with a smirk, his hand dropping to slide past my boobs to come to a rest on my ribs, rubbing me through my dress. “So, what? You been fucked before?”

“That’sss… a sssecret!” I slurred again, laughing as I squirmed under his touch.

Something in the back of my head told me that something was wrong. Something was very fucking wrong, but all the booze was doing my head in.

“I guess Little Lily hasn’t been able to get laid, huh?” he said, his hand gripping my waist tightly, and I laughed. “Have you, you little bitch?”

His hand let go of my waist and began to travel lower until he was holding my ass in his hand. 

“I’m not a bitch,” I told him dazedly, trying to pull my hips forward and away from his grip, but he didn’t let me go. “And why do you think I’ve never been fucked?”

He laughed before that hand on my ass practically fucking shoved me into his face, crushing his mouth to mine and using both of his hands on me to pull me into him. He tasted awful, like beer and something else very very gross that seemed to just be his taste.

I gagged, unsure of how much more I could take before I threw up, but then he broke off. He laughed before turning, dropping my ass and using my arm to keep me with him. Started walking towards the back where I could just barely make out the blurry outline of a door. Where were we going?

“Where are you taking me, Grayson?” I asked giddily as I tried to forget his taste, laughing as he started speeding up, yanking me with him. “Ow, that hurts!”

With those words, a spark seemed to ignite in my brain and my instincts kicked in. Or my fucking common sense, whatever, and I seemed to realize somewhat unconsciously and consciously that he was trying to take me away to most likely rape me!

“Grayson, what the fuck?” I said, my voice going from joyful to panicked in a heartbeat. “What the fuck are you doing, why’re you taking me? Where are you taking me?”

“Shut your filthy mouth, bitch,” he hissed, his eyes dark and dangerous as he glared at me. “Shut your damn mouth before I make you!”

I shivered as another memory filled my head. Shivering from pleasure doled out by someone I couldn’t seem to remember. This person that was safe and kind and amazing.

Who was it?

“Help!” I decided to shout after processing. “Help, he’s trying to-”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, BITCH!” Grayson hissed in my face, spit flying out and landing on my cheeks. His grip on my arm held me like a vice, and I could feel the breaking of my fucking blood vessels. He threw his other hand to crush my neck and he glared daggers at me. “You’re coming with me whether you fucking want to or not, got it bitch?”

I think I was crying like a fucking baby, but I couldn’t give a fuck. I was terrified. I’d heard of rapists, homicides done after a crazy person raped someone, but I…

Shit, if I hadn’t fought with my mom, I wouldn’t be here, about to die.

Fuck.

“Now, let’s go, bitch!” he hissed. He roughly dropped my neck, sliding his hand down my chest like the gross molester he was, groping at my boobs through the fabric of my dress and bra before he turned  around to stalk to the back door. “Dumbass Lily, just like you were back in high school, huh?”

I blinked.

That’s right, I was not in high school. I’m a full-ass grown adult! That fight with my mom was twelve years ago. I’m fucking twenty-nine years old! Get a fucking grip, Lily!

But there was nothing I could do. This classmate from so many years ago. I never knew he was so… evil.

No one even noticed us over the darkness and flashing lights, the booming music and stomping of feet. And I was fucking drunk and dizzy and clumsy. How the hell was I going to get out of this?

I was so fucked.

“Hey!” a voice called over the noise. “What the fuck’s happening here?”