“What do you mean you just found her?” Someone with a slow, husky voice said above me. I could faintly smell pizza and I could tell I was quite warm, almost like I was swaddled in blankets as if I were a baby. I was very comfortable, but somewhere in the back of my mind I knew something was wrong.

How did I get here? Who are these people talking around me? Why can’t I move?

“Zayn found her while he was out for a smoke. Heard her screaming and pulled the scumbag off of her. I’ll call you guys when she wakes up.” Another person said. His voice was a little higher than the last and his accent was very distinguishable.

Something about what the second voice said rang a bell in the back of my mind. Screaming. If they’re talking about me, then that means I was the one who was screaming. That would explain why my throat stings. But why was I screaming?

The memories hit me like a sack of bricks. I was smoking after the show. The man came up from behind me. He kept hitting me and kicking me. I was scum. He – he – he raped me.

That realization shocked me awake. My eyes opened while my mind tried to process everything. I was beaten and raped and these strange boys had taken me somewhere and I was too warm and Amira – Amira must be worried sick!

“She’s awake! Oi, boys, she’s awake!” The second voice shouted to the others. He was perched on a coffee table, staring right at me. I quickly tried to take in my surroundings – I was on a couch, in what looked like a living room of a flat. I glanced down at my body, or where my body should have been. I was covered in what looked like ten different blankets. I whined as I tried to move them off of me.

The sudden action of attempting to move my limbs caused a shooting pain to erupt all over my body.

“Ow, goddamit.” I cursed, or tried to. My voice was barely audible. The boy jumped up, obviously confused.

“Do you want the blankets off?” He said, pulling them off once I nodded.

“Thank you, uh…?”

“Louis.”

Four other boys appeared at that moment, stumbling over each other to see me awake. The first one in the room had short brown hair and warm brown eyes, followed by a boy with blonde hair and bright blue eyes, a taller boy with a mess of curly brown hair and a boy tanner than the rest with black hair and glasses.

“Oh, good you’re finally awake! It’s been a couple of hours and we were starting to get nervous.” The boy with black hair and glasses said.

I started to become extremely self-conscious and anxious. I glanced down at my body and saw my clothes were completely covered with dirt and dried blood. Oh god, they all know what happened to me. One of them must have seen. I flushed and tried to stand up, only to sway and collapse back onto the couch.

“Woah, woah, woah, careful there. Take it easy,” Louis – I think that’s what he said his name was – told me as he steadied me and sat me back down. I gave him a small smile in gratitude.

“How are you feeling? Do you want some water or anything?” The boy with short brown hair and brown eyes said. “I’m Liam, by the way.”

“Water would be great, if its not too much trouble. You guys have already done so much. And I’m Dahlia.” I croaked, my throat raspy from my screaming earlier.

“That’s a pretty name,” the boy with curly hair noted. I noticed Louis gave him a look out of the corner of my eye. Curly shrugged. “I’m Harry.”

Glasses came back with a mug of water. I took it from him gratefully.

“I’m Zayn.” Oh, so he was the one that…

“You found me.” I whispered, not making eye contact as I played with the rim of my mug. I don’t know if it was just part of my imagination, but the whole room seemed to go silent as I said that.

“I had to help, I couldn’t just stand by – ”

“No, thank you. I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t find me or how long I would’ve laid there…” I trailed off. I felt like crying, but I knew the tears wouldn’t come. I was empty, numb.

“Do any of you have my bag? I need to call my cousin. She’s probably freaking out right now, thinking I was kidnapped or murdered or…” Or raped, I thought. Only that actually did happen to me.

The blonde boy went behind the coffee table that Louis was still sitting on and picked up my small, blue, fake leather bag.

“I’m Niall,” He stated, his voice thick with an Irish accent. I nodded and dug through my bag until I found my cell phone. I had five missed calls and ten unread text messages from Amira. I hit send on her number and held my phone gingerly to my ear.

“Dahlia thank god! Where the hell are you! It’s been like three hours since I saw you last! Are you okay, where the hell did you go!” Amira’s voice screeched over the line. I winced. How do I tell her what happened?

“Can you just come get me please? I’m really worn out and sore and I just want to go to bed. Please.” I knew I must have sounded unbelievably weak and pathetic to her, but that’s exactly what I was.

“Oh, of course, honey. Where are you?” Amira could tell instantly that something was very, very wrong. I looked around at her question, where was I? One of the boys apartments, sure, but where in London? I held my hand over the microphone on my cell and asked to the room at large,

“Uh, where am I?”

“Only about a block away from where I found you.” Zayn said quietly, so Amira couldn’t hear on her end of the line.

“I’ll meet you at the bar. And don’t freak out Amira, but I look pretty shitty. Don’t ask until we’re home, okay?” I said, trying to run my fingers through my blood-covered hair.

“Um, okay. See you soon. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

We hung up and I looked around the room.

“Do one of you guys mind walking with me? I don’t feel up to going out alone right now.” I felt pitiful asking, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to make the journey by myself. Louis jumped up almost immediately.

“Sure thing, love. Wouldn’t want you going on your own at the moment.”

I stood up cautiously, making sure not to collapse again. This time around I was steadier on my feet even though moving and walking around at all was agonizing. I was looking forward to a week of bed rest, that’s for sure. Louis kindly grabbed my purse for me, and we said goodbye to the rest of the boys.