Casey's Pov

I wake up feeling...nothing. No headache, no pain, no aches at all.

I open my eyes to see darkness.

No, no, no, no! I'm back in the basement!

No... it's a different room?

Why is it in darkness!?

I feel wires around me, but I can't see them, it's too dark.

My eyes start to adjust to the pitch black as I start to see the surfaces around me but soon, I wish I couldn't see anything at all.

I look across the room and see two red dots. I stare at them for a minute before they go out and come back, like it blinked?

It blinked...

It blinked!

The panic sets in as hear a loud beeping next to me and the creature smiles widely, sharp pointed teeth glowing in the dark.

I scream.

I scream so loud.

Where the hell am I?

Where's Damian?

"DAMIAN!" I scream.

Seeing the creature coming closer, I jump out of bed, ripping seemingly invisible wires away from my body. The beeping going long and continues.

I scream when I see another creature lurking close to me. I wrap my arms around my head, covering my ears too and scream hoping Damian will come.

Someone shouts my name.

I look up.

The lights flicker on and the creatures disappear.

My eyes adjust and instead of monsters in the dark I see a figure in their place, a strangely familiar person.

"O-Oliver?" I ask the figure before me.

"Yes, Cas, it's me" I see a man standing behind Oliver.

I start sobbing for a different reason now. "no. You're not real. Y-you're dead. You can't be real." My cruel minds playing more tricks on me and this incarnation of 'Oliver' is too perfect. It hurts my heart to look at.

"Cas, I'm real. I'm not d-"

"NO! You can't be real! I had to stand in your blood for days! You're dead!" I sob the words out.

He looks taken aback and so does the man next to him. 'Oliver' takes a step forward and I freak out.

I slam my own body against the wall. "No, don't come near me, DON'T TOUCH ME!"

The man next to 'Oliver' tries to hold him back "Oliver. Let the doctors deal with this, she's distraught."

"She needs to know I'm real, it'll help her" 'Oliver' says and takes another step forward, i slump to the floor, my legs giving out.

"STOP!"

"Case-"

"Don't touch me" I'm now begging.

"I'm not going to touch you" he kneels down and holds his arm out to me "you touch me, I'm real, I'm here. See for yourself."

I look into his eyes, it looks like Oliver, it looks just like him. I reach out a little before drawing back "please don't hurt me" I beg him again.

"I would never hurt you Cas, I love you, remember?"

I've heard Damian say those words and not mean them so many times they shouldn't have an effect on me. But hearing them come from Oliver.

Even if it's a fake 'Oliver'.

It means everything.

What do I have left to lose..?

I reach out again and lightly graze 'Oliver's' palm.

He's...real?

He's here.

I look into his eyes.

"Where's Damian? Where am I?"

Sadness cover comes his face, soon to be replaced with anger "He's gone. The police got him" his hand closes gently as he holds my fingers in his palm "you're in hospital munchkin, you're safe."

I...believe him.

"Y-you're really h-here?" I ask as more tears fall from my eyes, his eyes are watering too.

"Yeah munchkin, I'm here, it's me."

I don't waste another second and fling my arms around Oliver's neck and tightly hold him as I sob onto his shoulder "h-how?"

"I don't know Cas, I wasn't dead to begin with, I woke up, got hit by a car and came to hospital, i woke up a few days ago from a coma."

Oliver's arms wrap around my back and his voice sounds strained. I think he's crying too.

Doctors and nurses flood into the room, they try to talk to me and break me and Oliver up but I'm not letting go. I still don't know if this is real but I'm not letting it go that easy.

Somehow, we manage to stand up, I'm still holding Oliver tight and all that's left is a doctor and a nurse who are being really insistent about putting the IV back in.

I don't even look up until I hear a voice that makes me breakdown again.

"Baby?" A whisper cuts through the room.

"Mum?" I look up from Oliver to see mum in the doorway, tears rolling down her cheeks as she stares at me wide eyed and pale.

She runs to me and hugs me so tightly. "M-mum-m-my" I sob hysterically. She wraps me into a motherly hug and holds the back of my head stroking my hair. She presses kiss after kiss onto my head as we both cry.

———

I wake up. I didn't even know I was asleep.

The light is on.

Mum is next to me. She smiles when she sees I'm awake. Tears automatically well up in her eyes, she gives me a sad smile.

"Hi baby. Good to see you awake again."

I look around the room.

"Where's Oliver?"

"He's back in his room, he said he'd come back later."

"Where's Lou? Is he okay? Did he think I abandoned him at school? Was he upset? Does he hate me?" All the questions I've been worrying about come through.

"No baby, no. He could never hate you. The school rang me when no one picked him up, they looked after him until I got there" tears started escaping her eyes "then we couldn't find you- Casey, baby I was so worried I'd never see you again" she cried and hugged me.

"I didn't think I'd see you again either. Where's Lou?" She pulls away from the hug.

"At home with a babysitter. I wanted to bring him but I wasn't sure if-I didn't know what you'd be like. I didn't know the state you'd be in. I didn't want to scare him" I nod in understanding.

I look down at myself. Both my wrists are in casts. A square shaped bandage over his initials and a bandage where I cut myself and my hand bandaged up from the glass.

My eyes start to water and mum takes my non-bandaged hand and squeezes it tightly, reassuring me with a little sad smile.

A doctor walks in.

"Ah. Miss Nickels, I'm glad to see you're awake." I say nothing "I have a few questions for you. The first being about when you woke up last. Can you tell me what made you so frightened?"

In minimal words I reply "the dark."

"What about the dark?"

They're going to think I'm going crazy.

"I see things, creatures, they have glowing eyes. I only see them in the dark but I sometimes hear them whispering to me."

"Hmm, hallucinations and auditory hallucinations. When did they start?"

"When he put me in the basement" I heard my mother shrike, when I looked up, I seen she was trying not to cry.

"I see. Maybe a round of antipsychotics would be good to add to your medication. So, what did you feel when you seen these 'creatures'?" He jotted down in a notepad.

"Are you a doctor or a therapist?" I was actually confused, he smiled.

"I'm a doctor but I need to know so if it happens again then we know what to do and how to help."

"Just don't turn off the lights. And all I feel is fear."

He nods "Now, what's the last thing you remember?"

"the police saved me."

"Very good, and after that?"

"I fell asleep."

"Good. Now, I have some very private things to discuss that may make to uncomfortable. It is regarding your treatment. Are you okay for me to continue?"

I nod and mum squeezes my hand tighter.

"Okay. Well, after you fell asleep during the journey here, we were unable to wake you. Under further examination we seen that you had server internal bleeding. We were able to stop this however and then moved onto your wrists-"

"What do you mean internal bleeding?" Mum asks worried.

He took a second "Miss Nickels, we understand that you were sexually assaulted and as a result of the assault you suffered from several abrasions and tearing of tissue, one of which was partially bad and had closed from the outside but continued to leak blood on the inside."

I can't even describe the noise my mother made upon hearing this. The most painful cry came from her mouth as she broke down beside me.

Her daughter had been raped and she didn't know how to take it.

I didn't know what to do. I couldn't reassure her that I was fine because I'm not. So, I just watched her as she cried, she then got up and left.

I had unconscious tears falling down my cheek as I remembered what he did.

The doctor stood not knowing if he should continue.

"Please. Carry on."

He nodded "we cleaned up all your outside injuries and bandaged them up. Your left wrist was badly broken and we had to put 5 pins in as well as a cast to promote healing and the right one was fractured in two places so we also put a cast on that one. We put you on fluids and we are not happy about your weight but that will be something to build up on in the coming weeks. We were honestly surprised to see you awake and walking around so early, with the amount of blood you lost and all the damage to your body, we were caught completely off guard by your awakening. We were expecting you to go into a coma to recover from your injuries."

I could see he going around the point so I decided to just say it "what else about the internal damage from the assault?" I couldn't say the word. ′Assault' was easier, he understood.

"In terms of that, we are putting you on antibiotics to decrease the chance of infection and transmission of any sexual diseases. The abrasions should now heal themselves over time but things like going to the toilet may be painful. We are unsure about long term damage however, only time will tell. If you can remember, did he use protection?"

"No" I said bluntly.

"In that case, we could get you the morning after pill but it is not guaranteed to work as it has been more than 24 hours since and unfortunately, they do work as the sooner you take it the better."

"He gave me one in the morning."

The doctor looked at me for a second and nodded. He then looked me over and explained that I was on very strong pain meds and when I come off them it may feel like a 'bus ran me over', honestly, his exact words. I think he was trying to lighten the mood, it didn't work.

He told me the carving would scar and so would the whips but they would fade overtime. He informed me that the police would come by later.

After a while of staring out the window to my side I hear sniffles from the door way. Mum stood there looking at the tissue in her hands.

She looked at me "baby I'm so sorry, I never-I never would of thought something like this would happen. I don't know what to say. Why didn't you tell me he was 'Peter'?"

Ah yes, 'Peter' the babysitter.

"He threatened Lou."

"Oh baby" Mum led on the bed with me, my head on her shoulder as she hugged me. We stayed like that for some time until Oliver showed up at the door.

Mum smiled at him and got up.

"I'll give you two a minute" she left the room.

He silently and cautiously replaced mums place on the bed and wrapped his arms around me.

We didn't say anything he just held me.

I started to get an itchy feeling under one of my bandages, the one where he carved his name into my skin.

I want to see it.

I slowly pull the tape on one side but Oliver's hand stops me.

"Don't. Leave it."

"I want to see" he lets go of my hand and I peel the rest of it off.

I see it. All scabbed over. Clear as day.

'D. K'

I find my fingers tracing the scar.

"It'll be fine. It won't be as b-"

"He raped me" he goes silent "he left me for days standing in your blood. He manipulated me. He touched me. He belted me. He scarred me. H-he raped me, a-ll night, last n-night." I ball my fists in anger as silent tears rolled down my face.

Oliver said nothing more but pulled my head to his chest and held me.

———

A light knock on the door woke me from sleep.

"Hello. How is everyone?" I recognise the voice a little even though they whispered.

"To be expected" my mum replies, when did she get in here?

"Oliver's been discharged now and all I want to do is take him home but, as you can see. I don't have the heart to wake him" a man replies.

Keeping my eyes shut I realise me and Oliver fell asleep cuddling each other.

"They've been through a lot. Has she said anything about it?" Officer Andrews! I recognise.

The room falls silent "no but the doctors said enough" my mum reply's suddenly.

Oliver stirs in his sleep and wakes up.

His body tenses "dammit. Dad! You scared me staring like that!" I hear slight chuckles in the room.

"Sorry son but you looked so sweet" the man, Oliver's dad replies.

I hold Oliver closer "is she still asleep?" Officer Parker asks.

Oliver looks down at me and our eyes meet "no" I bury my head into Oliver's chest more. I don't want to see it speak to any of them.

"Hey Casey? You up for a talk?" Officer Parker asks. I shake my head and Oliver hands get tighter around me.

"It's okay Cas" he whispers.

"Hun, we just need to ask some questions" I hear officer Andrews.

"Baby, they just want to talk to you" mum reassures.

"Oliver we should leave."

"I'm not leaving her dad."

Too many people.

Too much.

I scoot closer to Oliver and hold him tighter whilst shaking. I shake my head frantically and start to sob into Oliver's chest.

"Too many people."

"She's overwhelmed and afraid. Maybe one on one would be best" Officer Andrews suggests.

Oliver leaves with his dad and I had to be pulled off him by mum.

"Mum i want you to go" she looks at me like I'm crazy "you don't have to hear this" I know they're going to ask me some questions that are going to be bad.

"Casey, I can't leave you, you're my baby I need to be here for you."

"Tell Lou I'll see him soon. Go home, please" reluctantly she leaves, she won't be able to handle hearing what happened.

Soon it's just me and the two officers I own my life to.

"Hi Casey" Officer Parker greets with a sad smile "are you feeling any better?"

I'm so sick of all the 'sad' pity smiles.

"I can't feel anything. Morphine" I point to one of the needles in my arm.

"Hun, are you okay to answer some questions for us? You can say no if you're not ready but we have to ask them."

"Let's just get them over and done with" they both come further into the room and sit down to the left of me.

"I'd like to start off by telling you that Damian Kyle is safely locked away in a jail cell. You won't have to see him again until the trial." I nod "okay, first question. We found the notebook you wrote about him and everything that happened, is there anything else that happened that isn't in the book?"

"I'm glad you found it. No, everything's in there."

"Good, that's good. Of course, we will need you to go over something's from it but it's good you kept track. It will be easier on you" I nod.

"Casey, what happened on the 3rd of April when he took you?" Officer Parker asks.

"I, I had a plan, I was going to take the book and hand it into the police with a statement but-" I look at them "you stopped me...But that wouldn't have mattered, I left the book in my locker and I would have had to go back anyway" I reassure them as I can literally see the guilt they have about it.

"I went to class and he stopped me from leaving. He got angry about my hair and then left the room locking the door behind him. When he came back, he dragged me to his car. When we were in the car he started to laugh.

He wouldn't tell me where we were going and when I protested be choked me. He took my necklace when he found out it was from Oliver...He ordered food then, I started asking questions about how he killed Oliver. That's when I found out he never even had a gun. It was just to scare me.

He then held a cloth to my mouth that burned my lungs from the chemicals. I tried to fight it but I couldn't. I fell asleep whilst he stroked my hair." I finish telling them what happened, swallow hard and I feel tears wanting to come out my eyes but I don't let them, not yet.

"Chloroform?" Officer Parker asked.

"He-he told me he tested it on L-Lou when he would babysit" I look down, I'm still devastated that I never noticed that Lou was being drugged by that man.

"What happened when you woke up?"

"I um, I was in his room and...the sun was setting... I had a really bad headache... I was on his bed with him and he had his arms around me. I freaked out and tried to get out the room but he had locked the door. When I tried to go out the window, he dragged me by my hair to the bed.

He got on top of me...He assured me that he wasn't going to rape me and that he was only playing, that's what he always called it, playing. He started kissing my neck." I started to squirm as I remembered the feeling of his lips on me. I scratched my neck with my nails as I could still feel his mouth on my neck, his breath on my ear.

"It's okay hun, take your time. We're getting everything down, like you said, the sooner we do this the better" officer Andrews says.

"I was still trying to get him off me but he told me to stop because he might 'lose control' and get too 'excited'. When he let go of my hands, I tried to push him off but he got...angry, he said ′I'm not going to fuck you. Like I've already said, I'm only playing. You try to stop me, push me off and fight then bad things will happen'" I quoted him exactly.

"What bad things?"

"He said it would get worse. He would do more...worse things. He then told me to put my hands by my head or by my sides. He then continued to kiss my neck. When he was done, he pulled me so I was sitting up, he asked me if I had any idea what I did to him, he kept listing things like my smile and voice, he then took my hand and made me touch his erection through his trousers.

When he let go, I moved away and he dragged me back. He screamed at me ′what did I tell you!′ and hit me. H-He told me to never run from him. He then k-kissed me on the lips and stared kissing down my neck again and moving onto my collar bone, going further down than before."

I took a breath knowing the worst was yet to come. I can't breakdown yet.

"He kept asking me who I belonged to. I was crying silently when he grabbed my breast, I hit his hand away. He-he got v-very angry. He slapped me, twice, he ended up splitting my lip. He grabbed my neck and then got be-between my legs. He bit my neck and started...grinding on me..."

"This all happened when you woke up?" Officer Parker enquired, I nodded "Casey, what did he do next?"

"H-he stopped when I started screaming. He said I-I shouldn't have pushed him and that he warned me. He tried to comfort me but when he seen it only made me worse, he went to get dinner ready, he kept telling me to give 'us' a chance. I fell asleep crying."

They looked stunned.

Silence for a minute "what happened next?"

"I woke up again, everything in the house was locked up, he cut off my nails because I filed them into points to scratch him with."

They smiled at this.

"He set up dinner and I refused to eat anything because he might have drugged it...He insisted that I called him by his first name so I told him to screw himself. He told me people would think me and Oliver ran away together but he never used his name, he used to say 'that boy' or the 'little shit' he really didn't like him. He planned on going to America, he booked flights for, well tomorrow."

"Why America?"