TW: rape (not illustrated, just mentioned briefly/alluded to)

***

Sydney Bay Janes

"CHYNA!" I gasped at the sight of my best friend's body sprawled out on my porch.

She lied face down but I knew it was her from the tramp stamp on her lower back of a butterfly.

None of her words were intelligible, just muffled groans I tried to make out.

She was in pain, though, that's for sure.

"Help me get her up!" I cried out to Will who was just standing there.

Both of us barefoot and flabbergasted, did our best to rope her inside without causing her anymore hurt.

She moaned, hurting me too as she was my best friend and I empathized with her.

We couldn't get her for so Will only dragged her over the threshold and we left her body in the foyer.

On my hardwood floors, her body was hot, her clothes ripped, and bruises on her wrists, neck, and legs. My jaw dropped at the sight.

"Look," Will whispered to me, his eyes alluding to her bloody thighs.

Teeth marks were sunken into her flesh and I could see she was not wearing any underwear under her pleather skirt.

Having witnessed this, I felt heavy and fell into my bottom. I curled my legs to my chest and mumbled.

"No, no, no, no," I chattered, shooing away my own negative theories.

I hoped what I thought wasn't at all close to the reality of what happened.

Her body shivered. "A blanket, now!" I yelled at Wilson with a snap of my fingers.

He got up, not tearing his eyes from my best friend until the last second.

"Oh, Chyna," I sobbed, picking the debris from her disheveled hair.

Upon returning, Will threw the blanket across Chyna and then pulled me to the side.

"She shouldn't be here," he fretted.

My eyes looked straight into his hazel ones.

"This is my best friend we're talking about, what do you mean she shouldn't be here?!"

He looked around, I could see the worry written on his forehead.

"This can't be safe, Syd. Let's get her to a hospital, call an ambulance.

My head shook, I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"With everything going on, I just want to be safe. Whoever did this, what if it's connected to Karina? Miranda, Omar?" He listed.

I gulped. Perhaps he had a point, then the culprit could be on their way to me. . .

I offed Karina and Miranda, but no one knows that. After Detective Buckler interrogated me, I had to keep a low profile. While I had no idea what happened to Chyna or who did it, I didn't need to be questioned again.

I stormed away from Will in the foyer and ran to the bedroom to get my phone.
In the next minute, they said they were on their way.

"I'm going to go with her," I said to Wilson.

He grabbed my hand, stopping me from raiding my closet for a jacket, pair of flip-flops, and to pack a bag of extra comfy clothes for Chyna.

"Will!" I argued, snatching away.

His mouth tightened. "Be careful, alright?"

"Ya," I huffed, zipping my jacket.

I pushed the hair behind my ear and then made sure I had my wallet, phone, and bag packed.

"What are you going to tell Damian?" I asked him as we waited.

"Not my place to tell him," Will answered.

That's when we saw flashing red and blue lights outside of my building.

I swallowed hard, looking down at an unconscious Chyna.

"Go," Will urged, "let me know when you get there."

I let the professionals inside and they did their job, hoisting her body onto a stretcher to transport her into the back of the ambulance where I hopped inside to ride along.

The emergency responder asked me what happened and I had no idea what to tell him - that was the worst part. But I had an idea. . .

***

"Sydney?" The croaking sound woke me up the next morning.

"Huh? I'm up!" I grumbled, almost falling out my position.

I didn't mean to but I fell asleep in the chair in the corner of the room instead of the pull-out. All the waiting put me out and I still hadn't heard from the doctor or a nurse.

I was just happy she's awake.

"Chyna!" I breathed out, lunging to be at her side.

It warmed my heart to see that she looked better in the hospital bed than she did on my doorstep. That was a scary image.

Her head to my chest, she started to cry. I pulled away to look around her pale face.

"I-" she struggled to talk.

"Shh, you don't have to say anything," I assured her, stroking her head of hair.

"I should've listened to you," she cried, "you were right."

I immediately knew this was Tony's doing. My fear had come true, he hurt her, but this was not an "I told you so" moment.

I hung my head in shame.

"I didn't say no, but I said stop. He was hurting me. W-we were just toasting in his office, him and some friends, his manager..." she told.

I whispered, "Donovan."

"They said they wanted to have fun. Tony offered me a line — of coke— I didn't do it, but they all did. He told me to start dancing so I did. The men, it was like three of them, they watched. Tony told me he would give me money if I slept with him. I said I couldn't do that to you. The men started saying what they wanted him to do to me and Tony's pride kept going up. H-he started kissing me and at first, I let him, just for the money. Then he got more rough and they started telling him to take off my clothes. I told him to stop, but... he just kept going. He was so rough," she broke down.

I choked up, but didn't want her to see me crying too. I stayed strong at least while she finished telling me what exactly occurred.

She was strong, continuing the story.

Her lip quivered with every hesitation, and she stared blankly at nothing.

"I told him you wouldn't like this and he hit me. He just kept hitting me and trying to get my clothes off. I tried fighting him, I said stop. Donovan held me down while Tony— the men just watched, smoking their cigars. Then they just left me there. Donovan came back and put me in a car. He dropped me off at the stop sign, I had to walk the rest of the way but I couldn't. I was in so much pain, I crawled. I wanted to go home and forget this happened, but all I could think about was you. And I'm sorry," she sniffled against the fabric of my shirt.

"Shh," I hushed her, kissing the top of her head.

I could've said the typical bullshit, "you'll be okay," but I don't know that.
What I did know is, Tony would never get the chance to hurt her, or anyone else again.

Chyna winced, doubling over at the sudden sensation of a sharp pain in her lower stomach region.

"Nurse!" I ran to the door to call for help. Two came running. One lady told me that I had to get out.
When I didn't budge, she kindly forced me outside, shoving my bag at my chest.

I stood there, hoping Chyna would, in fact, be alright.

My breathing quickened, chest inflating.

"SHIT!" I cursed, kicking over a nearby chair.

Eyes of innocent bystanders fell on me as I paced about and then ultimately made my exit with one thing on my mind.

DING-DONG!

When ringing the bell didn't work, I banged on the front door.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Still, no answer.

I had the idea to check the backyard.

Crossing the fence, I saw Delaney messing in the flower bed.

She was on her knees in a smock and sun-visor. Beside her body, a wine tumbler.

"Drinking before noon?" I asked, spilling out the cup.

"It's water," she corrected me, standing under my body. Oh.

It actually was just water.

Well that's a first, I thought in my head.

"What do you want?" She asked, going around my body.

I scanned the yard, all of Will's hard work was long gone. She had completely uprooted everything and failed to maintain the landscaping.

"When I was twelve, I asked my mom to teach me how to do makeup. She never wore it much, all she ever had was blush and mascara," I said with a little laugh there at the end.

Delaney, with her messy hair, bobbed her neck at me.

I sat on the deck, patting the space beside me so she'd follow.

When she remained standing in the grass, I continued.

"You came over one night, trying to get my mom to go out with you. You had this, um, blue sparkly dress on and red pumps. I remember thinking you looked like a celebrity. Seriously, you looked amazing. Your hair was in this Snooki-like bump, it was insane. As she got ready, you came in my room and caught me playing in some play makeup I got as a gift that Christmas, remember?"

She eased up, giving me a bit of a chuckle.

With a groan due to her aching knees and back, she sat next to me on the wooden planks.

"Yeah, I do. You had on this God awful purple eye shadow and a bright pink lip," she told, cracking up.

I threw my head back, embarrassed, but laughed.

"God, and I wore a pair of her work heels. They were, like, two inches!"

"Literally kitten heels, I always wished she'd throw them away. I wanted to burn those damned things."

I sighed. "Then you sat me down in my vanity, wiped that horrible paint off, and told me I was beautiful just the way I am."

"You were missing a tooth on the side and never wanted to smile in pictures," Delaney reminisced.

I slid my palms against one another, shaking the hair over my shoulder.

"Then you curled my hair, put some blush on my cheeks, and told me to look in the mirror and say 'I love you.'"

Delaney swallowed, I could see the tears gathering in a pool at the corner of her left eye.

"That wasn't something my mother taught me, you did. And I've always loved you for it," I admitted, brushing my skin against her bare shoulder.

Her voice cracked. "You were always the daughter I never had!"

I let my tears fall and melted into her much needed hug. All felt right in the world again, at least in that moment.

"I'm sorry I stopped calling, I'm sorry I said you're not my aunt when you're so much more than that. You took me in when I needed somewhere to go and had no one. I should've been more grateful and I shouldn't have left you how I did," I apologized gravely.

She shook her head. "Thank you, I needed to hear that. I'm sorry for everything I said, I was nasty. I've been missing you these past couple weeks, why I've stopped drinking. You represent everything I always thought I was, but never had the beauty or balls to be. Sydney, you're all I have left, too. I love you."

We cried together in a beautifully powerful moment I never knew I needed. Delaney was my aunt and I was happy we got to have a heart to heart. She was misunderstood, we both were. Little did I ever know, we just had so much in common.

"Gosh, we look crazy crying out here. Come inside, coffee?" She offered, helping me up.

*

The place was a mess, I think it was a reflection of her mental state. Though, instead of trash like before, it was more so art literally everywhere.

She took advantage of the fact that she owned the home and had a lot of time on her hands, painting a huge mural of the sea on a living room wall.

While Delaney perfected her drink, I stood from the table and walked over to get a better look at the painting that had been calling to me.

My eyes immediately met the coral reef smack dab in the middle of the piece.

"What, um, what's this?" I inquired about her art.

"Oh," she bubbled, walking over to me whilst stirring her black coffee.
Delaney blew the drink and then said, "The sea is just so calming to me. Every night I've been listening to ocean sounds to put me to sleep. I don't know, this vision came to me in a daydream one day. I don't know. You like?"

"Coral," I said to myself lowly with a small smile. I looked down at my stomach and reminded myself there was life inside.

"Did you say something?" Asked Delaney, now sitting on the couch.

I put my mug of water of the coffee table and exhaled.

Rubbing my knees, I said, "Delaney — I mean, Aunt Delaney— we both said horrible things to each other. I wasn't the most supportive and you had your faults. I'm willing to put everything behind us, but it's not going to happen overnight."

She took some time to understand, slowly coming to nod her head and agree.

"You're right, but this is a start. I'm glad you stopped by," she said, walking me out.

I grinned at the front door.

She gave me another hug.

"What are you going to do now?"

I vibrated my lips at the question. "I think I overstayed my welcome in Nevada. Aha. I'm not sure, yet, but wherever I go, I'll call you. Deal?"

My aunt flashed her teeth at me. "I'll pick up," she promised, letting my hand go.

I waved so hard at Delaney as I pulled out of her driveway that my hand could've fallen off. She was like a grandmother sending her grandchildren off, but it was cute.

A stop sign caused me to brake. With no cars behind me, I took the time to make a call now that that's handled.

My acrylic nails tapped against the dashboard as I impatiently waited for an answer.

"Who's this?" He asked.

"Hello to you, too, Donovan," I talked.

"Sydney," he gathered. "He's been expecting your call."

I smirked, looking under my nails. "Well you know me, always there when he needs me."

Donovan cackled. "What made you change your mind?"

Pulling off, I said, "Oh, just a change of heart, I guess..."