“A year ago I was sexually assaulted.”

These words caused monumental pain to Haven’s parents. When they first heard the words they fell silent. Their eyes were left wide and tears came freely without sound. It was like you could see their hearts breaking. The long silence caused only doubt and fear for Haven. She had said those words and the response though deeply caring from a certain view was not superficially supportive. Haven squeezed my arm tighter and tighter as she kept falling to her own fears.

“Who?” Haven’s Father spoke these words coldly. I had an idea what he would do with this information. However her father’s reaction only scarred Haven more.

“What are you doing?” I asked, disgusted. My eyes only sent signs of deep doubt and worry. Fortunately Haven’s Mother caught on to my message. She immediately rushed toward Haven and kept her in a deep hug. It was too late to ask if she was okay, the words she could say now were-

“It must have been so hard all alone.” It seemed like Haven’s Mother knew just the right thing to say. Haven’s grip on my arm loosened and then she grabbed her Mother tight. It seemed like the trauma was recovering quickly. Usually that meant that the person had made lots of effort but was still held back by something. Haven’s Father seeing her in such a state came to his senses and also joined their family hug. It felt slightly awkward to be the only one sitting alone, but it was a small price to pay. They continued hugging for a very long time.

“I apologize.” Haven’s Father said with a worried look. He probably finally realized how foolish he was.

“It’s fine everything you did was out of concern for Haven.” I replied hoping to put it behind us for the sake of Haven.

“I can’t forgive myself so easily, the way we treated you was unforgivable. When we couldn’t do anything for her, you helped her, yet we treated you so poorly. I owe it all to you, I cannot apologize enough.” I could tell his sincerity and decided to take advantage of his kindness in the future a little.

“I can put that behind us, however there is something more important.” I said, completely serious.

“That bastard who did this to Haven, he is going to have to die.” Haven’s father answered like it was a matter of fact. At least we agreed on this.

“I would like your help in the process, having the help of adults would be fundamental. No matter how far in the future.” I said.

“Of course we will help, but what do you mean by, far in the future?” Haven’s Father asked with a bulge in his eyes.

“Simple, I will not take action against him yet.” My words caused immense anger in the bear sitting across from me. However he might have learned not to take action against me considering he didn’t immediately maul me.

“Why should we not take action against him now? A bug like him needs to be squashed as soon as possible.” Haven’s Father had a fury in his eyes that I knew came from the deepest part of his heart.

“While I agree that he should be exterminated. Haven isn’t the only one he did this too” Everybody except myself was shocked at this.

“But why should we wait? Even if there are more, we need justice for my daughter now.” Haven’s Father, though shocked, would not give up easily.

“What Haven has been through, five more girls have gone through it. More so how have they lived since then? Most of them are likely in a situation similar to Haven’s. They are owned by their past, their trauma, to squash the bug can help Haven. However, how can I sit and see those five girls not get their justice, to not be released from their chains. There are five more families that went through that- No that didn’t get to go through what happened today. Killing the bug is easy, but helping others is not.” My words revealed my true emotions. Being alone is painful, to be forced to be alone is terrible. Everyone at the table sat and thought about my words.

“Why are you trying to do something so difficult?” Haven’s Father asked with a contemplative look on his face.

“As long as my heart wants to help them I don’t need any further reason.” I said, considering my deep feelings.

“Mom, Dad I want to help them too. If waiting can help them like Azure helped me, then I need to wait.” It appears their daughter’s words had sealed their actions.

“Fine, however you need to keep in contact with us. You should come over at least once a week.” I could feel a cunningness from Haven’s Mother.

“That will be fine.” I answered, everything had a cost.

After I agreed to meet them once a week the parents went back to comforting their daughter. I layed back down on the couch and tried my best not to be too uncomfortable. A while later Haven’s Mother walked over to me with medicine and a phone. I swallowed the medicine gratefully.

“You need to call your parents.” Haven’s Mother said and handed me the phone.

“I'll just call the school.” I said trying to avoid the topic.

“You need to call your parents, they’re bound to be worried about you.” She repeated. It seems that mothers are indeed quite forward.

“My parents aren’t worried about me, I will just call the school.” I repeated.

“Why wouldn’t your parents be worried about you? You didn’t return home last night.” She insisted on moving forward with the conversation. I guess I could only tell the truth.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“My Father’s work is very important.” I said trying to hide any emotion.

“That’s no reason not to care, and what of your mother?” She asked prying even further. Did she have 0 eq, how was she so insensitive when she is that cunning?

“My Mother passed away a long time ago.” I said dangerous emotions were leaking out of me. She finally snapped back to a shocked face and started to worry herself. She finally decided to end it there and left. I called the school to tell them I was sick and then went back to sleep.

I was awoken to a delicious smell, tomato soup. Haven had woke me and invited me to eat. I obediently rose to the occasion and sat at the table. The tomato soup, like the other meal, was delicious. She had something to her dishes that I just didn’t.

When I looked out the window it was just past noon. I knew staying here any longer would only be imposing. Mr. Haven agreed to take me home. I gave a quick goodbye to the family and went back to my father's house. The difference between the two houses was huge. Though my father’s house was likely many times more expensive than Havens, the contrast between them was clear.

Only back in this house I felt alone again.

I felt slightly satisfied with Haven’s situation now. The path from here was simple. Five more.

The next day I had almost completely recovered from the cold, though my body was still sore. I decided to go to school, there were many things to do. I once again got the ‘Royal Treatment’ and was avoided. I had already predicted there would be rumors about my absence. But it really meant nothing. Life in school just got monotonous. There were very few people I was not indifferent to seeing. It happened to be because of chance that they were all girls. When I walked in the classroom I was immediately ambushed by Abby and Bell.

“Where were you yesterday?” Bell asked.

“I got sick.” I answered, revealing too much information now would be bad.

“Is it bec-” Abby started.

“Yes.” I answered and walked past them to my desk. Abby seemed to feel guilty. I took a peek and Kaede seemed to look uncomfortable. I still regretted the words I spoke to her. It felt depressing to not be able to understand her feelings. I knew just how bad I had treated her, but my words still lingered in my mind.

I kept my head down in class and drowned in my own thoughts. It felt like no answer was right, nothing was real. Like trying to reach and grab water, easily reached but futile in the end. I knew that I needed to apologize, but how was still a mystery.

“I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have left you there alone.” Abby said, avoiding my gaze.

“You shouldn’t have, but it turned out fine in the end.” I replied without feeling it.

“What do you mean it turned out well in the end?” She asked, suspicious.

“It means exactly what I said.” Repeating myself was annoying.

“You have to explain more. How could it be fine? I left you alone with her, only leaving you with an address. You haven’t recovered from last time and still have a broken arm. You even ended up sick and didn’t come to school yesterday.” She sounded worried. But it did not grab any sympathy.

“Aren’t you the one who left me in that position? I knew you might have had something to do, but you still left me there alone. You say you worry about me with all those things, but you didn’t consider that when you left me. If I say it went fine, then all you have to do is trust me.” Part of me knew this would just push us further apart. Abby just fell silent, all the words we had said to each other were true. If you were to just follow what normal people would do, it would be easy to just leave.

“I’m sorry for that, but please don’t push me away. I know that I was wrong but I don’t want to leave you alone just for this.” Her words were sincere but the major problem lay behind them. She didn’t see me, just what I could do for her. In this case forgiveness or some sense of self value. People always say that I see through others, but I am the one that gets seen through.

“Fine.” I said and started to ignore her. Though not a preferable relationship, it was one where she wasn’t against me.

The rest of the school day ended with no problems. In fact it was so empty that it was boring. After school though I got called to stay behind after class. I sat wondering for what reason I would be asked to stay behind. I came up with the answer that something had happened the previous day. Fortunately, I was wrong. The door opened to the face of a snake-like teacher, Mr. Walters. My mind cleared ready for what confrontation might come.

“Why did you call me?” I asked coldly.

“I found two.” He said, maintaining his calm face. He had found two already.

“Does that mean…” I asked, meaning that they were likely…

“Yes, they are currently enrolled in this school.” He said, his words very precise.

“Meaning they are not currently attending school?” I tried to confirm the situation.

“One is, one is not.” His words were short, but if taken seriously contained a lot of information.

“So one is attending our school currently?” With this man you need to be very careful with your words.

“Yes.” He replied. It felt like he was playing around with me, but that went both ways. Mr. Walters dropped a couple of papers with information in front of me.

“You sure like women.” He said intending to tease me, while he was really trying to confirm his suspicions.

“It’s better than me liking men.” I replied not allowing any information to slip. Both of us remained standing with no sign of our real emotions on our faces.

“You have found two of them, there are three more. Find them as quickly as possible.” I said giving my orders.

“I will, but these people-” He started with an evil smile growing on his face.

“You don’t need to know, and if you know you don’t need to say it.” I quickly shut him down.

“Don’t take me wrong, I think what you are doing is great, but why are you doing it?” He asked back to his gentle smile.

“I already told you, you aren’t in the position to ask questions.” I tried to stop him, but I knew there was an obvious weakness.

“What position, my nephew can’t be connected to either incident. If you reveal your evidence it's only a matter if I want to keep a low profile.” He said, striking at the crack in my armor. However it wouldn’t be that easy.

“But did you not find this information, I'm sure using your connections for this wouldn’t look right.” I said, he didn’t have any connection to the drugs except being the student's teacher. However he found this information himself.

“What if I reveal that you are in possession of the drugs?” He said. This was a competition of blackmail. What each had over the other would decide who won.

“Once again, you don’t know where the drugs are. If even by a miracle you do find them, nothing connects it to me, no fingerprints.” I answered the obvious reply.

“So if you tell me why you are doing this, I will continue to get you the information.” He said. He was a scheming rat, he didn’t have anything over me but he pretended he did.

“You are the one in the lower position you think you can make demands?” I said reaffirming the current relationship between us.

“Boring.” Were his final words before leaving the classroom. In the end I lost this fight. I won the battle but lost the war. I didn’t gain anything, but gave up information. He was more dangerous than I thought.