“I just froze,” I say through tears. “I fucking froze again. Why don’t I just fight?”
“It’s not your fault, Chloe. It’s just trauma response. You don’t get to choose how you react,” Connor says. “Your brain did what it could to protect you and that’s what it did.”
“They were going to hurt me,” I whisper.
“We saw. I’m sorry that happened,” Dillon says. “What can we do?”
“You’ve done enough. I’m sorry if I fucked up your night,” I say.
“You didn’t,” Connor says. “Did you not get dinner?”
“No,” I sniff and sit up to wipe my face. “I was just going to eat noodles or something here.”
“Nonsense. We will order a pizza and hang out until you either fall asleep or feel better,” Dillon says.
“You don’t have to do that,” I sigh.
“Chloe, the second we leave they’re going to come up here. We all know it,” he says. “Why don’t you talk to the Dean about them?”
“It’s never been this bad before,” I say. “I try to stay out of everyone's way, but I was in a rush and forgot my key. I was just going to call maintenance, but they cornered me.”
“Call the Dean,” Connor says. “If he’s like family he should have no problem helping.” I nod and get my phone, then call Aaron.
“Hello?” he answers.
“Hey,” I say with a shaky voice.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” he asks concerned.
“Uhm… are you still on campus?” I ask.
“Yes. Are you okay? What’s wrong, Chloe?”
“Can you come to my dorm? It’s… it’s just easier than saying it over the phone,” I say.
“Okay. Give me just a second. I’m close by,” he says before ending the call.
“He cares,” Connor says.
“Uh. Yeah. He was the one I called when I was raped. I knew he and his wife were on vacation close by. He’s the one who got to me first,” I say. ”My dad was second. I still think he broke every law to get to me.”
“I bet. How old was your dad?”
“Forty-five,” I say.
“Damn,” Dillon says. There is silence for a second before I speak.
”We weren’t always struggling for money, ya know… Mom and Dad were doing well until the cancer. He fought so hard but all it did was take every penny out of their savings,” I say. “I paid for the funeral with my college tuition. My grades were great so I applied for scholarships. Luckily the school accepted mine, so I didn’t end up at community college. I didn’t have a backup plan because I wasn’t allowed to go where my dad went… I’ve been tormented for four years because my dad died of cancer.”
“I’m sorry,” Dillon says. “Truly…”
“I know. You are annoying but you’ve never hurt me or carved whore into the side of my car,” I say. “I appreciate you guys saving me back there.”
“Anytime,” Connor says. “Although, I’d much rather that never have to happen again.”
A knock at the door makes me jump. Connor stands and opens it a little then pulls it open. “What’s wrong?” Aaron asks as he comes into the room and squats down in front of me.
“Max and Elias… they uh…” I stop and drop my head, not knowing how to say the words.