5.

The house was quiet. The hinges on the door didn't squeak, nor did the floorboards creak. It was worse than silent, it was empty. I tried to think of the warmth I would've felt if it were walking into my other house. My home. All I did was give myself a headache. I found that the more I tried to look back on my memories, the bigger, and more severe my headaches became.

"Ah!" I winced loudly. My hands immediately shot to my head, rubbing my temples in circles.

"Are you okay?" Bex asked me, taking hold of my shoulders. I shook her hands off, slightly panicked at the idea of suffering another anxiety attack.

"Yeah," I mustered up my best look of reasurance, "just a headache."

Caleb walked in after us and started looking around. His eyes roamed over every inch of any surface that the light touched. I'm not sure what he seemed so interested in though. The walls were bare. There hung no embarrassing family photos. Everything in the house seemed too perfect to be a home. There weren't any throw pillows on the couch in the living room. Every book on the bookshelf was held captive by a thin sheet of dust.

"Looks like your Uncle isn't home," Caleb said looking at us.

"Well you know what that means…" I started, feigning enthusiasm.

"Threesome?" Caleb looked hopeful.

Bex and I looked at him with disgust clearly in our features, then at each other almost as if to confirm that we actually heard what we thought we heard. Astounded to find that our hearing worked, we turned to look at him again.

"Get out," Bex said walking past him, pointing towards the front door.

"What she said." I nodded, crossing my arms.

"I was obviously kidding." He chuckled at our reaction. "Finish your sentence, Arya."

I eyed him carefully, internally arguing with myself over whether or not he was too weird to stay for the nap. His cheeky grin happened to let me know everything i needed.

"He's just a childish idiot." My conscience told me.

"Follow me," I sighed in defeat as I led the two of them into the kitchen. We opened every cabinet and drawer, and took whatever snacks we could find. You wouldn't expect a guy who had been living alone to have so many.

"So what are we gonna watch?" Caleb asked as the three of us sped up the stairs to my room with arms full of goodies.

"What do you guys want to watch?" I shrugged.

"Let's watch Family Guy!" Bex suggested eagerly.

"What? No, that's lame. Why that show?" Caleb faked a gag.

"Uhm, hello, idiot. The point here is to take a nap. What could be better than watching a show that you don't necessarily have to pay attention to? Plus... it's funny."

"It's not even that funny though…"

"Guys… it's not that serious. We could all just pick something together. Right?" I intervened, opening a bag of chips.

"Or… this guy could just leave. Why are you here again, whatever your name is?" Bex glared at Caleb. Sitting comfortably against the backboard of my new bed, he threw skittles into his mouth one by one.

He stared blankly at her for a few minutes while I sat there turning my attention towards the both of them. One after the other.

Caleb scoffed, an inexplicit sign of his defeat. He turned to me next, "What do you want to watch, Arya?"

"Yeah…" Bex followed in reluctant agreement.

"Since I'm just trying to take a nap, I kind of think that Family Guy is a pretty good idea, but if you want to watch something else that's okay too." I said directing my answer towards Caleb.

"Hah!" Bex exclaimed. "You were outvoted!"

"Fine, whatever. I know when to admit defeat." He said, propping a pillow under his head.

When the intro song to Family Guy sounded I looked back at the two of them laying as far apart as possible on either side of the bed. I looked uncomfortably at the space between them, feeling almost forced to lay there. It was closer to any human than I thought I could handle. The anticipation of being trapped in the middle of the two of them, brought my stomach up to my chest. I felt as though I was stuck inside a room with the walls moving in before I even entered it. Caleb must've noticed though, because his expression turned from a neutral one to one of a gentle nature as he softly called my name.

"Arya…".

I hummed at him while keeping my eyes glued to the space.

"...I'll move to the middle, and risk napping next to this toad if you would rather sleep on this side." He told me, making me chuckle slightly.

"Hey!" Bex exclaimed, glaring at him. She made sure to give him the look of death before turning back to the show with a handful of popcorn ready to shove in her mouth.

I barely nodded, but he absorbed the gesture and moved to the middle of the bed, freeing up space on the left for me. My lungs held on, my breathing loosened, and I was able to calm down a little. Sleeping next to someone was still unsettling, but it was better than being in the middle.

I mumbled a thanks to show gratitude as I cautiously laid my head on the pillow, far enough to allow my breathing to even out.

Six episodes passed before I was finally comfortable enough to ease my body into anything resembling relaxation.

BZT BZT BZT

I woke up as my phone was attempting suicide. With the least amount of effort possible, I picked it up and checked what it was. My uncle was calling me.

"Yeah?" I whispered into the phone with a groggy voice.

"Just calling to check up on you. Why are you whispering, Arya?" He asked, holding a serious tone.

"Well you did just kinda wake me up from a nap," I told him resting my head down on the pillow fidgeting to make myself comfortable. That's when I noticed that Bex was gone, and Caleb had his head laid lightly on my chest, just above my breasts, with his arms wrapped around my waist and his legs suggestively in between mine.

I started to panic, my breathing became a little shallow, and my heart began to pound viciously against my chest, which I'm sure, in this position, Caleb could hear clear as day.

"Oh, uh, sorry. I just wanted to let you know I'll be home late tonight, but I left a twenty in the freezer if you want to order out."

"Who leaves a twenty dollar bill in a freezer?"

"The only people locating that twenty in the freezer would be me, you, or a fat burglar. In which case I strongly believe you can handle it."

"Oh? He, Okay… Do you know when you'll get out of work?"

He seemed hesitant, "No, I don't, but it'll probably be after you turn in for the night."

"Okay. See you tomorrow then, I guess."

Hanging up the phone I realized my heart rate had set itself nicely on the border between a panic attack and an anxiety attack. My shallow breathing did little to help the situation, and with the intertwining of mine and Caleb's limbs, I felt trapped. I couldn't see a way out that didn't leave me feeling guilty for waking Caleb up, whether it be softly or violently.

"You should really learn how to take deep breaths, Bambi," He said gruffly, letting his eyes flutter open. "It might do you wonders."

His words caught me off guard. "Di… did you just call me Bambi?" My face gave off nothing but humorous curiosity.

"I did."

I shook my head, "I breathe just fine."

"Right," He said, lifting his body to hover over mine. He brought his head down, beside mine, and let his lips level with my ear. "Is that why you are basically hyperventilating?"

"Get off of me… you're- you're crushing my spleen!" I pushed him, but it was as if my body betrayed my thoughts, there was no force in the pushes. I felt like a child with no power, I covered my face to hide the embarrassment.

"Do you even know where your spleen is?" He jested, sliding to the edge of the bed, laying beside me instead of on top of me.

In the silence, one second felt like four years, and I couldn't get my heart rate to a normal pace while he was laying there staring at me.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"The bathroom. Cheese." I hopped from my bed and sauntered to the bathroom down the hall.

"Cheese!?" He followed me out of my room, and rested his shoulder on the door frame as I continued to walk.

I shook my head inwardly, closing the bathroom door behind me. Taking a second to look at myself in the mirror, I saw a shadow behind the shower curtain.

I slowly turned around, my eyes trained on the edge of the curtain in anticipation, and took slow and calculated steps to it. Sweat started to formulate from my forehead, and dripped over my eyebrows. The creaks in the floor were booming in the silent bathroom. My lungs made no effort to resist the strain as it usually did in anxiety ridden situations. My hand mindlessly reached out. My fingers slowly traced the side of the curtain and curled themselves around the fabric. In one swift movement I pulled the shower curtain wide open, heaving the greatest sigh when I saw nothing there.

"Mm! Mm!" I struggled to yell through rough fingers that enclosed my mouth. All I could manage was muffled sounds. My breathing picked up again. My eyes shot wide. An arm snaked around my abdomen, constricting my movement. It pressed in harder, and I cursed the assailant in fear when it felt like my stitches reopened. It was like he knew exactly where to put the most pressure in order to subdue me. I kicked. I swung my arms as much as I could. Whoever was holding me had to have easily doubled my weight in muscle. I shook my head desperately, in hopes of loosening his grip over my mouth, but it didn't. Every second, my consciousness was fading a little more. My breathing was shallow and harsh on my lungs.

Something in my head snapped. Like a switch was flipped, giving me the permission to think clearly. I planted my feet, and swung my head back into his nose.

"Ah," He winced, stumbling a few steps back. He brought his hand up to his face, and felt for the blood that dropped from his nose. It was clear I angered him when his eyes bulged at the sight. He threw both arms wildly, lunging at me, but I crouched swiftly, pressing myself against the opposite wall.

BOOM!

He crashed aggressively into the back wall of the bathtub.

I was almost confused when the situation had, all of a sudden, become non-threatening again.

"Arya?" I heard a worried voice from the hallway.

"Caleb!" I thought. I completely forgot about him. I'm not alone.

I quickly pull the bathroom door open, revealing a breathless me, and a bathroom in discord.

"Look," I pointed at the guy behind me in the tub.

"Are you okay, Bambi? You fall in the tub or something?" He said looking over my shoulder to where I was pointing.

"Huh? What? No. There's a guy in there." I said evening my breath out.

Caleb walks into the bathroom and looks around. "No, there's not… are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, there is! He's right…" I stomped a few steps back in to find the bathtub in a disarray, hygiene appliances scattered at the bottom, "there." But no bad guy?

What!?

"He was there! I'm sure of it." I shook my head in confusion. "Someone just tried to knock me out, and- and take me." I hug myself, shaking with each breath.

"What?" Caleb said, seriousness growing in his tone.

I surveyed the entire bathroom, irrationally lifting bath towels as if he could've hidden in between them. "Look, the window is open."

"Did you open it, Bambi? Good job," He said, mocking me with a celebratory applaud. All signs of seriousness gone.

"NO!" I pulled at my hair. "Someone just tried to kidnap me, or … or worse," I said, quickly stepping into my room, recognizing every conclusion possible of jumping to.

Caleb followed me, "Arya, calm down. Stop pacing around your room. Sit down on the bed, and tell me exactly what happened."

I stopped moving, and looked him in the eye, contemplating the outcomes. "He'd either think I was so obsessed with him I made up a story— so he could stay and "protect me"—, or he'd think I was crazy," I thought. But I didn't know if something like that would happen again, and, if I didn't say anything, I was going to be paranoid. I would have a harder time figuring out who that guy was.

I sat down.

I took a deep breath in, calming myself down a bit, and waited for Caleb to sit down.

"When I got into the bathroom, I thought I saw a shadow in the shower behind the curtain. I went to look, and see what it was, but then someone wrapped their arms around me to keep me from moving. He was holding one of his hands to my mouth… and I couldn't breathe, Caleb." Replaying the memory, I watched myself being suffocating, outside of my body.

"He was pulling me back, hurting me… and I decided to quit the pathetic struggling. You know, use some force. I used the back of my head to hit him in the face. When he lunged at me, afterwards, I moved out of the way just in time. He fell into the tub, which was the loud sound I assume u heard. I thought he was knocked unconscious, but, seeing as how he disappeared, I guess not. But, I swear- I swear, he was there when I went to open the door.

I looked at him, and his eyes were darkened, and an anger spilled through the cracks of his routine up-beat personality. I'm not making this up, why does he look so annoyed?

"Look, I know how I sound, but I'm not making this up… I swear."

Is that too many swears?

"Lift up your shirt," He said, not an ounce of amusement in his tone.

"Wait, what? No. Caleb, I'm being serious."

"So am I. If you're telling the truth, then you should have bruises forming or at least red marks, right? So, lift up your shirt."

"Get out." I whispered, infuriated he couldn't just believe me.

"No, Arya. Just show me the bruises, and I'll believe you."

"But that's where my scars are. The one I got. The ones I give myself." I tried to talk myself out of it, to convince myself that the look of pity destined to sweep his face was worse than any further pain that could be inflicted upon me, but I needed someone to believe me. Something told me that I wouldn't be able to figure out what happened by myself.

I reluctantly stood up, rolling my fingers around the hem of my shirt, and hesitantly pulled it up. Holding it right under my bra wire, I decided, instead, that the paint on my wall was a much more interesting thing to focus my eyes on.

"Oh my god…" He physically winced. "Arya…" A cold spark slithered down my spine, resting in my finger tips. My body tensed as he lightly ran his fingers along my mutilated skin.