Stripped

by A. G. Khaliq

  I nodded quickly, but I was getting paler and paler. I could hardly stay focused, because it felt like my surroundings were blurring around me.

  “Raven, can I talk to you alone for a minute?” I mumbled, scratching my arm uneasily.

  “Sure.” Raven shrugged. She turned to Lucy. “Lucy, are you okay to wait here for a few minutes?”

  “Of course, girl.” Lucy smiled. “You girls go ahead.”

  Raven smiled back at her, getting up from her seat, and we made our way to the public restroom, where we would have the privacy we needed to speak.

  “What’s wrong, babe?” Raven asked, a confused expression on her face.

  “Raven, you can’t marry Lazarus!” I cried out desperately.

  “And why the hell not?” she remarked, folding her arms sternly, already looking pissed off. “You’ve had a face on all day.”

  “Raven, it was Lazarus who kidnapped me!” I shouted.

  “Don’t be silly, baby, you don’t remember anything from the incident,” Raven soothed. “I know Lazarus used to hit me, but he’s nice to me now, babe. I promise.”

  “Raven, you’ve gotta listen to me! It was Lazarus!” I pleaded, wishing she would wake up and listen to me. Wishing that she would see what was staring her right in the face.

  “No, it fucking wasn’t!” she snapped harshly, cutting me off, completely invalidating my thoughts and my feelings. “It was his best friend, Damon. It was Lazarus who helped me to find you. How dare you accuse him of doing such a thing when you could be dead right now if it weren’t for him!”

  “B - But Raven!” I begged.

  “Enough, Sophia!” Raven shouted. “It’s like you can’t fucking stand to see me happy. You always want to meddle in things, and ruin things for me, even after I’ve been helping and providing for you my whole damn life! You’re just an ungrateful, pathetic, sorry little girl, and I’m sick to death of hearing you complain all the time. Just mind your own business and focus on college, that’s all you’re good for. Stop poking your fucking nose where it doesn’t belong.”

  Each and every single word that came out of Raven’s mouth stung me like a fucking bitch. It felt like somebody was twisting a dagger straight through my damn heart. She didn’t care how I felt. She didn’t care about my feelings. All she cared about was herself, and she’d showed it time and time again. There wasn’t even the slightest look of remorse on her face after what she said to me.

  Lazarus was right. I always defended Raven, and cared so much about her…

  When she didn’t even care about me.

  “Now let’s go back to Lucy,” Raven seethed. “We can’t keep her waiting.”

  I drew a deep breath, my heart hammering against my ribcage as tears began spilling down my cheeks.

  I didn’t deserve this. I didn’t deserve to be spoken to like this…

  When all I was doing was trying to help her, like a good sister would…

  She would never believe me.

  damon

  I lay down on my bed in my cell, staring at the ceiling as my mind continued to torture me with memories of everything bad that had ever happened in my fucking life. I was growing weak, and I couldn’t take this anymore. Prison was no place for me.

  I needed out.

  But how?

  A sudden rattling of my cell door and the sound of the Intercom saying “Open on forty!” caused me to startle and snap out of my thoughts. I rubbed my eyes groggily, getting to my feet, wanting to know what the hell was going on.

  And then I was greeted by the last person I expected to fucking see, and I could hardly believe my damn eyes. It was hard to believe I wasn’t dreaming.

  My brother Mitchell was finally here.

  Maybe there was light at the end of the tunnel for me, after all…

  Mitchell flashed me a grin, pulling me into a hug and patting me on the back forcefully. “Hello, brother.” He smirked.

  I rolled my eyes sarcastically, not wanting to give him the happy reaction that would inflate his damn ego, even though I was over the fucking moon to see him at last.

  “It took you long enough to bail me out of here,” I remarked.

  He rolled his eyes, amused. “Come on, let’s get out of this dump.”

  raven

  Me and Lazarus were in a hotel room, getting reacquainted before our wedding day. I was in my bra and knickers, and he was in his boxers…

  I was kissing Lazarus, but the only person on my mind was Damon. I’d spent the last week convincing myself that Lazarus was the right man for me. But I couldn’t get rid of my feelings for Damon. I still loved him. I needed to forget him, and I thought that going back to Lazarus would help me do that, but ever since me and Sophia had that row in the bathroom, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Damon. It gave me second thoughts.

  What if what Sophia was saying was true? There was no reason for her to lie. Then again, she had no evidence. Besides, it would make no sense for Lazarus to kidnap her, only to rescue her after.

  “I love you,” Lazarus moaned, pulling away from my mouth.

  “I love you too,” I replied, thinking No, I don’t in my head.

  “Ready for round two, babe?” He smirked.

  I giggled. “I’m knackered,” I retorted.

  “I really tired you out, huh?” Lazarus remarked, roaring with laughter.

  I rolled my eyes, and he continued to laugh.

  “Babe, let’s talk about the wedding,” I suggested. “It’s in a few days, and we haven’t even booked a hall.”

  “Don’t worry about any of that,” Lazarus said. “With money, you can get a hall booked on the same day.”

  I folded my arms, amused.

  “I wanted to talk about something else,” Lazarus mentioned matter-of-factly.

  “What’s that?” I asked, intrigued.

  He drew in a deep breath, like he was about to regret what he was going to say. “Babe, I don’t mean to bring up bad memories, but we need to speak about what you had with Damon. He was my best friend, after all.”

  I scratched my arm uneasily, feeling uncomfortable that he’d brought up this subject. I didn’t want to discuss Damon with Lazarus, of all people.

  “How did it all start?” he asked. “Was it when he started training you?”

  “Lazarus, can we not talk about this right now?” I mumbled. “I just want to focus on us.”

  “We need to talk about it, otherwise it’s just gonna keep bugging me,” he shot back. “Did he take advantage of you?”

  “No, never that,” I replied defensively. “I just got caught in the moment. You were being a prick to me, and he was comforting me about it.”

  “I can’t help but be mad at the bastard,” Lazarus seethed. “I can’t believe he tried to take what’s mine.”

  “Babe, you don’t need to worry about it now. It’s in the past,” I reassured him nervously. “I’m obviously not seeing him anymore after what he did to Sophia.”

  Lazarus rolled his eyes angrily. “Did you sleep with him, Raven?” he demanded.

  “What kind of a question is that, Lazarus?” I snapped back bitterly.

  “I won’t be mad at you if you have,” he muttered. “I just want to know so we can put the bad stuff behind us, and focus on the good things ahead.”

  I drew out a deep breath, my heart hammering against my chest.

  “Yes, I did sleep with him,” I admitted shakily. “But what’s the big deal? It’s in the past. Besides, I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of women too.”

  Lazarus balled his hands into fists, suddenly boiling with rage. He screamed, his pupils dilating as he stared at me with murder in his eyes. I was terrified.

  “I’m sorry, did I just hear you correctly?” he stated coldly, his voice dropping to barely above a whisper that caused every goosebump on my back to rise with fear. “You fucking slept with him?”

  He screamed again, repeatedly, relentlessly, and he wouldn’t stop. He wouldn’t fucking
stop.

  My hands leapt to my face in terror as I watched my life flash before my eyes. The monster inside of him was back. In fact, the monster inside of him was never really gone…

  “I gave you a fucking home!” Lazarus screamed. “I saved you from perverted men! I gave you money, food on your plate!” He broke off, punching the wall behind me as I let out a terrified cry. “I gave your sister free college tuition! I gave you a fucking child in your belly! And this is what you do to me?”

  “Lazarus, you said you weren’t going to get mad!” I wept, pleading with him to calm down.

  “I said that so you’d tell me the motherfucking truth!” he roared. “I can’t believe you! I can’t believe you’d do this to me!”

  I screamed as Lazarus towered over me. There was only one way this could end. I knew that it was the end of the road for me…

  “Time and time again, I gave you so many fucking chances! I’ve had enough of you!” he bellowed. “This time you’ll pay for real!”

  “Please, don’t do anything stupid, Lazarus!” I wept. “You’re going to hurt our baby! You’re going to regret this!”

  “No, I fucking won’t,” he snarled, and threw me down to the ground, punching me repeatedly, relentlessly, as I coughed out blood and watched my surroundings spin around me.

  It was the end.

  It was the end of my story…

  damon

  I lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling as the thought of Raven tortured me. My eyes welled with tears as I thought of her. I was bailed out of jail, but still, I had no idea where to go, or what to fucking do to fix this whole fucked up situation.

  I needed to speak to Raven. She’d probably been brainwashed into believing it was me who kidnapped Sophia. I needed her to know the truth. I needed her to know that Lazarus framed me.

  I drew out a deep breath, my heart pounding against my chest, as I grabbed hold of my phone, furiously tapping in Raven’s number. Pressing the phone against my ear, praying that she would pick up…

  Even though deep down, I knew she wasn’t going to.

  “You have reached the voicemail box of Raven Emmerdale. Please leave a message after the tone.”

  I hung up the phone angrily, seething. Of course she wasn’t going to pick up the call, she thought I was the fucking enemy now. It made bile churn inside of me just thinking of Lazarus using this situation to take advantage of her and manipulate her.

  Fuck this shit. I was going to go look for her. I didn’t know how long my bail was going to last, so I had to spend my time looking for her. There was no time to fucking waste.

  I left my apartment and bolted out to the street, not knowing how I was going to locate her.

  But I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. I wasn’t going to accept this as my fate so easily.

  I would die trying before I ever let Lazarus win this war.

  damon

  I took my phone out of my pocket as I made my way down the street, desperately trying to think what to do. And then something ticked off in my head as I thought about Sophia. I was sure Sophia despised Lazarus as much as I did, so she wouldn’t believe I had been capable of kidnapping her.

  I was fucking sure of it.

  I furiously did my best to locate Sophia’s number, and then furiously tapped it into the keypad, holding my phone against my ear, my patience wearing thin. She better not send me to voicemail too.

  She picked up.

  “Sophia, do you know where Raven is?!” I shouted down the line desperately, my eyes welling with tears. “I need to speak to her, please!”

  “I think she’s at the Disston hotel next to the London County Hall with Lazarus,” Sophia replied, her voice cracking. “Why?”

  “I’ll explain everything later, I’ve gotta go!” I shouted, and hung up the phone.

  I could feel heat roar in my ears as I came to the realisation of what being in a hotel room meant. Lazarus was fucking her to get back into her head and manipulate her.

  I felt so disgusted. I couldn’t let this happen.

  I couldn’t let this fucking happen.

  She needed to wake up and realise the truth. She knew her self-worth, I’d shown that to her every time she poured her damn heart out to me about how Lazarus hit her. She didn’t love him.

  She loved me.

  Except now, she probably fucking hated me, and it was all because of him, that conniving son-of-a-bitch.

  I broke into a run, sweating profusely, running as fast as my legs could possibly carry me. I needed to get to her. I needed to tell her how I felt before she ended up choosing Lazarus and shutting me out completely. I was the man who treated her like a princess. All Lazarus ever did was treat her like a whore.

  I picked up speed with every footstep, making my way to the London County Hall. Then I arrived at The Disston hotel, where Sophia had told me Lazarus and Raven were.

  It was time to take control of this situation and fix it once and for all.

  damon

  I made my way up the hotel stairs after threatening the fucking receptionist to tell me which room number Lazarus and Raven were in. I felt bad, but it needed to be done. I was past caring at this point. I was thinking with my heart now…not my brain.

  Room 420.

  I slammed the door down with a huge force, and then my pupils dilated in terror as I watched the scene play out in front of me.

  Feeling my heart shatter into millions of tiny pieces.

  Unable to believe my fucking eyes.

  Raven was lying on the floor, naked, her whole body beaten and bruised to the core, blood gushing out of her mouth as she tried to speak. Lazarus was towering over her, with his arms folded, murder written all over his face.

  “My baby…” Raven croaked weakly.

  Lazarus roared with manic laughter. “I told you I’d teach you a lesson for crossing me, bitch! I’m going to kill you! I don’t need that filthy child knowing that you’re his or her fucking whore of a mother!”

  Raven’s eyes closed, like she didn’t have any fight left inside of her. I let out a blood-curdling scream.

  There was only one way to put an end to this shit for good, and that was by doing what I should have done a long time ago.

  Putting Lazarus six feet fucking under.

  “Lazarus, what have you fucking done?” I roared.

  He turned around to face me, his pupils dilating as he stared at me with a murderous expression. Wasting no time, I desperately grabbed my phone and dialled the emergency 999 service. I needed to save Raven.

  I needed to save her before it was too fucking late.

  “I need an ambulance at The Disston right now!” I roared down the phone. “Right now!”

  “Ain’t no ambulance coming here!” Lazarus sneered, knocking my phone out of my hands. “She deserves everything that’s coming to her!”

  “You’re a sick bastard!” I screamed. “I can’t believe I was friends with you! How can you hit a woman? She’s carrying your goddamn baby!”

  “How can you sleep with the same girl your best friend is sleeping with?” Lazarus snarled. “Wasn’t thinking about that, were you?”

  “Fuck this argument!” I bellowed. “I’ll kill you!”

  I balled my hand into a fist, swinging straight at his jaw, causing him to lose balance and topple backwards. I clambered on top of him, punching him repeatedly, relentlessly as he suffered underneath my harsh grip.

  “D-Damon?” Raven croaked. “Is that y-you?”

  “Hang in there, baby, I’m going to save you from this fucking monster,” I cried out, my eyes welling with tears. I didn’t want to look at how badly he’d hurt her, knowing I hadn’t been here for her. Knowing I didn’t get here in time to stop it.

  I squeezed Lazarus’s neck for all I was worth, I continued to batter him. I got to my feet, kicking him repeatedly in his balls, in his crotch, on his motherfucking face. I needed him to feel the pain I was feeling right now. I needed him to suffer for every bad mot
herfucking thing he’d ever done in his life.

  “Goodbye, you disgusting son-of-a-fucking-bitch,” I seethed, my voice dropping to barely above a whisper as I grabbed Lazarus’s gun from his bedside table, cocking it and aiming it straight at his fucking chest.

  “Y-You…” Lazarus choked, coughing out blood. “You h-haven’t got the balls to kill your best f-friend.”

  “Watch me,” I snarled, and shot him three times straight to his fucking body.

  Wasting no time, I limped towards Raven, clambering over her, my tears falling on her beautiful face, taking her into my arms, pleading this wasn’t the end.

  “Hang in there, baby, the ambulance is on its way,” I sobbed, pressing my lips to her forehead, doing my best not to hurt her. “It’s gonna be all right. I’m here.”

  damon

  “She’s losing a lot of blood.”

  “We need to stabilise her condition.”

  “Initiate life support.”

  The doctors performing emergency procedures on Raven and the way they rushed her into the Intensive Care Unit was all I could think about. The words of the doctors replayed themselves over and over in my head, like a form of motherfucking torture.

  I stood with Sophia outside of Raven’s room, looking at her through the glass window, fighting for her damn life on life support. And it broke my heart.

  “Hang in there, sis,” Sophia whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek.

  I couldn’t bear to look at Raven any longer. I was constantly reminded of my own part in this, how I didn’t get to the hotel fast enough to save her. The guilt was eating me alive, consuming me whole.

  I trudged away from the area, needing to get my head straight. Needing to think of something else.

  Anything but this.

  I made my way to the waiting area, and poured myself a cup of water from the water dispenser, still sweating profusely from everything that had happened tonight. A cop made his way over to me with a notepad out.