Chapter 5
The hardest part of living in Los Angeles is feeling like a little fish in a huge ocean of people, especially coming from the small town of Ruskin. It had been one long day and ready to escape from her problems before returning home to cram for an early morning test the next day Hannah made her way through the confusing streets of Los Angeles hoping to happen upon a place where she could drown her sorrows. Forget Zach, forget everything that was wrong in her life and enjoy the people as a citizen of LA.
In a small bar she chatted with a woman a few years older than her who shares experiences in the men department similar to her own. Finding comfort in relating to someone for once and feeling as though it were safe to open up some about the aching of her heart she talked for hours about the pain, the confusion, and the wondering that came along with her break up. “I just wish that I could talk to him, because it makes things so much worse not even knowing what he’s thinking of me. He must hate me so much if he refuses to even speak to me,” she said picking up an onion ring and dipping it in ketchup.
“That or he loves you too much,” the woman suggested causing Hannah to stop chewing with a hopeful expression on her face.
“Why do you say that?” she asked starting to munch on the fried food.
“I don’t know, maybe the sound of your voice would make him give in and get back together with you. He’s obviously trying to prove his independence and that he doesn’t need you in his life, but since he’s avoiding you that just about proves that he does need you.”
Glad that she hadn’t given this woman too many details about her ex-boyfriend she nodded in contemplation. She had never considered the thought that Nick was ignoring her because it was too hard for him to see or speak with her, but now that it was a possibility, a small sense of relief came over her. Thinking that Nick loves her too much to see her is much easier than believing he hates her. Although, this was coming from a woman who did not know Nick like Hannah did, and even though it was more comforting the other way around Hannah still couldn’t convince herself that he’d run from her. “Either way I suppose it doesn’t matter because I have to move on.”
“Right,” she agreed, “And that Zach sounds like he’s really into you. Be careful not to shut him out, you don’t want to lose a great thing because you can’t stop thinking about a bad one.”
“Good advice, real good advice,” she smiled taking a sip of her coke. The bar was clearing out and through the window Hannah could see that it was long past dark. “Goodness, what time is it?” she asked realizing that she had to get up early in the morning.
The woman glanced at her watch, “2:30,” she informed and grabbed an onion ring from the nearing empty basket.
“Oh shit, I have to go...early test in the morning, with no studying,” she reached over to take her purse, “This was nice though. You’ve really made me feel a lot better and gave me some more insight into this whole nightmare. Thanks for letting me bite your ear off.”
“Anytime, it was fun.” She snatched a napkin and pen and began to scribble down some numbers, “Here’s my number. Call me anytime and we can go out to just talk about life.”
Hannah took the napkin and glanced at the digits, folding it in half she put in her purse. “That would be great, it’s good to meet someone actually half normal here,” she laughed standing up and straightening out her skirt. “Well, I’ll see you around.”
Outside she was confronted with the brisk air and barren sidewalks. Cars whizzed by as she wrapped her arms around her and starting the walk home. In her head she hummed the tunes of Diana Ross that had been blaring in the bar moments before. Oblivious to everything she was lost in thought, cursing herself for not paying closer attention to the time and entirely forgetting to study for her doomed failure in just a few hours. She mentally recollected all that she could manage to remember about the covered material hoping that she wasn’t going to completely bomb the test.
Continuing home she was stopped by a strong arm wrapping around her throat with a sharp object pressing into her. “Hey little lady,” a man snarled into her voice as she took in a painful gasp of air. “And what’s a charming little thing like you doing out here all alone?” he asked, his breath laced with liquor.
In shock Hannah was speechless and muttered a few words, trying to remain calm. Telling herself not to let him sense her fear. “Aww, I’m thinking I need to take you home with me. Yes, let me take care of you little darling. I’ll take great care of you,” he slid his hand down her side and around her waist. Finding the strength inside of her Hannah picked up her foot and slammed it down on his causing him to loosen his grasp. She escaped from his hold but he reached out and wrenched his hand around her wrist pulling her back. “Ahh no, you’re not going anywhere,” he sneered.
“Help!” she screamed reaching her arm back, bending it in a precarious position to grab hold of his crotch. In pain he pulled back grasping the sensitive area allowing her to run away. She ran as fast as she could in any direction. Scared, out of breath, and crying she ran through a dark park, terrified that out of every shadow someone else would jump out of her.
She could hear him catching up to her but knew better than to turn around so continued running as fast as she could. A wet substance was running down her neck and she reached up to touch the dripping blood. Sensing the pain she winced but continued running. Panting, she held onto her neck while applying as much pressure as she could to relieve the bleeding.
Focused on nothing but getting away she spotted a police car up ahead and she started waving her arms frantically in the air to get its attention. It only took the cop moments to notice and soon his flashers were on speeding towards her. The officer hopped out of the car, “There’s a man chasing me!” Hannah yelled, noticing just how serious the cut was by the strong pain from speaking. The cop dodged off into the darkness after the man, but just a few minutes later returned.
“I didn’t see anyone miss, he must have gotten away,” the officer noticed the blood dripping down Hannah’s arm and immediately raced up to her, ushering her into the backseat of his car.
He asked for her to recall the events of the assault as he sped towards the hospital. “I was on my way home from some bar and he jumped me with a knife. He said he’d take me back to his place, probably to rape me. When I tried to escape he grabbed hold of me and pulled me back but I grabbed his groin area and managed to get away. Then he just started running after me, and that’s when I found you. You don’t think he’s going to find me again do you?” she asked entirely panicked.
“Most likely not, I doubt he even knows who you are. You were probably just a random victim, I’m sure he won’t come after you. Did you get a good look at him? I need to take down as detailed a description as possible for my report.”
“No,” she sighed fighting back the pain, “I didn’t see him because it was so dark. But he was tall and strong, probably around six foot.”
“Perfectly understandable. Unfortunately that’s the way things go with most cases like these, but we’ll do everything we can to catch this guy. You’re lucky you managed to get away from him, and that I was patrolling the area.”
Once at the hospital Hannah was treated for her cut, she left with stitches and a few bruises from him holding onto her so tight. The officer took down a detailed report of what had happened and promised to call her if they found the guy. Refusing to let her go home on her own he drove her back to the dormitory and saw her inside. Feeling like crap, achy and sore, Hannah walked into her room glad to see that her roommate wasn’t there. She had probably slept over at some frat boy’s. Crawling into bed she shivered and pulled the comforter around her. Unable to shake the memories of the assault from her mind she laid awake staring up at the ceiling, her throat numb with pain.
Chapter 6
Lost in the Rain Main
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