The Eight Of Us? (Sidemen Fanfic)

17

JJ's POV

After about five minutes of sitting on the couch and having small conversations, Riley and Buddy came back into the lounge. Riley has changed into a T-shirt dress with the sleeves cut off. The dress went down to above her knees and was gray with a red trim. There was a Smirnoff logo across the front in rainbow colours. She was holding her laptop on her arm and clicking away with the other. Her hair was tied back in two braids and her reading glasses adorned her face.

"You aren't even old enough to drink," I commented as she stood in front of all of us. She glanced up over the top of her screen.

"Sooo...," she said with a smirk. Damn, she is adorable. The boys all chuckled. She turned her attention back to her task on her laptop. After a couple more clicks and some typing, she took a deep breath and gave her laptop to Josh, who was sitting in the middle of us all. I was sat on the edge, then Simon, Josh, Vikk, Ethan, and Harry. Tobi was sat on Simon's lap.

On the computer screen was a file opening. It required a password which Riley has already typed in, but hadn't pressed enter yet.

"Okay, don't press enter until I tell you to, and for the love of God, don't let me see anything on that screen until that file is gone," she said and she started to get nervous again. Buddy was sat at her feet, rubbing his head along her legs for comfort.

"So, where to begin, it happened when I was in high school, tenth grade. This was before my YouTube channel and before Buddy was even my dog, let alone a service dog. This group of football players, American football, were just complete fuck boys. It was a game to them to see how many girls that they could sleep with, like they kept track and certain girls were worth more points and shit. It was messed up. Well, one day I was just minding my own business and I w-was grabbed from behind and pulled into a closet. It was four of the players. T-t-they tied me up and... it'll just be easier if you look first," she said. She hasn't even told us what really happened yet and I'm already in a bit of shock. Josh pushed enter and another password input popped up.

"It needs another password," Josh said and turned the laptop around to face Riley. Man if it has this many passwords, it must be really bad. I don't think I'm prepared for this.

"Really, FML," she sighed and knelt down on the floor in front of Josh. She types in another password and turned it back around. Josh looked around at us, asking if we were ready. We all nodded and he pushed enter. What popped up will forever haunt me.

***Warning: mentions of rape and gore

Riley was on the floor, naked except for a small cloth that had been thrown over her chest and her hips, to prevent the need of censoring. Her hands were tied together at the wrist above her head. The rope had been cut from whatever it had been tied to. Her eyes were closed and her face was swollen and bleeding in places. A piece of cloth was tied around her mouth, quite tightly. Small gashes and cuts littered her body. Blue and black bruises were everywhere. As my eyes traveled down the photo, it just got worse. She was lying in a puddle of her own blood. Two extremely long and deep cuts were on the inside of her thighs, gushing blood.

I heard Vikk whimper and looked over to see Ethan covering Vikk's eyes. He pulled him into his body to shield the poor boy. The rest of the boys let out noises of shock.

"These were taken by the police when someone finally found me in the closet. I was awake through everything and finally passed out from blood loss. The four boys had r-raped me and then beat m-me and cut me and basically left me to die. When someone found me, they called the cops and an ambulance and they took me to the hospital where I stayed for two weeks. I basically had to learn how to walk again after having surgery on my t-thighs," Riley retold the story. She was in tears and struggling to speak at some points. I stood from the couch and engulfed her in a hug. I moved to sit on the ground and situated her so that she was sitting in my lap, her back against my chest. My arms were securely tucked around her waist, in a protective grasp.

***end of warning

"Were you a virgin?" Harry asked as he continued to stare at the photo. Ethan turned to him and hit him on the back of the head. Harry held his head but looked down at his lap.

"It's fine, I don't mind questions. And yes, I was," Riley said as she held one of my hands in both of hers. She was lightly playing with my fingers. I am extremely surprised that she has made it this far without having an episode or anything. I can't believe that someone could do this to someone else, let alone someone like Riley.

"Did they ever get caught?" Simon asked. His head was buried into Tobi's shoulder, slightly muffling his voice.

"Yea they did. They went to jail for a while, but with their parents being rich pricks, they made bail and got out after a year," Riley explained.

"So how did Buddy come into the picture?" Tobi asked, trying to change the subject to a better, easier to talk about one. Josh exited out of the file on the computer and shut it off and then placed it on the floor.

"So I was diagnosed with PTSD while I was in the hospital. Also with the beatings I had taken had created some more medical issues. I went to a therapist and they suggested, along with my doctors, that it would be best for me to get a service dog. Buddy was my cousin's dog, but he was moving away to college, so he said that I could have him and train him to be my service dog. I already had a really strong bond with him and everything so it worked out perfectly in the end," Riley finished as she ran one of her hands through the bird dog's fur.

"How did your parents and Nikki handle the whole thing?" Ethan questioned.

"My parents were mortified. After I was out of the hospital, they wouldn't leave me alone, at all, even at home. The first time they did leave me alone I- Sorry off topic. Um... Nikki went to therapy for a while after seeing those pictures of me because she literally couldn't sleep at night," Riley started off fine, but when she got off topic, she started becoming lost in her thoughts. She was struggling to get her words out.

Buddy sat up and put his two front paws on Riley's leg, another kind of alert. She is about to have either an anxiety attack or a panic attack. Ever since the last time Riley was here, I researched some grounding exercises. I put my hand on the side of her head and grabbed one of her hands that was currently curled into a fist.

"Close your eyes and breathe with me, okay? Match your breaths with mine," I spoke softly. She closed her eyes tightly as a few tears trailed down her cheeks. I took deep, steady breaths, and she tried to copy them the best she could, even though they were rugged.

"Now, I'm going to count to ten. After every number, I want you to say it back," I said and her head fell back to my shoulder.

"One," I started off slowly. It took a while before she finally said it back.

"O-o-one," She stuttered out. She is shaking violently. Both of her hands are now gripping my hand tightly, almost as if she's scared.

"Two"

"T-two"

"Three"

"Th-th-three"

"Four"

"F-four"

"Halfway there, five," I encouraged. Her shaking has reduced a bit and her death grip on my hand has relaxed.

"F-five"

"Six"

"Six"

"Seven"

"S-Seven,"

"Almost there, Eight"

"Eight"

"Nine"

"Nine"

"Now when you say ten, open your eyes, ten," I instructed. She was no longer shaking and her breathing has returned to normal.

"Ten," she breathed out and opened her eyes, looking up to the ceiling with her head still tilted back on my shoulder.

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time, Ilya, bye!!!