***
It must’ve been right before dawn when I woke up. I didn’t know for sure, I only had a feeling.
“5:43,” I read aloud off the clock directly facing the bed.
Then, there was the dreadful feeling that kept nagging me even before I fully awoke. I felt the strangest way. My limbs were heavy, and the headache from last night was still lingering at my temples.
“Last night!” it dawned on me and I sprung up. Immediately after getting to my feet, I thought I would collapse, but I recovered quickly and wobbled over to the table where I remembered there was a bottle of water.
I drank the whole thing in one gulp and, as I was wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, my eyes fell on the two glasses Maggie and I had drunk last night. One of them seemed to have some white residue at the bottom. It didn’t take me long to figure which one was mine.
“You bitch! You drugged me,” I growled at Maggie’s tiny frame cuddled up in bed.
“What?” she mumbled, still sleepy.
“Wake up!”
“What is it? David, you’re scaring me!”
“Stop acting. Why did you drug me? Where is Eva?”
“I didn’t...”
“Woman, don’t lie to me!”
She cowered between the pillows. I was pretty certain it wasn’t an act when I raised my hand to run it through my hair and she flinched.
“The fucking bastard.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He hit you just the same, didn’t he?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she tried to lie, and looked away.
I shook my head, starting to pace the room.
“Your brother is a bastard. That has been established. But why did you drug me? Was it him?”
She didn’t answer.
“Maggie! Was it him?”
“Yes, I’m sorry,” she mumbled between silent burst of crying.
“For fuck’s sake. Why?”
“He needed you away. And he needed Eva to see you with me.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted her alone. I’m sorry, he made me do it. I’m sorry, David.”
“He wanted her alone,” I repeated, my mind racing to find the reason behind all this. “Why would he... What did he want with her, Maggie?”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, OK?”
“What. Did. He. Want?”
“He wanted to take her away from here.”
“What? Where?”
“Our family has a cabin in the woods.”
“Show me. Now!”
“But...”
“Now!”
“He’ll kill me!”
I grabbed her wrist, despite feeling bad for terrorizing her like this, and pulled her out of bed.
“Take me to that cabin. Now!”
Maggie didn’t say anything. She just grabbed her keys and a fleece from a chair and left the room. I followed her into the sorority house parking lot and got into the passenger seat.
“How long was I out?” I asked her as she started the engine of her Mini Cooper. It must’ve been at least a few hours, because I remembered not staying too long at the party.
“You were out when Eva came to see you, so about five hours.”
“Eva saw me like this?”
I frowned, trying to remember. “So that wasn’t a dream. She really was at the door,” I thought out loud.
“Yes.”
I couldn’t bear to hear her speak anymore, it scratched my eardrums like sandpaper, so I kept quiet for a while.
“Drive faster!”
“I can’t, it’s illegal.” She was crying again.
“Stop the car.”
She obeyed without a word and we switched places. Despite my lingering grogginess, I managed to drive faster than her. She only directed me here and there, as she was the only one who knew where that cabin was.
“On the other side of the lake. Cross the bridge and make a right. The cabin is right at the edge of the water.”
I followed her instructions, then stopped the car behind a dark blue truck. I didn’t even stop the engine, I just jumped out of the car and towards the wooden cabin.
“Eva!”
The door was locked. “Do you have a key?” I asked Maggie, who was at my side. She shook her head.
“Step away,” I told her and took a step back myself. Then I leaned onto my left heel and plunged my right foot right next to the door lock. After several tries, I managed to splinter the wood enough so I could open it with my hands.
A searing pain went up my shin as I ran inside.
“The bedroom is down the hallway,” Maggie pointed. I left her crying in the living room and went in search for the bedroom.
Easy enough to find, as it was one door of only two down that hallway. I kicked in both and finally found Alex on top of Eva.
“Bastard!”
She looked weak, like she was drugged or drunk, barely fighting him off. He had the upper hand and had already ripped her dress open. When I pulled him off her, he had just hiked her skirt above her hips and was working on getting rid of her panties.
“Fucking prick!” I growled before punching him in the face. He stumbled a few feet towards the door but I wasn’t going to let him escape so I went for his shirt but missed by inches. Out of nowhere, I felt the air being sucked out of my lungs. He had sucker punched me.
“You stupid cow!” he yelled. I heard the slap and Maggie’s small scream as he ran out.
“Oh, no.”
I forced myself to a standing position and followed him.
“Call an ambulance for Eva. Stay with her!” I shouted at Maggie before bolting out the front door.