The Party

“You!”A voice booms loudly in the room yet it sounds so far away.

My ears sound like there’s a gurgling whoosh going through them. My body feels almost numb, I can feel a faint touch of hands on my exposed skin gathering me up, and I’m in motion.

“You bitch! What did you do to her? What the hell did you do?!”

I can’t make out the voice but it sounds familiar. There’s a loud crash as my eyes start to close again, and then . . . I’m out.


Quiet whispers fill the room in a hushed tone and there’s a faint beep in the background. My head is pounding and I’m cold. I open my eyes slowly and the brightness hurts my eyes and end up squinting until they get adjusted.

I go to speak but it hurts and a low croaking sound comes out. The brightness in my eyes dulls down and I start to see blurred colors. The whispers have stopped and there’s a warm hand on my forehead, I look over to see an unclear Alé, I know it’s him though because I know his hands.

“What’s going on?” I croak, the muscles in my throat ache.

His forehead goes to mine and his hands cup my cheeks. “How are you feeling?” he asks quietly.

“I don’t feel good,” I whimper.

He’s quiet, I rest my eyes and close them, I feel the rush of air as he rises away from me. He asks in a quiet voice about pain medication. I open my eyes again with the ability to see a bit more clearly and see that I’m in an unfamiliar room, a hospital room.

I try to sit up and my heart rate starts to quicken along with my body aching. Everything hurts, even my hands when I try to push myself up from a lying position. I let out a pained sound and Alé is right back at my side.

“What’s wrong baby?”

I look up at him and then behind him to see Scott is sitting in a chair next to the wall sized window. He looks tired as he stares out at the birds floating in the lake on the other side of the glass.

I focus back on Alé and I can finally see him clearly. I can see the deep sorrow within his brown eyes.

“What happened last night?”

His lower lip puckers out and he almost breaks down. “Vica,” his voice is hoarse and he breaks down into tears. “They tried to hurt you, I’m so sorry. I should’ve stayed with you instead of letting you go off on your own. I’m so stupid, I’ll never forgive myself for this!”

I’m confused and I know it shows on my face, he buries his own into the crook of my neck.

“What are you talking about?” I don’t understand.

There’s a quick knock at the door to the room and then it opens. A dark skinned woman in a white lab coat steps inside carrying a clipboard.

“Ms. Vivica good morning, how are you?”

I shake my head covered underneath Alé and he sits up again wiping his face.

“He said someone tried to hurt me, what- what is he talking about?” I stammer.

“I know you are very confused.” The deep voiced lady says. She looks between Aléjandro and Scott and asks if she can speak to me alone.

Alé kisses me on top of my head and says he’ll be right outside the door and walks out.

The woman gives me two small round painkillers and a cup of water. I pop and swallow them down and she begins to talk.

“I’m Dr. Veeler, I’m who examined you when you came in last night.” She looks me over and then asks, “Do you remember anything from last night?”

I try to think and see faded glimpses from last night. “Take your time,” she continues.

I place the water onto the nightstand next to me, lie back and close my eyes. I remember talking about the party early in the morning with Alé and then actually going. I remember all the masks and the music.

“We went to a party, I remember that” I croak.

“Do you remember anything that happened at the party?”

“Um . . . I left Alé to walk around and check out the house . . . I remember having to pee and going to the bathroom . . . It starts to get fuzzy around that, I can’t really remember much else after the bathroom.”

She nods and writes on her clipboard, “what about drinks, did you do any drinking?”

I nod, “I had champagne when we first got there I think. And then. . .” I wince as I sit up finally, my back aching all over. “Someone when I went outside gave me a drink.”

“Someone?” she’s intrigued. “Do you remember the ‘someone’?” She goes and sits on the small wheeled stool.

“It was a waiter . . . I remember he looked nervous, like he was afraid someone was going to yell at him.”

“Was it more champagne?” she asks eyebrows risen.

“No, it was sweet like a cherry drink, best drink I’d ever had. I don’t really like alcoholic drinks.”

She looks at me inquisitively and I shrug my shoulders. “I can’t think of anything else, it just seems like a fog is over my thoughts.”

She gives me a polite smile and I ask again why I am here.

“Vivica, it seems as though you were slipped some GHB in your drink. Perhaps, it was the drink the waiter gave you outside of the party.

My eyebrows knit together, “what?” I ask blankly.

“I’m sorry to tell you that . . . But we want to do a rape kit on you, we want to make sure you weren’t raped. And if you were, we want to take care of this right away by doing all the tests and get you on the healthy track preventing any further problems.”

I don’t know how to take this . . . I know I should be hysterical, but I just feel tired, I don’t have the voice to yell about it anyway.

I look at her, “I want to talk to Alé.”

She smiles and nods walking away to the door to let in Alé, who was standing only a foot away.
He walks nervously to the bed and the doctor walks out of the room.

“Where’s Scott?” I ask trying to buy time for what I’m most concerned about, not that I don't care about Scott.

He takes me pale hand, “he’s in the cafeteria, he thinks his stomach has settled enough to eat something.”

“He get really crazy last night?”

Alé just shrugs, “I don’t want to talk too much about last night, I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

I look into his eyes, they’re so sad yet I can’t seem to find any emotion within myself. “That’s actually why I wanted to talk to you.”

I watch his face crinkle a little with stress and he sighs. “What’s up?” he asks taking a seat at my feet.

“What happened to me?”

“I- I don’t know honey,” his voice is barely above a whisper.

“How did I get here, where was I- Why can’t I remember anything after going to the bathroom?”

He tightens the grip of his hand around mine and looks as if he’s going to cry again. I’ve never seen him so torn up before.

“Well,” he starts and takes a long deep breath.