Grey Space

"I don't care about expenses, I want that man found! You do it, and you do it now!" I immediately recognized the screaming voice I woke up to. It belonged to my one and only father. A man who does anything and gets anything he wants, when he wants it.

At first, I struggled to open my eyes as I was blinded by the bright lights surrounding me. My body was incredibly sore, which immediately let me know that I shouldn't be trying to move at all right now. It didn't take me long to recognize where I was. I'm dressed in a gown, stuck laying in a bed, at Huntington Memorial Hospital. What the hell's happening? What's going on? Why am I here?

"Hey, you're finally awake." Hearing an unknown voice, my head moved to the side in order to look at who was speaking. Sitting there was a man I'd never seen before; but something about him seemed oddly familiar, and comforting.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" I questioned him.

"Oh shit, yeah, we didn't get to properly meet last night did we? My name is Zacky, I brought you here when my friends and I found you." He explained to me simply. Upon hearing his voice, it was like everything that happened came rushing back. Every little detail, I could remember every single part of it like it was currently happening.

"Oh, right. Thank-you for helping me. I doubt anyone else would have." I choked out, not sure what else I could really say to him at this point. "Bullshit. I'm sure if we wouldn't have come along, someone else would have." Based off of his tone, I could tell that he was only saying that to try and make me feel better about this whole situation. Not that it was really going to work. "My friends tried to track him down, chase him, but he got away from them." Zacky decided to speak again when I remained silent.

Before I could ask him to thank his friends for me, my father came rushing back into the room. "Oh thank god, you're finally awake. Where the hell were you last night, I thought you had gone home?" My father questioned, obviously upset.

To anyone else, his tone was harsh and angry; but I knew that it was just his tone. I knew that he was more upset than angry- he just wouldn't let it show. "I was on my way home, but I stopped at a bar to check on Steph. When I was leaving, this guy attacked me." I answered him, opting not to tell him the entire truth.

"That is bullshit Calliope, and we both know it. You wouldn't have been dressed the way you were if you were just going to check on her. Not to mention we found rohypnol in your system- you were drugged. All because of Stephanie, this is her fault." My father growled out. Part of me couldn't help but agree with him. None of this would've happened if Steph wouldn't have demanded that I go out with her; but at the same time, she's my best friend. There's no way I could ever possibly blame her for any of this. She had no part in it.

"Stop it.This is in no way her fault, and if you're going to act like that then you need to get out. Now." I ordered in a stern voice, pointing towards the door. Saying nothing else, my father simply shook his head and with a sigh, he walked out of the room.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. My father isn't really the nicest man to know." I apologized to Zacky immediately. Though, I'm not sure why I felt compelled to apologize to him.

"Don't worry about it. I've definitely seen my fair share of parents who react to things the same way your father just did." Zacky was quick to wave off my apparently unneeded apology.

"So what made you stick around?" I couldn't stop myself from asking him. He seemed a bit shaken by my question, like at first he wasn't sure exactly how he was supposed to answer it. "I don't know really, I guess I just felt kind of responsible since I'm the one who found you, you know?" I wanted to make sure that you were okay." He shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly.

I took this moment of silence to look over his face, to take in his appearance. His hair was long, the black strands framed his face. His eyes were an incredibly bright shade of jade green, they were the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. He had three facial piercings, one in his nose, and two in his lip; and from what I could tell, his body was littered with numerous colorful tattoos.

"Well, thanks for staying with me." I smiled at him before a yawn escaped from between my lips. "You're tired. Maybe you should get some sleep? I'll be here when you wake up again." He flashed me a smile.

"No, I'll be fine. I'd like to get to know you a bit if that's alright." I smiled, another yawn escaping from my lips. "Of course, I'm an open book, what would you like to know?" He offered up his lifes story to me. "Well, what do you do for a living?" I suggested simply.

Nodding his head, he ran his hand over his face before answering me. "I'm actually in a band, we just got back from tour last night. I'm a guitarist." I thought I was going to be able to stay awake as he spoke, but I was wrong. Almost as soon as he started speaking, I could feel my eyes start to get heavier, until eventually they closed altogether.

I definitely hadn't meant to do that. As soon as my eyes closed, I was sent falling back into my memories.

Once more, I could feel his hands on my skin. Fear and disgust shot through my body as I felt every single one of his movements. I could feel the knife breaking my skin, the tears beginning to roll down my cheeks. They were warm against my freezing skin; but my blood was even more than the tears that were rolling down my cheek.

Things seemed like they were going in slow motion around me. I was reliving the event that had just happened last night. Only it was different this time. In my dream, we weren't outside of Johnny's bar. No, this time it happened in my home- more specifically it took place in my very own bed. Not only that, but this time my attacker didn't just run away and Zacky's friends didn't try chasing him down. This time, it ended by him shoving his knife into my chest.

Shooting up in the bed, I gasped for air and my hand shot up to my chest. Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I flinched and looked over my shoulder. Standing there, at the edge of the bed trying to make sure I was okay, was a man that I didn't recognize. "Whoa, whoa, calm down. Everything's alright. You are alright." He spoke in a soft voice, reaching up to push my hair out of my face.

"Where's Zacky?" I questioned, slightly scared of the man that was standing next to me. He was large, in the sense of tall and you could definitely tell that he works out a lot. His hair was buzzed down, and like Zacky, his entire body was adorned in tattoos. Before he could even open his mouth to answer me, I could once more hear my father's voice shouting- this time from the hallway in front of my room door.

"No, I don't care what you did for her, I don't want you or any of your delinquent friends near my daughter!" My eyes quickly moved to the doorway, and I saw my father standing there yelling at Zacky. The same way he had been yelling at me earlier.

"What, you're going to stop me? Your daughter is a grown woman who can make her own decisions. If she doesn't want me around, then she can tell me herself. Not you." Zacky growled out, obviously not liking my father or his attitude. "You know what, I think the reason no one caught her attacker is because it was you or one of your friends. I think you're just here to dwell in the fact that you didn't get caught." MY father spoke again. This time his words angered me as well. I couldn't stand when he spoke to people that way.

"That's enough! I told you to leave and I meant it! I want Zacky here, and if you don't like that then don't fucking come back!" I shouted, gaining the attention of the two men standing outside my door. Not only that but my sudden shouting caused the man standing next to me to flinch.

Zacky looked happy, as he smiled smuggly towards my father- who looked furious.

Saying nothing, my father turned and walked away before Zacky came back into the room. "I'm, uh, sorry you heard all that. I Thought you were going to be asleep longer." Zacky sighed. For a man I had only known a few hours, I could tell that he was being sincere. Maybe it's just because he's the one who brought me here, but I couldn't help but want him around.

The man sitting next to me cleared his throat, quickly prompting Zacky to introduce the two of us. "Oh, Calliope, this is one of my friends, Matt. He's one of the ones who tried chasing down the asshole who did this to you."