Ai opened her eyes and saw that the window at the left was slightly open. She balled her fist and then tried to sit up, but found strong, gentle hands push her back down. She looked up and saw Akihiko’s face. She stared up at him unable to say a word to him. She felt as if she had been watched the whole time and she could now feel her face burning a bright red color. She quickly grabbed hold of the sheets and drew them over her face.

“Ai, are you all right?” he asked,
She listened to him, but when she tried to speak, it was as if everything within her closed up.

“Ai, don’t make me get the nurse!” he said seriously. She bit her tongue and then pulled the covers away from her face and then awkwardly looked back at Akihiko.

“I’m fine,” she said as she looked at him.

“Good!” he said with a sigh of relief, “I thought that I would have to call the nurse back in and then carry you to the hospital,”

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“I mean that I carried you here. But you weren’t heavy at all. Actually, you’re as light as a feather Ai, you need to put on some pounds!” he said sarcastically. Ai frowned at him, but then found that she could no longer do that and simply smiled at him.

“I hope I wasn’t too much of a burden?”

“No not at all,”

“Good,” Ai began,” So what caused me to get in this place again?” she asked.

“Well, the nurse said you collided with the wall, you may have gotten a concussion or something about that. You seemed ok when you were walking up the stairs, but after you reached the top I noticed that something wasn’t right and I was right you had collapsed when you taken your seat,”

“Oh wow, well am I all right now?” she asked.

“Of course, she says it wasn’t even that bad, but she doesn’t want you going back to your classes today. She said you need a full day of rest before you can even think about studying or doing anything else,”

“Oh will she keep me here?” she asked.

“No, why would the nurse keep you here?” he asked.

“Oh nothing,” she said. She had lied though. She didn’t want to go home. She would much rather just stay in the infirmary rather than to recover at home, were she would have to spend the whole day at home with her drunken father and her drug addict mom, who never showed an appreciation for her what so ever. Ai tightened her fist, a habit that she had taken from her mother when she had became angry at them for what they had done. She was all ways tempted to lash out at them when she got furious and she was trying to stop herself from doing something stupid. She bit her tongue and then felt Akihiko’s gentle hands on her own.

“Hey calm down chica,” he said. Ai smiled, it seemed funny that now he was speaking Spanish,

“All right I am calm!” she said a smile coming to her face.

“Good,” he said.

“Akihiko,” she began, “how long have you been here?”

“Well, let’s just say that all the students have left for home,”

“What are you serious? I need to get home,”

“Is it that important Ai?”

“Yeah…I need to get home to do some chores and get started on some other stuff,”

“Ai listen to me, you don’t have to make stuff up…”

“What I am not making this up Akihiko. This is for real,”

“Miyako all ready told me what goes on at home Ai and I just want to tell you that I will all ways be your friend, no matter what happens,” he said.

“Thank you Akihiko. Well if I am not being a burden will you…walk me home? I would like the company…” she said.

“Of course, I wouldn’t let you walk home by yourself after you passed out in Social Studies Ai, what kinda of person would that make me?” he asked as he helped her out of bed and then threw his own back over his back. Ai quickly took his arm to steady her self, before they began to make there slow but steady decent down the stairs to the first floor. Ai felt ashamed having him have to walk so slow with her, but she was glad that he was still here.

As they turned the corner and stepped onto an outdoor landing, there were two boys who were leaning against the railing. She and Akihiko stopped on the landing and then the boys looked at them smiling.

“What’s up Akihiko? How are you Ai?” one of them asked. He was a senior and had long black hair that was pulled into a ponytail. The other was also a senior but he had a very large afro.

“I’m good,” she said.

“Yeah everything is cool actually just walking her home,” he said a smile on her face.

The two other boys smiled and then walked over to Ai and Akihiko. Ai watched them and then looked straight ahead when she took a step forward and then fell forwards onto the landing; there was a loud thud as she made impact with the floor. She moaned in agony and then looked back at Akihiko, who hadn’t even tried to help her from falling. She looked at him and saw that a grin was plastered on his face. She stared at him; the grin was out of balance with Akihiko. It looked as if he were enjoying looking at her pain. Ai quickly crawled onto her hands and knees and then was about to rise to her feet when Akihiko grabbed her and lifted her up and threw her against the railing. Ai looked back at the ground far below and then looked back at Akihiko. But soon her attention was drawn to a rope that was being held by the boy with the afro. The other held a handkerchief. Ai tried screaming as the rope was tied around her and then the railing, but she once again, began to feel dizzy and discombobulated. She swallowed hard trying to clear her head, but nothing worked.

“Akihiko…what are you doing?” she asked.

“You need to pay me back Ai!” he said chuckling as he tied the handkerchief just above her eyes.

“I don’t need to do anything!” she hollered. After a few moments of silence she felt a hard slap to the face from one of the boys. She felt tears beginning to roll down her face as her blonde hair fell over it. She felt ashamed; she was just like her family messed up. She felt Akihiko’s finger under her chin as he lifted up her face. Ai tried to wrestle free from the ropes, but they were bound to tight. They had her cornered and she knew what was going to become of her.

Akihiko leaned against her and then let his dark brown hair touch her forehead gently. The grin still plastered on his face he placed a hand on her legs just below her skirt. She heard a chuckle of laughter from the two boys from behind her, sending shivers down her spine. Then after a few tense moments, Akihiko was pulling at her tie, all most choking her. She coughed and then after a moment no longer felt the tugging.

Her head now throbbed with pain, she tried to figure out how to escape, but her mind wasn’t thinking straight. She could barely process to keep her eyes and body awake. She felt helpless as he reached for the button on her shirt and then pulled it away with a hard jerk. Her back collided with the railing and she felt it vibrate as if it were falling off its hinges. She swallowed her fear and continued to gather her thoughts or tried to.

Then she felt Akihiko’s hand slid up her skirt and then she finally managed to scream. The scream reverberated around her and then she felt another hard slap to the face. She lowered her head again and then felt Akihiko’s lips pressed against hers as he ripped open his own shirt and continued to work on her own. She tried moving her legs but she found that they were also tied to the railing. Tears streamed down her face. She moved her head away from his own; only to feel it jerked back into place. She tried hitting her head against Akihiko’s but that also landed her with another slap to the face. She felt the cold air against her neck. Akihiko smiled and then kissed her again and this time she felt the button that sealed the deal fall to the ground and then cold hair splash against her chest.

Ai closed her eyes and then after a few moments felt the vibration of the railing again, only these time it lasted much longer. Ai opened her eyes turned away and then saw that in fact the hinges were coming lose, now that they were lose and only two hinges kept them from falling. Akihiko pressed on his wait shaking the thing once again. She swallowed hard and then felt him tug at her skirt. She bit his lip watching him pull away blood spewing from his mouth. Ai spit the blood that was in her mouth out and then readied her self for another hard smack to the face. Only this time she got the full force of the blows in her gut sending her back smashing against the railing.

There was a sharp noise as a hinge fell off the railing and Ai could tell that the other one was coming undone as well. She awaited another blow but it did not come. Akihiko got back into position even though the only thing was keeping them on the landing was her self. Ai swallowed hard and then let her head drop, making the handkerchief fall in front of her eyes. She took in a deep breath.

Good bye world. Good bye mother and father! Good bye Miyako! Please don’t forget me! And Akihiko you bastard! You’re coming to hell with me! She thought and then she took a step back away from the platform and heard Akihiko’s scream as he grabbed onto her. She felt his muscular arms wrap around her as they dangled by one flimsy hinge. That one hinge was going to decide their fate.

“Boss!!!” she heard the two boys call from the platform. Ai swallowed once again and then with all the strength she could muster, threw her back against the railing. She heard it creak, but nothing happened. Again she hit it. Creak! Crackle! She felt the vibrations increase and then with one final blow backward, sending pain threw her spin the hinge snapped and she felt herself and Akihiko plummeting to the ground. There was a loud scream as Akihiko let go of her waist. The fall seemed to take an eternity. As she fell, the handkerchief fell from her face and she was looking up at the two boys who had a frightened look on their faces.

Ai couldn’t help but smile at them and then with a clatter of nuts and bolts she saw nor heard anything else and welcomed the blackness that had called to her earlier that day.
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Miyako raced up the sidewalk, nearly out of breath. She had run all the way from her house to the school and she could just make out the ambulance that was waiting infront of the building. She swallowed hard, her mind racing with questions. She wondered if it had really happened or if she had just heard what Ai’s mother had said wrong. No. Ai couldn’t have…

Miyako swallowed hard and then stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Ai’s mother and father before them. Miyako ran over to them and then looked at them. There faces were filled to the brim with tears and Mrs. Rosuto had them pouring down her face. Miyako stared at them and then swallowed her tears.

“Mrs. Rosuto…I’m sorry,” she said.

“No, don’t be sorry. We didn’t even care for our daughter she probably hated us, tried to find someone who cared about her and then ended up with…” her voice trailed off.

“So it did happen? She was assaulted and then she and Akihiko fell from the sixth floor landing?”

“Yes,” Mr. Rosuto said holding his wife, who was sobbing loudly. Miyako raced away and then ran past the large crowd of people and news crews who had come to get the story. She jumped the barricades and then saw Ai sprawled across the ground. Her top was unbuttoned and she could just make out her large chest. Miyako couldn’t help her self any more. She finally closed her eyes and then let tears spill down her face. She looked around and then saw that they were loading someone into the ambulance but the white sheets covered there faces. It was Akihiko’s dead body. Ai had survived, but barely but the man that had attacked her was long gone. Did Ai plan to do this from the beginning? Had she meant to kill Akihiko?

Miyako felt gentle hands on her shoulder and she turned around and saw Ai’s father tears were also streaming down his face.

“They say that she is in critical condition and that she has a few cracked ribs and a
horrible head wound,”

“Was she tied to that?” Miyako asked.

“She was… Akihiko was trying to…”

“I think that Ai took his life. I think she did it to save herself and that she didn’t want anyone else to go through what she had to go threw. Ai had to make the biggest decision of her life and that all most cost her own life just to do that,” Miyako said.

“Miyako, I feel that I must thank you. You all ways kept our daughter happy, no matter what we did to her. I watched as you guys walked to school and Ai all ways had that huge smile on her face no matter what we did to her…Miyako we owe you one for making her happy,”

“No you don’t owe me. You owe Ai your love, forgiveness and maybe even just some family time with her, if she gets any better. No I know that she will get better. Ai all ways pulls through she has a strong soul,”

Mr. Rosuto looked at Miyako and then hung his head and walked away. Miyako balled her fist and then continued to let the tears roll down her face. She had lost her close’s friend because of the mistake of someone else who had tried to be her friend. He had confused her and lied to her just to gain her friendship and then use her for whatever cruel and unusual games that he had created.
Rape was just the first one. Miyako had all ways known that something wasn’t right about Akihiko, but why hadn’t she warned Ai? She could have saved her? Why hadn’t she stayed? She continued to blame her self as she watched Ai as she was loaded onto the stretcher. She bit her tongue and then looked into the orange and purple sky. The stars were just beginning to form. She let the last tear fall to the ground before she swore that she would never let anything like this happen again.

Ai I will all ways be with you. You just have to stay alive, you have to make it through mo matter what. You have to stay alive for all of us. We are going to make everything better. All your dreams that you wished for will be yours I assure you no matter how long it takes. I will assure you that it will all come true even if it means that I have to sacrifice my own life for yours. I would do it in a heart beat just for you Ai!