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Chapter 12: Intrusions

Leo followed Piper into her room. He gently closed the door as she laid down on her bed, curling into the fetal position.

They didn't say anything. There wasn't anything to be said. Leo just sat in the chair and watched her until her breathing became even. Thinking she was asleep, he stood up and lightly kissed her forehead, not wanting to wake her. He turned to leave the room when he heard her voice.

"Don't go."

Leo turned around to find Piper's large brown eyes looking back at her. "Alright," he said hoarsely and brought the chair closer to the bed. Piper was still curled in the fetal position and held his hand as she closed her eyes. Leo held her hand until he himself fell asleep.

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Leo awoke in unfamiliar surroundings. He was sitting in a chair, but the top half of his body was slumped over a bed. It took him a few seconds to realize it was Piper's bed.

The events of the previous night came rushing back. Kevin had raped Piper. Damn him.

Leo heard moaning coming from the bed. It was Piper, twisting and turning restlessly in her sleep. "No, please don't."

"Shh, it's okay, Piper. It's just me."

But his soft cajoling seemed to have no effect on her. If anything, it seemed to disturb her sleep more.

"No! Please, don't!" she cried out, tears streaming down her face. She was twisting and turning so much the sheets were tangled up in a ball at the end of the bed.

Leo placed a hand on Piper's sweaty forehead. She felt slightly warm to him, but he didn't know if it was from a fever or from her thrashing around. Her shouts turned into whimpers that made Leo feel had if he had been stabbed in the heart. The whimpers were more disconcerting than her shouts.

Leo kept gently talking to her and brushing her hair away from her face until she settled down. With one last shout of, "No, please, don't!" Piper opened her large brown eyes and looked at Leo.

She quickly extracted herself from his grasp and curled up by the headboard. She was breathing heavily and Leo was afraid she might hyperventilate. She was still crying and Leo whished there was something more he could do for her.

"Piper, what was it?"

Piper just shook her head.

"Piper, please, just talk to me."

"I don't want to talk about it."

It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him, it was that she didn't think she could. The nightmare had been horrible. It had been like reliving the night Kevin raped her. But the harder she tried to fight back, the more excited it made him seem.

"Alright," Leo said, letting the subject drop.

"Thanks for staying last night," she told him, getting off the bed.

"No problem." He followed her out to the living room where Darryl and Shelia were asleep on the couch.

When Piper saw them like this, she wanted to cry. Leo, Shelia, and Darryl had been her for her when she needed them the most, even though she hadn't asked.

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Piper had managed to convince Leo and Darryl to leave the dorm room and that she would be fine alone with Shelia.

Leo said he was going to go to his morning class and would be back soon.

Darryl, on the other hand, told Shelia he was going 'help a friend'. That was true, but it wasn't what Shelia thought.

At noon, he entered to police station.

He waited for about twenty minutes until an officer, Mike Williams, approached him. "I hear you need to talk to an officer?"

"Yes."

"About what?"

"My friend was raped."

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Shelia was in the shower and Piper was sitting on the couch when the front door opened and Kim and Kevin walked into the dorm.

Piper looked up and stared into the eyes of her rapist. Her breathing immediately began to quicken and Piper felt her chest constricting.

Kevin took a step towards her and she shot off the couch and backed against the wall. It was just like that night. She was alone and defenseless, pressed against the wall. He was probably here to kill her. He knew she told and now he was going to kill her.

Kevin took another step towards her and Piper whimpered, as though she were in pain. She slid down the wall and covered her face as if she were expected him to begin hitting her any moment. All she could do was quietly whisper, "No, please, don't."

Kim laughed at her reaction and Kevin said, "Aw, Piper, why are you afraid?"

Piper just whimpered some more.

Kevin laughed and approached her further. "You talked, Piper. What did I say would happen if you talked?"

Piper was sure he was going to kill her. She could tell from his voice. He was going to hurt her.

And he just may have if Shelia hadn't come out of the bathroom, towel drying her hair. "Piper, I was…" She looked up and saw Kevin standing near by. "What the hell are you doing here! Get out!"

"You can't talk to him like that. He's my boyfriend and I invited him here."

Shelia threw down her towel and got in Kim's face. "You know what he did to her."

"What are you talking about," Kim asked, placing a hand on Shelia's chest to make her back up.

"Don't play innocent. You know what I'm talking about."

"No, I don't," she said, feigning innocence.

"He raped her and you know it!" Shelia screamed at her.

Kim gave out a small laugh. "Yeah right. Who would want to rape her?" Kim said, the disgust apparent in her voice as she said that last word.

"You know what happened. You know what he did to her that night at the party."

"How could he have done anything to her? He was with me the whole night."

"No he wasn't."

"Even so, who are people going to believe, me, Kevin, and our large group of friends, or you, Leo, Darryl, and Piper who won't talk?"

Shelia couldn't think of a reply. Kim was right. She, Darryl, Leo, and Piper didn't really make a believable team against Kim and her mini army.

"Doesn't matter," Kevin said. "Piper wouldn't dare talk to the police, would you?"

Piper stood up and ran into her room, slamming the door behind her.

"See, I told you."

Kevin put his arm around Kim and said, "Let's go."

Shelia just watched, astounded. How could they both act so calm? Because she sure as hell couldn't act calmly.

It took all of her self-will not to go after Kevin and try to choke him to death. She would do Piper no good if she attacked him now. Kevin and Kim walked out the door, hand in hand.

Shelia took a deep breath to calm herself. She calmly walked to Piper's door and softly knocked.

She received no reply.

"Piper, honey, they're gone. You can come out now." There still was no reply. Shelia sighed, knowing it was going to be a while before she got Piper out of that room. It was going to be a long day. "Kevin's gone and he's not going to come back." Shelia didn't believe that even as she said it. He would be back. There was no doubt in her mind.

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Piper hid in the corner of her room, trying to control her breathing. But it was no use. She tried to stop her tears, but they just kept coming. The harder she cried, the tighter her chest became and the hard it was to breathe.

She could hear Shelia knocking on the door, but she ignored her. She should have never told anybody. Kevin would kill her. She knew there was no escape from him.

Memories of the rape flashed through her mind. Every time Piper closed her eyes she was Kevin on top of her, forcing her down.

The memories made her cry harder and in turn made her breathing more difficult.

Black spots were beginning to dance in front of her eyes and she began to gasp for breath.

Breath, she coached herself. Breath.

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Leo softly whistled as he walked up to Piper's dorm, backpack slung over his shoulder. He went to all his classes and even managed to get notes from some of Piper's from a couple of his friends. She was already starting to fall behind as it was. Who knew when she would be ready to go back?

Leo let himself into the dorm and set his book bag down by the door. The first thing he saw was Shelia, trying to coax Piper out of her room. Leo walked over to her, wondering what happened.

"What happened?"

Shelia looked at him, tears in her eyes. "Kevin showed up her earlier. Scared Piper so bad she hid in her room."

Leo felt anger settling over his body. "I'm going to get his ass…"

"Later, Leo. Right now, we need to find out if Piper is okay."

"Did you try picking the lock?"

"Yeah. She has a chair or something blocking the door."

Leo pressed his ear to the door. He could hear crying, but scarier than that, he could hear Piper gasping for breath. "Piper!" he cried, banging on the door. "Open the door, damn it!"

Leo could hear Piper's gasping getting louder so he pressed all his weight against the door and rammed his shoulder repeatedly into it until the chair blocking the door gave way.

Leo rushed into the room and went to the floor by Piper's side. She was lying flat on her back, gasping for breath. Her eyes were staring off into the ceiling, as if in a trance.

"Piper!" He shook her shoulders. "Calm down!"

Piper seemed to snap out trance-like state and her breathing began to calm. She sat up, but she moved out of Leo and Sheila's grasp. Don't touch me!" she yelled when Leo reached for her.

"Piper, please. I just want to help. Talk to me."

"No one can help me now."

"That's not true," a voice said from the doorway.

Piper's heart jumped in fear. She cowered against the wall, trying to make herself appear as small as possible.

"Who the hell are you?" Leo asked.

"Detective Mike Richards," the five-foot-nine black man replied as he flashed a badge. "I'm with the Evansville police."

Shelia and Leo looked at each other then at Piper. "What do you want?"

"I'm here about a rape."

"Who told you?"

"I did," Darryl said, stepping into the room.

Shelia looked at him, hurt in her eyes. "How could you?"

"It's what's best for Piper."

"And who are you to decide that?"

"With all do respect, Miss, you should have came to the police as soon as you found out. Rape is a time sensitive matter. The evidence fades with time. And as far as I understand, it's going to be damned near impossible now to catch this guy. Now, Miss Halliwell, I need you to tell me what happened in detail."

Piper was silent.

"Miss Halliwell?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"The only way to catch a rapist is if the victim talks…"

"Stop treating me like an object! My name is Piper, not 'victim'. And if you can't figure what happens during a rape, you aren't a very good cop are you?"

Leo was surprised at the level of anger she let out. "Piper, calm down…"

"No, damn it, I will not calm down! I am sick and tired of this!"

Mike looked unfazed. "When I said details, I meant what happened before and after the rape."

Piper took a deep breath and sat down on the bed. I'm only going to tell you this once."

In great detail and in a soft voice, she relived the night of the rape. She told them about everything form getting invited to the party, to Kim acting differently, to running home and showering, and to how Kevin was here not that long ago.

Before she ended her story, everyone but Mike had tears in their eyes. At one point Shelia was crying so hard she covered her face. Darryl went to her and tried to out his arms around her, but she moved out of his reach, upset that he betrayed her trust.

"I never should have gone upstairs with him," Piper said, finishing her story. "If I hadn't, none of this would have ever happened."

"Miss Halliwell-"

"Piper."

"Piper, this is not your fault. Rape is not about sex; it's about violence, the need to control. What happened was not your fault. You had no control over what happened."

Piper nodded.

"I'm going to get going now. I'll probably want to talk to you again."

"Okay."

Before he left, he took a picture of the bruises around her neck.

After Mike left, Darryl approached Piper. "I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not. I know I did the right thing."

Piper nodded her head. She wasn't mad at him, but she didn't appreciate that he went against her wishes. "I'm going to bed."

Leo followed her into her bedroom. She laid down on the bed, and he laid next to her, her small body spooned against his larger one. He gently rubbed her arm back and kissed her hair. Eventually, Piper hugged his arm close, as if trying to ward someone off. She gave a shiver and he pulled the covers over them. And there he laid all night, protecting Piper from an invisible foe.

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After Leo and Piper went into the bedroom, Darryl and Shelia just stood there, looking at one another. Finally, Shelia walked to the door and held it open. Still, they said nothing to each other.

"Shelia, I know your mad at me, but what I did was best for Piper…"

"That's not your decision."

"Well, someone had to make the decision for her."

"It shouldn't have been you."

"Please, Shelia, forgive me. Are we alright?"

Shelia opened the door wider. "We are far from alright."

With a sad look of remorse, Darryl stepped through the door, but turned to look at Shelia.

She closed the door in his face.

Dejected, he slowly made his way back to the dorm.

Shelia leaned against the door and slid to the floor. There she sat and cried.