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Amy returned to the dorm full of questions... Questions she needed answers to. The suspense was killing her already.
She entered the room to see Stacy lounging on her back on her bed, a small smile on the tall blonde's face.
Amy smiled herself, sensing she knew full well why the other girl looked so happy.
"Let me take a wild guess," she said, actually startling Stacy. It was then that she realized her friend hadn't seen or heard her come in. "Jay Reso..."
Stacy sat up, blushing but unable to conceal or contain the smile on her face, which grew to epic proportions. The mere mention of the young man's name had her feeling all giddy - not like a college woman, but like a middle school girl.
Amy sat down on the edge of the bed, her demeanor growing serious.
"Stacy, I need to ask you something," she said. She could not rid her mind of what Adam had told her earlier. In fact, she'd been thinking about it even during the class she'd just gotten out of mere minutes prior.
"Sure," the lanky blonde said. She repositioned herself to sit Indian style and leaned in intently.
The redhead took a deep breath, knowing full well that her friend was going to react badly about the subject she was going to broach. Last time it had been brought up, she'd turned white as a ghost and freaked out.
"Is it true your last roommate, Nora, was raped here on campus?"
Sure enough, Stacy blanched. She had to admit mentally, she hadn't been prepared for such a question. For some reason, she'd thought her friend was going to ask her a question or two about Adam. After all, she and the young man had seemed to take a definite liking to each other.
Momentarily, Stacy was struck speechless as it all came flooding back to her. She became lost in despairing thoughts, her head bowing at the memories, the heartache.
"I'm sorry," the redhead said, reaching out for the other girl's arm. "I'm sorry I brought it up." This was obviously difficult for Stacy, yet at the same time, Amy knew she got her question answered - and she knew what the answer was.
The blonde shook her head as she came back to her senses.
"No... No, I'm fine." On the surface, she knew she really did appear to be okay, but inside, she was crying, breaking, as she recalled the horror of what had happened to her good friend. She raised a hand to her face, bracing herself and then looked up to squarely meet the other young woman's eyes. "Yeah," she finally replied. "As a matter of fact, it is... That did happen to Nora." She winced, unable to contain it.
Amy again placed a gentle on her friend's arm.
"Oh, God... Adam told me about this earlier. He said the rapist was never caught and no arrest had even been made." She shook her head at the horror of that fact. "And that the guy was probably a student still attending Canon's Worth."
Stacy looked up sharply, fear penetrating her very soul. She felt so cold, absolutely icy and frozen inside. There had been so much speculation as to whom had attacked Nora, but never any definite answers. Only Nora herself knew the real truth of what had happened that night.
She shuddered as she told herself that wasn't entirely true... *He* too knew what really happened on that horrible, horrible night.
Stacy knew she would never be able to rid herself of the chill she felt... Not for the rest of the night would it
leave her.