All That I Need

Episode 30

Lily’s POV

We sat on Steve’s bed that afternoon, as he held the memory card out in front of us.

“This is all we need to expose him,” he said.

“I just need to check that he hasn’t deleted the footage,” he said, inserting it into the computer via a battery.

“But the van is dark, how would he catch all that’s happening?” Alice asked.

“There are camera settings that allow you to record in the dark without flash,” Steve replied.

To say that I was shocked about Daryl’s secret recordings was an understatement. I was absolutely horrified. He wasn’t just doing this for him, he was doing this for random people on the Internet, and he was probably earning money for it. There was much more behind his acts than there seemed. It made it even more disgusting, and not to mention very, very illegal.

“They’re all here. Hundreds of them. Oh my god,” Steve said, scrolling through the contents.

“He’s disgusting. I always knew there was something off about that boy,” Adam said.

“I can’t believe I used to like him a few years ago. Ew.”

“You what?” Paris asked.

“I know right,” Adam said, rolling his eyes.

“I-is mine on there?” I asked, not wanting to know.

“I don’t know, I can’t tell. But it probably is,”

“All we need to do is hand this over to the police,” Alice stated.

I nodded.

Suddenly, I heard a scream coming from Steve’s computer.

It wasn’t just any scream. It was my scream.

“Oh no. I wasn’t meant to do that,” Steve said, quickly stopping it. He was obviously mortified by what he’d just seen on the screen.

But the scream didn’t leave my brain. In my head, I was transported back to that moment. When I was helpless, sobbing and screaming. He was on me. Inside me.

The memories and emotions boiled up inside me, and they were soon released by tears falling down my cheeks.

“I’m so so sorry, I wasn’t meant to play it,” Steve said. He sounded upset. I knew he hadn’t mean to.

He rubbed my knee with his hand gently. Klarissa wrapped her arms around me, and held me tight as I continued to sob. I couldn’t stop. Everything horrible in my life came rushing back.

Very soon I was the centre of a group hug with all my friends.

“That’s on the internet somewhere,” I said between sobs.

“Random strangers are watching me get raped,”

“We love you, Lily. And this is the reason why we’re doing this,” Emily said gently.

“Everything sucks right now,” I said, drenched in an overwhelming sadness.

“You’ll get through it, I know you,” Klarissa said, rubbing my back.

“My mum’s nearly dead, and I will have to move on with a new life with somebody else like she never existed. Like my life with mum never happened. I don’t think I will,” I said, still sobbing.

“How long does she have left?” Paris asked sadly.

“She’s looking terrible, and she’s probably going to pass any day soon,” I said, still sobbing.

“We can’t stop it from happening, but we’ll always be here for you,” Adam said, smiling.

And despite everything, I knew I was the luckiest girl in the world to have such amazing friends.