When She Says No

The very concept of rape pisses me off. This is what I came up with at 4 AM after reading an article of statistics and examples of rape in colleges.

Her six-inch, patent leather heels clicked under every step. Her feet hurt a little, but dancing for three hours in shoes like these meant that some pain was to be expected afterward. A cool breeze blew through the dark, tousling her auburn curls. She kept her pace even, confident, and as strong as possible as she turned onto the next street. Four more blocks and she would be home.

There was someone following her, and she knew it. There had been a shape behind her as she left the club, and it hadn’t let up, no matter what turns she made down the first few streets. Now that she was getting closer to home, she focused not on losing the pursuer, but rather just on closing the distance between herself and her front door. Without realizing she had been doing so, she sped up a little with each step. The person following her had picked up speed as well, and their distance from her decreased with every click of her heels.

Suddenly an arm went around her, the elbow creasing at the front of her throat.

“No,” she said, very clearly.

She felt the attacker stiffen for a moment, obviously confused. “What?”

“No,” she said again.

“What the hell do you mean, ‘no’?”

She sighed slightly. “I mean that you should remove your arm from my neck, turn around, walk away, and do literally anything but this. Now.”

The arm tightened around her throat. “Come on, sugar, don’t you wanna play?”

Without hesitating, her elbow drove back into his stomach. In the split second of his grasp around her neck loosening, she grabbed his arm and heaved, flipping him up and over her head so that he landed on his back in front of her. She stepped one perfect shoe onto his chest and pushed a little on her heel so that the spike of the stiletto drove a little into him--just enough to hurt.

“I believe I said ‘no.’” She looked down at him with distaste.

Author's Note

I feel like this was originally going to be longer and part of a story, but it just sort of morphed into this little short thing while I was writing it. Let me know what you think. :)