I Said, "No Thank You"A Story by Brandon LangleyMy near-rape experience
It was mid-January, on one of those snow days that are now making us have school on Saturdays. I was staying at my dad's apartment all week partially because my dog, who has to stay their full time now on account of his cancer, needed to be taken care of. No food, I thought, opening the freezer, refrigerator, and pantry, Damn. I'll have to go out. I swiped the lock from my phone, with the intent to tell my father of my plans only to see that Andy had texted me "GTA in 5?" No, Andy, I'm starving, I don't want to play grand theft auto, I thought, but what I typed was quite different, "Gimme half an hour." Then I texted my dad, "Going out for food, be back in half an hour." I walked the dog one last time before departing, putting on my coats and hat.
Trench-coat billowing in the wind, I walked through the shopping centre's car parks, past the Office Max, past the Skinny Dip, past the Pet's Mart, past the Sonic. Now onto the main road, I looked both ways, checking for any cars coming down the service roads. None. I then ran to the first grass/concrete barrier that was now caked in snow. I traipsed clumsily through the snow, careful not to step into anything too deep. I looked to my left, sure no cars were coming any time soon, and walked at a reasonable pace past the second portion of the thick road. Then, past the snow-caked barrier, I made sure the light would not turn green as I was walking, as the cars had already filed into place, then sprinted through the maze of pale silver and deep blue steel and aluminium. I then sprinted down the last portion, another service road, confident there would be no traffic. As I walked through the shopping centre and its many car parks, I had an eerie realization that perhaps Chick-Fil-A had closed due to the horrid weather. My worries were reassured when I approached the building and the lot was nearly empty, save a few cars bound to be from patrons of another building, the chairs stacked onto the tables, and a note on the door saying that this fast-food joint had closed at five o'clock. I looked at my phone, 5:30, Son of a b***h! I thought, cursing to myself, What am I to do? I leaned against the glass door for a minute or two, when the idea, although not a very attractive one, popped into my head, Burger King! I nearly gagged at the site of the disgusting food vendor, so my reaction to their food was to come as expected, but nonetheless, I ate there. Near the end of my "meal," a few other patrons came in, ending the useless bum-chat I was having with the cashier-woman. There was a (white-trash)couple with a small daughter, and a very skinny, shifty-eyed, vagrantesque man who entered at nearly the same time. The skinny man, who shall from now on be referred to as 'Skinny,' left with his meal as I finished my burger, and began vacuuming up my remaining fries. Another vagrantesque man, this time a shaggy-haired and rather fat, entered, ordering his food. Skinny reentered, asking the cashier if he had left his phone somewhere in the shop. "Nope." she said, blandly, shooting me a rather annoyed look, which I chuckled to myself at for a moment. I had finished my food, but I wanted to watch the situation unfold, so I kept in my seat as I gathered my coats, ready to put them on. Skinny turned to Shaggy, seeming to recognize him, asking if he could borrow his phone in order to call and find his own. At first, the man disagreed, claiming to hardly know Skinny, but after Skinny offered his rather thick wallet as collateral, he agreed, exiting the building with the other man. I followed them with my gaze out the windows until they turned a corner and I could no longer see them. I finally got up to throw my trash in the bin and put my coats and hat on to leave, nodding at the cashier. As I walked out the exit, I pulled my phone from my pocket, feeling a vibration, "Dude!?" Andy said, I checked the time I had told him to wait for half of an hour, 5:10, I was fifteen minutes late, "Sorry, gimme 5" I replied. I began to run, not having to pass the massive road I mentioned before, when I noticed Skinny emerge from behind the Burger King, and enter a white SUV and begin to leave, coming my way, he slowed, saying, "You need a ride, kid?" "No thanks, mate." I replied, a bit freaked out by the question, but dismissing it as him just being a nice guy. I continued on my way, and he continued on his, until he stopped, yelling something I couldn't quite hear, "Sorry, what was that?" I yelled back. He yelled again, but I still couldn't tell what it was, "What?" He yelled a third time, this time, I could hear him quite clearly, "You wanna give me a blow job!?" he yelled. I couldn't move, I was petrified with terror, frozen in anger, drowning in anxiety. I couldn't say anything, for my mouth was sealed shut, it seemed, and even had I, the only resemblance of a word that would have come out was a hoarse rasp, that being all I would have been able to muster. So, I simply balled my hand into a fist, leaving only my middle finger outstretched, and raised that fist into the air. In response, his backup lights shone bright and his engine roared. I ran, as hard and fast as I could, I wove my way through the many building in the apartment complex, I hid behind walls and cars and stairs whenever a car went by. This was the first time that I'd genuinely feared for my life. When I finally reached my apartment, my dad had still not returned, and I locked the door. My phone vibrated in my pants, pulling it out, I saw that Andy had texted me once more, and I didn't care what it said, I replied, "Get on now. I need to tell you something important."
© 2014 Brandon Langley |
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Added on March 19, 2014 Last Updated on March 19, 2014 Tags: Rape, Fear, Nonfiction, My, Personal, Experience Author
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