Aftermath

A Chapter by Keirsten

I opened my eyes and saw Justin standing next to me. He took my hand and kept saying, “Everything will be OK.” I was very confused when I looked around at our surroundings. We were in a plain white room with no furniture. The room was very small and the tiled floor was white also. There were no windows and one door that I could make out because of the silver handle sticking out of the wall. We were trapped, me and Justin. There was no where to go. Justin held me close to him and kissed my forehead as we sat on the cold floor.
Suddenly, the door swung open forcibly and Cody appeared. Chills went up my spine and I went to hide behind Justin, but he had disappeared. I looked around aimlessly searching for my savior when Cody yelled, “Get over here!” I ignored him and kept looking for Justin. I felt a strong pull at my head and realized that Cody had a strong hold on my hair and was dragging me along the floor out of the room.
I was thrown into a different room, a very weird room. It’s walls where covered in a blood red color and the cold tiles were black. I pulled my knees to my chest and hugged myself. Cody shut the door behind him and locked it. “You ready for this?” he asked seductively and walk towards me slowly. “W-What are you going to do?” I asked while trying to hold back my fear. He pushed me down so that I was laying on the floor. He kneeled down around me and pinned me to the ground.
He then put his hand in his back pocket and pulled something out. “What is that?” I asked and attempted to get free. He smiled at me and flicked the shiny piece of metal out of its case. Once I saw the knife I tried even harder to get away. He raised the knife above me and right before it penetrated my chest I awoke on a bench in the middle of the night with a blanket on top of me.
I put my hand on my chest, trying to calm myself from the horrible nightmare that I just had. I looked around me and realized that I was on the bench that I stopped at previously. My head was throbbing and my body ached. I started to stand up slowly, but my legs gave out in protest. A little piece of paper fell out of my laugh when I fell back on the bench. I bent over and quickly stopped when a sharp pain went through my body which started at my ribs. ”AHH, Oh my freaking God!” I yelled to myself and started crying. I held my stomach and attempted to grab the paper again. I sat up and found my cell phone in a plastic bag.
The note read, “Wow, you were amazing. Even though you broke one of my parents pictures. I forgive you. We should get back together sometime. Here is your phone. I don’t want it anymore. I have your virginity instead. HA! Love, Cody” All the memories of what happened had rushed through my head and I cried until my body couldn’t produce tears anymore. I picked up my phone and dialed Justin’s number. I can’t call my mom while I’m like this. The phone barely rang once when he picked up, “Oh God Lace! Where are you?! Your mom is freaking out, she was about to call the cops!” he yelled into the phone. “I need you to come pick me up.” I managed to say between sobs. “Lace, what’s wrong? Where are you?” he asked. “On a bench, my body hurts so much and I don’t even want to move. I’m at the bench where we were earlier, Justin I’m so sorry.” I told him. “Don’t worry, babe. I’ll be right there ok?” he said and hung up.
I feel so dirty and horrible. How could I let Cody do this to me? I’m so stupid. I tried my hardest to fight back though. He just kept hitting me and kicking me, then hitting me again. Laid on the bench and went to take the cover off when I discovered that it was the only thing I had on. Cody left my on a bench without any clothes on and a blanket. How freaking nice of him. God! I hate my life!
I looked down at myself to see how much damage has been done. First I examine my arms which were almost completely covered in bruises. My wrists still has bruises that were shaped as Cody’s fingers, but they were now darker. My chest had all sorts of hickeys that made me feel even worse. On my stomach, mainly where my ribs were, there were large dark purple and grey/black bruises. I quit looking at myself because it reminded me of how I got the bruises, and how I got raped…
Justin then pulled up and I pulled the covers to me a bit tighter which really hurt my fingers. He ran over to me quickly and kneeled in front of the bench where I was huddled up. “Oh my God, Lace what happened to you?” he said while examining my face which I had no idea what it looked like. I started crying again and was surprised that I could actually come up with anymore tears. He looked down at my blanket and said, “What did he do to you?” he asked quietly. “He raped me, Justin. He knocked me out and beat me up. I tried fighting him off, I really did. I’m so sorry. So, so, so sorry!” I cried and bowed my head. He put his hand on my chin and I flinched back.
“We need to get you to the hospital or home.” he said and tried getting my blanket off of me. I jerked it back and said, “He left me on the bench with this. He didn’t put my clothes back on me.” I said and look at him feeling ashamed of myself. “Come on, we’ll fix this.” he said and went to help me up. I stood slowly and again my legs protested and I feel to the ground instead of back on the bench. “Oh my god lace. I am so sorry.” Justin said and helped me to my feet. “Please carry me. Everything hurts.” he picked me up without saying anything and accidentally pressed on one of my many bruises. “AH!” I yelled and he started crying. He placed me in the passengers seat and wiped away his tears. I’ve never seen him cry before.
He got to the drivers side and sat down. “I’m so sorry Justin. I should’ve listened to you. I thought I could handle it. I…” he cut me off and said, “It’s not your fault.” he paused and wiped away the tear on my face. “Once we get to your house, your calling the police. Ok? He will go to jail.” I didn’t feel like fighting back so I nodded my head in agreement. I would just have to hope to God that Cody wont come after me.
We finally arrived at my house and I was afraid to face my mom. He parked and ran over to my side of the car. He opened the door and picked me up, then closed the door with his foot. Every time he took a step he bumped one of my sores but I tried my best mot to let out a gasp or scream in pain so that he wouldn’t cry again. It kills me to see him like that. He kicked the door with his foot and I buried my face in his shoulder. The door was opened and I heard my mom’s voice. “Oh my baby! What happened to you? I was so worried!” she asked once I lifted my face. I still had no clue of what I looked like.
Justin walked slowly over into the living room and set me down on a soft couch. I still held the blanket close to my body. My mom knelt in front of me and touched a sensitive spot on my face. I flinched back and tears were streaming down my face again. I hated pain. “MOM DON’T DO THAT!!!!” I yelled. “I’m sorry, I need to see what you need fixed.” she said and I shook my head no, which gave me a huge head ache but I didn’t care. “I don’t want you to touch anything. Everything hurts!” I said. “Who did this to you?” she asked with tear welling up in her eyes. I looked up at Justin hoping that he would explain things to her.
He got what I was hinting and said, “Cody Chanler, he, um, raped her.” with that, my mom let out a gasp and put her hand to her mouth. She started crying when she went to hug me to comfort me, but I quickly lifted my arms to stop her. My blanket fell off of the top half of my body revealing all of my bruises on my stomach and the hickeys on my chest. Justin wouldn’t take his eyes off of where my ribs and sides where. Both my mother’s and Justin’s jaws dropped when they saw all of my bruises. I quickly grabbed the blanket and covered myself up. I could feel myself blushing because come on, how embarrassing is this? My boyfriend just saw me naked and saw the aftermath of what happens when someone gets raped…I would’ve ran to my room, but I kind of couldn’t walk at the moment.