My Favourite Escape

Chapter Two

It was 4am, cold, dark and raining. It was fitting for Anas mood at that time. She was still crying, shaking and didn't know what to do next, where to turn, where to go. She didn't even have anyone she could phone at that time. She couldn't phone her parents, they would worry too much about her and she didn't want to put them through that. The only logical next step for Ana was to go to the police station, and so she did.
'How can I help you?' Asked the bored looking police man from behind the glass screen.
'I need to report an incident' Ana stated, not wanting the whole waiting room to know what had happened.
'What type of incident?' He asked.
'Can I talk about this in private please?' Ana muttered, becoming increasingly embarrassed. Why can't he just take me into a side room and ask, she thought, annoyed.
'I can't help you if you aren't willing to discuss it, if it would make it easier, you can report the incident via telephone call.' He stated in a matter of fact tone. Ana was so taken back. These are the people meant to listen, care and help, but right now all she's feeling is judged and belittled.
'I've just been raped' she mumbled, trying to avoid the whole room finding out.
'Come with me' he replied, with no emotions in his voice.

Ana followed the man into a quiet room.
'So can you explain what happened?' He asked.
Ana gave a blow by blow account of what happened, crying throughout the whole interview, and at times shaking so badly she felt she wasn't able to continue. Throughout the whole explanation, the police officer didn't show a sign of emotion.

'So what were you wearing?' Was the first question he asked Ana. She was so shocked, 'why does that matter? I said no' she replied.
'It's just for the notes, love, no need to be offended'
Ana was so angry at this point. How can anyone expect to feel safe, and give a thorough account, when they're asked questions like this?

'Well love, we'll need to do a rape kit, standard procedure so don't worry too much about it' Ana hated this. Everything about this felt so wrong to her but she knew if she wanted to take this any further, she'd have to go through with it.
'Fine.' Ana replied. She just wanted this to be over.

Once Ana had given her statement and done all the appropriate testing, she was informed that she would be contacted in due course to be given updates of the investigation. Once she left the police station. Ana began to run again. Nothing in that experience had helped anything. It didn't make her feel better, it didn't make her feel safer, and it sure as hell didn't make her feel like she would get justice any time soon.
So she continued running. Yet again, she didn't know where she was going, she just wanted to be away from it all and have a clear space to think and process everything.
Before long, Ana found herself back at her flat. She jumped into the shower first, she wanted to be clean of it all. She scrubbed for what felt like hours, but she didn't feel any cleaner. She threw on a pair of sweat pants and a baggy hoodie. She didn't want to show her body anymore, she wanted to keep it all to herself, hide it all. Ana decided in that moment, she needed to leave, start fresh somewhere. So many of her friends were at that party and no doubt know everything that had happened by now, so what was the point in Ana staying here and constantly being asked and reminded about the situation, she just needed to be far from here.
She packed a small bag, just enough for a few nights, and googled flights to London. She had always wanted to go to London, what better time right? A big busy city, where she could go and sit under the radar and just watch other people living their life. To Ana it seemed like the perfect escape.
She rung and booked a taxi to the airport, her newly booked flight would be leaving in just over two hours. Ana rung her parents and explained that her and Alice had booked a holiday to London for a while, of course this was a lie but Ana knew her parents would worry if they knew everything that had gone on in the past 24 hours, let alone how much they'd worry if they knew Ana was heading to London on her own. Her parents seemed delighted for her, and wished her the best, obviously thinking she was going to have the time of her life. Quite the opposite, Ana thought.