Shells

three

TW: sexual assault

"I wore a dress." My gaze remains outside, studying the chipped corners of the ugly yellow cement building across the street.

"You were wearing a dress." Dr. Clarke, my new therapist, repeats.

"I insisted on wearing a dress."

"Are you kidding? The slips are so much cuter. And sexier." I insist, handing the red slip dress to Anna. She holds up the silk dress to her body and scrunches her nose at her reflection in the mirror.

"It barely goes over your ass, Mia." She whines.

"No, it totally does see? Full coverage." I turn around to show my covered butt to Anna. "Anyways aren't you supposed to be a devil? Be scandalous, break rules, or whatever."

"Ugh, fine, but it's your fault if some creep, like, gropes me or something."

I grin at her and slide the halo on my head in victory.

"Do you feel that that's why he did it? That wearing a dress served as an invitation?" Dr. Clarke questions. I shrug, my ring twisting around my finger.

"Mia DeSantis, you look hot." I feel someone's breath on my neck. I recognize the voice and slowly turn around to face him.

"Andrew Finnegan, you don't look too bad yourself," I smirk at him. Andrew is a senior at my school. The Finnegans are notoriously rich and powerful. He is wearing red pants, devil horns, and nothing else.

"Your dress doesn't leave much to my imagination." His gaze falls to my chest. I watch as he reaches his hand out and slides one of the straps off my shoulder, exposing the top of my breast. I reach up to move the strap back in place. I dart my eyes around the room to see if anyone is watching, but no one seems to be paying attention.

"Well, this dress is really cute and it was expensive, so I'd prefer to actually keep it on my body." I laugh shortly, trying to hide my discomfort. Andrew grins and takes a step closer to me.

"Where's the fun in that?" He leans towards me, closing the space between us as if he is going in for a kiss. I turn my head to the side and take a small step back. Andrew pauses where my face was a moment ago and I watch as his face hardens and his eyes flash with anger. I grip my phone and hold it up for Andrew to see.

"Oh, looks like it's 10:34, I told Anna I'd check in at 10:30. Looks like I'm late, sorry! Don't want her to freak." I quickly make up a lie and back away from him. He just watches me, clearly unamused and pissed. I give him a small wave before turning on my heel and pushing my way through the crowd. I fumble with my phone, not paying attention to where I'm walking as I press on Anna's contact.

GS: SOS!!!!

I make my way to a bathroom, but a line outside of the door turns me away and I head upstairs. I open random doors in the upstairs hallway with shaking hands, hoping to find a bathroom. Near the end of the hall, the door opens up to what looks like the master bedroom and I dart inside to the connected bathroom. I shut the door behind me with a slam and take a deep breath.

"Andrew Finnegan can be gross all he wants, but so what? Don't let it get to your head." I whisper to myself in the mirror. I turn on the water in the sink and stick my hands under the faucet.

"He can't hurt you." I shut my eyes, letting the water running over my hands calm me. I turn off the water and as I do, I hear the door latch shut behind me and my head shoots up. I hadn't even heard it open. I whip my head around and come face to face- more like face to chest because he towers over me- with Andrew.

"Yeah, sure you can use this bathroom, I'm done anyways," I answer an unasked question, and try to move around him, but he grabs my upper arm.

"I don't need to use the bathroom." He says.

"Okay, that's fine, just assumed that's why you'd be in here because this is a bathroom. But anyways, I'm done, so I'm leaving." I fail to meet his gaze and try to pull my arm from his grasp. His grip just tightens and I wince. My heart pounds in my chest as I try to pull away again.

"I thought you had to check in with Anna." He says, almost tauntingly.

"Yeah, quick detour. You know, when nature calls or whatever. But now that you point that out, I really do have to check in with her. It's way past time she's going to start worrying and looking for me soon." My voice shakes as I try to emphasize the fact that she'll be looking, even though the check-in time was a complete lie.

"I'm sure she can wait." He yanks me towards him, causing me to stumble.

"Ow, Andrew, you are hurting me. Please let me go." I try and use my hand to pry his fingers off my arm, but his grip remains like iron.

"Don't you want to have some fun?" He snarls as he pushes me against the wall. I let out a yelp as my head hits the tile on the wall. His mouth meets mine aggressively, moving his lips moving around mine as I try to move my face away from his. He presses his body weight against mine and moves his free hand up to hold my face in place. His large hand is wrapped underneath my chin and his fingers grip my jaw and squeeze my cheeks. I throw my hands up to his head to try and grab onto something. One hand scratches at his shoulder and the other yanks at his hair to try and pull his face away from mine. This works for a moment, as he pulls his face back from mine. I open my mouth to inhale and he uses the hand on my face to bring my head forward towards him and then slam it back against the wall. I gasp out of pain and feel my legs give out slightly as darkness enters the edges of my vision. Then, with the same hand that's still on my face, he pulls me forward so that I fall to the ground, my back slamming against the ceramic claw foot tub. He stands over me and watches as I try to push myself off the ground. My vision is blurry, but I can still make out red on the otherwise stark white floor. I focus on the red on the ground in shock and bring my hand up to my head. I pull my fingertips into my vision, revealing blood dripping down them. I see Andrew's feet moving closer to me and I try to scramble back away from him, but I'm moving in slow motion.

"HELP ME!" I scream out as he approaches me. He lunges forward, his hand coming to my mouth with such force that my head slams back, again. I squeeze my eyes shut as my already-pounding headache multiplies.

"You need to shut up." He shakes me as he speaks through his teeth. I cry out as his hand that isn't covering my mouth travels down to my dress, pushing my straps off my shoulders like he did earlier. I feel the coolness of the air on my breasts and stomach as he pulls the dress lower and lower. I flail my arms blindly, trying to hit him and scratch him, but he just pushes himself against me more, seemingly not affected by my attempts to stop him. Tears fall down my face and I beg him to stop and beg anyone to help me. I bite his hand which causes him to pull it away from my mouth. I wheeze as air fills my lungs, and my nose is stuffed because I'm crying. I scream again and Andrew grabs my head with both hands and slams me against the ground. I choke as a metallic liquid fills my mouth. My limbs feel like they're filled with lead and I go still, unable to move. I lay helpless as I feel his hands move over my body, and then feel as he penetrates me aggressively. I squeeze my eyes and will myself to pass out. As I attempt to dissociate, my mind falls to my grandparent's old dog. She was a Bernese mountain dog puppy named Sophie that my grandfather adored. I had been playing with her in their front yard when she ran out into the street to chase a squirrel and got hit by a car. I had stood in shock as I watched her lifeless body lie in the middle of the street. My grandfather had rushed past me to attend to the dog while my dad had stopped at me. Kneeling in front of me and gripping my shoulders.

"What did you do?" He had yelled and given me a small shake. I had just stood in silence, unable to take my eyes off the unmoving dog laying in the middle of the street.

That moment kept replaying in my head as Andrew thrusts in and out of me over and over again, for what seemed like an eternity.

"Mia?" Dr. Clarke snaps me out of my trance. I lift my eyes to meet hers.

"Who knows why he did it, right? You'd have to ask him."