The Will To

T W E N T Y - S I X (justice)

Warning: discussion of rape. 

xxx

Like the aftermath of a car accident, people were drawn to the scene as though hypnotized but kept a safe distance between Officer Dan and the woman. A haze enclosed us, the air muddled with profound fascination. I was always bothered by this: it was easy to fixate on an intriguing situation when tucked safely away at the sidelines. I pushed through the awe-struck herd and took the steps that everyone else was too afraid to take. Rey followed after.

The woman was escorted into the ambulance just before I reached Dan. He looked through me. Fear and anguish filled every inch of him, and it took him a few moments before he acknowledged me as though he was trapped inside another moment in time.

"You should go home, Will," he said, and the defeat in his voice was unsettling.

"She was raped, wasn't she?" I asked.

Dan's mustache twitched. He set his gaze on me, still full of fear and anguish. It deepened as he inhaled and called to those circled around the scene, "Alright, party's over! Time for everyone to head home!"

His words slowly eased people away from where they stood, and as they muttered amongst themselves, the majority finally shifted and began walking away. I glanced down the street. More cop cars swarmed close by, their lights blinding. They ignited a sorority house that was teaming with cops. Beside me, I noticed Rey staring as well.

"They're not going to find him," I stated, knowing that the cops could search every square inch of the sorority house where the woman had been raped and not find a shred of evidence. I wasn't under any delusions; there was a serial rapist prowling around campus, and he knew what he was doing. I failed to see how anyone could deny that fact after tonight.

To my surprise, Dan said, "I know."

His admission hung in the air.

"Did anyone see anything?" Rey asked, breaking the tension.

Dan jumped as he looked at Rey, apparently having just realized he was present. He shifted his weight and skimmed a hand over his thick eyebrows. "No. Not that we know of."

"Shouldn't you be asking people if they saw anything? People at the parties going on tonight?" Rey insisted.

Dan sighed, and a puff of visible breath rose in front of him like steam. It reminded me of how boiling hot I was in the freezing cold, and, as if I was previously immune, I suddenly felt a chill roll up my spine. "We are but..." He scratched his forehead. "The attack happened hours ago."

"What?" I interjected. "Hours ago? Why didn't you come sooner? You can't honestly tell me the campus police are no longer taking serial rapes seriously—"

"Will," Dan lowered his chin and met my burning eyes. "She didn't make the call. Someone else did."

"What?"

He paused, and I could feel the answer before he opened his mouth. "Someone found her inside—she was in the basement of the house when someone found her." He paused. "She'd been attacked two hours ago when the call came in—hadn't left the place that she'd been..." Dan ran a hand over his eyebrows again. "We didn't know. We're doing all we can."

The air around us felt like it was cold enough to shatter. None of us moved. One single step and everything would break into jagged pieces.

My throat ached. The woman who'd been raped had sat alone for two hours, unable to call for help, giving her attacker ample time to escape. Those two hours were important, as they could have allowed someone to see something, anything, and I wondered what sort of questioning the campus police had planned. If someone nearby saw something, would they come forward?