Bad Luck Katie

Sinner

TW. This chapter contains sensitive content.

Laying in bed gazing starry-eyed at the ceiling, Katie giggled. She brushed her fingers against her lips lightly. Jules kissed her-not just a simple peck. It was a full-on, passionate kiss. Her cheeks heated. She bit her lip.

The kiss was unlike anything she had ever experienced. She had nothing to compare it to. She had never experienced a kiss before. If the kiss made her weak in the knees like this, she wondered what it would be like if they-

A memory flashed before her eyes, interrupting her thoughts. She sat up, unnerved. She shook her head vehemently at the memory. It's a figment of my imagination. It has to be. The knot in the pit of her stomach told her otherwise. The memory was real.

Since waking up in the hospital, something had felt amiss, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. It was there in her subconscious, something she didn't want to remember.

Hopping off the bed, she rushed to the cabinet and retrieved her duffle bag. After rummaging through her belongings, she finally found the crumpled discharge papers from the hospital.

She fixed her gaze on the words written in black and white. Rape kit administered-evidence of sexual assault. One of the medications she was given included a morning-after pill.

Her hands shook.

Her legs buckled. She slumped to the floor, covering her mouth so as not to scream.

"I know what Kyle Branson did to you."

Lacy spoke those words to her.

Her stomach churned. She jerked the adjacent wastebasket towards her and vomited until she dry heaved.

Kyle sexually assaulted her. It wasn't consensual.

She remembered everything.

The first incident occurred when Katie had finished showering. Wrapping a towel around her, she pulled the shower curtain back to find Kyle in the bathroom. The door closed behind him. His eyes glazed over-a bulge in his boxers.

Frightened and cornered, she wrapped the towel tighter around her petite frame.

His eyes lingered on the water droplets trickling down her skin. She guardedly stepped out of the bathtub. He towered over her imposing.

He jerked the towel off her. She ran for the door. Yanking her by the hair, he shoved her onto the cool floor. She tried to push him off her. He punched her until she stopped resisting. As she lay motionless, he assaulted her.

To add insult to injury, his mother was present in her room and Katie wasn't sure if she overheard what had happened.

At breakfast the following morning, she tried to bring the assault to the woman's attention discreetly.

"Mrs. Branson," she said softly as the woman poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Can't you see I'm busy, Katie?" the woman snapped, turning around. Coffee spilled out of her cup and shock registered on her face at the bruises on Katie's face and arms. Her demeanor turned cold.

"Kyle, have you been horseplaying?" she asked in a singsong tone.

Katie glowered.

Horse-playing, she thought. That's what you're calling it?

As though reading her thoughts, the woman replied with a shrug, "He's a growing boy."

Katie nodded silently, knowing the woman would never side with her as she enabled her son's misbehavior.