Shy and timid, Onika lives in a dilapidated Detroit neighborhood with her abusive uncle. She is hopelessly in love with Marshall Mathers, a troubled young man that lives next door to her in their rough hood.
Marshall is rude, agressive and uncouth...
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"Nah, girl. Something about this whole thing ain't sitting right with me, and I'm about to become a whole detective in this motherfucker," Sharonda tells me as she's aggressively gripping the stirring wheel on her car while driving me towards a local motel. "I just don't see it happening how both you and Marshall seem to think it happen, cause like... I don't even envision you cheating on that white dude for real."
"I um... I don't think that I did," I whisper, looking down at my hands.
I mean... I know that Marshall had apparently caught me red-handed in the bed with another guy, but... I can't remember getting in there in the first place. Nor do I understand why would I. I mean, seriously, like why?! Why would I screw around on the only man I've ever wanted, somebody I been had the most pathetic crush on since forever??
I love Marshall, I always have, so why would I do him like this?! It doesn't even make sense to me, y'all.
"Nah, girl, I don't think that you did either," Sharonda says to me firmly, flipping her long braids off of her shoulder as she drives. "I don't think that you did that white motherfucker like that. And me and you, we are going to get to the buttom of it all. Which is exactly why I brought you here," she then adds, suddenly parking a car somewhere.
I peep out of the passenger side window.
"This isn't a motel," I observe.
"Not, it's not," Shar confirms. "This is a free clinic, actually. And you are going in there, girl. To find out a few things, like, they are gonna do a rape kit on you to find out whether or not you even had sex that night in the first place, and if you did, was it consensual or not. Also, they are going to do a blood test on you, because the way you are describing this to me, Onika? The way you say you can't even remember shit, your mind all foggy and all? It sounds to me like you were maybe drugged, girl. I'm sorry to say."
"No, there's no way," I whisper then as my eyes involuntarily widen.
I don't know if I can go through this whole rape kit thing, it seems so invasive, and while Sharonda has absolutely no clue about this, it would inevitably remind me about this while thing that's happened with my uncle before, and I'm honestly terrified of it.
"Girllll, you most likely was drugged, let's just be real about it," Sharonda sighs. "And we've got to get to the bottom of this."
I shut my eyes tight, then open them.
A part of me is terrified of this whole process, like this... really huge part. I really don't want people examining me or touching me for rape kit, that honestly sounds so invasive to me, but at the same time though, I do know that Sharonda is right though, because I HAVE to know.
Not even just for the sake of my relationship with Marshall, but most importantly, for ME. I absolutely NEED to know whether I was actually violated or not, I have to know that for my own peace of mind.
