I love my best friend

I love my best friend (8)

The next two weeks were the worst. Shawna and Mike were all over each other. I wanted to throw up every time I saw them. I advoided them mostly though.

I will admitt, I was jealous. That was supposed to be me with Shawna. Mike was not supposed to be in that picture. Seriously, where did he come from?!

But as things started to change, Shawna and I distanced ourselves. We talked less and less until finally, she cracked.

It was the middle of the night. My mom was sleeping and I was downstairs watching sad movies on LifeTime. I remember it had just stopped raining. The door bell rang and I put down the bowl of ice cream I was eating to answer it. It didn't even cross my mind that it was 2 a.m. and it could be a murderer outside my door. I just got up and opened it.

Shawna burst in as I opened the door. She fell into my arms and started bawling. I touched her head that was wet with rain. Then, I kicked the door shut and walked her to my couch.

"What's wrong?" I demanded.

"Mike..." She sobbed. "He... He..."

I head her tight in my arms. I felt so bad for her. I had no clue why she was crying or why she even came to me for help but I really wanted to make sure things were OK. "What did he do?" I asked. "Is everything alright?"

"No!" Shawna exclaimed.

Stupid question, man! I thought to myself.

"Well, then, what happened?" I asked again.

"He tried to..." Shawna sniffled and caught her breath. "He hurt me... And tried raping me."

"What?!" I flipped out. "When? Where were you guys? What exactly did he do?"

Shawna crashed into my lap and just cried for a good twentty minutes. I patted her head and stroked her hair. Finally, I got tired of waiting. "Shawna." I said softly. "I'll go get you some water and then you can tell me everything that happened, OK?"

She nodded.

I got up and hurried to get her a drink. I was so worried. I walked back to Shawna who was curled up in a ball, hugging a pillow on the couch. I handed her the water and she sipped it slowly.

"Will you tell me what happened now?" I asked quietly.

Shawna talked in a whisper. "Mike and I had gone to his cousin's house for a little party. We stayed there until about one a.m. Then, he was driving me home. He took a 'wrong turn' and we ended up at some weird deserted place. He locked the doors of his car and got on top of me. I was screaming and trying to get away but he was too big for me to push off." She drank some water. "He started trying to take my clothes off and I wouldn't cooperate so he hit me. He slapped my face twice, and punched my chest and arm, and kneed my stomach." Shawna's voice was shaking. "I finally kneed him 'down there' and pushed him off me. I climbed over to the driver's seat and got out of the car. Then I walked here in the rain."

"Oh my God." I muttered. "That's terrible."

"James," Shawna cried, "I'm scared. He was so angry at me because I didn't want to have sex with him." She leaned her head on my chest and I wrapped my arms around her in a hug. "I'm scared." She repeated. "Is he going to hurt me again?"

I sighed. "You need to tell someone about this."

"I can't..." Shawna shook her head. "My mom would be mad."

"But Mike needs to be punished. He shouldn't get away with what he did or tried to do to you." I replied.

Shawna took a deep breath. "I know, but I'm scared."

"I know your scared, but I'm here for you no matter what. I always will be, OK?" I smiled at Shawna.

She smiled back. "OK, thanks."