BY
Hello. My name is Andrea J. Mack. My family calls me Dre J. I'm 5 feet tall with an apple cider skin color, my eyes are the same color as my skin, a dimple in my right cheek, a beauty mark to the left of my left eye, and my hair is the color of melting tar. But this is not all about me. It's about By.
Her name is not really By, it's Melody Sylvia Hyuson. It's a nickname I gave her because she looked like an actor named By Camber. She was the color of caramel, she had long, light brown, wavy hair, and a scar on her arm that she got when she fell off the jungle gym onto glass. She was Hispanic and able to speak Spanish really well without being born there. We had a lot of great times since we were in 4th grade. It's hard for me to write this but I must share her story.
It was our first year of high school and we didn't know anybody or know where our classes were. In a few months we got a hold of things. One day we were both invited to this party. This cute guy named Duane Peters came up to us and asked us if we wanted to go. Of corse we said yes. Cute boy=cool.
"Saturday night. 8 o'clock. 275 Beacon St.," Duane said smoothly.
"We'll be there," I said without an ounce of cool in me.
That night By and I talked on the phone about how great the party would be. The rest of the week went by really fast and soon enough it was the day of the party. That night we got primped and polished and looked good. We both wore jeans but I wore a purple shirt, a black jacket, and a matching hat. She wore a green shirt with Happy Bunny on it and a matching jacket. I remember we looked so good our shadows couldn't compare to us. I also remember telling my mom to drop us off a block away because it wasn't cool to show up with your mother. As we walked over there we passed a guy who looked really scary like a drug dealer. He asked us if we came for the party. We didn't pay attention to him and just ran to the house. When we got there we were out of breath and shaken up. The house was a fairly big house with like 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a basement that takes up a whole floor, a large kitcen, and a really big living room. All that I left out were the hundreds of people, who just seemed to keep coming in and out, the drugs, the food, and the stains on the walls that By nor I could recognize to be something we knew. We walked in and we were greeted by Duane.
"Hey Ladies! Glad you could make it. There are refreshments in the kitchen, dancing in the living room, and socializing, if you know what I mean, in the basement," he said this with a wink.
"Ok. Cool," I said giddily.
We went to go get some refreshments but the punch looked like someone peed in it, the food was gone, and people were starting to raid the fridge.
"Let's go to the basement," By said.
"Ok," I said still excited for the night to come.
We opened the door to the basement and a cloud of smoke rushed into our faces and made us cough imidiately. I remember looking at her with a worried face. Down those steps people were smoking, drinking, kissing, and for some odd reason someone was cooking a chicken over a fire. I saw these girls, Brigit and Anaya Nelson, who were in all of my classes, sharing a cigarette. We made small talk; I smoked a little bit of the cigarette, so did By. We know all the bad stuff that can happen to us we smoked but we, or atleast I didn't want to be left out. People say it makes you feel good but all it made me was tired. By looked kind of tired too. An hour later By was sitting with some guy in the corner. When I got a little closer I could see it was Duane. I watched them flirt, touch, and giggle. Then he brought out some alcohol and kept pouring until she didn't know where she was. I went over there and suggested I should take her home.
"No we're going to stay here...and enjoy the party," By said while slightly slurring her words.
I went back to where I was sitting and fell a sleep for about and hour. I know that was wrong of me but nothing was happening and all the smoke flooded my mind like a cloud was surrounding me and keeping me away from my thoughts. When I woke up the first thing I noticed was that By's place in the corner was empty. The second thing I noticed was that it was almost 11 o'clock and we should be heading home. I went upstairs and called her name several times, then went to the third floor and called for her again. I was scared to check the rooms because of what might be happening on the other side. As I was about to go outside to look for her there I heard small crying coming from the bathroom. I went in and saw By on the floor, her clothes ripped, her underwear was in the bathtub, she had a blue bruise on her cheek, and she was shaking. She told me all that happened. Duane brought her up to the bathroom, raped her, she tried to make him stop but he hit her, and he left her there. She's been there ever since. I wanted to and still want to hurt him. I picked her up and we waked down the stairs in silence. The silence left me time to think. Why didn't we leave earlier? What is By feeling? What would I do if I were her? It also left me to boil in anger like a noodle that has been left in the water till there's a thick coat of it on me. Who raised him to do that to her? By was struggling to get down the stairs with all that must have been going through her head. It was hard for me to hold on to her without shaking or flinching. When we got outside I called my mom and told her to pick us up right away. By didn't want to get Duane in trouble or worry her parents so she told me to promise not to tell. I know now that I shouldn't have accepted that promise because of what happened to her. By didn't want to be alone that night so she stayed over my house. I tried to ask her some questions but she just stayed quiet and rolled into a little ball and cried silently. I wanted to comfort her but she shook her head and body no. I should've done it anyway but I just stayed in my bed and slept.
