Muted

Cold and afraid, Mackenzie screamed and cried was screaming and crying for help, although she was had been ignored and received no help. She quickly lost everything that she had, including her voice and hope.  It happened when Mackenzie turned 16 years old.

It all started when she was walking home from her friends’ normal hangout. While walking home, she was grabbed and pulled into an alleyway. Large muscular hands circled her chest and waist, she fought and screamed, terrified of what would come next. Nobody was around and the man pulled her down, let out a sinister laugh, and put a rag over her mouth and nose. Mackenzie fought even harder. When she began to grow tired significantly faster, she knew she was kidnapped.

Mackenzie suddenly woke up, with a shriek, drenched in sweat. She sat up in her bed and looked around in a panic-stricken manner. Her eyes landed on her alarm clock that read 6:30 in the morning. She sighed and got out of bed to get ready for school. After dressing in a graphic t-shirt and a leather jacket with classic black leggings, she looked at the mirror and memories of the horrid event flashed through her mind causing her to silently cry. She looked at her teary eyed reflection in the mirror, shook her head and brushed her knotty blonde hair.

She grabbed her light school bag and started her way to school, scared to walk to school on her own after the petrifying experience. When she got to the subway, she saw her friends Rayne and Felix and wondered where her friend Liam was. The three friends got on the subway train, and sat down on the bench. Rayne was talking with Felix about the fact that in health class there is a guest speaker talking about a problematic epidemic that often happens to teenagers and young adults. Mackenzie was silently sitting next to Rayne. Rayne looked over at Mackenzie with a worried demeanor.

“Kenzie are you okay? I am starting to get worried.” Rayne said quietly as Felix nodded in agreement. Suddenly the subway stopped at the stop where that they had to get off of, and she  dragged Rayne and Felix to school.

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It was now sixth hour in school which meant it was health, when Mackenzie walked in she sat in her appointed seat which happened to be right in front of Liam, who arrived to school late. The guest speaker came into their class with a smile on her face.

“Welcome everyone. Thank you for coming to health class today. This is a very important class today because we are talking about assault, all kinds of assault, physical, verbal and sexual assault,” the guest speaker spoke in an unusually enthusiastic way. The guest speaker glanced around the room making eye contact with each of the students. Mackenzie felt incommodious in her own skin, and yanked on her sweatshirt, pulling the sleeve down.

The presenter started to talk about how a person would be affected if he or she were assaulted. Mackenzie’s head was spinning but she played it off like she was fine. Liam was watching Mackenzie seeing her shake to some extent. He looked around the room to see if anyone else was noticing how Mackenzie was acting.

Mackenzie wanted to get up and walk out the room before anything could happen to her. She was faintly listing to the speaker, the speaker's voice going in and out. When the speaker started talking about sexual assault, Mackenzie seemed to tremble harder in her seat.

Liam took notice of this and placed his hand on her small shoulder.  When he did, Mackenzie jerked from his touch. “Please don’t hurt me!” she screamed. All her friends shot a confused yet concerned look towards Mackenzie. Liam and the teacher looked at her with a worried expression. Mackenzie quickly removed her uneasy appearance and swiftly feigned a calm composure. The guest speaker noticed this and shook it off and continued her lesson.

Mackenzie soon started to feel restless and unsteady, the whole room started to spin and her vision started intensely growing black. She went to get up and walk to leave the room but felt herself falling quickly. She tried to catch herself but found the ground raising to meet her. She heard the faint calls of her friend before falling unconscious.