The Girl Who Cried Rape

Chapter 4: Rocks On My Window

Chapter 4: Rocks On My Window

10:03pm

 I looked at my clock to check the time. I had slept for the majority of the day and a thumping sound on my window had woken me up. I got out of my bed to investigate the sound. Matt was throwing rocks at my window. Shocked, I opened the window. I called down to him as quietly as I could, trying not to wake my parents, “Matt, what are you doing here? I’m grounded, remember?”

“It’s a Saturday night. I’m here to rescue you, my princess. Now throw down your hair and get your ass down here. We are going out.” He replied quietly with a smile on his face.

 I laughed. My best friend’s attempt at trying to be prince charming was funny. For one thing, I didn’t have hair like Rapunzel’s. It wasn’t blonde, and it certainly wasn’t long enough to touch the ground from the second floor of my home. I had short brown hair that stopped at my shoulders.

Still angry with my father from earlier that day, I decided to ignore the possible consequences of leaving. I positioned myself on the windowsill and grabbed the vine that grew up the side of my house. I shimmied down the vine to meet Matt on the ground and hugged him. The hug was long and when we began to pull away, he looked me in the eyes and went in for the kill. His lips planted on mine, we kissed for about 2 seconds when I realized what was happening and pulled away. Dazed and confused and unsure of what he planned of the evening, I looked at Matt, trying to hide my nerves.

“So, you ready to go?” I said with a smile. Matt looked down, trying to hide his embarrassment, with a sad look on his face.

He looked up and then faked a smile, “Yeah sure, uh, follow me.”

“Where are we going?” I giggled.

            “That’s for me to know and you to find out. Don’t you like surprises?” he asked looking at me with the biggest grin. He had the best smile, the kind that could just make your day shine a bit a brighter. I smiled back and nodded in agreement.

The whole way there I could sense he wanted me to hold his hand and I kind of wanted to but we were friends. I didn’t want to risk our friendship if our relationship ended as a couple. I couldn’t bear loosing him in my life completely. My parents wouldn’t allow us to be together anyway. Matt was 17 years old, but that one year difference somehow drove my father up the wall. It wasn’t just the age difference, for some reason I’ll never understand, my father has always had it out for Matt even when we were just little kids. I was just six when we met ten years ago. We’ve been best friends ever since.

 I didn’t know Matt felt this way about me and now I didn’t know how I felt about him. I thought we were just friends, but since that kiss, that’s all I could think about.

10:42pm

We arrived at Central Park. There was a picnic set up under a tree hidden from view of the street. He had a blanket laid out on the ground and a couple of pillows for comfort. There were sandwiches and a bottle of sparkling grape juice in the basket. Mason jars with candles inside placed around the picnic blanket for lighting. It was a rather beautiful set-up he had. I realized this was a surprise date, and my nerves were going haywire.

“Surprise?” he said with a cheeky smile, looking for a sign of acceptance.

I smiled and leaned in to kiss him. I figured if he’s going to go through all this trouble just to impress me, he must really like me. That’s when I realized that I did really like him as more than just a friend. “Whatever happens, don’t ever walk out of my life, okay?” I said. He kissed back in agreement.

             As we shared a single wine glass, I shuttered at the sweet bitterness as it passed through my teeth. My body began to feel weak and my eyelids became heavy. “Is there alcohol in this?” I whispered to myself. As I lay there with my head on Matt’s chest, I felt safer than I had in months. My consciousness drifted away in the security of Matt’s arms, but little did I know that the greatest danger I had to face was much closer than I could have fathomed.

            My eyelids slowly parted. My vision was blurred as the world spun around me. I saw the dark mask shadowing over me blocking the moonlight. I glanced over to the blanket and noticed Matt was unconscious. Lying there, he looked so lifeless. I realized that we had been drugged and the man who was standing over me was my rapist. Unable to move or speak, the man lifted me off the ground and carried me to his truck. We drove off, leaving Matt unconscious under the tree, unsure if he was even still alive. A tear rolled down my cheek. Within a few minutes I had drifted back to sleep.