a sky full of stars / yungblud

four

We had been spending an hour together, when my mom came into the room with a nurse and a police officer. Dominic and I both looked at each other the minute they stepped in. "Hartley, darling - it's time."

I nodded. The most dreadful part of this shattering experience, was to talk about it. I don't do talking. I do forgetting. Dominic's hand landed on mine. "Are you fine or do you want to me to stay?" He asked, as he blinked his brown eyes at me. "Stay, please?" Dom nodded and sat down by my side.

"So mrs. Dawson, you say you were raped; do you know who did this to you?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"My teacher, Aaron Tanner."

"And you're completely sure it's him?"

I tilted my head in disbelief. "You don't trust me?" The police officer shook his head. "No; I'm just saying that maybe you could've mistaken him for someone else?" It was my turn to shake my head. I was so close to having tears stream down my face. I started to shake and feel restricted, and when I felt Dominic place a hand on my shoulder, I shoved it off and got off my bed. I walked up to the police officer and stared him deep in his eyes. I placed my hand on his shoulder.

"I want you to understand how it is to be raped. I wasn't listening during mr. Tanners class because I was too busy texting Dominic. Tanner told me to stay behind after class because, I thought he wanted to talk to me because I somehow wasn't paying attention. Turns out that wasn't the case. When everyone had left the classroom, he slammed the door shut and locked it.  I yanked my chair backwards so I had more space to get up and leave, but I was still sitting on the chair when he came over and kissed my legs. I told him to stop and that I didn't want to do the thing we had going on anymore." I looked to my side and saw Dominic look away. He was uncomfortable. The officer cleared his throat. "And what did you two have going on?"

"We had some kind of dance in school. I had been drinking even though you weren't allowed. I never thought anyone would notice, but Tanner saw right through me. He told me that he'd tell the board about it if I didn't sleep with him. I was pretty hammered, so I didn't think about the consequences. We had sex in the bathroom that night."

I felt something move on my left and saw Dominic running to the nearest trash can. A few noises came from him. He was throwing up. If it was me who had been thrown into this in a timeframe of 6 and a half minutes; I'd be throwing up too. I got up, walked over to him, and patted his back lightly. "Dom, are you okay?" I asked, but instantly regretted it when I saw the hurt in his eyes. "Not really, to be honest. I think I need to get some fresh air." He said, and walked past me. The moment the door slammed shut, I felt bad. I faced the police officer again.

"Anyway, Tanner didn't stop. On the contrary, I think he was more turned on. He dragged me to the back of the classroom, laid me down and started the assault. I didn't even try and stop it, so I just closed my eyes and let it happen. Afterwards he left me on the floor completely naked, and that's where I called Dominic. While I talked to him, Tanner came in with some water for me. I confronted him, bet he kept saying I asked for it. When he finally admitted it, he said I was the easiest target ever. And that's when I ran out."

"And this Dominic, who's he to you?"

"I guess you can call him my best friend."

The officer thanked me for the time and told me I would be questioned when I felt it was time. After that, he left. Dominic came back in the room. "Everything good now?" He asked, and just as I nodded, the nurse interrupted our conversation. "I think you should sit down for this, Mrs. Dawson." I sat down with Dominic beside me. His warm hand slowly gripped around mine, and it sent a really nice feeling around my body. I was so happy to him through all of this, even though I didn't want him to get caught up in the first place. Now I'm kind of glad I called him. And if I hadn't called him yesterday, the police officer wouldn't have trusted me, unless of course the scans and tests show something else.

"It's about your scans. And your tests too. There's really no easy way to say this; but we think you might be pregnant."