I spend Wednesday going from class to class, lecture to lecture. It’s my most busy day. In the evening I re-read sections from Disgrace a book I have to read for my literature class. Natalie sleeps. I notice she’s been sleeping more lately. Restlessly, but more than she had before.
As I’m finishing up writing notes for my class tomorrow I take out my laptop and decide to do a quick google search on sexual abuse victims. I click on the first link that comes up, I’m lazy like that I suppose.
It’s mostly about listening, believing them, and stopping yourself from asking too many questions and never blaming the victim. I already know all of this so I skim through it. What I need is advice on how to convince someone to go to the police. I can’t do it myself, I might not be believed. I need Natalie on board.
I try and do my internet research as quietly as I can and inconspicuously. I do not want Natalie waking up and discovering my sneaky search. She’s got in the habit of waking up unexpectedly and looking dazed before asking me what I’m doing. I suspect she’s been having nightmares as well. God knows I would be.
Just as I’m about to shut down my internet something catches my eye. There’s a section on what to do after a sexual assault. Two words catch my eye. Pregnancy and STI.
Jesus, Joseph and Mary. I never even thought about that. How could I be so dim?
I decide not to risk any time and wake Natalie, trying to be gentle. I’m not sure me waking her up at a quarter to eleven on a Wednesday night will be pleasant for her. Everything considered.
“Natalie!” I whisper. I pray she’s a light sleeper and doesn’t need too much of a shove to get her to awake from her slumber.
She stirs slightly but doesn’t wake up so I shake her very, very softly. I am petrified of scaring her but this can’t wait. “Natalie, wake up.”
She opens her eyes ever so slightly and mumbles something I don’t catch. I continue saying her name until she turns over to look at me. She startles and gives a, “Ah!”
“I didn’t want to wake you but I need to talk to you right now.” I say urgently.
“What is it?” She says, her voice thick from sleep.
“When Harry…when he…when the incident happened,” I say grasping for the right words. “Did he use protection?”
She frowns at me, not quite getting what I’m saying. “What?”
“Did he use a condom?” I ask.
She closes her eyes and doesn’t open them again for a good ten seconds. “I don’t… I don’t know.”
“Are you on the pill?”
“Yes.” She breathes. “Yeah, yeah I am.”
“Okay, well that covers one issue. Still we should keep an eye on that. But Natalie, what if he’s given you an STI?”
She doesn’t say anything. She simply lies there and the fear in her eyes makes me even more terrified for her.
“We’ll have to get you tested. Take you to a doctor.” I say.
She nods. “Yeah. Of course. But we don’t tell them…what happened.”
I sigh. This must be hard on her, of course it is but she needs to tell someone, someone who can make sure Harry is punished. “Okay.”
She takes my hand, squeezes it. “Thank you Kat. You’re a good person.”
“Anyone else would do the same.” Anyone else would have taken you to a doctor and the police but I barely know you and I don’t want to send you into an already impending nervous breakdown.
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Romance"Once upon a time there was a girl. She was an idiot. The end." Katarina Elizabeth Ryan, a self confessed heart breaker, lover of doughnuts and a worshipper of felines is about to have the strangest year of her life. College, the experience she's be...
