Chapter 15 Extra Credit #2
“Right now?” I ask. “What’s up?” I have a problem with telling people no, but I don’t like upsetting people. Nothing good can come from Penny catching me alone in a corner with her boyfriend holding my arm.
“I can’t help but notice how you’ve been looking at me lately,” he says.
“What?” I laugh. He frowns slightly and I realize he’s serious.
“Let me take you back to my place,” he says, stepping closer. “Just tell Penny you went home with some rando, and I’ll tell her I’m with the guys.”
“Are you serious?” I ask, appalled at what he is suggesting. “Grant, you are dating my friend. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression and I am flattered, but I am not interested in you.”
“Come on now, you’ve been a tease all night with that slutty little dress of yours,” he says. Something about how he is looking at me raises a red flag. I don’t recognize this look, but it makes me uncomfortable, nonetheless.
“Let go of me,” I say firmly as I try to pull my arm away. He grabs my waist and I shove him away from me. “Stop it, Grant. Just stop.”
“You don’t have to be a bitch about it, Bekah,” he says as if it’s my fault.
“Look, I am going to go back to my dorm, and you are going to go back to your girlfriend. Just stay the fuck away from me and I won’t tell Penny that you tried to come onto me, kay?
” I say with sass in my tone. Grant is visibly mad.
I didn’t mean to be so harsh, but can he not just take a hint the first ten fucking times I say no?
When he doesn’t say anything, I turn on my heels and run straight into Keith.
He looks like a deer caught in headlights and says nothing.
“Sorry,” I mutter, getting away from Grant before he decides he’s not done “just talking” to me.
The cool spring air calms me when I step out of the bar and I’m finally alone.
I’m looking at my phone and all of the wait times are almost an hour to get back to the dorm.
It's only a mile, if I cut through the park. It’s so early in the night that I shouldn’t run into anyone on my walk, so I decide to not wait for a rideshare.
Once I get to the east side of the park, I step off the side walk to get on the walking trail. It goes around the park, so luckily, I don’t have to walk through the wooded area. I’ll get off the trail at the other side of the park and it’s a straight shot to my dorm building.
I take off my heels and carry them as I walk along the paved path.
It is peaceful out here at night. You can hear all of the crickets and a few toads.
My footsteps are hardly audible as I pad along.
I am taking my time because it’s such a nice night.
I like to come to this park in the afternoons when I am free to study.
I’m next to the picnic table I always sit at when I hear a noise behind me.
It sounds like a shoe scuffing along the asphalt and every red flag and alarm bell starts screaming in my head.
I go to turn but I don’t get a chance to when someone grabs the back of my neck and shoves me toward the table.
I scream and drop my shoes before I try to thrash out of their hold on me.
“Let go of me!” I shout at them. They yank my dress up and the realization of my impending rape is like a punch to the face. “Help! Someone help me!”
More hands are on me as my arms are forced behind my back and based on the buckle I just heard, it’s a belt that they bind my wrists with.
Something is pulled over my head, like a large beanie hat, and I can’t see anything now.
I continue to scream and fight them, trying to get free.
I try to swing my leg back to kick them, but I miss.
They grab my thong and rip it off of me before someone puts their hand between my shoulder blades to pin me to the table.
I can’t tell how many people are here, but I’m trying to absorb every detail I can while fighting with my brain to not completely shut down.
There are at least three, but their noises are surrounding me.
I am sobbing as I hear a wrapper get torn open. When someone grabs my hips, I instantly fall into hysterics. “Stop! Please stop. Please don’t do this,” I beg loudly. My pleas fall on deaf ears and he moves me up on the table so that my feet are now dangling.
“Ow. Stop. Please stop. Please stop. please stop,” I beg over and over again.
The more I beg for mercy, the harder he forcefully fucks me.
Pain is radiating though me and all I can do is scream as they pound into my unwilling body.
I can’t form any words. I can hardly breathe from how hard I am crying by the time the man grunts as he comes.
For a moment, I think it’s over. I think that they got what they wanted, and they will go away, but more hands grab me, and these are bigger. Their hands are rougher feeling as he spreads my ass and spits on me.
“Please don’t,” I whimper helplessly. “God, make it stop.” I have resorted to outwardly praying as I hear another wrapper, followed by the man slowly forcing his way into my ass. “God, please. Make it stop. Please, make it stop. I won’t tell anyone... just please stop.”
The man ignores my pleas as he starts to move faster and faster.
My brain has had enough, and I can feel the moment I start to shut down.
My body goes numb as I start to feel detached from what is happening.
I know it’s happening to me, but it all disappears at the same time.
I stop fighting and begging for mercy. My voice is strained, and my body is weak as the man pulls out of me.
I am completely limp as I am repositioned so that I am straddling someone.
They have a tight grip on me as he forces his way into me, I groan in pain.
When I feel more hands on me followed by another man forcing himself into my ass, while the other is still buried in my vagina, I remain limp.
The only sounds I can manage is a grunt as they chip away at my sanity.
They both grunt and moan as they continue to work in unison to rape me.
If feels like it’s never going to end so I give up begging God for help.
When it finally does, I am dropped to the ground where I curl myself up to try and appear smaller.
I want so badly to just disappear right now.
I wish I could go back in time and make different decisions to prevent feeling this pain.
The pain isn’t all physical. It feels like my soul has been ripped to shreds and my faith in humanity has been stomped on.
Why did no one hear me screaming? Why didn’t anyone help me?
I was just trying to go back to the dorm to sleep.
I never should have worn this stupid dress.
The world is silent, and the sounds of crickets and toads mingle with my near silent whimpers as I cry. They left me here and I’m still tied up. I still can’t see anything. The world is dark, and I feel like if I move someone will grab me again.
“Oh my God. Bekah!” I hear a familiar voice shout, making me start crying again.
When I feel hands on my wrists, I scream, “Stop. Please don’t.”
Suddenly my hands are free, and the world appears again as the covering is removed from my face. When I see that it’s Keith, I know I am safe, but I still panic. I gasp loudly and try to move away from him. “Please don’t. Please,” I beg.
He takes his jacket off and covers me before wrapping his arms around me. “You’re okay now. I’ve got you.”
“Please don’t hurt me,” I sob. I don’t know why I’m saying these things.
I know he won’t hurt me. I turn to him, and I am stuck somewhere between sobbing and screaming and the adrenaline of the attack seeps out of my body in the form of tears.
Keith gently rocks me as he rubs my back and doesn’t say a word.
Over time, I calm down enough that he can pull away and cup my face.
“Bekah, honey. What happened? Who did this to you?” he asks.
“I was just trying to go back to the dorm,” I cry. “I just wanted to go to bed.”
“Who, sweetie? Who did this?”
“I don’t know,” I sniffle. “I never saw them, and they never spoke. I only heard their... they didn’t speak.”
“Them? How many?” he asks.
“Four,” I say quietly. “The first two were by themselves. T-Then the other two...”
“Fuck, I’m so sorry, Bekah. I’m sorry,” he says as he hugs me again. “I’m going to call the police, okay? You should get checked out.”
“Okay,” I whisper.
The nurse shuts the door as she walks out, leaving just Keith and I in the room. He hasn’t let go of my hand for anything the last three hours. I didn’t know rape kits took this fucking long, but I want to leave. We need to talk to a detective now, then I can leave.
Keith hasn’t said much, but I think I scared him when I freaked out on him at first and thought he was going to hurt me. I’m going to have to explain that it had nothing to do with him and I knew I was safe with him. He is so fucking sweet that the idea of him being sad is painful.
“Thank you,” I say for the hundredth time.
“You’re welcome, Bekah,” he says as he sits on the bed beside me to look at me. The nurse took my dress as evidence, so they gave me scrubs to put on. I have no underwear on or a bra, but it’s better than nothing.
When Keith called the police, they had people there processing the area.
They warned Keith that they would want a sample of his DNA, shoe prints, and fingerprints.
He agreed without hesitation. They let him ride in the ambulance with me, mainly because I wouldn’t let go of him and he had no interest in making me.
The paramedic who helped me was so sweet and respectful.
It helped restore a little bit of faith in humanity to see how shaken the paramedic and Keith were and my rapidly forming bruises.
“I don’t feel safe,” I say.
“What do you mean?” he asks.
“At my dorm. I don’t feel safe,” I say.