This is the sequel to "Of soul-mates, Pah and better-halves". I think there'll be some references to that one, it'd be better to read that first, but it's not necessary.
Disclaimer: sadly, my new year's wish didn't work. I still don't own it. Maybe I'll get lucky for my birthday. I don't own "Love is just a four-letter word" by Bob Dylan, either. But I own a CD with it sung by Joan Baez.
Kimberley O'Connell was quite pissed. Her class-mates had invited her to go out with them for the first time; she wasn't exactly the most popular girl in the school. Not that she was ugly, she was quite a pretty girl to tell the truth, but she was shy and had a funny Irish accent, thanks to her parents' heritage. While she was proud of her origins- her grandparents still lived in Eire and she loved them and the country- that accent and her shyness were enough to be bullied. And now that she could finally make some friends, her parents had denied her their permission just because she had to take the metro alone and they couldn't escort her. She wasn't five, she was damn fifteen! She could manage to go alone without bodyguards, couldn't she?
She decided she'd go anyway: her parents were at work, she'd go and come back before 6.30 pm and they'd never know. Making friends was worth a little lye, right?
Even fifteen years later Kimberley couldn't explain how it'd happened: she was walking in the metro station, thinking if her clothes were cool enough or something equally sill, when someone grabbed her and pushed her in a corner.
She tried to scream, to kick the man and run away. But she barely weighted 110 pounds and her assailer was at least 176 pounds. She went still when a punch to her temple blacked her out.
She woke up with a big head-ache, not recognizing the place.
And suddenly she remembered everything. She didn't know how she got home.
Once at home, she locked the door and collapsed on the floor. She desperately cried, ashamed of what had happened, of something she only knew through boring lessons at school. She always thought of it as an abstract concept. And it had happened to her.
RAPED.
She couldn't believe it. It seemed a nightmare. And yet, the ripped panties and the missing button of her jeans were there to testify the truth.
Looking at herself I the mirror, she also saw the bruises on her thighs and sides and the swelling on her temple. Yeah the nightmare was more than real.
She went to shower, tossing the clothes on the floor. She tried to scrub the bruises away. Maybe if they disappeared, everything would be back to normal. No such luck. She washed like she never had done, but the disgust remained.
After forty minutes, she rationally knew she was more than clean. So why did she feel dirty?
After the shower Kimberley looked at her reflection in the mirror. She had aged, she was sure. Her eyes were almost as old as those of her Grandma.
She suddenly felt oddly rational. She had to figure out what to do next. No time to panic.
She couldn't talk to her parents. She had disobeyed them, and they simply didn't talk about sex, or condoms, pills and subjects like those. She didn't even have to ask the notorious question Mom, how do you make children? One day little Kimberley came home from school and there was and a science book open on the right page on her desk. And so she knew.
No, she could tell almost everything to her parents, but sex wasn't a subject for conversation. And they were good people, who'd have done everything for her. They 'd be heartbroken knowing what had happened to their precious princess, just because she had disobeyed ONCE. No, she couldn't do that to them.
That her parents would probably prefer to know didn't even cross her mind.
She couldn't be positive but was quite sure he had used a condom, at least she didn't have to worry about pregnancies, AIDS, infections and so on. He probably has done it more than once and doesn't want to get caught. Kimberley suddenly felt sick at the thought and emptied her stomach. She had to struggle some minutes to regain control.
The bruises were covered by clothes and for the swelling…if I put my hair like this it's invisible. And I can always say I hit my head somewhere. The door of my cupboard will work.
She only had to throw away her clothes, put her best it's-been-a-boring-afternoon face on and hope it'd fool her parents.
Two weeks passed since THAT afternoon and she was fine. Unbelievably fine. She almost thought IT wasn't the big deal teachers wanted them to believe. If she had looked for some psychological help, she'd have known it was just a denying phase that wouldn't have lasted ayway. But she didn't know.
Until the guy she had wanted to go out with for the last six months cornered her after school and put a hand on her side, actually asking her out. She freaked out and ran.
Looking at herself in the mirror she examined her beautiful red curly hair, her generous cleavage, every curve in the right place. If I didn't look like this, nothing would've happened to me. She was disgusted with herself, with her body. It's MY FAULT.
And the real nightmare began.
She couldn't stop to eat, her mother would've noticed. But she could empty her stomach AFTER eating. Two fingers and it was done.
After two month she was no more a pretty girl. She was the shadow of who she was. Her bright hair had become stringy, her fingernails broke for nothing, she could feel her teeth moving, she no more had her cycle. And obviously she was way too thin with big circles under her eyes due to the nightmares. Everybody was concerned about her, but she didn't listen to anyone claiming she was just a little tired and stressed because of the school, but except for that, everything was fine.
One afternoon she was at home alone when she suddenly felt weaker than usual and began to see black spots. She was trying to reach the couch when she passed out.
When she woke up still on the floor with an aching back, Kimberley decided that she couldn't bear it no more. She examined herself in the mirror and didn't recognize the stranger who was looking back at her. THAT wasn't her.
And she finally admitted she needed some help.
Kimberley knew she still had the AD that some volunteers of a rape crisis center had given them after a lesson about THE subject. She quickly read it and thought she could give it a try.
The following afternoon she sheepishly went to 760 Parkside Avenue in Brooklyn , wanting to run away. Instead she found her saviors.
They didn't ask her if she had gone to the police, or her name to call her parents, or where she lived. Only her age. They offered her free psychological help and free test for HIV (negative, thanks to God) and she slowly began to heal.
Ten years later, she was Lt Kimberley O'Connell, she lived in DC and worked there for the Navy in the Public Affairs Office. She also volunteered in the DC Rape Crisis Center .
That night, like every other night since her personal stake-out had began months before, she came home quite late. She thought she had everything figured out, sitting at her kitchen table she was comparing some pictures of an anonymous warehouse, the dates she had taken them and a calendar. If she were right, the following day she'd have the proofs she needed and could finally alert the authorities.
She checked once again she had the binocular, the camera and everything she needed for the following afternoon, then she went to bed.
She didn't wake up when someone picked her lock. She didn't wake up when that someone crept in her home. She did wake up when that someone opened her door. She didn't even have the time to react when three rounds entered her heart. Then that someone grabbed her camera, her pc , her cell-phone and the pictures. And walked out.
At 10.15 in the morning a woman knocked on the door, "Kim? Are you ok? I know I'm late, but Ricky-" she leaned on the door and it opened "Kim?". She entered the apartment "Hey! KIM?"
"AAAAH! Oh my-"
Some notes: this was quite difficult. I really hope I've done a good work. You're more than welcome to let me know what you think about it. 760 Parkside Avenue, Brooklyn is the real address of the" HEAT at SUNY Downstate Medical Center", I hope they work like I described and I sincerely apologize if I made any error.