A few months back a very brutal rape took place in my country. The number of men involved was between 10-20, and even though people saw what was happening they did nothing, one person even walked past the rape on the stairs (it was in a stairwell) but still did nothing. When the poor woman after several hours was allowed to leave people refused to help her, some even calling her gross because she was covered in blood and sperm. Eventually she managed to walk to a hospital and got the care she needed. Now 3 men are on trial but I want to scream that every single one that saw what happened, or saw her later and refused to help should be on trial as well. Even more, so far the trial indicates that the men will be freed as they are no longer being held. It seems the judges do not believe her despite all the evidence, dna, video films of the event etc. The reason is very clear…
She is a drug addict and she met one of the men while trying to buy heroin.
I'm sad, horrified and deeply ashamed for my country. So I guess the point of this story is to care. We are capable of such greatness, such kindness, and yet we don't allow ourselves to feel it. Why?
We have to do better than this. We have to better than this.
I don't own Four Brothers or any of it's characters.
When he was very young he always fought back. That fight later vanished along with his self esteem. He'd been told so many times that he was worthless, that he thought that he deserved nothing more. A lot had happened since then, now he had a mother and he had brothers. He knew he didn't deserve this, and he sure as hell was going to fight until his dying breath. They'd jumped him when he stepped out for a smoke behind Jonny's and there were a lot of them. He'd taken down 3, but 2 were still standing and a well sent blow flipped him to his back, a hard weight landing on his chest. He looked up at a grinning mouth with disgusting teeth. A hand grabbed his hair, yanking his head back and he hissed in anger. Angry and frustrated at being restrained he still fought back.
"Calm down now boy, you're way to pretty to be so angry" A finger traced his lips and he bared his teeth, biting down hard and making the man howl in pain. "Motherfucker!" A sharp blow to his head made his vision swim, but he shook it off as he felt his shirt being ripped from his body, leaving the tattered remains hanging from his arms.
"Fuck you" he managed to spit out despite the pain in his jaw from the punches he'd taken.
The other man held his arms down tightly and despite his struggles he couldn't get free, every time he thought he was close he received another punch, leaving him dizzy. He laughed in his face and Jack snarled. The other man traced his fingers down Jack's left arm, lingering on the scars left from his past. The needle mark invisible, unless you knew what you were looking for, unless you had seen it before.
"Don't worry, I think you're really gonna like what I have, and it'll make you stop fighting so hard".
He dragged in a deep breath, his lungs hurting from the effort. No, please no… But a Mercer didn't beg, so he bit the words back, his head turning to the side just in time to see the man at the end of the alley standing staring back at him. Hope flared in his heart like a rocket launcher and his hands tightened into fists once again. Help was on it's way he thought, I just need help up, that's all I need. That hope died, as the man turned and left without a glance backwards. He wanted to scream after him, call after him to please stop, please help, but he knew it didn't matter. The man was gone, and hopelessness returned. He tried to twist as he felt hands on his belt, but another blow to the head nearly made him throw up, and he was sure he now had a concussion. He heard the door to the bar open, heard the screaming but was barely able to feel the weight on his chest being lifted.
"Motherfuckers! Jonny, get back here now!" A voice he didn't remember hearing before shouted. The weight was gone and that was all that mattered. He struggled to sit up, dimly registering that while his belt was undone, the button and zipper was still in place. The relief that flooded him acted as sedative and the last thing he saw was Jonny standing over him, phone in hand and a furious expression on his face.