Kiana
and Trinity had been friends all their lives. She was even friends
with Kiana's twin Koby. The only reason was that Kiana and Koby
were very close so they did everything together. Trinity also knew
all of Kiana's secrets, all but one.
Kiana told Trinity that she
was out with some guy the night before. Also that she would be seeing
him again soon. Kiana didn't want to lie but she had to protect
herself and the ones she loved.
After school that day a Miss
Tess Way-Fair was grading papers in her sun streamed classroom. It
was warm out side but cool in the room due to the air conditioner. As
she graded papers she remembered a moment in her life about 15 years
ago. She was 10 and her parents were having one of their large
parties. Everyone was there from their small town in south Jersey.
The halls and rooms were decorated elegantly for an early night of
fun and drinking.
The gests arrived about 5pm and most of them
did not leave until 5 the next morning. There was a live band out
side playing the latest songs of the early 90's. This party was not
just for the 10-year-old girl; it was her 10th birthday, as well for
her parents to just hang with their friends. Her parents had gotten
Tess everything she wanted. A new state of the art CD Player and a
few CD's. She had everything she ever wanted. She was happy.
As
the party got later the smell of hard liquor was in the air, seeping
from every corner of the large house. She had been sent to bed at
9:30pm, a treat for turning 10. But because of the party Tess could
not get to sleep. The noise of the house raised as the more alcohol
and drugs were being consumed. She lay awake for hours tossing and
turning trying to fall into a slumber but couldn't. She finally
went to sleep at 3 when she heard what she assumed was her mother
checking up on her.
The next morning Tess woke up feeling
different and blood on her and her sheets. She was franticly
screaming but nothing came out. She tore the sheets and covers off of
her and she ran to her bathroom as she stripped off her bloody
clothes. She calmed down and looked at her self in the mirror. She
expected to have been cut or some sort of tarring of the flesh, but
as she looked there was noting. After about 10 minutes of looking at
her 10-year-old body she got into the shower. Letting the water hit
her naked self.
Tess closed her eyes. She hadn't thought
about her rape for 5 years and did not know what triggered the
thought. Maybe it was the papers she was grading, they were on the
worst memory in your life, or it was the sun and its heat. She just
didn't know. The thing she did know was that it was in the past,
nothing to linger on to for too long.
Tess opened her eyes and
looked at the clock on the far side of the class room. It read 4pm.
She didn't think that it was that late. She felt as if it was
merely a dream you wake up form that lasted hours but was only a
minute.
Now with a new sense she gathered her students papers',
stuffed them in her messenger bag, turning off the lights and locked
her classroom up for the night.
