The Reckoning

...

"I've been told the defendant has agreed to a plea deal" said the judge.

"Yes, your honor," said his attorney.

"Does the defendant have anything to say?", said the judge.

"No, your honor, I accept the plea deal", Pete mumbled with stilted contrition.

His lack of apology did not get past Harvest. Nor Logan.

"Young lady would you like to make a statement?", said the judge.

"Yes your honor I would. This has traumatized me in ways nobody knows. I have been ostracized at school. People think I like the defendant and that I wanted him. Nothing could be further from the truth. He wanted a drink of water. I let him into my house not knowing what he was going to do. Would his past criminal record of stealing bicycles have even got me this plea deal? A group of metal is worth more than my pain and suffering. I have spent hours in therapy to no avail to make some kind of healing from this. Thank you."

"Thank you for your statement Miss Logan," the judge said.

"I sentence the defendant to 3 years in Spafford and two years of probation afterward. You may take him away bailiff."

Harvest stood there stunned. It was too light a sentence for her but at least it was something, as her father said.

As she walked back to her seat, three friends sat there in support. Renata, Mark Virgini's daughter, Alvey, and Tiger, her friend and occasional dance partner.

The bailiff let Pete have a drink from the fountain. As he turned away, a size 13 shoe stuck in front of his foot and he fell hard on the marble floor. "Better be careful kid, you never know what's coming your way," said the soft spoken but masculine voice.

…..

Harvest sat across from Dr. Olivet. She didn't hate her therapy sessions, she just didn't think they did much good.

"You feel his sentence was too light," said Dr. Olivet.

"Yes. Like I said in court, my body doesn't seem worth much. I don't even know if I'm a virgin anymore. What would you call me?"

"What do you want to call you?,"Dr Olivet.

"I don't know. I can't say I've haven't had sex. Half the girls at school and no doubt the guys think I'm a s* who invited this in. The boys have been treating me differently because now they think I'm an easy score."

"It really is just a membrane. It has nothing to do with you as a person, your standards, your values. You are still Harvest Logan."

"You know this happened to me," said the doctor. I was devastated, for a long time.

The courts were not a friend to me at first. Luckily I had a dad who believed in me. It took some time but I healed and you will too."

"What about my dad, I think it might be harder for him because he feels he wasn't there to protect me."

"Harvest, you did nothing wrong. You did the same thing you always do. You went to school, you came home, someone asked you for a favor that you thought you could trust, and so you let him in. This is not on you at all, this is on him. It is not on your father either, he was at work as he always was. You aren't a mind reader. You didn't know this was going to happen."

"It gets worse," she said. When he was raping me, I had…a feeling. So maybe I really did want it, at least a little. What is wrong with me? A boy was brutalizing me and I enjoyed something at least a little bit. I didn't want this! I didn't want this!"

"

"That's not uncommon. Your body responded as it might have if this had been a consensual encounter. Your senses were still engaged."

"It gets worse. I pushed up against him to get away. He took it as a sign that I liked it. But he was just too strong. And I felt it. I felt it down there. And if he hadn't fallen out of me, I would have never got the break I needed. So that saved me from being pregnant. What about all the other girls who never got that break?"

"That doesn't change the fact that you were strong. You were strong in that moment, you were strong in that courtroom. Yes you're right sometimes other girls don't have your options but sometimes we just have to take care of ourselves. "

"I wonder if Dad will ever let me out of the house again, let alone date",

"I'm sure in time he will feel better too."

"Mike Logan, are you kidding? It's a miracle he doesn't have a Lojack around me now!

You know him. "

"I do. And I think he has enough understanding for you to live life again. Well same time next week?"

"Maybe. I'll let you know. You know Dad wants me to come twice a week if he could. I don't know that I feel that much of a need."

"That's okay. You come as needed."

…..

Saturday at the Logan house.

Bobby wanted to check on his biggest admirer.

"How is she doing?", he says to Logan.

" Not much better. I've got her in therapy. I'm not sure how much good it's doing. She's actually in the park now, which is a step up from her sitting in her room all day."

"Really?", said Bobby with a smile in his voice.

" Yes. Baby steps."

"Do you think she would mind if I went over to say hello?"

"Are you kidding? I'm sure she'd love it."

The two men parted ways.

…..

Bobby saw the pretty teen sitting at a bench..

"May I sit down?, the detective asked. Her eyes brightened.

"Sure." Seeing him made things at least a little better.

"How is it going?"

.

" Not much better. Even with therapy."

"I know," said Bobby. "Therapy can take a while to work."

" Well meaning cliches".

" Yeah sometimes it can be a load."

"Why don't you do something different?"

"Like what?

"Why don't I teach you some self-defense moves?"

"You think it could work?"

"Absolutely! I've taught classes before. Why don't we try a few? Stand up."

She did as her crush suggested.

Bobby stood up, facing her. "You want to go for the soft parts of the body .Punch me in the old bread box."

She smiled at both in being with him and the feeling of empowerment he gave her

"That's it, jab jab, you were fooling me! You're way tough. That's it! See you got it…"

.