Circles

Chapter Thirty Eight

        “So your test results do show that you ingested a date rape drug,” the nurse says, back in the consultation room.

        “Okay,” I say. I’m not surprised.

        “If I were you, I would definitely report it,” she says. “This is considered rape, even though you were awake and may have consented when you were out of it. I’m going to give you a piece of paper with your test results.”

        “Okay,” I repeat. It doesn’t matter anymore. I have to find Matthew.

        I take the paper from her and leave the room to go find him, but he’s already back in the waiting room.

        “Did you get the results?” he asks.

        “Yeah,” I say. “I was drugged.”        

        He nods his head slowly, then looks away.

        “Are you still mad at me?” I ask quietly.

        “Not mad,” he says without looking at me. “Just dissapointed.”

        I look at the floor. “Oh.” He doesn’t respond. “Can I make it up to you?”

        At last, he looks at me. A small smile takes hold of his face, but he tries to hide it. I laugh a little.

        “What am I going to do with you?” he says, shaking his head.

        I walk over and sit next to him. “The better question is ‘what am I going to do with you?’” I whisper.

        “Alright, alright, stop it,” he says, unable to hide his goofy smile.

        “I love you, you know,” I say.

        “I know.”

        I give him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m sorry.”

        “It’s okay,” he says. “Come on, Savannah’s waiting for us.”        

        We walk out to the parking lot where Savannah is already in her car.

        “Ready?” she asks.

        “Yup,” I say. “You don’t need to pick up Liz. I think I’m okay.”

        “Alright,” she says.

        We pull up to the police station a few minutes later.

        “Stay in the car,” I say to Matthew.

        “Why?”

        “We’re at a police station, and it’s illegal to interact with other Circles,” I say. “Stay in the car.”

        I go inside and walk up to the front desk. “I would like to file a report.”

        The officer looks up from his paperwork. “Okay, have a seat.”

        I sit down in a chair by the door and wait.

        “Hey, Tim!” the officer yells into the back. “Come talk to this girl.”

        Tim comes around the corner. “Right this way, miss,” he says to me. I follow him into a small office.

        “Hi,” I say, sitting down in a chair across from his desk. “I’m Alex.”

        He takes his seat behind his desk. “Nice to meet you, Alex. I’m Officer Kestings. You can call me Tim.”

        “Okay,” I say.

        “So what’s going on?”

        “A boy in my Circle has been harassing me since day one.”

        “In what ways?” Tim asks.

        “It started out as just embarrassing things, like spilling water on me at dinner, or knocking me over when our Adult told us to make a human pyramid. But after he did that, I tried to stand up to him, and he kneed me in the stomach and pushed me to the ground.”

        “Okay…” Tim says, making notes. “Go on.”

        “So then he started to get more physically threatening,” I say. “We had to go to the grocery store, and he made me trip on a tomato. I hit my head really hard. He just laughed about it. Later on, he put me in the grocery cart and went so fast I flew out of it. I ended up with a concussion.”

        He continues making notes, but looks up when I stop talking. “Is that it?”

        “No,” I say, trying to think of how to continue without mentioning Matthew. “He eventually ended up making sexual advances.”

        “Like?”

        “He just did things like stick his hand down my pants and things like that because he knew I was too afraid and vulnerable to stop him,” I say timidly. “I tried standing up to him a couple of times, but that just ended up with me either getting slapped or threatened. It got worse from there, though.”

        “Worse?”

        “One time, about six weeks ago, he gave me a glass of water that had a sedative dissolved in it. I didn’t know, so I drank it. While I was asleep, he confessed to kicking me several times in the torso. He was wearing boots, too. He ended up cracking two of my ribs,” I say.

        “Oh, my God, I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through all of this,” Tim says sympathetically.

        “About three weeks ago, I stood up to him again, and he pushed me on the ground and kicked me again, but I was awake this time,” I say.

        “Before the ribs were healed?”

        I nod. “I was only three weeks into the healing process. Whatever had healed in that time was undone.”

        “That’s awful,” he says. “I’m so sorry.”

        “The last, and most recent thing he did was drug me,” I say. I hand him the sheet from the nurse.

        “Did he rape you?” Tim asks quietly.

        A tear falls down my face as I nod. It didn’t seem real until now.

        “You definitely have a case, Alex. Is he sixteen?” he asks. I nod. “That makes things a little more complicated,” he says. “Our rules state that if someone is under eighteen, they can only receive certain punishments. I don’t really agree with that, but it isn’t up to me. I’m going to talk to some people and see what I find out. In the meantime, don’t be alone with him, and don’t sleep in the same room as him. Watch your drinks carefully, and come back and see me if there are any other problems.” He hands me a piece of paper. “Write your address down. I’ll come see you when I know something.”

        I nod and write it down. “Thank you.”

        “I’ll do everything I can for you, Alex. Don’t worry.”

        I nod my appreciation and leave.