The Currents You Create

The Box

"Pandora's Box could not be unopened, no one could return to Eden."~Selena Kitt

EMMA

I starred at the walls of the tiny room at I shivered in the air conditioning. My head pounded and my entire body was sore. I couldn't concentrate. My mother sat next to me unable or unwilling to speak as she observed me closely. I was so uncomfortable and I continually pulled my green bathing suit cover over my knees obsessing over hiding the bruises on my thighs which nobody could see to begin with.

Through the wall, I could hear Dan and Kyle in the next room. Dan was yelling at Kyle.

A Moroccan police officer walked in and sat down.

"Hello, Misses Bell." He looked at me with pity as he sat down at his desk. "I am sorry for what happened to you. It takes many time and is very hard for one foreigner to press charges against another foreigner. I do not think- advise you press charges," he spoke with poor English.

My mother sat shocked but soon began speaking, evidently too rapidly for the officer to mentally translate into his first language, "There must be something we can do to. We can't just let him get away with this; we can't not press charges."

He starred at me as if to ask what she just said.

"How long would it take to press charges, and how long would I have to be in the country?" I spoke slowly and softly because my throat was still in pain.

He looked as if he understood me and then answered, "It could take two years. The trial could take a long time. Our people- our juries, they have sometimes favorites, and get bribed. Many cases have mistrials. It is not normal for us, this type of case." He looked slightly sad and ashamed when he spoke.

As I sat there trying to think, I could hear my mother fuming. A few moments passed as they both looked at me.

"I can't-" I sighed as I tried to find the words; my brain seemed to have shut itself down. "Justice? All I really want is to forget this ever happened. I can't see how spending all my time and-"

Just then, several loud thuds came from the wall between the room Dan and Kyle were talking and the room we in which remained. The yells that had been virtually constant were suddenly accompanied by screams of pain, and soon I could hear Kyle repeating those same words over again, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I never meant for this to happen. I don't- I mean I didn't know what I was doing. I was high and I had a buzz. I didn't know what was happening."

"What the Fuck were you thinking Kyle? Oh my God! How could you be so stupid? Do you know what you've done? You've essentially ruined you're career and life. You will have smeared Bastille's reputation when this gets out. Not to mention what you've done to Emma! She will probably never trust another damn person in her life; she may never be able to feel safe again; she might not ever get married, because of you and you alone. God Damn it, Kyle. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

I heard a door slam before I tried to resume through my tears, "Um. I don't think I can...survive watching or testifying in a trial." I could see my whole body shaking violently, but not because I was cold; I was terrified at the prospect of ever seeing Kyle again. "I don't ever want to see his face again."

I turned to see my mother's horrified face, "You mean you aren't even going to try? You're just going to let him get away with what he did to you- for stealing your virginity."

The words seared my heart like a cattle brand. I hated him for what he stole from me; I was saving myself for my wedding night, but now I felt like a filthy tramp. Hearing the words made me realize just how much he hurt me. "I just can't, Mom... I would just be reliving hell for however long it took."

"You are sure?" the officer asked.

I nodded and silently begged God to hold the dam of tears threatening to crumble beneath the weight of my agony.

KYLE

I sat alone in a holding room panicking. 

What happens when she presses charges? How does that even work? Neither of us are citizens. Dan's going to kill me. What's wrong with me? It would serve me right. Why am I so selfish? What kind of animal am I? Oh, God... what have I done?

Suddenly I just wanted to run-better yet die. I frantically scanned the room for anything at all to use. It would be better to end it all now. At least she would feel some justice had been done. But I don't understand... She could have let me die, but instead she saved my life.

Dan walked in with a worried expression, "Kyle, What the hell is going on? They just told me that you raped Emma."

I didn't say anything and silently responded by looking down in shame. When he read the guilt on my face I saw a side to Dan I had never before. He began to yell at me. I tried to keep up and respond when he asked questions, but a few minutes into it Dan became so angry that he shoved me against the wall and actually took several swings at me. My right eye got the most of it, but my jaw wasn't without bruises. I began speed talking, trying to explain my actions when he stopped. 

He began to list out a few consequences I was going to have to face because of what I had done. It was overwhelming. Even so, I knew the things he mentioned where just a fraction of the problems I had created.

He became quiet and then said, "How could you do this to Emma, Janna, your family, your friends- How could you do this to me? I thought you were my best mate, but you sacrificed our friendship for a fix." 

He looked at me with bitter disgust before he turned and left. He slammed the door behind him and left me to the torture of my own devises.

I had just opened Pandora's Box and just like Pandora, I felt I was doomed to grieve my sin for the rest of my life.