No Strings Attached

Chapter One | Strange Encounters

She sniffles and opens her mouth but nothing comes out. "I-I'm not... P-please don't look at me." She shuts her eyes tightly, tears flooding her face. "Please." Soft sobs escapes from her mouth as her shoulders shake.

It pains me to see her like this. I want to hold her and tell her everything will be okay but I know her so well that she'll probably fight back. "Okay," I simply say. I face the beautiful, shining clouds, trying to distract myself from the hurt girl next to me.

She calms herself down with slow deep breaths. "I-I'm not sure w-what exactly happened b-but," she stutters. Raven let's out a huge sigh. "A few nights ago at my stepdad's place I've taken sleeping pills because I had trouble with sleeping... My mom went out with her friends. Mark, my stepdad, insisted that he'd stay home. I was trying to sleep at the time when I heard foot steps heading towards my bed. I didn't hear the door open which was strange because I swore I locked it. I felt a hand slid up my l-leg." She begins to cry again. I face her with my own tears spilling with sorrow. Her eyes are shut tight, shielding herself from the past. She's gripping the hem of her shirt like if she were to be holding onto her dear life from danger.

I shift closer to her. As I lay my hand on her shoulder, she flinches in fear. I quickly retrieve my hand. "I'm sorry." I look back up at the dark pink sky with regret. "Please... Continue."

"I sat up then he jumped onto me, covering my mouth. He said, "shut up or I swear to god that you won't see your fucking slut of a mother again!". I did as he said. I didn't say a word. He started to unbuckle his belt. I fought back when he was doing so. He hit me so hard that I blacked out." Silence washes over us. It's been a couple of minutes of car's honks and an airplane passing by.

"What happened when you woke up?"

"I woke up to the man raping me with my hands tied to the poles of my bed." She sits up and rolls up her long sleeves to expose the identical cuts on her wrists. "The leather was so rough that it dug into my skin. It still hurts." She rubs her red, swollen wrists.

I let out a gasp before I cover my mouth. Anger begins to build up inside of me. "Did you tell anyone else?"

"No," she says, barely audible. She looks down at her knotted fingers.

I grab both of her hands and bring them up to her face. "Look at what he did to you! Do you want this to happen again?" She shakes her head as she lets out a cry. "The man is a pig! You NEED to tell the police! They'll help you, Raven. You could put his ass in jail."

"B-but he-"

"No." I force her to stand up with me. "I can't bare to see this happen to you. I can't just stand back and watch this man walk this very earth."

She looks at me with desperation and hope. "You really think they'll help?" I nod in agreement. "Let's go." We jogged to the elevator, drove to the police station, and confessed everything. An hour later, they had Mark in custody.

Mark was thrown into jail for a few years for sexual abuse to a minor. Raven was 17 at the time. He's now registered under the pedophile list. Raven went to therapy for a few months afterwards. Her mother became more protective and kept Raven under her wing after the incident. They've been more cooperative with each other. Before what happened with Mark, Raven was going through a phase of distancing herself from the world. Now she speaks freely and doesn't take crap from anyone.