Along Came Ari (boyxboy; Open Novella Contest 2019)(Complete)✅

Chapter 11

"Mom, I didn't do anything," I said again in desperation, but it was no use. The officer slammed the door shut.

According to the arrest warrant, I was being charged with rape of a minor. Nothing could be worse than that. I would have preferred a murder charge over a rape charge.

Or maybe not. Any felony charge was bad, but the idea I could rape anyone was beyond belief. For the first ever, I thought I could really kill someone and that person was Caitlyn Collins.

I was never in any kind of trouble. The only illegal thing I ever did was drink alcohol underage. I had never even gotten detention at school...ever.

The officers didn't say anything else to me. The younger one, occasionally gave me a look of utter disgust. Apparently he had already made up his mind: I raped underage girls.

I silently sat in the back of the police cruiser like a criminal. Once at the police station, the officers walked me inside, each gripping an arm. They led me into a room and made me take off all my clothes to make sure I wasn't carrying any weapons or drugs or anything like that. After that bit of humiliation, I was fingerprinted and led into a jail cell. I had never been more humiliated (and scared) in my entire life.

A disheveled man lay on the floor of the jail cell, curled up in a ball, reeking of alcohol, cigarettes, and something else. Maybe piss? I wasn't entirely sure, but he stunk like a skunk. As I sat on the bottom bunk, the smelly man didn't acknowledge me. Since it was Friday, I had to wait until Monday morning to face a judge. Until that time I was stuck in this stinky jail cell.

My one call I made to my mother. I must have told my mother "I didn't do anything" a hundred times, even confessing to her all the underage drinking I'd done over the past year, especially this past weekend when I got stupidly drunk. I even went on and on about how gay I was and that Danny Collins was my boyfriend and that I'd never ever touch a girl, especially rape one.

This wasn't the way I wanted to come out to my parents. Their primary concerning was finding a lawyer and getting me out of jail.

On Saturday I met with a lawyer my dad hired, Seymour Aframe. He asked me a whole bunch of questions about the night of the alleged crime.

"Caitlyn Collins claims you went into her room, held her down in her bed, and forced her to have sex with her," Attorney Aframe said.

"What?" I exclaimed. "When did she say this happened?"

"Last weekend," he said. "Last Saturday. And she says it wasn't the first time you tried to have your way with her."

"Last Saturday?" I said. "That's bullshit. There was a party at her house," I explained. "It was John and Andy's party, her brothers. I had way too much to drink. Caitlyn's had a thing for me all year...like obsessive...it's really creepy. She saw me in bed with her brother, Danny." I paused before continuing, embarrassed that she actually saw us having sex in his bed, further embarrassed that I was discussing my sex life with this stranger and my parents. "She picked the lock to Danny's bedroom to see what we were doing and, well, she saw us."

"And what exactly did she see?" the attorney asked.

"She saw me and Danny in bed," I stated. What else did he want me to say?

"And what were you two doing in bed?" he prodded.

"What do you think we were doing?" I snapped. "Danny's my boyfriend."

"You need to be specific," he said.

"We were having sex, okay?" I said. "Caitlyn saw me and Danny having sex in his bed and it pissed her off. In case you don't know, I'm gay. This wasn't the way I wanted to come out, but there it is and I want to go home. I just want to go home. I'm innocent and I shouldn't be here."