Saving Summers (Books 1&2 combined)

Chapter 16

Emma stared at Josslyn in shock. She wanted to say something but words would not leave her mouth, it's like they were stuck in her throat.

Josslyn took a deep breath.
"For a small portion of my life, I lived with my grandmother and her son before I moved back to Summerville. My mom had a job back in Korea so my dad's mom volunteered to look after me for a while.
It was pretty okay and I was only 11 at the time. Since my dad died, my uncle was kind of the father figure for me and I trusted him."
Josslyn paused for a few seconds. She was trembling.
"One afternoon, my grandma went to the shops leaving just me and him. I was doing my homework as usual and my uncle came to sit next to me on the couch. I did not think anything of it until... until he uhm... he put his hands under my skirt and then his fingers..."

"Oh my God." Emma said, her heart breaking for Josslyn. She could not believe what she was hearing. It was all a big shock.

"I didn't understand what happened but I knew I was violated. I didn't want to stay there anymore so I told my grandma but she didn't believe me. I just did my best to not be left alone with my uncle anymore." Josslyn explained.
"My mother finally came back here and moved us to Summerville. For the longest time, all I did was cover up my body and not feel comfortable in my own skin. I hated being around men because I felt that they were entitled to my body and they could do whatever they wanted with it whenever."

Emma didn't even know what to say. This was such a horrible ordeal that Josslyn went through.
"I'm really sorry this happened to you." Emma expressed. "Did you end up telling the police?"

Josslyn shook her head as she sniffled softly.
"My uncle committed suicide a year later." She revealed. "I did tell my mom and since we could not take legal action, she helped me find my image again. She told me it was not fair that I had to live my entire life hiding my body because of disgusting pigs who felt entitled to it. It is my gift from God and I should embrace it."

Emma couldn't help the small smile that played on her lips because of Josslyn's courage to slowly overcome what happened to her.
It was not fair that women had to live in constant fear of being sexually assaulted because men did not understand what the word 'no' meant or simply because they felt that they had the right to a woman's body. Emma whole heartedly believed that behavior was bullshit.

"So when I heard about what happened with Jay, it just annoyed me that people do not believe that girl because it makes me think back to when my grandmother didn't believe me while it happened to me." Josslyn expressed. "There are always such bullshit excuses when it comes to protecting a rapist and they always make women look bad."

Emma was torn. On one side she believed and supported everything that Josslyn was saying because it was all true. People always made excuses to justify the actions of an abuser.

'Skirt was too short or clothes were too provocative.'
'She is a scorned and vindictive woman trying to tarnish the reputation of the good man.'

On the other hand, she had a friend that was being accused of sexual assault but she did not believe it. She was trying to find an explanation for him because she felt he would not do such a thing.

"Do you really think the girl is making it up?" Josslyn asked after a brief silence.

Emma gulped. She had so many theories about Jay's situation that she did not have a definite answer.
"I believe there is more to the story that we don't know." She simply stated. She could not even speak about the case because it was all confidential.

"I hope you're right." Josslyn said. Emma knew what that meant. She was going to look really bad if Jay was guilty.

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