WARNING: THIS CHAPTER INCLUDES MENTIONS OF ATTEMPT AT SEXUAL ASSAULT, THREATENS OF MURDER AND ASSAULT! ALSO ADULT LANGUAGE, IE. "FUCK"! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
I was sitting on the couch when the door slams open. Piper comes in, tears in her eyes.
"Piper?" I ask.
"I don't want to talk about." She said quietly. There's definitely something wrong. I've lived with Piper for a long time now and she's never this quiet.
"Come over." I say, holding open my arms. She sniffs weakly and sadly before slowly walking over and cuddling up to me like we used to do when we were kids.
I wrap my purple blanket around her.
"What's wrong Pipes?"
"I really don't want to talk about it Henry."
"Do you want me to make you some tea?" I ask her.
"Yes please." She mumbles.
"Earl Grey?"
"Mhmm."
"And some strawberries with cream?" I offer.
"With sugar on top?" She asks.
"Of course."
I stand up and go over to the kitchen.
As I made her tea and strawberries, I could hear her crying over on the couch. What could make her so upset?
* * *
"Tea and strawberries my lady." I say, trying to get her to smile.
"Thanks Henry." She said tearily.
I take a sip of my tea for a second of silence.
"Piper, you know you can tell me what's going, I thought you were just going shopping? What? Did Jana Tetrazeni show up and be a bitch?"
"No, no of course not. Jana only goes to the mall on Tuesdays. She knows the mall is my turf. No it was something- it really doesn't matter Henry." She sniffles.
"Of course it matters Pipes, you never cry. You're the strongest person I know, but today you come home, bag less and crying." I say, squeezing her shoulder.
"I was- I was at the H&M and I was trying on a tube top, and I thought it looked great."
"I'm sure it did look great." I say taking a sip of my tea.
"It did, but when I looked in the mirror to see it, two guys came up behind me." I felt my fist tighten around the handle of my mug. "One of them... one of them squeezed my ass, the other whispered in my ear how he would slam me against the fitting room stall and do me until I cry."
"Oh my god."
"He said if I even tried to say anything, he would fuck me until I cried." She whimpered. "He said that after he was going to follow me out to my car and fuck me, when he was done, he said he would kill me so he would be the last one to ever touch me."
"He didn't- they didn't do anything to you right?" I asked, though I didn't really want an answer.
"No." She whispered. "When they were leading me towards the fitting room, a girl ran up to me, she was around your age, maybe older. I've never met her before but she seemed so excited to see me."
"You never met her and she was excited to see you?" I ask, now I'm confused.
"She said, 'Oh my god! I haven't see you in ages! How are you?' She then gave me a big hug. She then whispered in my ear, 'Go with it.'"
"What happened?" I ask.
"When the guys saw the girl with me, they backed off. Once they were across the store, the girl introduced herself, her name was Rebecca Kerr. Turns out she heard them talking before about how they were going to kill me. So she pretended to know me. She took me over to the cashier so we could get security. They came to get the two guys who are now under arrest and she walked me to my car, but Henry, what if they had already left?" She sobs. "What if Rebecca hadn't been there?"
"Don't think like that Piper."
"What do you mean, 'don't think like that'?" She snapped. "I can't afford to not think like that. I don't know a single woman or girl over my age who hasn't had an encounter like that before. Up until now, I thought that that type of thing would never happen to me, but it did."
"Oh Piper, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize it was this bad for women."
"Of course you wouldn't get it Henry, you don't have to deal with shit like that nearly as much as women do. I mean sure, this shit happens to men too, but not nearly as much as it does for women." She said quietly.
"I'm so sorry this happened to you Piper."
"I know you are Henry, but it doesn't change the fact that women like me are being treated like this all the time all over the world. So please, can we just sit here, drink our tea and eat the strawberries and cream?"
"Of course Piper." I say grimly.
- time skip -
I sat in bed, my back against the headboard, thinking about what Piper told me. To think that what happened to Piper happens all over the world, it makes me sick. I was supposed to be a superhero, yet I didn't realize how bad it was for the women of the world. How bad it was for my best friend, for my sister.
I pause for a moment before pulling out my phone. I dial Charlotte's number. It rings a couple times before my friend answers.
"Hey Henry, what's up?" She asks.
"Hey Char, I need to talk to you."
"Uh, isn't that what we're doing?" She says sarcastically.
"I'm serious Charlotte."
"Oh."
"Charlotte have you ever experienced sexual assault."
The line goes dead quiet. After a few seconds of silence she finally speaks up.
"Yes. I wasn't assaulted but I could have been." She replies, any joking tone lost.
My stomach churns.
"When?"
"A year ago. When we were at the carnival on the docks. You and Jasper left to grab us some lunch while I stayed with our stuff."
"What happened?"
"While I was waiting, a man came up and sat down at my table. He sat right next to me." She said quietly. "He told me that he could be everything I ever wanted. I told him I was with my boyfriend, which I obviously wasn't considering I'm single. He said that I should forget about him and come to his car so he could screw me in the backseat. When I told him no and to leave me alone, he got really angry. That's when a girl ran up to me."
The same thing happened to Piper.
"She acted like she knew me and said that our friends told her to wait with me while they got us food. That she was sorry she was gone for a second but she just had to use the bathroom." Charlotte explained. "At that point the guy left me alone. She told me her name and she stayed with me until I told her I saw you guys."
"The same thing happened to Piper today, but worse."
"It was going to happen sooner or later, I'm just glad she wasn't hurt." Charlotte said grimly.
"Both of your stories have women coming to your aid."
"A lot of girls know what it's like to be in our position. Sometimes they'll run up to you because they're uncomfortable, sometimes you don't even realize what danger you are in but they do." Charlotte explained.
"So you all just do that for girls?"
"Of course, I've done it a couple times. Once was at the gym. This guy had been following this girl wherever she went. It was only when I joined her and told her what was happening, did he back off."
"Wow, Charlotte, I never knew things like that happened so often." I said softly.
"Well it does, you just have to look out for us. Years of patriarchy have made men think they are the supreme gender and that they think they own women's bodies. Now I'm not saying that this shit doesn't happen to guys too, because it one hundred percent does, it just doesn't happen nearly as often." Charlotte explained.
"Yeah, Piper told me about that. Charlotte what can I do to help?"
"I don't know Henry."
- time skip -
"Charlotte, I'm doing a live stream, can you set it up?" I ask. She looked up at me only to find me fully decked out in my Kid Danger uniform.
"Shouldn't you wait for Captain Man?"
"No, he isn't going to be a part of this. I don't know if you've noticed but he can be a little sexist sometimes."
"Yeah, I have noticed that." Charlotte sighed.
It was just us two and my sister in the Man Cave. Jasper was out sick, Rai was getting his hair down and Schwoz was visiting his sister who looked suspiciously like a horse.
"So will you do it?" I ask.
"Yeah, I'll do it." Charlotte replies.
After a few minutes it's ready.
"Are you ready Hen?" Piper asked.
I nod.
"Rolling." Charlotte told me.
"Hello Swellview and beyond. My name is Kid Danger. I'm a part of the Swellview heroes, Kid Danger and Captain Man, and right now, I need to address something very serious." I start off. "Women everywhere are being treated like objects, like they don't matter. Maybe it's because of the lasting patriarchy that teaches women to change themselves, teach them to cover up and change how they dress. The system teach women how to not get sexually assaulted, but they don't teach men not to assault women."
I take a moment to take a deep breath.
"Which is why I'm raising money for women's help programs and charities that help catch and convict rapists and those who have sexually assaulted people. We have to help stop men who get away with it just because they are straight, white, and have good grades and or a scholarship." I look over to my sister and Charlotte who gave me a supporting smile. "And, for every dollar you give to the organizations, the Captain Man and Kid Danger group will match it. You give 250£ and we will give 250£."
"I am leaving this live stream open for 24 hours where you can make donations in 3, 2, 1." I look over to Charlotte who gave me a nod.
I look at the screen, almost immediately the screen was flooded with donations.
"Thank you everyone! As soon as the live stream is over tomorrow night, I will read out the total amount. From now until then, you will get to see some of Captain Man and I's best fights with criminals, as well as some of the best speeches about gender equality." I announce.
I look over to Charlotte who counts down on her fingers.
"And we're showing videos." Charlotte informs me.
As I was about to nod, I am pushed back onto the floor. "Umph!" I groan.
"Thank you Henry." Piper whispers.
"No problem Piper."
"No Henry, by doing this, you are helping women everywhere. Maybe not a lot, but it's something. It's still a step forward for women." Piper said gratefully.
Wow, this was an emotional chapter. This is a problem for ladies, gentlemen, nonbianary folk and any other gender orientation you identify as. I want to make this clear, both of these stories are 100% true.
In Piper's story, I was the character Rebecca. I am obviously not going to reveal the name of Piper's real life person but I can tell you it ended alright.
Although, in Charlotte's story, I was Charlotte. It was very scary and like I said in the chapter, this has happened to almost every women I know. Things need to change for the world to get better.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter my loves but I hope you carry the message with you.