Thirty Happens (8 page)

I looked into his dark eyes and realized that this was my last chance, my final opportunity to stop this from happening. Using my hands on his shoulders as leverage, I brought my knee up as hard as I could and made contact with his balls and the base of his dick that had gotten rock hard in the excitement of the thought of forcing me.

He backed away about a foot as he bent over coughing, and dry heaving a bit.

I looked down at my ruined clothes and saw the blood stains already formed on my torn hoodie.

Rape.

He had come here planning to rape me.

Murder was on my mind and I screamed as I pushed off of the car and at him.

The element of surprise was on my side as I hit him full force with my body. He was still bent over in pain so he landed on his side on the common lawn area next to my dorm.

I landed on him with my knees on either side and just started hitting.

“How do you like
that
you bastard? How do
you
like getting hit?”

I just was screaming anything and everything, as my fists pummeled his head, his neck, and his chest. Anything I could hit was getting hit.

I had no idea how long this was going on. Blood was pounding in my ears in rage as I continued my attack on James.

I felt hands reaching around me and pulling me abruptly.

Holy shit, there was another attacker.

James hadn’t come alone. Fear rose once again in my heart and my throat.

I tried to whip around to hit him but was held tight. My legs kicked out and my arms flailed, clawing at the air, trying to get to his skin.

I looked around, screaming for help. My head whipped around and I saw a large group of people standing there, their eyes wide in terror as they watched me get pulled off of James. When I turned to face them, horror at my appearance caused a loud gasp to go through the crowd.

Why weren’t they helping me? Why were they just standing there? Didn’t they see it was about to happen again?

I whipped around wildly with my arms flailing, trying to ward off my new attacker, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

“Ma’am. MA’AM. I’m here to help. I’m not going to hurt you. Can you tell me your name?”

I stopped. My arm was pulled back ready to strike as my vision focused in on the direction of this voice. This calm voice. Not angry. Not attack.

I saw a badge.

I saw a uniform.

I started shaking as my legs gave out from under me.

I felt the warmth of a blanket being pulled around me, shielding my beaten and partially naked body from the view of the crowd. I realized it was a gesture, they’d already seen all I had to offer. I appreciated the gesture, though.

Suddenly, deep, hiccupping sobs wracked my body as the reality of the situation sunk in.

I’d almost been the victim of rape.

I bent over, sobbing so hard that I started throwing up.

“Ma’am, can you tell me what your name is?”

His calm voice broke through my hysteria.

“My name? Um. My name. Karyn. My name is Karyn.”

“Okay, Karyn. My name is Officer Jones. I am with the Campus Police. Do you understand that?”

I nodded quickly.

“Karyn, can you tell me what happened here?”

“He.. he… he was. Um. He was trying to r.. ra..” My words broke off as a new wave of sobs tore through my body.

Warm eyes of understanding looked at me. He took in my torn clothing. He looked at the swollen cheek.

“Well, Karyn, you did an amazing job fighting him off. Do you know this man?”

I nodded miserably, fat tears pouring down my face.

“Who is he?”

“His name is James. I don’t know his last name. We are b- both interns at the Beacon.”

“Thank you, Karyn. We’re going to take you to the ER to get checked out. We’re going to need to take a full statement once you get an all clear, okay?”

I nodded again. My head was starting to pound with pain. I was suddenly aware of the metallic taste of blood on my lips and in my mouth.

I looked behind me and saw James face down with cuffs being secured on his wrists.

“Sir, you have the right to remain silent…”

That was the last thing I heard before everything went dark.

chapter
ten
.

I
t was quiet.

That was the first conscious thought I had after everything went dark.

Quiet.

Slowly sounds started to creep into my mind.

Footsteps.

Beeping.

Hushed voices

My mind opened up a little bit more and allowed me to be aware of more of my surroundings, sensing that I was safe.

I hadn’t opened up my eyes yet, but I knew that it was light out. I was bundled tight in a bed, apparently, and the slight smell of disinfectant cleaner wafted up from the sheets and tickled my nose.

I heard a small
whoosh
next to me and felt a tightening on my arm.

The last tightening on my arm was…

I shot up in bed, clawing at the mysterious thing on my arm, squeezing me. Trapping me.

“Karyn?”

My mother’s nervous voice spoke to me.

I looked around the room wildly, but not seeing.

“Breathe, baby girl.”

I took a shuddering breath, trying to calm my head, my heart, and my nerves.

The room around me slowly took focus. I saw flowers and teddy bears stacked up on the window. I took in the machines that were plugged both into me and into the wall. Looking at my arm, I realized that my new attacker was just a blood pressure cuff. Finally, I looked toward the end of the bed and at the concerned face looking back at me.

“Mom.”

My voice was hoarse, the single word cracked as it fell out of my lips.

“Hey, sweetie.”

My mom’s tear stained face was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen at that point in my life. I thought I’d never see her again.

“Karyn, sweetheart, don’t cry. You’re safe. You’re going to be okay.”

I hadn’t even noticed the tears falling down my face until they dropped onto my arm.

“Mom, I can’t feel my face. Why can’t I feel my face?”

“Probably all the pain medication. Or the swelling. The doctor should be here shortly, now that you’re awake. He’ll be able to explain everything, I’m sure.”

I leaned back in bed, suddenly exhausted.

Ow.

I reached back and touched the back of my head, shocked to realize that I was somehow missing a bunch of hair. I didn’t recall getting the back of my head shaved recently. I looked to mom with confusion.

“You needed some stitches. The back of your head was split open so they had to shave you to get to the skin.”

“The car.”

I started shaking a little as the image of a fist coming towards my face quickly flashed through my head.

“The what, sweetie?” Mom leaned forward to be able to hear me better.

“There was a car. When he hit me, my head kept hitting the car.”

Tears formed in my mom’s eyes at the words spoken, but she didn’t let them fall. She was trying to be strong for me. Trying to hold it together for me.

Thank God.

A sign of sympathy right now would tear me down and I couldn’t do that right now.

The staccato of purposeful footsteps sounded like they were getting closer and then stopped outside the room as I heard a light tapping on the door.

“I understand that someone has decided to join us.”

A short, rounded woman in bright pink pants with a Strawberry Shortcake scrub top walked in with a smile on her face. I couldn’t help but smile at the image she presented. It was like visiting an older, country grandma. All she was missing was an apron and some apple pie.

“Just a short time ago, Cindy.”

Mom and this lady apparently were on a first name basis.

Cindy turned to me and cocked her head slightly.

“I’m going to ask you a few questions, okay? We have to ask you these every time we come in to meet with you or give you any type of treatment. It’s to verify that we have the right person before we administer any medication, and it also helps alert us to any problems you might be having as a result of the head injury you sustained. Do you understand?”

I nodded my head. She had a kind, soft spoken voice that was helping to calm me. I immediately liked this woman.

“Could you please tell me your name?”

Okay, that one was easy.

“Karyn Jensen.”

“Great, thank you. And what is your birthday?”

“July twenty eight, nineteen eighty six.”

“Perfect. Do you know today’s date?”

Uh-oh. I had no idea how long I’d been out.

“Last day I remember it was April nineteenth, two thousand and eight.”

She smiled at me, nodded and wrote something down on her notepad.

“Well…
is
it?”

“Is it what?”

“April nineteenth still?”

“Actually, it is now the twentieth, but you were brought here last night, so don’t worry, you passed.”

Whew. I wasn’t losing my mind.

“So, when can I leave? I mean, I’m awake now, you guys seem to have me pretty well patched up, and I have my final week of classes to finish before finals.”

Mom touched my arm, silently asking me to stop.

“The doctor will need to look you over before you can be discharged. He’ll be making the rounds in a couple of hours.”

I squinted at the clock on the wall across the room from me. It was eleven in the morning. Sigh.

“Okay, thanks, Cindy. I appreciate it.”

“Not a problem, it’s why I’m here. On a scale of one to ten, ten being excruciating and one being somewhat non-existent, what is your pain level right now?”

I thought about that for a moment.

“Honestly, everything kind of hurts. Except my face. I can’t really feel my face and that’s sort of freaking me out. But I have a headache, and I feel like I was used as a punching bag. Oh, wait. I was.”

I chuckled to let everyone know that I was joking but it completely fell flat.

I get it. This wasn’t funny.

None of this was funny.

“Sounds like everything is to be expected. As far as your face, we had to numb you up to be able to properly clean you and to stitch you up. We had someone from plastics doing rounds, so we were lucky to be able to get you the best for your face. You should have little to no scarring.”

Holy shit. I hadn’t even thought about scars. Ugh. Did this mean I was going to go through life looking like Frankenstein because that asshole decided to take out his anger at God knows what on my face and body?

“Karyn! You’re awake.” Lynnie’s voice was like sunshine poured into the room at just the right moment.

I turned to look at her and saw the quick sadness that passed over her eyes before she reined it in.

“Lynnie, I’m okay, I promise. No need to look sad.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up, I ran back to my dorm to shower and get a bite to eat.”

I looked at her in confusion.

“Sweetie, your friend was here since about two this morning. The hospital called her because she was on the top of your texting list. She found me on your phone and called me when she got here.”

Tears welled up in my eyes at how lucky I was to have Lynnie as my friend. It seemed crazy that I’d only know her for such a short time, but she was so important to me.

“Thanks, Lynnie, I really appreciate it.”

“No worries, it’s not like I had anything better to do today.”

I laughed a little and immediately regretted it. Ow, holy headache.

Cindy caught the flash of pain and somehow a couple of Tylenol appeared out of thin air. I gulped them down gratefully.

I waited till Cindy left before looking at Lynnie expectantly.

“So, how bad is it?”

“Oh, it’s not that bad.”

Her voice trailed up towards the end of that statement, so I knew she was lying.

“C’mon, Lynnie. You’re my friend. You’re supposed to tell me like it is.”

Lynnie looked at my mom with a slightly panicked look on her face.

Mom just shrugged her shoulders and nodded her head a little sadly.

“If that’s what she wants, you might as well let her know. If you know anything about my daughter, and it appears you do, you know she’s not going to drop this.”

Like hell I was.

“Okay, Kar. Truth is, you look like you’ve had the shit beat out of you and half your hair pulled out.”

Ouch. Not to sound cheesy, but the truth really
did
hurt.

“Um, thanks. I guess I asked for it.”

“Anytime, bestie! Meanwhile, with your, um,
unique
haircut, we can be twinsies now!”

With a flourish, she pulled a silk scarf head covering thingy out of her purse with a pattern on it that would have made a Woodstock participant weep with joy.

I looked at that thing in horror. Me? With a cancer head wrap on?

As soon as those thoughts went through my head, I immediately felt like an asshole. Here I was upset about a temporary solution to an unfortunate situation, while my friend had to do this every day.

I managed a smile.

“Okay, well, let’s try this groovy thing on.”

I was rewarded when she squealed and jumped up and down like a little girl. She was
way
too excited about this. I allowed myself to get wrapped up in her enthusiasm. That may sound crazy, but it was easier than facing the darkness swirling around in my head.

She wrapped it around my head, being extra careful in the back. While she worked she explained the steps, letting me know how to do it so that I would be able to on my own. I appreciated that. I would need to know how to recreate this.

“Let me try.”

Mom stepped forward, ready to try her hand at wrapping my battered head.

“Mom, it’s okay, I need to know how so that I can do it in the morning before classes.”

Mom’s eyes bugged out at that statement.

“Classes? You’re not actually thinking about going back, are you?”

“Uh, yeah. I mean, I have one week of classes left, then finals, then graduation. I’ve worked too hard to not finish.”

“I wasn’t suggesting you drop out of college, sweetie. I was saying I’m sure we could get concessions from the school to let you finish your classes and finals from home.”

I didn’t understand what she was trying to do. I mean, I guess I figured she was trying to protect me, but seriously?

“Mom, I’m fine. I want to finish this experience out with my classmates. I’m in the running for valedictorian, and it’s a pretty damn close race. I don’t want anyone to question whether people went easy on me because of the fact that I got smacked around a little bit. I’ve got to earn it like everyone else would.”

I purposefully left out the attempted rape part. I wasn’t really ready to admit that out loud. I was barely able to admit it in my head.

“I understand that you want to finish, but don’t you think you should take it easy? This happened right outside your dorm. How are you going to walk past that every day?”

Mom’s voice edged up an octave while she spoke, obviously, she was getting a little agitated. The truth is, I hadn’t really thought that far in advance, I was only thinking classes. I tried to mentally picture the front of the dorm and started to feel panicky. I shook it off.

“I appreciate that, mom. I really do. But I have to do this for me. If I don’t finish this off, the school year, my college life, my internship… If I don’t finish it, he won. I can’t let him ruin the entire experience.”

Mom sat there quiet for a bit. I could tell she was processing my thoughts and sorting out how she felt about it.

“Well, I guess this is your decision to make. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at
all.
But I have to respect it. You’d better check in with me about thirty times a day so that I’m not a nervous wreck all the time picturing you bleeding on the pavement.”

“Mom, I promise I’ll be fine.”

I held my arms out to both of them in an open invitation for a group hug, and they took me up on it. As I sat there in my hospital bed, machines softly whirling and beeping, the smell of disinfectant all around me, all I could think was that I hoped that I’d be fine.