One night in early January of 1998, I got very drunk and had sex with my best friend. I, of course, wanted to talk about it, even asked, "So that happened because we were so drunk, right?" because then of course we could laugh it off and move on and so on. He said, "Being drunk had nothing to do with it."
Our friendship was a bit awkward after that, to say the least.
A couple of weeks later, we were out with a couple of his friends. I was on my second drink at the bar (and that was when I could hold my liquor pretty well for a college girl), and suddenly I was cuckoo, like falling over my feet wasted. It got worse instead of better, and I vaguely remember walking back to my best friend's condo. He went upstairs with one of the other guys, and I went out to the balcony to smoke a cigarette with this guy, Tom. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, he gave me another beer.
**Note: I am putting in some details. If this will bother you, please don't read it**
The next thing I remember, I was being sodomized on the pullout couch. Words cannot express how painful it was. When I went to cry out, I realized that my mouth felt like it had been propped open for hours.
"Stop!"I tried to yell, but it came out a whisper. He did stop what he was doing, though.
"You shut up, bitch, or I'll kill you. You and your little loverboy upstairs."
"He's not my--" I began, and he interrupted me by ... well, by filling up my mouth again. I quickly realized why my mouth was so sore.
I was crying so hard, but I did it silently.
He said, "You're getting snot on my dick. You'd better stop or I'll make you lick it off."
I guess he had an aversion to mucous, because he got on top of me and started raping me vaginally. He had obviously spent some time doing this already. The sheets of the pull-out couch were white, and I'd slept platonically on them with my best friend many, many times. They were spotted with blood, I realized, and then I looked around and it occurred to me that "spotted" was a weak word. This had clearly been going on a long time.
I begged him to stop over and over and he said, "You're really boring."
Finally, I said, "I want you to come. I want to make you feel good."
He stopped what he was doing (briefly), got in my face, and said, "You don't have the stuff to make me come, little girl. You just don't have it."
Then I kind of blacked out again, which I'm glad about, and the next thing I know, someone is coming down the stairs. It was, of course, my best friend, the one which I'd had drunken casual sex with just a couple weeks before.
I was so sore and doped up and naked and bloody and ashamed that I just said, "I'm going to go home, I think."
He didn't say anything.
I grabbed my clothes and ran for the bathroom. I couldn't pee, even though I had to go terribly. I sat there trying to make pee come out, but no luck. When I stood to get dressed, I cried with pain and got very scared when I saw all the blood in the toilet bowl.
I flushed and went to the sink. My hands were spotted with blood like a henna tattoo, and I used soap for what felt like forever, but even after that I don't know if the blood was gone or not. I was still seeing it.
I walked out the door without saying goodbye and went home. I locked the door and took a bath and looked at the bruises and felt the blood still seeping out of every orifice. My jaw ached terribly and popped every time I went to open my mouth. He had bitten off a piece of my nipple, and that hit me hard. I had fed my daughter with that nipple.
I laid in the bathtub until the water got cold, then I reran another tubful. My vagina and anus were still bleeding, and I was afraid to look. I fell asleep in the bathtub, and when I woke up I felt alive and myself, at least.
I got dressed in sweats and a t-shirt and made a grilled cheese sandwich. I cleaned my apartment, even though it hurt terribly. My best friend stopped by later, and I was going to tell him until I saw his face. He had a bag with him, and he wouldn't look at me, just handed me the bag.
"The sheets," he said. "There's blood all over them. You ruined the sheets, but it's your blood, so maybe you won't mind how dirty they are" or something like that, and then he left.
"I had my period," I yelled after him. "I just had my period, that's what the blood is."
He didn't listen. He knew damn well I was lying. He just didn't know why.
And life went on. I put on a huge amount of weight and cut my hair short because I didn't want anyone to think of me as pretty. I became sexually promiscuous with some pretty shady characters. I basically gave Emily to my parents for awhile because I was such a mess. I flunked out of college.
My parents knew that something had happened, but they didn't know what, and I certainly couldn't tell them. They made a deal where they would pay for me to take a summer course at UNH and, if I did well, they would pay for me to go part-time in the fall, and, if that was successful, return to being a full-time student in the spring.
I had some successes in college, and that built up a bit of the confidence. I met and married my ex-husband. I became a teacher. Life went on.
Until I bumped into my best friend at Wal-Mart one day in 2009 and asked if we could get a drink, that I had some things I needed to talk to him about. That whole saga is recorded here, if you're interested in reading it.
I figured that my best friend knowing the truth would be an absolution of some sort, because I knew I had hurt him badly, and it was.
I truly believed that the rape was in the past, that I had healed, that I was over it.
This is all I can write for right now. I'm starting to get upset and anxious, but I'll write "Repercussions of Rape Part II" in the next few days.
I will say this, to anyone who has ever been raped or molested or anything like that ... please, please, please know that it's not your fault, and know that there are people who will listen. Sometimes it just takes awhile to be able to say the words ...
Our friendship was a bit awkward after that, to say the least.
A couple of weeks later, we were out with a couple of his friends. I was on my second drink at the bar (and that was when I could hold my liquor pretty well for a college girl), and suddenly I was cuckoo, like falling over my feet wasted. It got worse instead of better, and I vaguely remember walking back to my best friend's condo. He went upstairs with one of the other guys, and I went out to the balcony to smoke a cigarette with this guy, Tom. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, he gave me another beer.
**Note: I am putting in some details. If this will bother you, please don't read it**
The next thing I remember, I was being sodomized on the pullout couch. Words cannot express how painful it was. When I went to cry out, I realized that my mouth felt like it had been propped open for hours.
"Stop!"I tried to yell, but it came out a whisper. He did stop what he was doing, though.
"You shut up, bitch, or I'll kill you. You and your little loverboy upstairs."
"He's not my--" I began, and he interrupted me by ... well, by filling up my mouth again. I quickly realized why my mouth was so sore.
I was crying so hard, but I did it silently.
He said, "You're getting snot on my dick. You'd better stop or I'll make you lick it off."
I guess he had an aversion to mucous, because he got on top of me and started raping me vaginally. He had obviously spent some time doing this already. The sheets of the pull-out couch were white, and I'd slept platonically on them with my best friend many, many times. They were spotted with blood, I realized, and then I looked around and it occurred to me that "spotted" was a weak word. This had clearly been going on a long time.
I begged him to stop over and over and he said, "You're really boring."
Finally, I said, "I want you to come. I want to make you feel good."
He stopped what he was doing (briefly), got in my face, and said, "You don't have the stuff to make me come, little girl. You just don't have it."
Then I kind of blacked out again, which I'm glad about, and the next thing I know, someone is coming down the stairs. It was, of course, my best friend, the one which I'd had drunken casual sex with just a couple weeks before.
I was so sore and doped up and naked and bloody and ashamed that I just said, "I'm going to go home, I think."
He didn't say anything.
I grabbed my clothes and ran for the bathroom. I couldn't pee, even though I had to go terribly. I sat there trying to make pee come out, but no luck. When I stood to get dressed, I cried with pain and got very scared when I saw all the blood in the toilet bowl.
I flushed and went to the sink. My hands were spotted with blood like a henna tattoo, and I used soap for what felt like forever, but even after that I don't know if the blood was gone or not. I was still seeing it.
I walked out the door without saying goodbye and went home. I locked the door and took a bath and looked at the bruises and felt the blood still seeping out of every orifice. My jaw ached terribly and popped every time I went to open my mouth. He had bitten off a piece of my nipple, and that hit me hard. I had fed my daughter with that nipple.
I laid in the bathtub until the water got cold, then I reran another tubful. My vagina and anus were still bleeding, and I was afraid to look. I fell asleep in the bathtub, and when I woke up I felt alive and myself, at least.
I got dressed in sweats and a t-shirt and made a grilled cheese sandwich. I cleaned my apartment, even though it hurt terribly. My best friend stopped by later, and I was going to tell him until I saw his face. He had a bag with him, and he wouldn't look at me, just handed me the bag.
"The sheets," he said. "There's blood all over them. You ruined the sheets, but it's your blood, so maybe you won't mind how dirty they are" or something like that, and then he left.
"I had my period," I yelled after him. "I just had my period, that's what the blood is."
He didn't listen. He knew damn well I was lying. He just didn't know why.
And life went on. I put on a huge amount of weight and cut my hair short because I didn't want anyone to think of me as pretty. I became sexually promiscuous with some pretty shady characters. I basically gave Emily to my parents for awhile because I was such a mess. I flunked out of college.
The woman is this picture (circa 2009) thinks the rape is behind her. She has no idea that, even though her life is "together" on the surface, that ugliness is still inside ... and might always be there.
My parents knew that something had happened, but they didn't know what, and I certainly couldn't tell them. They made a deal where they would pay for me to take a summer course at UNH and, if I did well, they would pay for me to go part-time in the fall, and, if that was successful, return to being a full-time student in the spring.
I had some successes in college, and that built up a bit of the confidence. I met and married my ex-husband. I became a teacher. Life went on.
Until I bumped into my best friend at Wal-Mart one day in 2009 and asked if we could get a drink, that I had some things I needed to talk to him about. That whole saga is recorded here, if you're interested in reading it.
I figured that my best friend knowing the truth would be an absolution of some sort, because I knew I had hurt him badly, and it was.
I truly believed that the rape was in the past, that I had healed, that I was over it.
This is all I can write for right now. I'm starting to get upset and anxious, but I'll write "Repercussions of Rape Part II" in the next few days.
I will say this, to anyone who has ever been raped or molested or anything like that ... please, please, please know that it's not your fault, and know that there are people who will listen. Sometimes it just takes awhile to be able to say the words ...
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First of all, BIG HUG.
ReplyDeleteRape is never the fault of the victim, no one 'asks for it', and this incident explains a lot about you, all of it good. On an FB photo I mentioned you have strength in your eyes. This piece shows how strong, and brave, you are.
Living with it may have been a nightmare and there will still be days when it reduces you to tears, but none of that means you are weak or at fault, it's only a sign of suffering.
You have three clever, caring daughters and that is your true reflection. You are married to a man who loves and appreciates you and sees that beauty. The fact that you have been able to trust another man shows that most of this rape is behind you.
Time will heal, but the scars will remain, and as long as the scars don't hold you back, you have won.
BIG HUG.
I am so sorry this happened to you. You are such a beautiful, brave, strong woman.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I wish I had been able to talk about it sooner, because I feel like I could do some good for other survivors.
DeleteI am so sorry to hear what happened. I am 40 years old and when I was 14 - 18 I was molested by someone that thought that me being a young man, and him being higher up in office because he was a Assistant Sheriff that he could get away with threatening me and my family in order to keep me quiet and not tell anyone. Finally when I was 18 years old I met a young lady that I wanted a sexual relationship with and she noticed that if she was to touch certain places I would jump or scream or at nite i would have nightmares. Well I finally told her what happened and she got me to go to the local police in which I told them what happened where it happened and basically gave a complete map of the house and where he had certain things hidden from his wife that they could find to back up my story. They got a search warrant on what I had to say and went in and found everything and they ended up arresting him. He of course denied it but by time it went to court he finally plead guilty so as not to put anyone through any more problems. But when I opened up my mouth to the police 12 other boys opened up and when he was done with all the court and sentencing he stayed in jail the rest of his life basically since he died in jail.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry that happened to you, Keith. There aren't words to describe it sometimes ... it took me over fifteen years to even write about it. Be well, my friend!
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