Falling

Shimmering white hair danced around her head, the strands like banners of light shifting with the rhythm of the dark wind. Warm air whipped at her skin with intense prejudice, the night’s single desire for her to die. To Pearl’s dismay, immortals could not be killed by mere wind; otherwise, she would have been put out of her misery long before this time.

A cacophony of city noise filled her ears, giving the evening life. Motors and horns blasted, the sound roaring up from the streets below, while the groans of air conditioning units and the coos of pigeons swept across the roofs of the Phoenix skyline.

Pearl peered over the edge of the skyscraper, her blurry, tear-filled eyes distorting the vehicles and people milling below. Each tear that broke free transformed into a crimson rose petal. The wind current caught dozens of these petals and took them down the side of the building toward the hapless beings below. The scent of her biological floral arrangement brought a smile to her spirit, but only for a moment.

It has all come to this, she thought. This is the end. The end of this beautiful planet. The end of everyone’s life on it. Hopefully the end of my own life. She glanced down at her wrists, red scars fresh in her skin. Trying to kill herself with the razors hadn’t worked. She rubbed her neck, still slightly sore from trying to hang herself. She glanced down at her bare knee and scanned the bruise. Even throwing herself in front of a semi-truck hadn’t worked.

A gust of searing heat slammed against her back, assaulting the skin of her neck and legs. Her short, white dress did nothing to protect her from the Arizona heat. She crossed her sweaty arms across her chest and shook her head. I can’t do this! “I can’t do it!” Her voice rang hollow, all melody stripped by the wind. She fell to her knees and sobbed as flower petals twirled and whirled around her with manic intensity.

Her mother—Evanescence—haunted Pearl’s thoughts. Evanescence was a breed of evil that the world, this world anyway, had never seen. The Great Witch, a name many had given Pearl’s mother, had used dark magic to birth Pearl as an eighteen-year-old. Nobody else on Earth had been born at such an age, and Pearl had to constantly remind herself that this was indeed Earth. This wasn’t Heaven, and it wasn’t Hell…yet. It was about to be hell on Earth, and she didn’t want to be here for that. She didn’t want to see the bloodshed, the slaughter, the genocide of an entire species.

Her knowledge of the end of things prompted her to try to end her life. She didn’t know if she could be killed by another, but even if she could, she didn’t want to put that guilt on anyone else. Neither did she want to die by her own mother’s enchanted hands. She knew the witch would torture her and eventually tear her tender heart out.

This is why Pearl had to do what she had set out to do this evening. She had to escape this horrible planet. She wanted to be with her Father. She wanted to go home.

She wiped the blur from her eyes and peered over the edge of the building again. The end was so near. What better time to meet her creator? Before the whole planet became swallowed in darkness, she could go be with the One who had actually formed her, despite what her mother tried to make her believe.

Pearl stepped up to the edge as the warm desert wind threatened to knock her off balance. She certainly didn’t want to tumble down the side of the building. Though immortal, she could still feel pain. She desired a quick way out. A way out of my responsibilities? she asked herself. Perhaps. But staying here was not an option. Not with what she knew was about to occur on this poor, defenseless planet. They don’t stand a chance.

Bells chimed in the distance. Pearl counted eight in all, noting the beauty in the sound of clanging bronze. She then closed her eyes and leaned her body forward.

For a long moment, she felt herself caught in a gust of air, as if she were flying. It felt spectacular, angelic. But then the tremendous pull of gravity yanked at her dress, at her skin, at her very soul, and summoned her toward the busy street below. As she fell, she smiled at the thought of being in Heaven this night. She caught a sudden whiff of rose petals, felt their velvet touch caress her cheeks. The roar of the engines grew louder. Someone shouted something about a girl falling through the air. Then the noise ceased altogether…

Chapter 1

Thursday, May 22, 2008   -   8:01 p.m.

Gilbert High School Graduation Ceremony

Gilbert, Arizona

Nathan’s eyes opened. Massive pain coursed through the wound in his forehead. Noise crept into his senses, and he suddenly realized where he was. He scrambled to move his arms, legs, even his hands. People were pulling him up, standing him to his feet too quickly for his brain to catch up.

The blurriness left his eyes and the whole graduating class came into focus. Hundreds of seniors in their black and gold gowns were staring, gasping, standing in awe of his collapse. The teachers who were holding him up helped him to take a seat in one of the folding chairs on the stage reserved for the faculty themselves.

He bent his head down into his hands and tried to come back to reality. The girl…and the building ledge…and the darkness—it was all too real. As if he was there. As if he was the girl.

Okay, he thought, that’s disturbing.

“It’s okay, folks. It looks like Nathan Pierce is going to be alright.”

Nathan turned his head to the right and saw Principal Carter at the podium. The man smiled nervously at the audience while adjusting his blue tie. “We will have medical personnel take a look at Mr. Pierce to make sure he’s doing okay, and then we will continue with the names.”

A teacher Nathan didn’t recognize walked over and handed him his rolled-up graduation certificate. “You dropped this.”

He took it from her, and that’s when he noticed his hand shaking uncontrollably. His gaze met that of the aging woman, and he found himself staring into her eyes for a moment—her calm, blue eyes. He wondered if he knew her from somewhere, somewhere other than school.

“Take heart, Nathan,” she whispered. “You have been chosen for something great.”

“What?”

Her gaze shifted behind him. He turned to follow it and spotted two paramedics cutting down the center of the football field in an effort to reach the stage. The female of the two moved in on Nathan. He turned back, but the teacher with the calm eyes was nowhere in sight. He felt a cold stethoscope slip down his black gown and buttoned shirt and press against his chest. He shivered with the chill of the metal.

“My name is Janelle.” She motioned to the other paramedic who opened up a large black case to the side of them. “This is my partner, Michael.”

Michael smiled and pulled a small flashlight from the case. He shined the light in Nathan’s eyes. “Looks a little glazed.”

The woman glared at Nathan while she listened to his heartbeat. “It’s important that you be honest with me, okay?”

He nodded.

“Have you taken any drugs today at all?”

He shook his head slowly. Drugs?

She continued glaring at him but spoke to her partner. “Elevated heart rate.”

He took his turn to glower at Nathan. Nathan found he had to turn away from the both of them, as if he was actually guilty of something.

Janelle held onto his arm. “Are you experiencing any pain?”

“My head hurts.”

She reached up and pulled his forehead toward her. She gently moved his brown bangs out of the way and peeled back a black bandage, revealing a stitched gash that was still healing. “Where did this come from?”

Michael nudged her arm. “He was the one in the paper. The one I told you about.”

Her gaze went soft and she replaced the bandage with nimble fingers. “Sorry.”

Nathan tried to smile, but it came off as more of a grimace. “It’s okay.”

They dumped their tools into the trauma bag and stood to their feet. “Take it easy, okay?” Janelle said. “Don’t do anything overactive tonight. Just enjoy your graduation, and then go home and rest. That wound is still a long way from healing.”

Nathan nodded. “Yeah.”

They left him there. He looked out at the commotion stirring in the football field. He could hear some of the students laughing in the midst and it made him feel embarrassed. How could I have passed out in front of the whole Gilbert High School senior class? Stupid.

“Now, now,” Principal Carter addressed the crowd. “The paramedics have cleared Nathan, so we will continue with the ceremony.”

The calling of the graduates’ names continued. Nathan sat in his chair on the stage, his mind replaying his vision. Who is this strange girl who keeps showing up in my thoughts when I pass out? What is her name? Where did she come from?

Agonizing pain flooded his head, and he wished he would pass out again so he wouldn’t have to feel it. The hammering made it to where he could barely open his eyes to watch the next set of students approach the stage and grab their diplomas. Some snuck glances at the now infamous boy who had collapsed on stage the night of their high school graduation.

***

Pine Shadows Christian Summer Camp

Hume, California

Heather Rhoades made every effort to worship past her memories of the accident. She kept her eyes closed and didn’t bother with the distractions of the bonfire or those who were around her. She focused all of her concentration on God, on singing her heart out to Him.

Your mercy stirs my heart to sing, a melody I was taught in creation’s womb…

Heather’s voice, though, only merged with the sounds she already had echoing through her head: the sound of crunching metal, of shattering glass, of chaotic destruction. These things were louder than the rest of the camp attendees who were singing the song.

Though the stars fall to the earth, and darkness plagues the land, Your love will remain…

The memory of the newborn being crushed in the metal jaws of the vehicle almost made her throat lurch. She took a deep breath and raised her hands above her head, determined to worship. She had gone the last couple days without letting the accident affect her on an uncontrollable level, but now the music was playing, fiddling with her very soul. Guilt coated her heart like a can of spilled motor oil.

The flowers of the field will sing Your praise, and all the world will dance for You…

The burns on her face began to feel warm. She knew it was the heat blasting from the bonfire in front of her, but it sent a shudder of fear through her body. She hated fire more than anything in the world, and being this close to one that the camp personnel had put together was a little too close for comfort.

She made a last-ditch effort to press into worship, striving to focus all of her thoughts on God. In the end, it was a futile practice. Her mind and heart overpowered her soul with grief and anxiety and fear.

Her eyes shot open, and she found herself shoving past Kari Preen and Evelyn Sun on her way to the back of the crowd. As fire-lit eyes turned on her in curiosity and general concern, she rushed toward the back of the circular clearing to the small gravel pathway.

The cool forest air hit her like a sack of campy potpourri, the scents of the pine trees and the bonfire tingling her nose. She started in a fast walk toward the forest area, hoping to find some privacy. The last thing she needed was one of the nosy adult counselors, or worse, Ryan, poking into business that wasn’t theirs.

The trees rustled their massive pine branches, knocking needles and cones to the forest floor. It was almost as if they were dancing to the music, worshiping God in their own uncanny way. She remembered a Bible verse from her childhood, something about the rocks singing out to God. She pulled a small flashlight from her pocket and splashed light around the area in front of her. She found a nice clearing near the edge of the first line of trees and took a seat on a massive log that she would have believed had been put there just for her.

It was a struggle to hold back the tears. No matter how hard she tried to worship, she knew the truth: She was a freak, one whom God Himself wanted nothing to do with.

 She had done her fair share of crying over the last week. Tired, she found herself still having nightmares of the horrible car crash, of the deceased newborn. Why would God want to take someone out of this world so soon? Why would he allow something so heinous to happen to someone so small, defenseless, and innocent? And why in the world would God allow me to perform the act, to have steered our car into the other vehicle? To commit an act of murder?

She had asked herself these questions many times already and only wanted to shut her mind off now. It was time to try and move on, but she didn’t feel like she could. Only she knew what had really happened. When her vehicle had hit the SUV with the mother and child on board, something had released from Heather, something definitely not of this world. A strange shield had gone up over her and Nathan and had protected them from the accident, had at least protected them from getting killed. He ended up with a wound to the head and she wound up with these airbag burns that covered a third of her face.

She touched part of the wound, feeling the irregularities in her skin that were scarring over. She held her clammy hands out in front of her and stared at them for a long moment, wondering what powers they held. Is it magic? An alien power? There are no such things as aliens, Heather. Right? If it’s not magic or an alien power, then what is it? My imagination? No! If it was my imagination, then Nathan and I, along with that crazy driving instructor, would all be dead right now.

A more upbeat worship song carried through the forest, a tune that she liked to consider one of her favorites. She listened to the chorus for a moment, trying her best to worship in her own little way, in her own little corner of the world.

You, oh Lord, give me light to battle the shadows,

You, oh Lord, give me healing with the pain,

You, oh Lord, give me shelter in the storm,

Oh Lord, I live to give glory to your name!

She turned her hands over underneath the flashlight beam and stared at them some more, taking note of the dirt underneath her fingernails. The forest had left its mark on her. She had tried a few times in secret to release the protective shield again, but with no luck. Was it a one-time gift from God to protect me and Nathan? Then why wouldn’t he allow me to protect the ones in the other car as well? The newborn deserved to live far more than any of us. And that innocent mother…she didn’t deserve this horrible curse, did she?

Her heart sank at the thought that, despite the topic of the worship song soaring through the forest, there was no shelter for her, there was no healing, and there was no light to help her fight the internal shadows she struggled with.

The singing stopped. She took a deep breath and readjusted the chopsticks in her chignon. She made a mental note to shower in the morning and started to walk back toward the camp, flashlight in hand. She made her way around a patch of poison oak, her thoughts wandering to Nathan and how much she missed him.

Her foot snagged a rock and she fell toward the ground, but before she hit the dirt, a bright violet light appeared from her hands, stopping her freefall. She quickly pushed herself off of it and stood to her feet, stumbling back in surprise as it dissipated into a purple mist.

She stared down at her palms again, her eyes barely able to make them out in the darkness. She picked up the flashlight which she had dropped and took a few deep breathes, her eyes scanning the trees around her. No aliens. Was it my imagination? Did I hallucinate? She hadn’t hallucinated in the car accident. She knew that for a fact.

She continued toward camp, her body trembling. She focused her gaze down toward her hands and tried to imagine the shield appearing before her, but nothing came from such a frivolous activity.

She reached the campground as a large crowd of teenagers filtered out of the bonfire area. That was her cue that it was dinner time.

A young boy Heather’s age, with curly black hair and a chubby face, made his way toward her. He wore a white shirt that said, “Allergic to stupid people.” Heather rolled her eyes.

“Hey, why did you leave in the middle of worship? You almost knocked Kari over on your way out.”

Heather shrugged. “I just had to get some fresh air, Ryan, that’s all.”

His eyes alighted with suspicion. “Something wrong?”

He and Heather walked side by side toward the cafeteria. Ryan reached over and grasped Heather’s fingers in his. She yanked them away and then pulled her hands into the sleeves of her brown hoodie.

“I’m fine! Don’t worry about it. I just had to clear my mind of some things.”

“Like what?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s personal.”

He kicked a small pebble. It bounced along the road in front of them and hit a young girl in the ankle. She swung around, cast him a scowl, and then jogged ahead to catch up with her friends. “Why is everything personal with you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I get the feeling that you just don’t trust me.”

“Ryan, I really don’t feel like talking about this right now, okay? Can I just have dinner in peace, please? I have a lot on my mind, especially with the car accident, and I don’t really feel like talking about it. Not just to you, but to anyone.”

He nodded. “The accident, huh? I forgot about that.”

She sighed. Of course you forgot about that, she thought, you forget about everything unless it pertains to you. “It’s just not something I’m ready to talk about yet.”

“I understand. You probably feel self-conscious about your burns, huh?”

“What?”

“You know. The burns on your face.”

“Yes, I know about the burns on my face. What do you mean I’m self-conscious about them?”

“Well, I mean if I had burns that bad on my face, I would feel a little embarrassed around people too. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I mean, I respect you for not wanting to bandage them up. They’re kinda like battle wounds, know what I mean?”

Heather shook her head and marched ahead of him.

“What?” he called out. “What did I say?”

***

Devil’s Hideout Nightclub

Scottsdale, Arizona

The music swept around her like a colorful mist, moving her body with its rhythm, coaxing her across the dance floor of the small nightclub.

She danced her way to the bar, where she slapped her purse down and took a seat on one of the tall stools. What a night! She pulled out her cell phone and scanned her text messages. Most were from friends who were walking the graduation stage at school tonight. They’re jealous, she told herself. Jealous that I get to party while they sit in the sweltering Arizona heat looking like a bunch of television judges, waiting for their names to be called. One text from Crystal even called her a loser. Idiot.

Cynthia, or Sin, as she was known around school, replied to the messages, stating simply that they were just jealous of her awesomeness. A couple of the messages were for sexual favors, but she wasn’t in the mood for that tonight, not yet anyway. She decided to leave those texts alone and reply to them later, at her own leisure.

She stuck the phone back in her purse and turned to the bartender, a middle-aged man dressed in a white shirt and black vest.

“Can I get a Screwdriver please?”

His blue eyes met hers. “ID?”

She fished in her purse and took out the fake ID she had purchased a few nights earlier. He snatched it from her and scanned it for a full minute. Then he glared at her. She straightened out her shoulders and hoped that the black mini-skirt and fancy hairstyle would buy her a few years. She knew she wasn’t thin like those girls who end up on the cover of Maxim and could probably lose a few pounds. But she carried herself in a very alluring and confident manner and knew the attitude washed off on others she came into contact with. Normally she wouldn’t wear so much makeup, like the red lipstick (usually she opted for black or purple), but she wanted to look older tonight, not gothic like she did around school.

He handed the ID back to her. “Don’t think so.”

She took the card and feigned ignorance. “What are you talking about?”

“There’s no way you’re twenty-one.” He leaned against the bar and drove those striking blue eyes into hers. “It would be in your best interest to leave this place in the next five minutes before I have to involve my manager.”

On a different night she would have let the issue slide, but this night was different. This was her graduation night, and if she was skipping the grad ceremony to party, she sure as hell wasn’t going to let this guy dampen her spirits.

She threw the ID at him. It hit him in the face and fell to the countertop. “You’re going to serve me a Screwdriver or I’m going to have you fired.”

He stared into her eyes for a moment, and she found she had to look away; his gaze was so incredibly intense. He finally took her ID and disappeared into the nightclub. She could only assume he was going to find his manager, and when he did, the real trouble would start.

She turned back toward the crowd and had a sudden urge to get back to dancing, but she wanted to get just a little bit of alcohol into her system first, to lighten up. She had been cooped up in the classroom for twelve years; tonight was a celebration of her newfound freedom and the beginning of her real life.

“Excuse me?”

She turned around. Another bartender, a skinny female with blonde hair and large breasts, approached her with a drink on her tray. “One of the gentlemen in the back of the club wanted you to have this.”

Sin smiled. “What is it?” She grabbed the highball glass.

“A Twisted Screw,” the bartender replied as she hustled back behind the counter to make some more orders.

Sin smiled. It was free and the bartender hadn’t even bothered to card her. She took a quick look around the club, trying to see who had been thoughtful enough to give her this gift. Nobody stood out in her vision. She decided she better do away with it as soon as possible before that prude bartender came back to ruin her fun.

She closed her eyes and drank it down, letting the liquid coat her throat and enter her stomach with a cool, fruity taste. She finished it off as fast as she could and then slammed the glass down on the counter of the bar.

The bartender with the blue eyes was making his way back toward her with a suited man in his wake. She stood up from the stool and lost herself on the dark dance floor, realizing this may be her only chance to have fun in this place tonight.

She closed her eyes and let the music take her where she wanted to go. She wanted to get away from Gilbert, away from Arizona. She was glad to be done with school and glad to be done with having to live with her mother. That woman was a pest if Sin ever knew one.

Her eyes suddenly grew heavy, and her body performed moves she didn’t even know it could. The soft vibrations of the music pulsed across her skin, pulled the hairs from her arms, and tugged at the very bottom of her skirt. She felt good, she felt high. The drink must have been a bit more alcoholic than she first assumed because it suddenly felt like her body was floating. Awesome!

She tried to open her eyelids, but they wouldn’t budge more than a slit. It was through this slit that she noticed a tall, dark silhouette invading her space. She felt his cold hands touch her stomach and realized they felt good against her warm body. She let him close in on her and pressed his body against hers with the rhythm of the music.

She felt free, as if she were flying, as if she were soaring through the clouds in the night sky. She felt an incredible urge to rip her clothes off, right there in the club. But then I’d have to stop dancing, and I don’t…I don’t want to do that.

The stranger ran his large hands up and down the sides of her body, electrifying her skin. She felt the increased arousal between her legs, and realized she was beyond ready to respond to those sexual favors on her phone now. Her mind tried to remember the name of the drink she had been given so she could remember to order it every time she returned to this club. Twisted Screw…how ironic is that?

The music grew louder, and the rhythm slowed down, or was that her breathing? She felt her body relax, her muscles loosen and slip almost completely out of her control. The man pulled her toward the edge of the dance floor. She tried opening her eyes, but they wouldn’t budge at all. Her eyelids felt like pieces of heavy, rain-soaked cloth. Her legs started to buckle, and she felt the stranger catch her and swing her arm around his neck for support. Why can’t I stand? Wasn’t I flying a minute ago?

The arousal she felt moments ago only intensified, like an electrical current running through her legs, her thighs, her pelvis—she wanted to get laid at this very moment, but somehow she couldn’t perform the simple act of opening her eyes. She wanted to open her legs, but she wasn’t lying down yet. Am I?

The music started to fade, and she used all of her strength to open her heavy eyes, just enough to catch a glimpse of red tapestry. She wasn’t on the dance floor anymore, she knew this much. She caught another glimpse of the blurry stranger. Something in her memory triggered an alarm, but she couldn’t tell why. Her brain wasn’t cooperating. She found herself falling into a black hole of sorts. Something soft touched her back, and she realized she was lying down. Finally, time to get that tingling taken care of.

She spread her legs as something hard stirred underneath her skirt. She welcomed it, would beg for it if she could speak. But what started as a reprieve from her sexual tension suddenly turned rough. It was as if the pulses of music and electricity had merged into a blaring jackhammer being thrust through the center of her legs. She reached down to grab hold of whatever was doing this to her, but a great pressure pinned her arms above her head.

She struggled, but her muscles wouldn’t give her the edge she needed to pull from the restraints. Her mind slurred with images of the dance floor, images of the bartender with the bright blue eyes. She tried to speak, but her tongue only allowed her a moan, which in turn caused the hammering between her legs to increase. Tears refused to comfort her.

Suddenly, loud shouting rang in her ears like a basket of firecrackers going off. She wanted the music back, the sweet music. The jackhammer stopped abruptly, and the pressure on her arms lifted. She managed to move her hands down to her legs, where she fumbled with her skirt in an attempt to cover her abused nether region. 

A loud scuffle started. People shouted, but their shouts were muffled, like the Peanuts characters from her childhood. The black hole returned to her, and this time it swallowed her as everything within her died.

After the names were called, the graduates tossed their caps into the air and a roar of excitement filled the field and echoed through the streets of the surrounding neighborhoods. It was a cry of joy, a cry of freedom, a cry of accomplishment.

Nathan silently watched from the stage as crowds of family and friends poured onto the field and drowned the graduates in congratulations, pats on the back, hugs and kisses. He watched them smile. He watched families come together, all of them happy for their sons or daughters, sisters or brothers, friends or significant others. It was truly a time of celebration, a time he had been waiting twelve years for.

He stood to his feet and searched the west side of the field for his family. After a few minutes of glancing through hundreds of faces—thinking one or two were his family members only to have them turn around and be complete strangers—he realized they weren’t anywhere close by. Where could they be? Didn’t they see me collapse?

Another curiosity that was rolling around in his head and seemed to take center stage all of a sudden was the whereabouts of his girlfriend, Shannon. She had promised to see his graduation as well, but she too seemed to be missing. Did anyone come to see my graduate tonight?

He pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his white slacks and sent a quick text to Heather with the hope she was near her phone:

R U AWAKE? I JUST GRDUATED. HOPE U R HVING FUN @ CAMP.

Nathan returned the phone to his pocket and turned around to catch Shannon in his field of vision. She stood about a hundred feet to the side of him, dressed in a bright red blouse and blue jeans, laughing with another graduate…a male graduate. The man looked to be Nathan’s age, with blonde hair and a dark tan that indicated he was from Arizona. Nathan started toward her as he watched her fingers clasp around the other guy’s arm and pull him close to her.

The jealousy he suddenly felt was like the pinprick of a syringe when you get a blood test, that moment when the pain courses through you with deadly speed, and then suddenly vanishes like a ghost. Only with jealousy, the pain disappears into your gut, consuming your insides with a burning fire. Why is she touching another guy? Why isn’t she with me, congratulating me on my graduation?

When he approached her, she turned her head to acknowledge him, but very casually at that, and quickly turned back toward her male interest. “Nathan, this is Paul. He was probably my very best friend in junior high. Can you believe I didn’t even know he went to this school?”

Nathan shrugged.

She waved Nathan away and then clasped her fingers around Paul’s arm again, only to pull him a few inches closer to her. The jealousy sunk in deeper now, and Nathan knew he better say something, or the beast was going to get the best of him.

“Shannon—”

She turned back to him, her eyebrows tilting inward with seriousness. “Hey baby, how was your graduation?”

“What?”

“Your graduation. How did it go?”

“Didn’t you see me collapse on the stage?”

She ran her long fingernails through the hair at the back of his head and smiled with pouty lips. “Yeah, I saw that. Are you okay? I’m sure if the paramedics thought there was anything really wrong, they would have done something about it, right? Did they say anything to you about it? Did they say anything about you needing to get a checkup? Isn’t this the sixth time you’ve collapsed this week?”

“Fourth.”

She shrugged.

Paul reached his fingers out and held them a few inches from Nathan’s forehead. “Whoa, is that the gash you were telling me about?”

Nathan moved his head back away from the man’s fingers. “What?”

“Let me see it.”

“No!” Nathan snapped. “It’s not a side show.”

Shannon giggled. “Well, congratulations to the both of you.” She grabbed Nathan’s face in her palms and pulled his lips to hers. She held them there for what felt like a full minute. Nathan was the one to pull away. She smiled devilishly at him and then turned back to her friend.

Nathan felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and flipped it open to read a text from Heather:

I JUST ATE. CONGRATS. I MISS U. RYAN BUGGING ME! RUDY SAYS HI.

“Paul, Nathan is going into astronomy in the junior college next year,” Shannon said.

The blonde guy smiled at him. “Astronomy, huh? So, you can predict my future? Am I going to be rich and famous?”

Shannon smiled at Nathan. “Paul’s going into acting. Might get his big break this summer.”

Nathan shook his head. “Not astrology, astronomy. The science of the universe.”

“Wow, that doesn’t sound lame.”

Nathan frowned. “There’s nothing lame about studying the universe.”

Paul ruffled Nathan’s hair a little like a father would to his son. “Sure thing, little guy. Whatever you say.”

Shannon put her arm around Paul. “Hey, if you enjoy what you do, who cares what anyone thinks, right? I don’t care for all that spacey crap, but who am I to judge?”

Nathan sighed. “Gee, thanks for your support.”

“Look, I think I’m going to head out with Paul. He’s having a huge graduation party at his house tonight, and I need a little R and R after the rough week I had at the office.”

Nathan stared at her for a moment and chose his words very carefully despite the chaos forming inside of him. “I thought we were going out together tonight for my graduation. My family has someplace special picked out.”

She placed a finger on her lips and thought for a moment before turning back to Paul. “Do you mind if Nathan comes to the party tonight?”

He placed his hand on her arm and laughed. “Of course not. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine.” His gaze shifted to Nathan’s. His lips curled into a devious grin, one that gave Nathan a sick feeling in his stomach. Inside, he wanted to kick this guy in the junk and watch him cry, but he concluded doing so would be both unlikely and foolish.

Nathan shook his head at Shannon. “That’s not what I meant. You and I agreed that we were going to go out together tonight, with my family. My family hasn’t seen a whole lot of you lately, and they thought it would be nice to have us all together on my graduation night.”

She ran her fingers through his hair again. “We are going out tonight, hon. We’re going to Paul’s graduation party. C’mon, it’ll be fun. He’s probably got lots of beer!” Her eyes shifted to Paul at the mention of the beer, and he nodded in agreement with a big, stupid grin on his face. “Besides, we can hang out with your family any time.”

Nathan huffed under his breath. He hated keg parties. He didn’t drink and he didn’t like being around those who were drunk. An uneasy feeling crept in every time Shannon wanted to go to such a party, so he would either let her go and worry the whole time, or he would somehow convince her not to go.

He decided to take a moment and text Heather back, allow himself to cool down:

EVRYONE DITCHED ME. SRY ABOUT RYAN. TELL RUDY I SAY HI.

“Who are you texting?”

He shoved the phone in his pocket and then mentally kicked himself for doing that in front of her. She didn’t exactly approve of him being friends with Heather, but he had known Heather for so long that he wasn’t about to give her up because of some mild jealousy. Besides, it seems you’re more interested in this blonde joker.

“Heather. She’s at camp.”

She crossed her arms. “Heather, huh?”

Paul clapped his hands together. “Let’s get going. I’ll drive.”

Nathan felt sick at the thought of getting into a car with this bozo.

“Nathan!”

A young Asian girl ran across the field, a big, bright grin on her face. She wore a black and white dress and had her hair in yellow ribbons which flew around her head like kites as she ran.

“Hi, Hwami.”

“Hi.” She handed Nathan a black and red-striped gift bag. “This is for you, Nathan.”

Shannon glared at the girl.

He smiled and took the bag from her. She leaned in and pecked him on the cheek before she turned on her heels and broke out in a run across the field.

“Who was that?”

“Hwami,” Nathan answered. “She’s a friend of mine.”

“A friend?”

He nodded, digging his hand into the gift bag. He pulled out a black envelope.

“What kind of friend is she?”

“We met when I was picking up the attendance sheets from the classrooms one day.” Nathan opened the envelope, which wasn’t sealed, and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He opened it to find a certificate that stated a star had been named after him, by Hwami herself. On the bottom half of the sheet were the coordinates and a picture of the star that had been named Nathaniel Christopher Pierce. His heart leapt at the kind and heartfelt gesture. An actual star named after me?!

Shannon came around and grabbed the certificate from him. “What is this?”

“She named a star after me.”

“How can you name a star after someone? Nobody owns them, right?”

“It’s a star registry.”

Paul butted in. “Wouldn’t they run out of stars if everyone is naming all of them? And what is the point?”

“There are countless stars in the sky. There’s no way we would ever run out of them.”

Shannon shoved the certificate back into his hands and turned to Paul. “This is what I was talking about earlier.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I figured.”

Nathan folded the certificate and put it back in its envelope. “What are you talking about?”

“Brother!”

Startled, he turned to find his sister behind him. Her very presence brought a strange peace to his spirit, especially since he hadn’t seen any of his family all night. She had her long brown hair in curls at the ends and her face dolled up with makeup. She wore a black dress and heels, her color selection appropriate for the way Nathan felt. From her hand dangled her blue cloth purse with the embroidered daisy that their grandmother made for her in her youth.

She wrapped her arms around him in a bear hug. “My little brother, all grown up.” She pulled away from him and adjusted the slipping shoulder strap of her dress with a frown. “Are you okay? I saw you fall on the stage. That’s the fourth time now since the accident.”

He nodded. “I’m fine. Where’s Mom and Dad?”

“Maybe we can take you to a specialist. Those cheap doctors don’t know what they’re doing and maybe they missed something in the X-rays.”

“I’m fine, really. Where’s Mom and Dad?”

She let out a long sigh and stared at him for a moment before answering. He noticed that her left eye had more eye shadow on it than her right. She must have gotten ready in a hurry. “They both left after your name was called.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry. Mom said something about not wanting to sit through everyone’s name just to greet you at the end. Of course, Dad went along with it.”

Nathan’s gaze dropped to the grass near his feet. “Whatever.”

She wrapped her arm around his shoulder. “You got me, Brother!”

“Yeah. Wait a minute.”

“What?”

He glared at his sister. “If Mom and Dad were here for my name being called, why didn’t they stay to make sure I was okay when I blacked out?”

She bit her lower lip, a sign that he had caught onto long ago. She was keeping something from him. She placed her hands together in the shape of a steeple, her hazel-colored eyes beaming at him, pleading for mercy.

“Okay…MomandDadwererunninglatesotheydroppedmeoffandtookofffordinnerbythemselves. Whew, okay, so did I mention how proud I am?”

He stared at her in disbelief.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Are you serious?”

She nodded.

“They just took off? Just like that?”

She nodded again. “Please believe me. I tried my hardest to get them to stay. In fact, I’m not on their good side now because I used some choice language with them. You know that’s not like me, right? Dad’s eyes went wide with one of the words I used. I told him to—”

“I know it’s not your fault. At least you came to my graduation.”

She hugged him again. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She pulled away and looked him over for a moment. “I’m very proud of you. You know that, right?”

“Thanks. I’m glad someone in this family is.”

“I’ll always be.”

“Look, I’m going to go out with Shannon tonight, okay?”

“Sure, I guess. If that’s what you really want to do.”

He looked at Shannon, who was busy flirting with Paul some feet away. “Yeah, it is. I’ll let you know when I’m home.”

“You sure you don’t want to hang out with me tonight?”

He nodded.

“Is your head okay? Are you going to be alright? You didn’t have another…dream…did you?”

Nathan stepped closer to her. “I told you, I don’t think they’re dreams. I think they’re visions.”

“So, you did have another one, didn’t you? Like every other time you’ve blacked out.”

“You can’t tell anyone about these, okay? Please, Daisy?”

“I agreed that I wouldn’t. What was it this time? Was the girl trying to kill herself again?”

He nodded and clearly remembered the last vision he had the day before: a thin girl in a bathroom stall, slicing at her wrists with razor blades. He cringed at the thought. She had bled in the vision, but only for a few seconds. This had frustrated her.

He took a deep breath of the warm summer air. It felt like it was burning its way through his lungs. “This time she was jumping off a building in the city. I think it may have been Phoenix.”

Daisy glared at him. “I’m convinced that you want me to drag you to a specialist.”

“I don’t need a specialist.”

“Okay, so you had a dream—I mean a vision—of her jumping off a building? That goes along with the visions you’ve had of her slitting her wrists, hanging herself and throwing herself in front of a semi. What do you think all of it means?”

He shrugged. “It feels like I’m really there, with her. Or maybe I am her.”

“That’s beyond disturbing.”

“I know it is! The weird thing is, she isn’t able to kill herself. It’s as if she’s immortal. She has scars on her wrists. She has bruises on her neck and legs. But she won’t die.”

His sister had a thoughtful look on her face, but only for a moment. She shook her head and rubbed her cheeks with her hands. “Are you sure this didn’t have anything to do with the accident?”

He glared at her. “Yes, I’m positive.”

“Maybe you’re in a type of shock from the accident. Maybe that’s where these visions are coming from. We can go to the doctor, and they’ll help you sort it all out, okay? Please, Nathan, please just go to the doctor. I’ll go with you. Mom and Dad don’t even have to know.”

“Whatever. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Look, the injury to your head, it could be the reason for you blacking out. You know you can fall into a concussion? Then what am I going to do with you? You and I are about all that’s left of any normalcy in our family. If something were ever to happen to you, Brother, I—”

“I’ll be fine, Sis. Trust me.”

“I’ll keep an eye on you, that’s what I’ll do.” She wrapped him in another hug and whispered in his ear: “I’m so proud of you. I’ll always be here for you, okay? I’m so incredibly proud of you.”

He pulled away and nodded acknowledgement of her claim. “I have to go now. I’m going to a party with Shannon and Paul.”

Daisy peered behind him at the flirting girl again. “Are you sure you don’t want to go out with me tonight? We could go to Joe’s BBQ for dinner and then to Sonic and get ice cream sundaes. My treat?”

“That’s alright. I haven’t had a whole lot of time with Shannon lately.”

She sighed. “Whatever you want. Call me if you need anything, okay? Anything at all.”

He gave her a half-hearted smile and pulled off his graduation gown. He handed it, along with his cap, diploma, and gift bag to her and turned to leave.

***

Heather glanced down at the mush in her bowl. It was supposed to be soup, the cafeteria’s chosen food for the evening, but she didn’t think soup was supposed to look like oatmeal. She didn’t feel like eating to begin with, and this crap only increased that feeling. It looked like lumpy sand, and it made her want to go back to her cabin and put this long day behind her.

She heard whispering from the table in front of her and glanced up to find Kari and Evelyn. Kari whispered things in Evelyn’s ear while she smiled deviously at Heather. Evelyn, however, frowned at Heather, seemingly reluctant to hear the poisonous words that flowed off her friend’s lips.

Heather sighed, sick of the politics that occurred even in a church group. She eyed Kari for a few moments. What are you doing here? The girl wore a pink hoodie, and white capris with a flashy gold buckle around her waist. She even carried around a black Gucci bag everywhere she went around camp. What is the point?

Heather glanced at Evelyn, who wore blue jeans and a pink hoodie identical to the one Kari wore. It made Heather sick. She shook her head and then caught Evelyn’s glance. The girl’s eyes peered at her from behind black-rimmed glasses, her eyes filled with sadness, maybe even jealousy. Heather could tell Evelyn didn’t want to be Kari’s friend. It was then that she actually noticed the large bruise on Evelyn’s neck. It looked as if she had tried to cover it up with makeup, but the bruise was too big and purple to be completely concealed. Heather had heard rumors about Evelyn’s home life but didn’t want to believe them.

Heather shook her head and stood her spoon straight up in the middle of her bowl. This isn’t supposed to happen with soup.

“You shouldn’t play with your food, you know.”

Heather rolled her eyes as Ryan took a seat next to her.

“I thought I told you I wanted to be alone,” she groaned.

He flashed an obnoxious grin and opened his small carton of 2% milk. “I know, but I also know that we’re friends, so I’m allowed to bug you when I think there’s something wrong.”

“I already told you there’s something wrong, and I told you what it is. It’s not a secret, and I really do want to be left alone.”

He shook his head. Then he guzzled down his milk while making loud gulping sounds. He wiped his mouth on his arm. “No, you don’t. Look, Nathan isn’t here to protect you or watch over you or whatever you think he’s usually here to do, so it’s my job to take his place while we’re here at camp.”

She bit her bottom lip, her teeth threatening to puncture the skin. “You better get up and move now, Ryan. I’m not in the mood for you to be talking trash about your best friend.”

“Best friend? Not hardly. He’s my friend, sure, but not my best. Not by far. He’s a bit on the weak side to be my best friend. I mean, he’s into all that space crap, and he won’t drink. Too soft.”

“Well, he is still my best friend, Ryan, and I don’t appreciate you talking about him like that.” She watched as the spoon slowly tipped at an angle, still held by the thick mush in the bowl. Soup? Really? “Besides, I don’t need to be rescued from anything. I just want to be alone with my thoughts, okay? Is that too much to ask?”

He slurped down the last of his milk and crushed the carton in his hand, splashing little drops of the white liquid across his T-shirt. “Yeah, it is. Look, maybe I know you better than you know yourself, huh? You and I have been best friends for years now, right?”

“Heather, is this chump bothering you?”

She looked up and watched Rudy take a seat on the other side of her. She wanted to scream. Why can’t everyone just leave me alone? Rudy isn’t all that bad, hilarious sometimes actually, and his company is certainly more desirable than Ryan’s. But I just want to be alone.

“What’s new, Rudy?”

He shrugged, his massive frame barely moving with the gesture. “Nothing much.”

“Wow, Heather, that’s a bit harsh. You’ll talk to him, but you try your hardest to push me away?”

“I told you to your face that I didn’t want you near me right now, and you continue to sit here and talk trash about someone I care about. When will you get the hint, Ryan?”

“Is he talking trash about Nathan?” Rudy asked.

Heather nodded.

Rudy shook his large head at Ryan. “That’s not cool, Ry Guy. Why are you talking trash about good ol’ Nathan?”

Ryan wiped the milk off his shirt and pointed his finger at Rudy. “Mind your own business or this could get ugly for you.”

Heather scoffed. “Are you kidding me, Ryan? You’re threatening people at church camp now?”

Rudy laughed. “That’s okay. You can only threaten someone when you’re a threat yourself. No worries here.”

“Okay, fatty, you want to play games, we can play games.”

Rudy stood to his feet. Heather hadn’t seen Rudy ever get angry. He glared at Ryan through his glasses. “Why you making fun of my weight, Ryan? You got nothing else to say? Are we really resorting to junior high tactics now?”

Ryan laughed. “I don’t need to make fun of your weight. Your body does that for me.”

Heather buried her head in her arms. She wanted to be back home, with Nathan by her side. She suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of homesickness.

Rudy started laughing. “Ryan, you’ll have to do a lot better than that to push my buttons. I suggest you get out of here. Heather made it pretty clear that she doesn’t want you around.”

Ryan looked to Heather for the hundredth confirmation of that fact.

She looked up at him and nodded. “I’ll talk to you later, if and when I feel like it.”

“Yeah.” He held his arms up in mock surrender and left the table.

“Don’t worry about him,” Rudy said. “He’s a chump. He won’t amount to much in life because he doesn’t care about anyone other than himself.”

“I know, Rudy. Thank you for getting rid of him.”

He slapped her on the back. “Anytime, friend!”

Heather winced. Her phone beeped and she took it from her pocket. She flipped it open to a text message from Nathan:

R U AWAKE? I JUST GRDUATED. HOPE U R HVING FUN @ CAMP.

A smile run bled across her face. She shut her phone and stood up from the table.

“Where are you going?”

“I’d like to be alone for a bit.”

Rudy smiled. “Nathan?”

She nodded.

“Tell him I said hi, huh? I hope he’s doing okay. Sucks not having him here with us.”

“I know.”

She headed out of the cafeteria and traveled back down the gravel path that led to her cabin. She opened her phone and started to text Nathan back, her heart filled with warmth from his digital contact:

I JUST ATE. CONGRATS. I MISS U. RYAN BUGGING ME! RUDY SAYS HI.

She looked up at the sky and marveled at how well she could make out the stars up here in the mountains. There were no ugly orange city lights here to taint the beautiful darkness. She spotted the Big Dipper, a constellation Nathan had pointed out to her many times before. She enjoyed how much he loved to talk about the night sky and missed his mini lessons in astronomy. She followed the two stars at the top of the Dipper’s cup and found Polaris, the brightest star in the sky. Nathan had explained to her that Polaris could be used to find north in case she ever got lost. She smiled, comforted that she had something to remember Nathan by, something they had actually shared together.

She made it back to her cabin and shut the door. She allowed the darkness to swallow her, save for the dim lighting that peered in through the small half-windows at the top of the room’s wall. She fell on the hard mattress on the bottom of the bunk and pulled out the chopsticks holding up her chignon. Her brown and blonde hair spread across her pillow as she settled her head on it. Her phone beeped and she flipped it open, happy to have somewhere peaceful she could talk to Nathan.

EVRYONE DITCHED ME. SRY ABOUT RYAN. TELL RUDY I SAY HI.

She shook her head and closed her eyes, regretting the decision to come to camp over joining Nathan at their graduation. She figured his parents probably pulled another stupid stunt on him. She knew Daisy wouldn’t do anything like that to him.

Heather sighed. She wished she could close her eyes and be there with Nathan right now. She felt the stirring in her heart again, like so many times before, urging her to tell him how she felt about him. A sudden determination sprung up in her to do so after she returned to Gilbert. Up until now, she had either been too afraid or had refrained from doing so because he was dating Shannon.

Heather felt horns pushing their way through the top of her head at the thought of Shannon and what she would do to that girl if she had the courage. She hated how Shannon treated Nathan and how Nathan continued to pine after her. The stupid girl had taken Nathan to Prom and left Heather to go by herself. God knew she wasn’t going to go with Ryan, no matter how desperate she was to have a date. And then there had been that awkward moment when Rudy asked her, and she had to tell him no without hurting his feelings.

Voices outside the cabin pulled her out of her bitter thoughts. Dinner must be over, she told herself, meaning our date is coming to a close.

Frustrated and at the verge of tears, she felt as if she could leap out of her skin and run to be with Nathan right now. It had been a long day and she knew she was tired and emotional. That, and Ryan and some others in the camp were getting on the last of her nerves. Why did I pick coming here over being with you, Nathan? Why?

She brushed her hands over the burns on her face and took a deep breath before texting him back.

I AM SORRY. I WSH I CLD B THERE W/U.

She set the phone to vibrate and shoved it into her pocket. Then she turned over and pretended to be asleep as the door swung open and Kari and Evelyn waltzed in. Heather felt the all-too-familiar pang of homesickness sweep through her again but figured some sleep would help.

***

Sin opened her eyes. The view—blurry and made up of a variety of swirled colors—forced her to close her eyes and take a moment to collect herself. She felt something brush against the fingers of her right hand, and on instinct, she swung that hand out and hit something hard.

“Ow! Hey, I’m just trying to help you. Take it easy.”

A guy? The stranger who took me off the dance floor? She opened her eyes, this time with more focus. She found herself in a room with red tapestry. In front of her knelt a man with short black hair and crystal blue eyes. She recognized him as the bartender who had refused her a drink.

“She’s awake everyone!”

Her gaze shifted around him, and she saw that a small crowd had gathered in the doorway of the room.

“Wh…” Her voice cut out, and she swallowed hard to move whatever phantom lump had seized her throat. “Where am I?”

“You’re safe,” the bartender said. “That’s all that matters.”

“What do you…?” She suddenly remembered the warning bell that had been ringing through her head, the one she couldn’t pinpoint.

“Just relax, okay?” The bartender turned to his right, and her gaze followed to the other corner of the room. A man in handcuffs sat at a tall table, guarded by two police officers.

A bright light suddenly shone in her eyes, forcing her to close them. “Hey!”

“Sorry, just have to make sure you’re okay.”

She opened her eyes to a paramedic leaning in front of her, gently shoving the bartender out of the way as he flashed the light in her eyes again.

“What happened?” she asked.

The paramedic hesitated to answer the question. His brief silence was enough to let Sin know her worst fear had been realized. “You were drugged and raped,” he finally said. “This guy here,” he slapped the back of the bartender, “saved you from possibly being killed. That’s what happened.”

Her heart pounded furiously, as if it were angry at her. “Raped?”

The paramedic glared at her. “You’re lucky. Usually, girls like you wake in an alley, beaten. Sometimes you don’t wake up at all.”

She turned toward the guy in cuffs. On second glance, she noticed her assailant had a huge welt above one of his eyes and his lip was split open.

The paramedic stood to his feet and nodded. “As soon as you talk to the police here, we can administer a rape kit to you, but only if you feel up to it. It will help in the prosecution of that loser back there, even though you have the bartender here as a witness. And it’s highly advisable that you get tested for diseases.”

“Diseases?”

He nodded. “Diseases. STDs. I don’t mean to scare you, but you don’t really know what kinda crap that creep might have. Getting tested can give you peace of mind. We also have emergency contraceptives in the kit, to help prevent any unwanted pregnancy.”

Sickness filled her stomach. Pregnancy?

“As far as I can tell, you’re healthy, and it doesn’t look like he was able to hurt you too badly. Are you okay down there?”

She replayed the question in her head to confirm what he was asking. “Sore.”

The bartender turned to her. “You’ll be alright. I saw him move you off the dance floor, and I noticed you weren’t opening your eyes and he had to carry you back here. So, I burst in right when he was having his way with you and hit him a few times to get him off of you.”

She drew a long breath and let it out slowly as she looked over at the man in cuffs again. His dark eyes stared at her, through her, and he carried an awfully smug grin on his face.

The paramedic left the room as the crowd dispersed from the doorway. A few of the nightclub patrons remained in the room, some of them girls who looked frightened with their cowering eyes and trembling figures. Two of the guys, either boyfriends of the girls or just some random nightclub customers, radiated their own threatening glares to the guy in cuffs, and one of them even slid his finger across his own throat in a morbid threat.

Sin tried to sit up and managed to do so, but dizziness kicked in. She quickly closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her temples as she waited for it to pass.

“Traces of the drug might still be in your system,” the bartender said. “At least that’s what the paramedic told me. That jerk over there is going to jail, and you’ll have the ability to press charges as soon as these cops talk to you.”

She opened her eyes, a veil of black hair falling over her face. She decided to hide behind it for the moment. She drew her legs close together like a steel trap and noticed the bartender back off a few feet, as if receiving the hint. She peered between her strands of hair and gazed into his spellbinding blue eyes. “What is your name?”

“Ricky.”

She logged the name. She knew a few Ricky’s from high school. Knew is such a broad word, she reminded herself. She had made the sexual acquaintance of a few Ricky’s in high school. She shook her head in an attempt to shake out her sins. Raped. The word seemed to take on a new meaning, no longer just an empty threat used by her mother to scare her to Virginville. Now it stood for being violated in the worst possible way.

She pulled the hair from her face and looked up at the guy in cuffs again. She studied him for a moment, her brain struggling to put the pieces together.

“Your mom should be here soon,” the bartender said. “The cops called her when they got here. They got her number from the cell phone in your purse.”

Her heart stopped. As if on cue, she looked up as her mother stepped into the room. Dressed in a black business suit and heels, her mother almost looked like a female demon with her long black and red hair pulled back into a ponytail, and her fiery eyes full of rage.

Their eyes locked.

“Cynthia Scarlet Ruin!” Her mother rushed over to her, shoving the bartender out of the way as she latched to her daughter’s side. “What happened?”

“I was…I was raped, but Ricky here saved me.”

“Would you like to tell me why you’re not at your graduation tonight?”

Sin shrugged. I’m okay, Mom. Thanks for asking.

Theresa’s pink painted lips came together as if she were secretly sharpening her teeth. She stood up and walked over to the cops.

“It’s time for me to go,” Ricky said.

“Thank you.”

He nodded. “I would have done it for anyone. I see that creep around here a lot, and I’ve heard rumors that he rapes girls from the high school. It’s best if you stay away from here from now on, especially since you’re not of age.” Ricky halfheartedly grinned and then excused himself. The door he walked through was wide open, giving her a view of the dark dance floor in the other room. From the angle she was at, the dance floor looked buried in shadows, flooding it in darkness.

Her mind finally finished processing the identity of the creep in the cuffs: Dustin Jones. I turned him down for sex after hearing the rumors of his alleged rape of a girl in chemistry class. He’s never been convicted, but I believe the girl who was raped. What was her name? Susan? Sharon? She couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter anyway. When Sin refused sex to Dustin in the girls’ locker room that night after the football game, Dustin tried to force himself on her. A can of mace took him out so she could escape. She figured he would leave her alone since she had decided not to say anything about the attack.

Relief washed over her. She had been rescued from his clutches tonight. But what was I rescued from? Was he inside of me? Sin realized she still had her underwear on. But have they been put back on? It’s really sore down there. What if he shared some sick disease with me? What if he has AIDS? Usually, the guys she had sex with were forced to wear condoms before she would consent, all the while she was on birth control to double the efforts of keeping a baby out of the equation.

Her mother pointed to her, and one of the police officers strolled over. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Sin answered, knowing it was a full-blown lie.

“Are you pressing charges against Dustin?”

She nodded.

“Okay. I’ll just need you to tell me everything you can remember happening tonight. I need to file this report, and we need it to be as thorough as possible. Can you do that for me? After that, we can administer the rape kit.”

She nodded. Her mother took a seat to the right of her and listened intently.