I knew how to control this walk down memory lane. I’d done it for years. But tonight my demons had different ideas and the one memory I’d desperately tried to forget came raging back like it was just yesterday.
We turned and walked back into the alleyway and got halfway through when I saw four men coming toward us. Without saying a word, I pulled Holly close to me and reached down to hold her hand. She continued to talk about how great it would be if we had that bike when we left, dreaming out loud of the fun we’d have riding off with her arms around me into the sunset to our new life together.
The men passed us without a word, but I saw one nudge the man next to him in the side and every muscle in my body tensed. Quickly, I began walking toward the street just half a block away, pulling Holly’s arm to help her catch up with my pace. If we could reach the corner, it wouldn’t just be us against them. I might be able to take two of them, but four never and while I fought off the first two men, the other two could have their hands on Holly.
“Where you goin so quickly?” one yelled after us, but I kept walking, whispering to her, “Don’t look back. Just keep walking.”
“Kane, what’s happening?” she asked in a terrified voice.
“Nothing. Just keep walking.”
“Hey, come back here!”
I walked faster, but they caught up with us. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out all the money I had. “Take it. It’s all I have. Just let us go.”
Holly’s hand shook in terror against mine. I squeezed it gently to let her know I’d protect her no matter what they tried to do.
The one who looked the youngest with short hair and wide eyes grabbed the money from my hand, but the one closest to Holly spoke up and I knew it wasn’t money they wanted.
“What’s your name, sweetheart? You’re a pretty thing.”
“Please, let us go,” she begged in a terrified voice. “We just want to leave.”
He reached out to touch her long brown hair, but she cowered next to me, angering him. Before we could get away, they descended upon us, yanking Holly away from my side. I lunged toward the two men grabbing at her, but two sets of hands pulled me backwards and held me as her cries flooded my ears.
“Let me go! Don’t fucking touch her!” I yelled as he held me down on the ground.
“We’re gunna do more than just touch her, loverboy.”
I screamed threats and thrashed against their hold as I listened to Holly cry and sob my name, but I was powerless to do anything. All I could do was watch as their hands tore at her clothing, ripping her shorts and T-shirt off her body. Then one held her down as the biggest one whipped out his hard dick and began stroking it. The man holding her ripped off her underwear and laughed as he let his friend know, “She’s ready for ya! Go at it!”
Holly let out a blood curdling shriek, and as I watched the man lean over her body, I struggled to get free of the hands holding me before he hurt her. Two faces above me grinned and laughed as I watched that man thrust his hips forward. Holly’s cries for me to help never stopped the entire time he raped her. I didn’t know how long I fought against their hold, but at some point they began hitting me to stop me from fighting. It didn’t matter. Nothing they did could drown out the horrible sound of them raping her.
By the time he’d finished with her, I could only see out of one eye and my mouth was full of blood. Everything seemed to spin around my head, and I felt a boot kick me in the stomach as they walked away laughing. I slowly pulled myself over to where Holly lay and saw a stream of blood slowly running down over the inside of her thigh.
“Holly?”
She lay there sobbing as I pulled her close to me, her body heaving against mine. The spinning around me grew darker, and then I felt myself slipping away.
I woke with a start, cold sweat running down my face and my hands clenched in rage like they always were when I thought about that night. Quickly, I scrambled to find the time and saw by my watch that I’d only been asleep for a little while.
9:14. I didn’t know why, but something inside me told me I needed to speak to Abbi right at that moment. Grabbing my phone, I called her but her phone just rang until the voicemail kicked in. I tried three more times and got nothing. My mind racing with fear I knew was unreasonable, I dialed Gemma’s number and hers just rang too.
They could be watching a movie. Or they could be doing each other’s makeup or whatever else women did when they hung out to get over some guy. I had no idea what they could be doing, but that they weren’t answering their phones bothered me.
I tried Abbi’s phone again and got the same result. Gemma’s rang three times and I was about to give up when I heard her say tentatively, “Hello?”
“Gemma, it’s Kane. I need to talk to Abbi. Put her on the phone.”
“She’s busy right now, but I’ll have her call you as soon as she’s done.”
“Now, Gemma. I want to talk to her now.”
“She can’t, Kane, but I promise she’ll call you as soon as she can.”
Suddenly, my chest felt empty and my mind whirled with a thousand reasons why Abbi couldn’t talk to me. I knew Gemma. She was lying for her friend.
“I’m coming over then.”
Before she could give me some excuse, I hung up and grabbed my keys. Gemma’s house wasn’t too far, so I’d be there in a few minutes and find out what the fuck was going on.
By the time I pulled up, I knew something was wrong. I could feel it in my gut. My palms were already so damp from gripping the steering wheel so tightly that when I tried to grip Gemma’s front doorknob, my fingers slid right off.
Frustrated, I pounded on the door. “Abbi! What’s going on?” I yelled.
Gemma flung the door open and stared up at me with fear. “Kane, come in.”
“Where’s Abbi? I want to see her.”
“She’s not here. Sit down and I’ll explain.”
I looked around Gemma’s living room and saw no evidence that Abbi had been there that night. “What the fuck is going on here? Why did she lie to me and say she was coming here?”
“She’s got herself into something I don’t think she knows how to get out of. She couldn’t tell you because she didn’t want to risk you getting in trouble. I need you to be calm, okay?”
“I need you to tell me what’s going on right the fuck now or this level of calm I’ve got going on is going to vanish fucking quickly, Gemma.”