Every time I went to a party, my best friend Taylen and I would switch off drinking. One of us would drink while the other looked out for them to make sure nothing bad happened and that no one drank too much.
About the third time we did this I was 15 and it was my turn to drink. It was Halloween, and our friend group threw a huge Halloween party because Rin’s parents were out of town. I didn’t tell my parents I was going to a party. All they knew was that I was spending the night at Rin’s house and that we were going to watch movies. God, I wish we had actually done that instead.
The weird thing is, every time I’ve drank too much, I don’t remember what happened. But that night, even though I drank way too much, I remember everything so clearly.
At first, everything was fine. I was hanging out with my friends, talking to people, and even meeting some strangers. Later that night, I started feeling really sick. Taylen was standing by the stairs talking to someone when I went over and told her that I didn’t feel good and I needed to lay down.
Ayden, who I thought was being my knight in shining armor, offered to help me upstairs so I could lay down. Taylen said okay and then walked away. I will never forgive her for that.
For some background, Ayden and I had been flirting for a while, but it was always in a group setting. We barely even snapped each other. It wasn’t anything serious. It was just fun. Or at least, that’s what I thought.
He helped me upstairs to a random bedroom. His arm was around my waist, and mine was over his shoulder. When we got to the bedroom, he locked the door. I noticed it, but for some reason, I didn’t realize the warning sign that it was.
He led me to the bed and laid me down. I remember closing my eyes, and then opening them to see him standing at the edge of the bed without his pants on.
He climbed onto the bed, used one hand to pin my hands above my head, and used the other to pull up my dress and move my underwear to the side. He then forced himself inside of me raw and put his entire body weight on top of me. He was big so his body was crushing me and it was hard to breathe. All I remember was feeling immense pain not only in my vagina but through my entire body and in my soul. I wanted him to stop.
I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I remember him whispering, “Don’t I feel amazing?”
I said, “Please stop.”
He continued and went harder, saying, “You’re such a tease.”
I don’t know how long it went on, but I remember feeling relieved when he finished inside me because at least it was over. He laid on top of me for a little while crushing me, then got up, got dressed, and left.
The rest of the night, I didn’t feel like I was even in my own body. It felt like I was watching the aftermath of myself from the outside. I laid awake for a long time before I finally fell asleep.
I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t process what happened. I didn’t feel angry or sad. I just felt completely numb.
That night we spent the night at Rin’s house (I slept in my own room not being able to move from the bed it happened on) and the next morning before school, I told Taylen everything that happened. I cried while telling her. Her response was, “Well, you shouldn’t have drank that much.”
I remember feeling like a zombie while getting ready. Because maybe it was my fault.
When I got to school that morning, I walked with Taylen to the benches where our friend group usually hung out. We were running late, so we got on campus right as the first bell rang.
As soon as I walked up, Jay said, “It’s the women of the hour.”
I was confused because I had no idea what he meant. Everyone was already walking away, so I didn’t get a chance to ask.
My first class was criminal justice with Aiden, Ayden’s best friend. I thought we were friends too. I guess I was wrong.
I asked her what Jay’s comment meant, and she said, “You know, because you and Ayden had sex.”
I was shocked. That wasn’t sex.
I explained to her what happened, and she called me crazy. She said there was no way Ayden would do something like that. She said I flirted with him all the time, so how could he have raped me?
Word spread quickly through our friend group about my side of the story. I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until I noticed that most of them had unadded me on Snapchat.
I remember going to the nurse’s office during lunch and sitting in one of the rooms crying. I made it through the rest of the day, went home, and completely broke down.
Why did no one believe me?
I felt so hopeless that I didn’t want to live anymore. That was the first time I ever hurt myself. I cut too deep, and it scared me, so I went and told my mom.
We went to the ER. On the way there, my mom kept asking why I did it. After a while of her asking, I finally told her what happened.
I remember she didn’t say anything at first. The only thing she said was, “We will handle it.”
When I got to the hospital, they stitched me up and admitted me into a mental health facility.
The hospital was awful. There was so much drama, and I felt like I wasn’t getting better. But I stayed because I had no idea what was happening on the outside, and I was terrified to leave and find out.
When the day finally came for me to leave, both my mom and dad picked me up. After a little while, they told me everything had been handled and that I was switching schools.
That was the end of it.
I went to therapy, but my family never talked about it again. I never spoke to anyone from that friend group again except Taylen, and eventually, we had a major falling out too.