About three years ago, Alice had decided to move out of her parents house and she decided to rent a small one bedroom apartment near campus. She had moved to Vermont to go to a local college of her choice. She decided to go to Pains University in none other than Pains Vermont. Which now meant that she was somehow closer to coming in contact with Lucinda. Yet, would she like the chance meeting once it happened, well, probably not.
It was a good move as she knew eventually she had to leave the nest and at first it was hard as she missed everyone so much, but she did like her freedom to be her own person. It was so refreshing. She came to college with a goal in mind to become an English Teacher and also to pursue her writing career. She wanted to teach high school kids. She thought that would be the perfect age to teach.
She liked little kids but she wanted to teach on a more experienced level with students that were beginning to find their own voice. That really excited her to no end.
And she was writing her first novel. It was along the genre of vampires and werewolves with a twist of humor and a bit of love and lust. She had been writing it for the last four years and kept finding herself editing it like about thirty times at least. She was never satisfied and wanted it to always be better.
She was thinking of calling it The Echoes of my Mortal Soul or something like that, but she wasn't sure that she would be changing the title as she wanted to make sure it had a catchy title that would hook her readers and she just wasn't sure that it would.
Tonight she was walking back from a writer's group that was held on campus. It was summer and it was dark and the air was cooler right now. She walked through the park and was on her way home. She had had a good time with all of her friends as she listened to everyone speak and when it was her turn to speak her words she was a little nervous, but she thought she did okay.
She had been watching this young guy nearby who was writing a science fiction story. She had thought he was kind of cute and when she got home, she wanted to call up Elena to tell her about him and her thoughts to go and talk to him and introduce herself. Elena was also in college in northern Maine studying how to be a vetenarian. And their brother was just about ready to start his first year in college for Accounting.
Alice was the only one who seemed to be inspired by her Uncle Herman and his love of writing. She had always wanted to follow in his footsteps somehow.
Her thoughts were on her writing and the cute guy as she walked home that she didn't realize that she wasn't alone. She walked past lots of tall bushes that were part of the college park. Suddenly, she felt a rough hand grab her by her arm and she was being pulled behind one of the bushes. All she could see as the attacker slammed her down upon the green grass was the leaves dangling from branches and a dark bulky figure that now had her pinned on the ground with his muscular legs on top of her upper legs and his hands were pushing against her torso to keep her down. One hand had a hold of her arm so that she couldn't attempt to move.
Rather quickly, she was worried about he was going to do to her. He didn't have his hands near her neck yet, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't. She just didn't know what her fate was going to be. In the distance, she could hear a few cars go by. His other hand came down upon her mouth hard for a minute. "Scream for help and I'll slit your throat. I've got a knife with me."
Terror engulfed her as she learned that he could choose her destiny to end tonight which meant she couldn't go home and read her new Nora Roberts novel. She also wouldn't be able to go home and play her classical music. It was what got her in the mood to write sometimes. And she wouldn't be able to be near her new Ragdoll kitten, Fluffernutter. Oh, how she was going to miss her even when she did tear up the shower curtain liner one time. All she had to do was look into her eyes and forgive her completely.
She tried to struggle for freedom and safety, but he had her with such a force she could see no way out of a bad situation.
And then her attacker did something she simply wasn't prepared for and she didn't like it. One of his hands had quickly lifted up her lime green tiered skirt and and she could feel his rough touch as he quickly slipped his fingers inside her white cotton underwear and he started to probe and investigate with a violence she couldn't fathom. And then he was forcing his way inside her vagina and she felt like crying in pain as he was hurting her and invading her private space, for which she was humiliated and sickened.
"So, you're not a virgin, huh? Someone had a little fun with you." He pushed further in and she could feel his other fingers all over her. Then he pulled out and she thought he was done, but she was so wrong as the unzipping of a zipper shocked her and then before she knew it he was thrusting and pounding his hands against her chest and grabbing at her knockers as he got his rocks off.
She bit her lip and wanted to cry out really bad but she was afraid he would pull out that knife he had been talking about. She tried to search for what his face looked like but he was wearing this creepy ski mask and she couldn't see him. All she had was his voice to go on and she didn't know if she would see the light of day to tell the cops what he sounded like.
Out of nowhere, her attacker was not touching her anymore and she could collect her thoughts for a minute. Then she realized that someone was wrestling with the man and he wasn't anywhere near her. She straightened herself up and moved further away from the two men. The other man had long brown hair and was trying to force the knife away from the attacker.
They rolled over a few times and just when she thought the attacker was going to kill the guy, it went the other way and the rescuer stabbed the guy and her attacker was now lying still on the ground. The man stood up and collected his energy and then looked at Alice.
"Are you alright?"
"As good as it's going to get. Is he dead?"
"I don't know. We've got to call this in. You're so lucky I came along when I did or you might have been dead. I think he was ready to kill you after he was done raping you. Didn't you hear about it happening to another college girl a few weeks ago? It was all over the news. Do me a favor and don't walk alone at night anymore. Or if you have to, ask a friend to walk home with you."
She listened to his conversation as he was now on his cell phone and was talking to a cop or some authority about the incident. She listened intently for a few minutes while feeling a little aftermath from her rape. It hurt like hell and she just wanted to crawl under a rock and hide for a little while and hug her tormented body.
The young man got off the phone and said, "They're sending someone right over. This is now a crime scene and they're going to have all their investigators over here and will need both of us to give statements. The man felt the attacker's pulse and didn't get one. "He's dead for sure. And he's not breathing."
"This has never happened to me before. I feel so dirty."
"He raped you, didn't he. I could kind of see him doing it as I was walking home from doing some studying at the college. You're lucky I decided to stay late tonight. I was planning on going home and working out and ordering chinese or getting a pizza. My name is Doug by the way. I forgot my manners for a moment. And you are?"
"Alice. Alice Stillwater. Thank-you very much for coming and saving me. I just don't have enough words for how much that means to me."
"You know you will need to go to the hospital to get checked out. Who knows what kind of disease he's got. I'm not sure what tests they have to run. But you should do it."
"Right. I just feel embarrassed to tell them what happened to me is all." she said. "I've seen you before. What are you studying?"
"I'm going for business and online marketing."
"Oh. I'm here to become an English teacher. I think I would also like to get my Masters Degree."
"Cool. Here comes the police." Both of them watched as the police officer started approaching and they could see other cars pulling up and other trucks. A team was coming out with lots of equipment to investigate the scene. One of them was already busy putting up the yellow crime scene tape. And another person was holding a big black body bag. And yet another was starting to wear blue slipper cover ups and Doug watched as he slipped on gloves to investigate the scene being very careful not to touch anything.
And one of the officers came over to the two of them. "How did this all happen?"
"I was walking home from my Writing group meetup and I started to walk past those bushes over there and I got grabbed from behind and pulled behind that tall bush and he started to attack me and he raped me. He had a knife and told me if I screamed he would kill me. And suddenly he was off me and Doug here, was fighting him and the guy wanted to kill him I think. That's what it looked like and Doug was defending himself."
"Is that how it happened, Doug? What is your last name?"
"Cypress."
"Oh, like the tree?"
"Funny. She's lucky I came when he did or else he might of killed her. Do you think he could be the same guy that killed that Melissa Small a few weeks ago?"
"We'll check out all the facts and see if he is our same guy. And what were you doing that brings you down here this late?"
"I was studying at the college and was walking home at just the right time."
"Good guy saves the Queen."
"Err... yeah, something like that."
"Well, I'll need your phone numbers and addresses so that we can contact both of you if we have more quesions and we will probably need you to come down to the station at some point."
"Sure. Right now, I think she needs to get to the hospital to make sure she is okay. My car is about three streets away." Turning to Alice, he said, "If you come with me, I can drive you there. I'd feel more comfortable and relieved to know that you get to the hospital in one piece. And then I can drop you back home safe and sound. Sound good?"
"Okay. I guess I don't have a choice."
"No, you don't. You've just been raped and it's mandatory. Follow me, dear."
Before they left, both gave the officer all the information he needed and they walked away while behind them the team finished their investigation. They had to do it in case they came across something that seemed more like foul play. But they wouldn't find anything.
"So where are you from Doug Cypress?" she asked as she got a little closer look at her hero. He was about average height and had of course the long hair that looked quite lovely and he had blue eyes. He was wearing a plaid shirt over a sea green t shirt and was wearing blue jeans with holes in the knees.
He looked quite cute. True he wasn't the cute guy in her class, but he was now looking at her and smiling at her which of course seemed to cause her to forget all about the other guy. Bonus was that he went to her same school. Maybe they would pass each other in the halls and now that they knew who each other was, they could greet each other each time.
"I'm originally from California. My parents moved to Vermont when I was about seven and we've lived in the area ever since. How about you? Where are you from?"
"I'm from Crescentville, Maine. It's next to Cedarport. I moved here about three years ago. I will say, I miss the ocean."
"Any brothers or sisters?"
"I've got a younger sister, Elena and my brother, Jason is one year younger than her. We've all left our parents with an empty nest and things are changing for them. What about you? Sibling alert or an only child? Which will it be?"
"Only child. My mom couldn't have any more kids after me. The doctor's said it wouldn't be a good idea as she had a very hard pregnancy with lots of complications. I think she was relieved. I don't think she wanted to go through it again anyway."
They arrived to Doug's apartment and he opened the car door for her and she sat inside his little blue Volkswagon.
He popped in Duran Duran as they drove towards the hospital. Little did she know, but she was going to develop a soft spot for him, but she just didn't realize it yet. Things were too new.
They arrived at the hospital and they went inside. He waited in a waiting room when the doctors called her in to do all the testing. When she was done, she came out and he kind of waited to hear the results but then was good and didn't want to pry. It wasn't really for him to know if she didn't want to talk about it.
Doug drove her home to her house and they talked a little bit on the way and he listened to her breath when she decided to be quiet. She seemed like a nice girl to him. She certainly was pretty. He had been dating a girl for a little while, but at the moment he was single. But was he ready for someone new? Maybe.
She gave him the directions to her apartment and he stopped outside. "Well, thank-you very much for everything. I really appreciate it. How can I repay you?"
He thought about it for a moment as he looked at her pretty brown hair that was falling in a little curl around her cheeks. And he looked into her blue eyes and was a little surprised to find that he was captivated by them. He wasn't going to suggest anything and then thoughts popped up out of nowhere and he was thinking, "Fool, what are you getting into?"
"I'm really thinking of that Chinese food or pizza, but it's getting too late tonight for it. Would you like to accompany me sometime to a place where we can sit down to eat and talk about school and other things?"
"That sounds nice, I think I'd like that."
Doug grabbed a piece of paper from a menu flyer and quickly jotted down her phone number and said good-bye to her, watching her as she walked inside and closed the door.
And you can be sure that he wasn't the kind of guy who was thinking, "For a good time call Lucinda."
That was perhaps a man named Robby or Lawrence with only one thing on his mind. Dirty quick hard sex. And Lucinda was the right woman for the job.
Jennifer Jo Fay
Copyrighted August 23, 2012