Chapter One

"I'm going for a walk, mom!" Avery called as she went through the front door. 

Her mom tells her to be back by three. She walks through town and cuts through the woods to the outer road. 

A block and a half later, her ex boyfriend stepped out of the shadows. Terrified, she froze. "Why don't I show you a good time?" he steps closer.

Avery put her hands up defensively while she backed away.

"No please! I don't want any trouble. Please!" Avery pleaded. Andrew ignored her and grabbed her wrists. He dragged her behind some bushes.

Unzipping his pants and letting them fall, he tears at Avery's jeans. He held a hand over her mouth and sat on her to keep her down. He started to thrust into her, groaning as she writhed under his grasp, hurting herself in the process. Crying with tears rolling down her cheeks, she hid her face with her hands. Still writhing and crying harder, Andrew groans again.

"Fuck yeah. Keep moving like that." Andrew says. He starts going faster and rougher making Avery cry harder and writhe even more. To her horror, she feels him spill inside her. Her eyes widened. Without a care in the world, he rips himself out, dresses himself quickly and leaves. "I don't give a flying fuck about you, you deserve this." He had hissed against her face. She continues to sob behind the bushes even after he leaves.

Shakily, she pulls her pants back up. Humiliated and frightened, she reaches for her phone to call for help. "911 what's your emergency?" the operator picks up on the second ring. Sniffling and and hyperventilating, she manages to muster out, "I've just been raped."

There was a short pause on the other line. "Miss, I need your name, age, and location." the operator says, sympathy and pity evident in her voice.

It takes her a moment to collect herself.

"Um. My name is Avery Thompson. I'm fourteen years old. My current location is.. hang on." she looks around until she spots a green street sign.

"North West Farm Brooke drive. I'm outside a carpet installation company." She answers. She begins to cry again. "Okay Avery. I dispatched an ambulance to escort you to a hospital. Please stay on the line." the operator says. She sobs quietly and holds her phone to her ear until she hears a faint siren in the distance. "I think they're here." she says. She hangs up the phone. A paramedic steps out of the van. "Are you Avery?" She asks. Avery nods.

The woman holds out a hand. Avery shakily grabs it and tries to pull herself to her feet. She stumbles and winces. 

She looks down at the ground and notices blood.

There is blood oozing from various cuts Andrew inflicted. And blood stained her pants.

"I need help. It hurts so bad." she chokes back a sob. The woman allows Avery to hold her weight against her and helps her into the vehicle. "When we take you to the hospital, the doctors will need to do a rape kit on you. Then we'll need to call your parents." The woman explains. Avery shrinks back in fear. "Can the doctor who performs the rape kit be female? Please?" Avery asks. "Of course." she answers.

When they arrived in her hospital room, she was asked to change into a hospital gown. Avery requested that everybody left the room as she did so.

Avery was horrified. She had mottled bruising already. There was a certain stiffness in her limbs and she was very sore. 

Blood still dripped from between her legs.

Five minutes later, there was a knock. "Miss Avery, may I come in?" A soft sweet female voice is heard on the other side of the door. "Yes." She squeaked. A stout woman walks in carrying a white box in her hand.

"This is a rape kit. I'll need to collect biological evidence. I'll need to collect saliva, blood, semen, urine, skin cells, and hair. I'm going to do this by swabbing your skin, genitals, anus, mouth, scraping under your fingernails, and combing through your hair. Is this okay with you?' She explains carefully. Avery nods her head.

After the absolute hell, she was given a hospital phone.

"Dial 9 first, then your mom, dad, or guardian's number." she explains. "I'll leave you to it." She says and leaves the room. After dialing 9 and her mom's number, the phone rings four times on the other line before someone picks up. "Hello?" her mom's voice fills Avery's ears and fills her with a small sense of security. "Mom..?" Avery chokes.

"Avery? Where the hell are you? You've been gone for two hours and it's way past three!" her mom yells. "Mom, I'm at the hospital. Andrew raped me!" She wailed. She starts to cry again.

Her mother's breath hitches. "What hospital?" she demands. "I don't know which one. It was the closest. The police are going to interrogate me after the rape kit results have been finalized and documented." Avery explains She continues to sob. "I'm on my way. You won't be going to that school anymore." Her mom seethes. "I love you. I'll be there soon."

Then she hangs up. Avery sets the phone aside and turns onto her side. The pain in her belly is still awful and the burning between her legs continued to intensify and she winces.

She just decides to curl up and tears fall from her eyes. A knock on the door startles her from her daze. Before she can even answer, the door bursts open and her mom rushes in. An officer trails loosely behind her.

"I'm Officer Sahara head of the sexual assault department. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a few questions." the officer said. She pulled up the wheelie chair that was resting by the sink since Avery's mother currently occupied the armchair next to the hospital bed.

"First question. Who are you to the suspect Andrew Swanson?" she asked. Avery looked to her mom. "Ex boyfriend." Avery's mom answered for her. "Okay. Do you know where the suspect lives?" she asked.

"I do not. But, if it helps, I have his cellphone number." Avery simpers. "Great. If you could, please write it down. Along with any other means of communication." She hands Avery a piece of paper connected to a clipboard and a pen. Avery writes down Andrew's phone number and underneath labels it as his phone number. Then she writes down his mom's number and labels that too. She thought it would be a great source of intel so she wrote down his social media users as well.

She hands the clipboard and pen back to Officer Sahara. She looks over it and smiles. "Great thinking." she says. Avery lips form a small smile at the praise. "Now, I'm going to give more details. We only needed those two questions because you were able to identify your attacker." She crosses her legs.

"In a week or so from now, Avery will be given a pregnancy test." She turned to Avery's mother. "Why?" she asked, confusion written all over her face. "Because there is evidence of semen near her cervix. It is highly possible that this rape could result in a pregnancy. Of course, if she does indeed become pregnant, Avery will be given the option to carry the baby to term or get rid of it." She explains, a passive look on her face.

Avery covered her face in her mother's bosom and wept.

"Another important thing. The charges against Andrew will need a statement from you Avery. Since you are the victim, you will have to testify." She said.

"I have brought a lawyer with me. She's a good friend of mine and has won many- if not all- of her cases. Jenny, you can come in." She calls. The door opens and a very posh woman with a nicely pressed blazer and matching skirt walks in. She smiles sympathetically at Avery and nods solemnly at Officer Sahara.

"As the months go on, I will be collecting evidence and building a case against Andrew." she explains. "I've already got the 911 call with the time stamp and some photos from the scene."

"You wouldn't mind explaining the rest of the evidence collected?" Avery's mom asked. "Of course. The forensic evidence is the DNA collected from the rape kit. Physical evidence is the condition her body was in, and any physical injuries from the exterior. Now, we have one more key piece of evidence that has yet to be collected. We need you to explain in detail what happened. To explain, think of the five W's. Who, what, when, where, and why. Who was involved. What happened. When did it happen and if applicable, how many times. Where did it happen. And why did it happen."

Avery felt the lump rise in her throat once more. She couldn't really talk about it just yet. It was too fresh of a memory.

"And we'll also need to understand the trauma, any disorders or temporary damages the event has caused, and we'll need to have you meet up with our psychologist and therapist. We'll be taking notes and recording each session if you don't mind. And to ensure your recovery, you'll need to stay here for the time being. I'm afraid you can't go back to school." she says.

"After what happened, I don't want to. Rumors spread around fast. And even if the news of my rape isn't released, if I do end up pregnant, people will make assumptions and believe I'm a whore." Avery lowers her eyes. The officer and lawyer exchange a look and Avery's mom covers her mouth.

"And last thing before we take our leave. A hearing has been set for the 21st of January. The hearing will decide if the case brought to trial. So that gives us three months to gather up evidence and information, and three months for you to recover." Avery nods. After they leave, the same nurse who performed the rape kit came in.

"Hi Avery! I'll need to check your vitals and then Dana I'll need to have a quick chat in my office."

The nurse grabs a tray with a ballpoint flashlight, a blood pressure sleeve, a thermometer, a stethoscope, and she pulls out a scale.

"Okay hon, can you just give me your arm? I need to check your blood pressure. This will get really tight, but don't worry about it."

She writes down the stats on her clipboard. "Now follow my pen and don't look at the light." Avery does as she's told.

"Alright, now I need to check your lung capacity. So if you'd please turn towards me so I can press this stethoscope against your back." Avery shakily gets up and crawls in front of the nurse. "Okay, deep breaths. When I say breathe in, I want you to fill your lungs up as much as you can, and when I say breathe out, slowly exhale." Avery nods.

"Okay, breathe in..." Avery breathes in. It hitches after a few seconds and her lungs refuse more oxygen. She waits patiently for her okay to exhale and it's almost painful. "And breathe out." She instructs.

They do this five or so more times and the nurse tells Avery to stand up on the scale. A look of panic crosses her face. "I know it hurts, but I need to get your weight. In all honesty, every week we have to check your vitals for any changes." she says. Avery complies and doubles over in pain but is caught by the nurse before she falls.

The nurse helps Avery up onto the scale and holds a secure hand across her back. The nurse glances at the numbers but shows no reaction to the low numbers. Her mother frowns. "92.5 pounds." her mom reads.

"What?" Avery glances up at the numbers and groans. "My weight has gotten lower the last time I was checked at my last physical." She mumbles. "Could you tell me what that number is? It could be important information." the nurse asks.

"Um. I think it was 94 pounds." Avery says. The nurse doesn't hesitate to write that down. "While you're standing, I need to check your temp, then you can settle back down and I'll just have a quick chat with your mom."

Avery nods. 

When they leave, she curls up in her bed and falls into a fitful sleep.