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Cry for Emilynne*
By Jessica D'Ambrosio
Emilynne was a beautiful, bright 18-year-old girl.
Working at the local department store in her small town,
She always wore a smile and made friends with all her co-workers.
Dan was older then her by a significant amount.
He liked her,
and she thought there was no harm
in being friends.
"I felt safe within the walls of the store.
He asked for my number
and I trusted him.
"Dan and a few friends from work were going to a movie in town and I was invited along.
‘I’ll pick you up at your house and we’ll meet everyone there.’
Dan’s sincere voice still echoes through my head.
"At the theater, there was me and Dan.
No one else.
No friends from work.
No one I knew.
It was a hot summer night, yet I felt a shudder.
I felt a strange sensation on my leg.
I looked down to find Dan’s hand going up my shorts.
"I remember lying about having to go to the bathroom.
Running to the lobby to compose myself,
my heart pounded in my chest like putting your ear to the tracks when a train is coming.
"I had no way back home and I felt compelled to go back in the theater.
I put on a smile and went back in,
terrified.
I don’t remember what movie we saw.
All I remember is wanting to go home.
"I don’t remember how I got home.
All of a sudden, I was in my driveway.
My parents were upstairs,
comforted by the fact that I was in good company.
"There I was, in Dan’s car.
‘Thank you for the movie.’ I lied.
The next thing I know,
I am trying to push him off of me.
My head flooded with:
‘Get off!
Leave me alone!
RAPE!
RAPE!
RAPE!’
"Blindly, searching for something to save me,
I found the door handle.
My leg, finally free of his weight,
kicked wildly and found his heaving chest.
"I remember tumbling backward out of his car,
and running into the safety of my house.
The secure click of the door closing and locking behind me,
I collapsed to the floor and cried.
"Three weeks of phone calls followed.
Harassing calls.
Calls pleading me to forgive him.
Confused calls that wouldn’t acknowledge any wrongdoing.
"For weeks I dreaded going back to work.
I couldn’t face Dan,
our friends,
our boss.
"Dan was fired.
He says he never meant to hurt me."
*based on a true story
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