night

she was young. naive. pretty. torn between being a 'good girl' and climbing out the window in the deepest of night to see her unapproved boyfriend. the boyfriend won. for several weeks in the chill of springtime running into the heat of summer she would meet up with him a block from her house. usually his best friend came with - it was his car. the three of them would cram into the front seat of the '69 ford mustang convertable and race into the darkness, seeking out the downtown lights and excitement of the other cars 'scooping the loop'.

one night as she returned to her bedroom window it was locked. panic hit as a 10 lb. sledgehammer would - taking her breath away and sending her pulse racing out of control. unreasonable thoughts started. sneaking in the front door and saying she'd just been out walking. trying to sneak into her room and say she'd just been in the bathroom... the garage... on the porch. a bold faced lie as she was not to ever leave the house. with shaking hands she reached out for the front door knob as she sensed movement right on the other side. someone was just inside the door waiting for her to enter.

she turned and ran down the street as fast as her trembling legs could carry her. her first thought was to go to her boyfriend, but she knew his parents didn't like her anyway and this would just give them more ammunition. she had no other close friends - her parents made sure of that. she worked part-time after school at a restaurant that would be closed, but there might be a night crew cleaning up and she could at least use the phone to call her boyfriend.

reaching the restaurant she knocked on the back door. the cleaning crew turned out to be an iranian man and his very blonde-haired-blue-eyed girlfriend. they were young and sympathetic and the girlfriend said she could go home with them after their shift. collapsing on a bench, she fell into a deep sleep.

awakened by someone shaking her, she found the couple were ready to leave. it was decided that she could go to the girlfriends' apartment while the girlfriend would go stay at his place. reaching her apartment, it was soon found to be small and though small touches here and there were designed to make it homey, it was too strange to be comforting. she was cold and couldn't seem to get warm. every sound in the building jarred her into an alert listening position, wondering what her parents were going to do now... expecting the police to come through the door at any minute. she had no idea where she was, only that she was in the same town.

falling into a restless sleep, she awoke to a gray day. nothing to do but pace the floor, she finally decided to wash her hair. some cheap fruity shampoo will forever make her remember this day.
no television, no phone, no books. she paces the small cell afraid to go outside, afraid to even look out the windows. the sense of panic won't go away.

mid-afternoon the man comes to the door. in broken english he explains that his girlfriend had to go to class but that they agreed to share his tv with her. she would have to come to his apartment, however. he would fix her something to eat and she could watch tv. bored and scared, she agreed.

he fixed her something spicy to eat that she had never eaten before. spicy food had never gone over good with her, but she was so hungry it made it edible. he had some game show going on the tv and the efficiency apartment was dominated by the king-sized bed. after they ate, he began rubbing her back. she asked him to stop. he began rubbing her leg... her thigh... she got off the bed, uncomfortable and feeling trapped. had he not saved her from a night on the street? hadn't he fed her? tears began to drip down her face. he told her not to cry... asked her if she would do things to him. asked her if she was a virgin. when she replied 'yes', he suggested there were other things she could do that would let her remain a virgin.

he took her back to the girlfriends' apartment before he went to work. in the middle of the night the phone rang - jerking her out of the stupor she'd been in since he'd left her. she didn't know if she should answer, but then decided maybe she should. it was the girlfriend. she began asking strange questions of her. had she seen him today? what did they do? did he try anything with her? what could she say? she was torn. if she tells the truth, the girlfriend will be jealous and hate her and will want to turn her in. if she lies, he gets away with it but the girlfriend won't be hurt and maybe she would be able to stay a little longer. she lies. the girlfriend asks again... are you sure? are you sure he didn't try anything? thinking back, she figures the girlfriend must know what a liar she is. she knows her boyfriend. she hangs up.

an hour later there is a knock on the door. she looks out the peephole. it is her father.