“That girl is so fucking annoying.
What’s her problem?
Why does she dress like that?”

I’m picking at my food.
I’m sitting there
I’m picking at my food
Because those words of assault
Are about my old friend

From my days of hopscotch and bike rides
And I say nothing,
I say nothing as I remember.

 

Who?

Who?
My questions had hit her ears
Like
Raindrops
Pounding
The Pavement
Like His Touch
Her Tears
Streaked across His fingers
As He held her mouth closed

On her bedroom floor
So no one would hear her agony.
The pair of pants she burned when it was over.
It was summer then,

And the words didn’t spill from her lips until
The leaves browned and
Pure
White

Flakes
Melted on top of her
Thin
Brown Hair

And her ocean eyes welled with tears
As she told me

In the entry of the middle school building
Three words I didn’t think I had heard.
“I
was
raped”
My heart hit the pavement too
Like her hands
Pinned
To her carpet
Beside her books
That she read
Three a day

She was so brilliant
But

She only tried to be loved,
She spent time at the library after school

With Him
And I pictured now His ominous
Outline in the doorway
His deep breaths
As he took away
Her snow white brilliance
Her laughter
Her carefree nature
I remember when we rode by and he said
“Nice
Ass”
And I told her to stop talking to Him
And I told her
That something bad
Was going to happen
If she didn’t stop
And maybe that’s why
She waited for everything

To
Die

Before she could cry in my arms.

I hated affection
But I hugged her then

As I raged
And I see him
And he was 15
And he never
Spent a day
In

Jail

By the time her bleeding heart
Could release the story
Of her assault
The DNA was gone from the carpet
Gone from her books
Shirt thrown away
Pants burned
Blinds closed
And he didn’t spend
A DAY

in jail.
Only hours in court
When he said

And I hate him
I hate him
“We fucked
A couple of
times

but
You can’t prove
Anything"
I can prove the smile that fell from her face
And the way her eyes died

As the bike rungs clicked
When I first mentioned His name
That summer
And she said
“We don’t

Talk
Anymore”

And I ignored it.

I can prove
Her tears
Her disgust
Her shame

As she hid that stained secret
For

One

Year

Because she was afraid

Of the thought of her
Pants pulled down
Her naked body
Against his
No power
Just a ragdoll
Just a trophy on
His list of conquests
And she saw him in the hallways

Every day
On her way to AP Biology
Because she was still trying
To be brilliant
But it’s hard when
You encounter
Your rapist
On your commute
Who didn’t spend
A day
In Jail.

 

So now I will speak up.

I will stop picking at my food and say

"She is beautiful

She is still brilliant

She still has light

Even though she has seen

Horrors you will never know."

I will speak for those

Whose voices are too scared and quiet

To speak for themselves

So justice

For once

My come to pass.