Chapter 1: Melanie's Story
Melanie made her way through the heard of partying college kids, most drunk, being that the party was well into the fourth hour mark. Melanie had only been there for about twenty minutes though, but already she was ready to leave. She wasn't a big party girl, but didn't mind them occasionally, however tonight she just wasn't into it.
She just wanted to get out of there, she was tired and the loud music was giving her a headache, but she had to find Poppy first, to tell her she was going.
"Melanie," she heard her name being called behind her, turning she found Logan. He was in her in her drawing class; she talked to him sometimes but didn't really know him too well. She was surprised to see him here though, him being a junior, and this party mostly being freshman, with a couple of sophomores.
"Hi Logan," she greeted with a friendly smile.
"Hey, how's it going?" he asked casually, grinning at her.
"Oh, fine, you know," she said distractedly, wanting to continue on her way, but not wanting to be rude.
"Yeah, me too. I've been fine, I mean."
"Good, that's good," she said nodding.
"So, do you maybe want to dance?" he asked.
"What?" she couldn't quite hear him over the loud music.
"Do you want to dance?" he leaned over and shouted in her ear.
"Oh, actually I was just leaving. I have to find Poppy first, though," she said back, glad the conversation was ending.
"Leaving so soon?" he said, and Melanie didn't catch the disappointment in his voice.
"Yeah, I'm kind of tired." And she turned to leave, "See ya," she said over her shoulder.
Melanie finally found Poppy talking to some girls, and pulled her aside. "I'm leaving," she said into her ear.
"Really? Do you want me to come with you?" Poppy asked.
"No, I'm just tired. You stay here; I'll see you back at the dorm." Poppy nodded and waved goodbye. Melanie had just made it to the door, when she felt a hand on her arm.
"Hey, Melanie." It was Chris Stanwick. She beamed up at him, pleased he was talking to her. She only knew him casually, but she had a bit of a secret crush on him. He was just too handsome.
"Hi Chris!" She hoped her voice wasn't too enthusiastic and told herself to play cool.
"You look really hot tonight," he said smoothly.
"Really?" God, could she be more pathetic. She sounded like some pre-teen groupie.
"Yeah, you wanna dance?" Melanie loved the way he leaned into her when he asked, and forced herself to respond with a very calm "sure." Chris led her out to where people were dancing, and she started to sway to the music, letting her body rub up against his.
***
Across the room stood Logan. He watched her dancing with growing anger, and cursed himself an idiot. He had come to this asinine party, just because he had heard she'd be there. He had waited around four hours for her to show up, and when she finally did, she blew him off. He hadn't even been mad then, she was just tired. The thought that she was making an excuse hadn't even crossed his mind. Idiot, he cursed himself again.
Now she was over there dancing with some punk, gyrating all over him. He couldn't watch, he couldn't bear to see the woman he loved all over another man. Yes, Logan loved her, had been in love with her since the first time he saw her. She had walked into the drawing class with a little white dress on, her soft brown hair shorn into a short, pixie-like cut, rosy cheeks and big blue eyes. Though she didn't seem to notice him at all, she had sat right next to him. They hadn't spoken until a couple days later.
Logan forced himself to stop thinking about her. She wasn't who he thought she was, he told himself, just forget her. But forget her he could not.
***
Melanie woke up in a strange bed, confused and disoriented. Her head was throbbing so hard, she didn't realize at first that she was naked. She instantly panicked, forcing her brain to think back to last night. She could remember the start of the party, wanting to leave, dancing, drinking, but after that her mind goes foggy.
She slowly sat up. She could feel the pain between her legs, the soft throbbing. She knew instantly she had been raped, even before she saw the dried virgin's blood on her thighs. Melanie let herself break down into sobs. She couldn't believe this had happened to her. She wanted to save herself for the man she loved, but her virginity had been cruelly taken from her.
She hated being naked, and she put her dress back on. Her panties were too torn to wear, and she couldn't find her bra. She just wanted to get home, to get home and take a shower. To wash the evidence of her rape off of her.
The walk back to her dorm was the longest of her life. She could feel the passers-by's eyes on her, she felt like somehow they knew.
"Lanie, where have you been?" Poppy asked as she opened the door. "We've been worried sick..." and she trailed off as she saw the look on Melanie's face.
"Gee Melanie, what happened?" she asked worriedly. Melanie just pushed past her, heading for the bathroom. "Melanie, what's wrong?" she called as Melanie locked herself behind the door. She stripped off her wrinkled dress, stuffing it into the trashcan before turning on the shower. She let the warm water wash over her skin. She scrubbed her entire body, especially her thighs and between her legs.
She must have been in the shower for over forty minutes, but when she came out, Poppy was waiting for her. "Melanie, you tell me what happened last night, right now," she demanded.
"I-I," Melanie said looking at her, "Last n-night," she stammered, tears starting to stream down her face, "someone-someone raped me," she said on a sob. She couldn't control herself any longer, and broke down into heart-wrenching tears for the second time that morning.
"What?" Poppy screamed, overwhelmingly angry. How could anyone rape Melanie? "Who?" she asked.
"I...don't...know," Melanie said between sobs. Her body hunched over and she leaned against the wall.
"What's going on?" Bee, her other roommate, asked worriedly, coming out of her bedroom.
"Call the police," Poppy said, pulling Melanie into a hug, "Melanie was raped last night."
Melanie had calmed down and was sitting on the couch when the police arrived. She was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.
"Okay miss, tell me exactly what happened," the police officer asked, sitting across from Melanie. She told him the whole story, everything she did since arriving at the party, up till when she couldn't remember. She told him about the next morning, too.
"Okay, very good. You told me you were talking to a Chris Stanwick. Do you think he could have possibly slipped you a date rape drug?" he asked.