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Thanks your for the comments. Please keep them coming. Good or Bad, they motivate me to keep writing. I'm looking for an editor.
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I felt great leaving the doctors office. Tori held my hand as we walked out to the car. This is what it used to be like between Tori and me, platonic sisters. We had now naturally moved on to the next level, a couple. I felt light and ecstatic about the future. I didn't know why, even the weather was great. It reflected my sunny mood.
Upon entering town mom turned off the highway. We began snaking our way through our housing development and unintentionally driving by Doug Gray's house. I gasped at seeing it in during the day for the first time.
I rolled down the window, "this isn't what I remember from Friday night." The garage was destroyed, that I remembered, but the right side house was now completely imploded. Like a recking ball had taken a life time of grief out on Doug's room. Smashing the second story down into the living room of the fist and leaving just the center of the house standing. Yellow police tape crisscrossed everything. The street wasn't blocked off but we were forced to squeeze between a row of police cars and firetrucks to get by. Groups of neighbors stood on the sidewalk gossiping.
I let Tori ride up front on the way back so I had an unobstructed view of the house. Tori had to leaned over my mother to see, "van did all this?" she was openly gawking. "I don't see any fire damage. What happened to the second story."
"Sit down Tori!" Mom couldn't help it. She was staring just like everybody else. Almost bumping a police car.
Noticing us, a girl broke out from the crowd and ran up to our car. She knocked on the window as we drove by. Mom stopped and Tori rolled down her window, "Rachael!" She was a fellow cheerleader with Tori. They had recently become good friends. I had been jealous of how quickly they had grown close, not any more.
"Hey! Did you see the house Tori?" Rachael said as if it wasn't right in front of us, "what do you think happened, people are saying they saw a meteor hit it. That the government is going to look into it," she glanced passed Tori, her gaze landing on me, "hi Nicole, how goes it?" I had avoided Tori and Rachael when they were together. I guess this attitude was mostly on me.
"Good," I was surprised Rachael was even talking to me. She had never paid me any attention before.
"Rachael get in. I've got to drop these girls off and go to work," Mom was in a hurry.
Rachael jumped in the back seat with me. She sniffed the air, turning to me, staring. Catching herself she looked away to face her window.
I looked past her, wondering if she wanted to say something. The people lining the sidewalk were yelling out questions at the officers huddled around their cars. A person standing alone to the side stood observing. Bulky, I noticed him because he dressed in the same way as my bedroom visitor. The woman had worn a robe, a robe filled with glowing, shimmering, changing rainbows of color. The man was dressed in the same cut of robe, but in was mute black. A thick black that seemed stuffy, the material looked light bit it hid the general outline of his body. He wore sunglasses, which he now touched as he snapped his head around looking right at me. I felt caught. I had done nothing wrong but ducked down anyways.
We drove past him, turning, and continued on to our house.
Arriving at home we all went in side. I followed mom up stairs to her room while Tori and Rachael went to the kitchen to make lunch.
"Mom can I talk to you about what happened in the doctor office," I was really nervous but I had to get through this. "I'm sorry about the..." I couldn't finish. It was one thing to be with my sister, she had been close to me all my life. My mother was, well, my mother. I had felt humiliated back at the doctor's office. To loose sexual control like that in front of my own mother. Having her eyes on me while my breasts express, what? What was it they had leaked?
Mom took me by the hand, leading us into her walk in closet. The walls are lined with clothes, beautiful dresses, work skirts and blouses. Things that accompany an adult life. She turn to me, "honey you are my child and I've loved you since finding you in the forest." This thought seemed to make her smile. She squeezed my hand, "your unique and I find that wonderful." Still smiling she turn and selected a pair of pants and then panties. She made me feel like sunlight running over my body. I watched her unhook her belt and slide her pants down and removing her very damp underwear. What had happened? I thought I was the one who needed to change.
"Honey what I watched to today was beautiful. I hope you see it that way too." She quickly put on a new set panties and pants. Belting them quickly she stepped close, kissing me on the cheek. She stood on her toes to do this. I loved her for that.
We walked into the bathroom and I watched her go through the ritual of fixing her hair and reapplying makeup.
"Mom, I'll start taking care of myself. I promise," I leaned into her shoulder, looking at us both in the mirror. She stood just a few inches taller then my sister still, I didn't think that would last much longer. She and my sister looked like family. Sharing the basic features that made the Yonko girls gorgeous with piercing blue eyes and strong but still petite cheek bones. Tori got the tight body of my mother but athletic strength of my father. Blond hair and striking blue eyes had gotten Tori out of trouble many times growing up, contributing to her compulsive nature.
Finishing her work Mom focused on me in the mirror, "Nicole your sister seems very comfortable with helping you. Please continue to accept her help. This will become just another routine part of our family." I stood more then a foot above her 5' 6" frame, but a felt one inch tall at the mention of Tori and I. "We are a family and we will always be close to each other. It is what you father wanted for us and I glad to see we are successful." She smiled up at me again, lighting up my world. We walked down stairs, hand in hand. Tori had sand witches ready for lunch. Mom grabbed one and headed out the door for work.
Rachael, Tori and I sat at the table eating. Tori had many friends and easily bridge the different cliques at school. I was an outcast. I did know a few things about Rachael. Rachael is natural beautiful. She had developed early like me but unlike me she had enjoyed a great deal popularly. I had always thought her nice but didn't dare hang out with her crowd. They were known for being vicious with each.
Tori turned to Rachael and offered another sandwich, tuna and cheese, my own favorite, "thank you for giving me the heads up about Nico and Doug." Tori was always direct like this. She always had what she wanted to say on the tip of her mind. I was slow with my words, often letting them out in fits.
Rachael put her food down, looking across the table at me. I was having trouble looking away. "Thanks for having me over. You know Doug and I used to date, right?"
I hadn't known, shit, was she angry, well she could have bastard back.
"Yes, I know that. There are roomers going around," Tori shifted in her seat. She had sat next to Rachael, now she reached under the table and tapped me with her foot, "I'm thinking Nico is going to have similar roomers now."
That brought a long sigh from Rachael. She looked at me, her eyes pleading and then tearing up, "I'm so sorry. I should have told some one."
I didn't understand what was going on, "told someone what? You told Tori I left with Doug."
"She did, she means something else. Can you tell us Rachael?" Tori place her hand on top of Rachael's. I wondered what secret a normal girl like Rachael could have?
Rachael looked between us, working something over in her mind, eyes darting about the room. She finally came to a decision, "Doug raped me last summer. Raped me during a bonfire party after getting me really drunk." It shot out of her mouth like a news paper headline. She began slowly tearing apart her sandwich, fingers moving of their own accord. "I watched you to together. I couldn't let it happen again," her lips curled down as she said the words, chin beginning to shake. She tilted her head, "was I to late? Did he get to you." Tears began filling her eyes.
"No," I said this in a whisper, "no!" I didn't think she needed to know the details of the beating I took, "I was able to run from his house."
She coughed, snapping her head up, eyes widening, "did you blow up his house?"
"What? No. How would I even do that?" Why does everyone keep asking me that.
"A van drove into it," Tori was sticking with her made up cover story, it wouldn't explain the destroyed second level of the house. Rachael seemed to except it. Maybe she didn't need much explanation to enjoy Doug's misfortune.
"I'm glad you got away," she noticed her sandwich and put the pieces back down on her plate.
"Have you told anyone about this." Tori slid her arm around her.
"No, who would I tell? Doug's family is big shit around here. No one would believe me." She took a deep breath, "I got my mother to take me to a doctor. I wasn't pregnant and she told me to keep things quite. We didn't tell my dad."
I was shocked, "You need to tell someone!"
"What? End up like Sarah. No thanks," Rachael snorted at this. Sarah had been a girl at our school. Three years a head of use she had committed suicide last year. Legend had it that she was raped by a passing vagrant or a visiting football team. It depended on who you wanted to believe.
I'm so lucky to have someone like my sister. Even at our worst, Tori would be anywhere for me, I always new this, I was lucky to have her. "Thank you for sharing the truth with use, it strengthens us all," this was something my father used to say, I found myself repeating it.
"Swimming!" Tori broke us out of our revere, "let go to the pool. It's so hot out it will be perfect."
Rachael shook her head, "I can do better, lets go over to my house. I have a pool." She smiled at us.
"You have a pool? Sweet." Tori and I began quickly cleaning up the kitchen.
"I'll call my mom and give here a heads up," Rachael pulled out her cell phone.
