The three of them had met up after the long break. They were all preparing themselves for a return to school and agreed to meet up and go to the mall in a group to get the things they required for the new year.
They were good friends and fellow cheerleaders. At eighteen, a brand new eighteen at that, Debbie was the youngest. Karen and Miranda were both several months older. Prior to setting out to the mall they were gathered at Miranda's place, talking about what they'd done during the holidays.
The chatter started out with the same-old, same-old, we-never-do-anything-different, but slowly expanded to cover more personal details. Debbie's 'we just went to the beach' stretched to cover the beach house they stayed in, the boys she met, the excursions they went on, more boys that she met, the fun on the beach, he kissed me, etcetera.
Karen was the next to be grilled. She shrugged, not looking directly at the other two girls.
"You know how it is. The parents rented a beach-house the way they always did. I spent most of my time at the beach. The parents were generally off visiting their friends who were holidaying up there."
"Oh, come on, Karen. You must have done something interesting. I'm sure you didn't spend several weeks just being bored out of your skull. Give us more details." As far as Debbie was concerned if she had to spill everything then so did Karen.
"It was much the same as every other year," protested Karen. "Really."
"You're hiding something," Miranda said, speaking very definitely. "You always blink and look at the sky when you're lying or trying to hide a secret. Now give."
"Well, if you must know, I was raped."
There was a moment's stunned silence. Then Debbie spoke up.
"That's it? That's all you're saying? You need to talk about it. Let it all out. It'll be good therapy for you."
"And we're curious?" added Miranda. "Details, girl. Did he have a big dong?"
"I wasn't actually given a chance to measure it," Karen pointed out acerbically. "Hazarding a guess based on experience I'd say probably."
"Well?" demanded Debbie.
"Well what?"
"What happened?"
Karen sighed and looked at her two friends. Then she shrugged. She might as well tell them. They'd keep on at her until she did.
"It happened one night. The parents went out to see some friends for the evening. It was just going to be a gathering of old people so I wasn't wanted. There was nothing worth watching on TV so I went to bed early. Something woke me in the middle of the night and I could hear noises downstairs. I assumed my parents had got home but there were no lights on, which I thought odd. Then I thought an animal might have got into the kitchen so I went downstairs to chase it away. The kitchen lights went on just as I reached the kitchen and there was this man there. A big man. He'd grabbed a plate of chicken out of the fridge and was eating it. He looked at me and said, 'How nice. Dessert,' then he pounced on me. He ripped my pyjamas off me and ran his hands over me, pushed me down onto the floor, and raped me. It was terrible. When he'd finished he just calmly left, leaving me to tidy myself up and go back to bed. End of story."
"That's it?" asked Miranda. "That's all you can tell us?"
Karen cocked her head, recalling to mind everything that had happened that night. . .
"Are you sure you don't want to come along, love?" her mother asked. "If you put a bit of thought into it I think you'll quite enjoy playing bridge. It should appeal to your competitive instincts."
"Thank you, but no thank you," insisted Karen with a laugh. "I don't really fancy card games. You run along and have fun. I'll be fine. I'll probably go to bed early and get up early to visit the beach."
There'd been a few more attempts at persuading her but Karen was adamant. Play bridge with a bunch of old people? They had to be kidding. She smiled and refused and made the refusal stick. TV might be boring but playing bridge? No thanks and see you later.
It turned out that the TV was even worse than she'd feared. She sighed, deciding that she might as well go to bed early. She'd get a good night's sleep and be up early and on the beach first thing in the morning.
Karen wasn't sure what woke her and lay in bed, listening. She could hear faint noises downstairs and thought for a moment that her parents had arrived home. Second thoughts pointed out that there wasn't the glow of any lights on so it wasn't her parents. A glance at the clock showed it was only eleven; she didn't really expect them home before one. Another noise and she got out of bed with a resigned sigh. She would lay odds a cat or something had got in and was prowling around the kitchen. She'd better chase it off before it caused any damage.
She ambled her way downstairs, not trying to be quiet, working on the principle that any animals would be scared off by the noise. Stepping into the kitchen she was immediately dazzled as the lights went on. She was somewhat surprised at this as she hadn't turned them on, her hand still outstretched and groping for the switch.
Blinking a couple of times as her eyes regained their focus she found that she was looking at a man. A very large man. He looked as though he was in his thirties and he was, she decided, rather cute, despite his age. Then self-preservation kicked in and cuteness left.
"Who are you? What are you doing here? Oh my god, you've broken in. You've probably smashed down the door. I suppose that you're going to burgle the place now. You can't do that. Oh my god, I'm all alone and you know it. You're here to rape me, aren't you? Well you can't. I won't allow it."
"Hey, hey, calm down a little," the man said, patting the air with his hands in a tone it down gesture. "Ah, addressing your various concerns I'll start with my name. I'm Alex. Are you going to tell me your name?"
"Karen."
"OK, Karen, what am I doing here? Just checking that everything's OK. No lights and no car seemed to indicate the place was empty but the back door was open. With an open back door I had no need to smash the door down, I could just walk straight through. I have no intention of burglarising the place. It's a holiday house so there would only be slim pickings. The smart burglar is currently in the city robbing the places of those people who are here on holiday. Oh, and I didn't come with the intention of raping you, no matter how sweet you look dressed like that."
Karen looked down at herself and blushed. She was wearing baby-doll pyjamas and there wasn't very much of them. She was suddenly acutely aware that her breasts were somewhat larger than when she first wore those pyjamas.
"How do I know you're not going to rape me?" she demanded. "I'm all alone here but I won't let you."
"You're also an idiot. The correct thing to say is that your parents are upstairs asleep and if I don't go away you'll scream and they'll come down. You might add that your father has a gun."
"What? He doesn't have a gun. And he's not here to use it if he did have one. I told you I was alone."
"What did I say?" she demanded when Alex face-palmed himself with a soft groan.
