How did I end up here?
Let me start from the beginning.
I'm Claire, a 22 year-old mother of one (my son's name is Ben), engaged to my high school boyfriend (Barry). I'm 5'7", 34C, with long dark hair (tinted with red). I work in a Life and Pensions company in Glasgow, Scotland.
I had been working there for two years before my life was turned upside down when I had worked late one night.
It was a summer's day in June '08 when I had been running late into work. My supervisor was unimpressed, as I was already struggling with my performance targets and did not need anything else to go wrong.
"Claire, what happened? You're two hours late. No phone-call, nothing!" said Andy, my supervisor, without a hint of concern on his face
"I'm really sorry. I was held up at the nursery with Ben." I replied, with as much charm as I could muster.
"Ok, I know you are having some childcare problems, but you know you need to contact me asap if you're not gonna make it in!" he said as he sat back into his seat, meaning this was the end of the conversation.
I apologised and logged onto my computer. I later explained that I was able to make up my missed hours at the end of the day. Andy's response was "I should think so".
I was really beginning to get pissed off with him. We hadn't seen eye-to-eye since I had joined his team. Clash of personalities is what our manager put it down to.
The rest of the day passed without incident, Andy being a total wanker for the whole day. Everybody else left the office at 5 leaving me to pretend I was working for the next two hours.
The building I work in has about 3000 staff in it, so I wasn't totally alone. But my department was empty. I was totally bored having completed my work allocation and my mind started to wander to the night before when I had stayed up until well after 4 in the morning making love to my fiancé. (This was the real reason I was late into work). I found that I was starting to get aroused and so I started doing some work to distract myself -- that would have to wait until I got home.
I went into the bathroom which was fairly luxurious considering the place I worked was not full of high-earners or in a nice part of town. I went into one of the cubicles and as I got up to leave, I heard he door open. Someone had come in, but had not got into a cubicle. I assumed they had been admiring themselves in the mirror, unaware that I was in the cubicle.
As I unlocked the door, someone had pushed the door into me, knocking me backwards across the cubicle. I was totally taken by surprise and before I had time to turn around to see who the culprit was a hand was put across my mouth.
"Don't make a fucking sound!" said my assailant in a deep voice.
I tried to scream, but his leather glove-covered hand was drowning me out.
I tried to struggle, but he totally overpowered me. I had already begun to cry, when I started to taste blood. My lip must have burst when he barged into the cubicle.
"Don't waste your time struggling. The bathroom door is locked, there is a 'Closed for cleaning' sign on the door and there is nobody left on this floor that will be able to help you anyway" he said with a smug, gloating voice.
"You need to pick your kid up in half an hour. If you're not there to get him, someone else might. So, if you scream I can guarantee you won't be there at 7 to pick him up. Do we understand one another?"
He removed his hand from my mouth, wanting a response.
"Please, just leave me alone. You can leave now and no one will know anything about this. Please" I begged.
Totally ignoring my pleas, he said "Claire, you're gonna let me do whatever I want in the next 10 minutes or you won't see your child again tonight. Do you understand?"
"Touch him and you will live to regret it you bastard" I said as threateningly as I could before I felt a punch in my stomach, winding me.
