by Linda Nelson
“Cause I heard there was some sort of accident last night. It sounded like it as Gerry's car.”
“Oh... Really…Wow. No I haven't heard anything. Did you try calling Heath?”
“No. And I'm not going to either. I'm breaking up with him.”
Darcy decided to get herself a cup of yesterday's coffee. She poured it out of the coffee pot sitting on the counter and put it in the microwave to warm up. “Want some?”
Carol shook her head no.
“Why are you breaking up with him?”
She waited for the microwave to go beep and returned to the table with her coffee.
“Black coffee is the best you know.”
“Oh we had a fight last night. That's all. I don't want to talk about it.”
Amber ran into the kitchen.
“Darcy the TV says car crash.”
Carol and Darcy looked at each other. They followed Amber into the living room. Her cartoons were now replaced with some breaking news. The news camera showed the car after the driver-side door was ripped off. Apparently the news crew was reporting that the jaws of life were used last night to save the driver, who was trapped inside the car.
Two other passengers were airlifted to a trauma hospital in another city nearby. But no names were released at this time.
Carol sat down hard on the sofa. She knew that car. She had ridden in it to school many times.
Now there was a big hole in the windshield. Oh my God. She wondered who the passengers were.
The news telecast changed. It moved on to an arrest that had taken place last night. Ian's photo flashed across the screen along with his dad's photo. Oh my God. Not Ian, she thought. Damn, what is happening to her friends, and why did Ian's dad get arrested, she wondered.
“I got to go. Call me if you hear anything.”
“Yup…”
Carol left Darcy's apartment in a hurry. The photo of the car wreck left her shaken. She hurried back home, making it in the door before her parents woke up.
She waited for the phone to ring. But it never did. She had a feeling she would have to wait until Monday before she heard anything about the car accident.
She sat in her room and stared at Karla's backpack and wondered if this party had been really worth it. Guilt was now eating her up inside, for being a part of setting Karla up for what she now faced.
She had to find a way to make things up to Karla. Somehow make things right, but how?
Carol spent the rest of the day holed up in her room. It seemed as if her mom had no idea what had taken place the night before. It was best this way. She was not in the mood for a shouting match with her today. Not after seeing the accident on TV.
There still was no word from Heath. Carol feared the worst. If he died right after she gave him, the-you-no-good smack, she wasn't sure how she would be able to live with herself.
By two in the afternoon, a loud rap sounded on the front door. Carol could hear it from her room. She cracked open her door just enough to where she could peer out and see vague images of whoever stood at the door, and could barely making out the sound of their voices.
“Hi, we are with the Brantwood Police. Is your daughter home? We have a few questions to ask her about last night.”
“What about,” Carol's Mom inquired.
Carol could now see Officer Theresa and Officer James stood talking to her mom in the living room. Her dad came out of the kitchen carrying two beers. He held one out to her mom.
“Carol is in her room doing homework. Is she in trouble for something?”
“No, we just have some questions to ask her about her friend, Karla,” Officer James stated.
“Carol...,” Her dad called.
Carol walked slowly into the living room. She immediately recognized the two officers from last night.
“What,” Carol asked. She tried to put on an air of being in the middle of her homework.
Carol saw her mom look at her reproachfully. She was thankful to Officer James taking her mom and dad off to the kitchen giving Carol privacy with the other officer.
“Carol, your friend Karla was in bad shape when she got to the hospital. It was a good thing you told us about her taking X. The doctors were able to treat her. They also discovered she had ingested another substance. I was wondering if you might know how she came about this other substance,” Theresa paused before continuing, “her clothes were also ripped in a certain way, indicating rape. We had her tested for rape. What I need to know is do you know who the boys were?”
Carol looked toward the kitchen to make sure her parents were not in earshot.
“So she is going to be all right?”
“Yes, as far as we can tell at this time. Did you know the other substance was G? She could have died. And what those boys did to her, you call them friends? What happened to her could have happened to you.”
“She took G,” Carol asked bewildered.
“Yes and when this is mixed with alcohol and X it can be very fatal.”
Carol mouthed a big “O”.
“You need to tell me who those boys are. Just because a person uses drugs, is not all right for anyone to rape someone.”
After biting her tongue for a moment, Carol gave in. “It was the boys in the car wreck we passed last night.”
There she blurted it out. Now everyone would know by Monday morning, she was a snitch. Why should she cover Heath's back anyway? He should not have been one of the guys who had gone up to that room. And Gerry, he used her, that jerk.
“Thank you, Carol that was what we thought. Thanks for your cooperation.”
Theresa closed up her pad of paper.
Carol quickly asked, “The boys… in the wreck …were they all right? I have not heard anything.”
“They sustained severe injuries, but they lived. It was a miracle for them. They are currently in critical condition. You will need to contact their families for a more current update.”
Theresa turned toward her partner coming out of the kitchen followed by Carol's parents.
“We are done here. Thank you again for your cooperation.”
After the officers left, her dad asked, “Is everything okay?”
“Yup, I have to go back to my homework.”
With that Carol went back to her refuge of a room.
She slumped against her bed. Carol could not believe she had just ratted out her friends. What the hell was she thinking? It will be all around school before long, how she turned into a snitch. Maybe no one would know. She would just have to be careful no one found out who the snitch was.
Carol knew what happened to snitches. And it was not good. She could take care of herself, but what if they all came after her. Well she would have to worry about that later. Now was the time for a good binge.
She grabbed the bottle stashed under her bed. Maybe she could forget all about this weekend with just a little bit of help.
Chapter ~ 30
Mr. Centon waited outside of the emergency room. He had been waiting almost a half an hour since Karla was brought in. The police had spoken to him as soon as he had arrived, telling him about what had taken place. His wife had not arrived yet and would not be there for another fifteen minutes.
After a brief discussion with the police officers, he asked them not to say a word about any of this to Karla’s mom when she arrived. The police agreed after he explained Karla’s tension plagued relationship with her mother. They agreed she would not be of any great support for Karla and left the hospital before Mrs. Centon arrived.
***
Karla woke to the sound of her parents voices. They were arguing as quietly as they could. This proved to be a very difficult task for either of them. Their voices slowly began to rise, thus waking Karla. She pretended to remain sleeping while she listened to their conversation.
“I knew, I just knew, I shouldn't have let her go out last night,” Karla's mom sputtered.
“There was no way of knowing,” Her dad argued, “Th
is is what comes about when you don't let her learn on her own, how to make new friends. She is never going to learn who to trust and who not to trust. You just can't go on protecting her for the rest of her life.”
“Protecting her from whom,” Mrs. Centon stammered, “From herself. She used poor judgment. This should never have happened. And, I didn't protect her. I let her go and look what she went and did.”
“There you go again, blaming Karla. If you had been a proper mother, maybe, just maybe, she would have told you more about Carol in the first place.”
“What do you mean, a proper mother? I'm a damn good mother. I have always been there for Karla. How dare you say I'm not a proper mother, look at you, you're never around.”
“That's because of you.”
“What do you mean, because of me?”
“You stay home and drink all day while I have to work two jobs just to support your ass.”
“How dare you talk to me that way? And, I don't drink all day.”
“If you had been a proper mother, you would have gone out and gotten a job like me. Maybe, we wouldn't have lost our house.”
“Oh. So now it is my fault that the bank foreclosed on our house.”
“I guess I am blaming you. If we had not lost our house, we would never have had to move to Brantwood and Karla would never have been with that girl.”
Karla could not stand it anymore. “Mom, Dad, why are you fighting again? What happened? Where am I?”
Mrs. Centon blurted angrily, “You’re in the hospital. You almost died.”
Karla shifted up in the bed. She couldn't believe what her mother just said. In fact, she couldn't remember anything. No matter how hard she tried, she could only remember the football game and going to Carol's house after the game. Nothing else, “Died, How?”
“Apparently, Miss, you and your supposedly friend Carol went to the movies with a bunch of other girls. Carol's dad said something about you and these girls met some boys at the theater and were invited back to one of their houses to watch movies there instead,” Mr. Centon explained.
“They drugged you,” Mrs. Centon added, “And gave you alcohol to drink.”
“Huh? I don't know what you're talking about, Mom. Why would I drink alcohol? I don't even like the stuff.”
“Laurette, the doctor said this might happen. I will be right back, I'm going to go find her and let her know Karla is awake.”
After several uncomfortable moments being alone in the room with her mother, Mr. Centon returned with the Doctor.
“Hi Karla, it is good to see you are awake.” The doctor then turned to Karla’s parents and asked them to leave the room while she examined Karla in private.
The doctor continued speaking to Karla as soon as they were alone. “Your Dad informed me that you cannot remember anything that happened. Can you tell me what you do remember?”
Karla racked her brain before answering, but she could not jog her memory in any way. “I only remember meeting with Carol and going to the football game at school and then going to Carol’s house afterwards.”
“Well apparently you were drugged last night and had been drinking. You were in the middle of a drug overdose when they brought you into the emergency room.” The doctor paused before continuing. “The clothes we took off you were slightly torn and there is reason to believe you may have been a victim of a date rape drug. This is apparent due to the fact you cannot remember anything about the incident.
I would like permission to do a rape test on you, at the request of your Dad. He specifically mentioned to me, not to say anything about any of this to your Mom. Will you let me do the test?”
Karla could not believe what she was hearing. Her, a victim of rape, she could not remember anything. Who could have done such a thing to her? Did she even see Gerry last night? Why couldn’t she remember anything?
“You won’t tell my Mom about any of this?”
“No. Your Dad already told me about your relationship with your Mother. I promise I will not say a word about any of this to your Mom.”
Karla agreed to let the doctor do her thing. One of the procedures was a pap smear. This was Karla’s first one, and she found it an uncomfortable experience.
Afterwards, the doctor told Karla there was some trauma to her body indicating that she may have been raped. But it may be hard to prove in court. A sample from the examination was being submitted for testing, and they would know about the results soon. They were also checking her to make sure she was not pregnant.
Karla could not believe what she was hearing. Did she really have sex with someone and not even know it happened? Could you even do that? And if she was pregnant, how did that happen?
With the test completed, Karla was returned back to her room. She was happy and surprised to learn her parents had gone home. This made it easier for Karla to think about everything that had taken place in the past few hours, especially with her Mom being gone.
It wasn’t long after returning to her room when a knock sounded the door. Another woman poked her head into the room and asked permission to come in.
“Hi Karla, my name is Doctor Krentza. I am a rape counselor here at the hospital. I was hoping you would not mind if I talked to you for a bit. I just want to see how you are holding up and to answer any questions you may have.”
Karla spent the next hour answering Doctor Krentza’s questions, most of which Karla found uncomfortable and sometimes personal. She was glad when it was over, and the doctor left her in peace.
The next visitors to enter Karla’s room arrived a few hours after breakfast was served. Officer Theresa and Officer James came to ask her a few questions about what had happened to her last night.
“Karla, are you sure you do not remember anything about last night,” Officer Theresa asked.
“No, I don’t,” Karla replied.
“Well it is okay. The department wants to go ahead anyway with pressing charges against Gerry. We have more than enough evidence to prove he was the one, and you won’t need to take the stand,” Officer James told Karla.
“But I will have to show up in court, and my parents will know,” Karla argued. She feared her mom knowing about the incident most of all.
“We promise we will not say a word about this to your parents,” Officer Theresa promised. “But pressing charges against Gerry is the only way to stop him from doing this to someone else.”
“But there is not enough evidence to press charges against the other guys,” Officer James said.
“What other guys,” Karla asked. She could not remember anyone, the doctor never mentioned there was more than one guy who could have had done this to her.
“Don’t you worry about that part; Carol told us everything we needed to know,” Officer Theresa said.
That was the first time Karla had given any thought about her friendship to Carol. She wondered how Carol had been able to let any of this happen to her. She was supposed to be her friend. Why didn’t she have her back?
Karla continued to think about Carol for the next few hours after the officers left the hospital. She wondered where Carol had been while all this was taking place. She so missed Sarah and Jody. And most of all, she really missed Jan. She could really use someone to talk to right now, someone who would listen to her and understand.
As Officer James and Officer Theresa walked away they argued over the way the case was being handled.
“You should not have told her that. Her parents have to know about any statements she makes,” Officer James growled as they stepped into the elevator.
The door closed before Theresa answered, “But her Dad does know. He was told when she was brought in.”
“He was told she was a victim of a drug overdose, possibly being a date rape drug, but not a definite rape victim.”
“I am sure he does know. The doctor must have told him.”
“And, we don’t really have enough evidence against Gerry to take this to court.”
“I
was fishing for more evidence. I know we don’t have enough yet to convict or arrest him.”
“Maybe we should forget the rape charge and go after him for his DUI, and I hear one of his passengers is not doing well. They may not make it.”
“Then we should check into it and as you say, forget the rape charge.”
“At least with the DUI charge I know it will stick.”
***
Karla was released from the hospital by noon time. Her dad arrived to take her home, saying her mom was waiting at home.
Karla’s mom greeted her at the door when they arrived home, but Karla did not stay around for long. She went almost immediately to her bedroom and found her phone. It took a few rings before Jan finally answered.
In one long breath, Karla told Jan about everything that had happened to her since she moved.
Jan was all ears for the most part. But the last thing she asked before they ended their conversation was, “What are you going to do? Are you going to go to school on Monday?”
“Of course I’m going to school on Monday. For one thing, I am sure Mom is going to make me even if I don’t want to, and the other thing is I can’t let these kids get to me. The sooner I face them the better.”
“That’s my sport.” Jan sighed, “Well if you have any more problems and you can’t get a hold of me leave me a text message. I will get in touch with you as soon as I can.”
After Karla hung up, she thought, tomorrow is another day. When she got to school tomorrow she would give Carol one chance to come up with her version of what happened at the party. Then Karla would decide for herself whether or not Carol was worth having as a friend.
***
Saturday was a wasted day, in more ways than one. Carol nursed her bottle for as long as she could before she felt the effects from the liquor. She passed up on lunch and dinner without much of a fuss from her parents. They were used to this. Family-stuff just never really mattered much to her folks, for as long as Carol could remember.
Her mom and dad were always too busy relaxing on the weekends. They always claimed to have had a long or hard week at work. It was always one excuse or another, but Carol had gotten used to it. Sometimes she even thought that this was the way it was supposed to be with a family. But then she had seen Karla's mom.
