(continued...)
“Oh. I wondered why he didn’t come to school today. Not that it’s unusual or anything. He usually comes to school only once a week. And did you know he’s been suspended for 25 days this year? By the way, did you say he’s Chelsea’s boyfriend?”
She nodded. “You sound interested in him,” she teased.
I gave her a playful whack on the arm. “No, he’s not my type. Besides, he’s like dating 3 other girls from 3 different schools. None of them have a clue.”
Jessica laughed as I looked around and took in our surroundings. I hadn’t realised how far we had come. It was getting colder and starting to rain, so I pointed across the street. “Want to stop at Tim Horton’s for a bit?”
She nodded and we looked both ways before crossing the street. There were too many cars. I closed my eyes, the rain gently falling on my face when I heard Jessica say, “we cross now.” My eyes snapped open and I saw Jessica halfway across the street with cars coming from both directions! I ran after her, and we both just made it to the other side.
“Are you suicidal?” I bellowed, when we reached the other side.
She laughed. “Chill out, Liz. We’re fine, aren’t we? It’s not as if our insides are splattered across someone’s car.” She turned and led the way inside Tim Horton’s, and I followed, muttering darkly.
It was warmer inside and we got in line behind a man with two little kids. The kids—a boy and girl—were ecstatic with joy and trying to decide what flavour cookie they wanted.
“Aren’t they cute,” Jessica said, smiling at them. “They don’t have a care in the world. I wish I could be that small again.”
I sighed. “They’re so innocent. They probably still believe in fairy tales like tooth fairies and Santa Claus…”
“Yeah. That’s the part I hate about growing up. You lose your innocence, you yell at your parents, yell at your siblings, and tell them you hate them, and in Brandon’s case, get addicted to drugs. I sometimes wish I did still believe in fairy tales.” Our fourth mistake. We did. We just didn’t know it.
A half-hour later the rain had stopped and we stepped back outside, running straight into my mom’s friend, Mrs Hewson and her daughter Katie.
“Liz! What a pleasant surprise. What are you doing so far from home?” She looked at my curiously. “Katie and I were about to go home. We could drop you and your friend off, if you like.”
Not a good idea, I thought. Katie and I didn’t exactly like each other very much. “Thanks for the offer, Mrs Hewson,” I said, smiling. “But we were—we were going to a friends house. She lives a block away. We’ll be fine.” Our fifth mistake.
Mrs Hewson nodded and smiled. “Alright girls. Have a good time. Bye! Say hello to your mom for me, Liz.”
Jessica watched Mrs Hewson and Katie walk away and then glared at me. “What was that for? We could have got a ride home.”
I shrugged. “Did you see the way Katie was looking at me? There was no way I was going to say yes. Besides it’s more fun this way.” Jessica didn’t say anything, so I continued. “Okay, do you want to go along the main road or through the woods? I’m pretty sure it takes they both same amount of time to get home.”
“The woods, I suppose. We might as well enjoy the scenery.” Our sixth mistake.
As we headed towards the woods, I didn’t stop to think that this might be a bad idea. I had spent a lot of time in the woods with my friends and nothing had ever happened to us. I was sure this would be no different. Our seventh mistake.
We were halfway through the woods when I got the feeling that something was wrong and that we were being watched. I held out a hand to stop Jessica. Our eighth mistake. And the worst one of all.
Four men stepped out from behind the trees. “Hey, babes,” one of them said. “We need a favour. You see, we’re making a scrapbook and we need some pictures for it. We were wondering if you would model for us.” He grinned.
“No thanks,” I said at once. I was surprised at how readily I had said that, and pleased at how my voice didn’t break halfway to show how scared I really was.
The same man raised his eyebrows. “Is that so?” Before we could react two of the men pulled Jessica down and the other two came after me. Panicking, I tried to remember what I’d learned in my self-defence class. All I could remember was: kick him where it hurts most, poke him in the eyes, and punch him on the face so hard that you expect your fist to come out the other side. So that’s what I did. I kicked the first guy and his hands immediately went to his crotch. The other guy hesitated and I seized my opportunity by poking him in the eyes. He fell to the ground, howling in pain. I grinned and went to Jessica’s rescue before the men could get too far with her buttons. I punched one of them on the nose, and I’m pretty sure I broke it. There was lots of blood. I whirled around to face the last guy and was pleased to see him backing away from me. I kicked him.
I reached down and helped Jessica up. She leaned on me for a moment, but I grabbed her hand and ran. We could hear the men’s screams behind me. I’m pretty sure I did them some serious damage. I wasn’t exactly gentle when I was kicking them, poking them or punching them. I think I giggled a little when I thought about how hard I had kicked two of them because Jessica looked at me like she was worried about my sanity. I knew we were still in a dangerous position and that’s usually when you have the craziest thoughts. I clearly remember thinking,
poking that second man, and kicking those other two was fun. I’d love to do it again.
We didn’t stop running until we reached the bus stop, and the bus arrived a few minutes later, which was good. It wasn’t until I got home that I let shock overtake my mind and body.
***
So I’ve been at home these past few days, running everything over in my mind and I’ve realised something. We were still innocent right up until we met the men. We still believed in fairy tales and fantasies, but it was a different kind of fantasy. We believed that we were safe. We believed that we could walk down a street or through the woods and still be safe. We were wrong and we sure did get a nasty wakeup call. I’ve realised a few other things too. 1. I should call Jessica. 2. We should both tell our parents. 3. We should find those men and have them locked up or something.
This is no reason to hide. They didn’t do anything to us. They tried, but we got away. It was a close call, but we got away. We have lots to be thankful for. Those men probably want us to hide. I won’t. I won’t give them the satisfaction of forcing me into hiding. And I know Jessica won’t either.
Everything that happens to Liz and Jessica in this story happened to me and Jennifer on our walk home the other night. Even the part where the two girls bail out on their teacher. The conversations are true too and yes Jenn (Jessica) got 98% in math and our teacher called her a model student and she NEVER hears the end of it.
The only thing that didn't happen was Jenn and I were smart enough to stay out of the woods. I wanted to, but I didn't think it was wise. =/ The idea of the men wanting to take pictures of them came from something that happened to Amrusha. We were hanging out at the park and we were alone. I ran home to get something and that's when some sicko showed up and asked Amrusha if he could take pictures of her. My blood boils every time I think of him...
