My mind goes to dark places, imagining what she went through and what this Kel bastard did to her while she was too drunk to fight back.
Damn sure too drunk to consent to anything.
Kel.
I turn the name over in my head.
There’s already a bullet with his name on it. I don’t know him yet, but I will. Small towns like Pulsboro and Wheaton, it won’t be too hard to find some college punk named Kel.
And when I do...
The rage builds ’til my hands throb from it. I have to clench them into fists to keep myself remotely sane.
This isn’t just about Eddie’s niece anymore. This is about a young woman who called me when she had no one else. She trusted me enough to bring her here after walking around for over a week in the dark about what even happened to her.
Whoever this Kel is, he just made himself a mortal enemy. He should be very, very afraid.
An hour passes. A couple other patients come and go—a mom with a fevered toddler and then an old man with a rattling cough.
Normal problems. Fixable problems. Not like what Solana’s dealing with.
Finally, the door opens and she walks out, looking smaller than she had when she went in. Almost as if she’s deflated of air, her shoulders curved and arms folded. She’s clutching a white paper bag full of what I imagine is medication.
The nurse speaks quietly to her, handing over some pamphlets she immediately stuffs into the bag.
“Ready?” I ask, standing.
She nods, not meeting my eyes.
In the truck, I wait ’til we’re back on the road before asking, “You alright? What’d they say?”
“They want me to come back in a week,” she says flatly. She’s emotionless, having cried every tear possible. “For another pregnancy test. Just to be sure since I couldn’t take a morning after pill. And, um, to get the results from the other tests.”
She doesn’t need to clarify for me to get what she means. They must’ve done some bloodwork for things like STDs and HIV. Things that could change her whole life because some asshole couldn’t keep his hands to himself and his dick in his pants. He had to take advantage of some blackout drunk girl.
“They gave me some pills. Antibiotics just in case,” she goes on miserably. She stares out the window at Pulsboro rolling by in the darkness. “I… I feel so stupid.”
“You’renotstupid.”
“I am though,” she insists. “I’ve brought this whole thing on myself. I was the one who snuck into bars underage. I was the one using fake IDs and ordering drinks when I shouldn’t have been?—”
“Solana—”
“I thought they were my friends. I… I thought they actually cared about me. But I should’ve known better. I never fit in with them. It’s like it was all some big joke,” she rambles, sighing. “They all knew. They all knew I slept with him and thought it was hilarious. Called me blackout like it was some cute nickname.”
I clench my jaw, staring straight ahead at the roads. “It’s still not your fault. You didn’t ask for it to happen.”
“You want to know the worst part?” she asks with a dark laugh. “I can’t remember, Silver. Not the whole night. I know I was dancing with Kel in the club. Then I was falling outside. Then… then I was in his bed. I still don’t know what else happened. What else I did… he did… that we…”
The pain is evident in her voice as she takes in a shuddering breath and blinks back more tears.
“I still feel like there’s so much more I’m missing,” she mumbles. “But the way I felt in that bed—I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even see clearly. I remember havingtwoshots of tequila. How could I blackout that badly?”
Her question is met with tense, uncomfortable silence.
I don’t want to plant more ideas in her head, but everything she’s told me doesn’t sound right. It sounds like there’s a lot more being kept from her.
I’m gonna get to the bottom of it. One way or another, using whatever means necessary.
