Mother and son walked through the courthouse doors with their arms tightly linked with one another, only to be greeted by a drove of overenthusiastic reporters all of whom were bucking for jockey position for the privilege to cover the next big story and possibly skyrocketing their careers. Jennifer’s eyes widened in horror and the grip she’d been maintaining on Justin’s bicep increased in intensity as the large crowd circled around them like vultures hovering over decaying flesh, watching and waiting for the right opportunity to swoop down and claim their lifeless prey.
“My God, do these people have any fucking scruples at all?”
Justin was outraged by the insensitivity of these blood-sucking media maggots. His family had endured enough trauma without the added stress of potentially making the front page of the morning newspaper, or becoming the lead story on the 6:00 news. Justin protected Jennifer as best he could from the barrage of camera flashes, and microphones being thrust into their faces while they unceremoniously elbowed and pushed their way through the sea of onlookers.
“Mrs. Taylor, how do you feel about the defendants being released on bail? Do you fear for your daughter’s safety? Is she stable enough to take the stand should the case go to trial?”
Continuing to power-walk through the masses to the safety of their awaiting car, Justin answered the rapid fire questions over his shoulder with a definitive "Fuck off!" He was in no mood to deal with this crap; even though they had been warned about the possibility of this kind of cluster-fuck ahead of time.
By the time the twosome finally made it to the parking garage, Jennifer’s face was once again drenched in a fresh batch of tears. Each tear that ran down his mother's face added to Justin's anger at the boys who did this, the justice system that seemed bent on making everything more difficult for Molly and the media that just egged everyone on for the sake of the drama. He wanted to lash out at something, someone, but didn’t really have any target for his anger so it just seethed inside him and kept growing.
“Why can’t they allow us just one moment of peace? Was it really necessary for them to immediately attack us like that?” Jennifer managed to speak in between sobs. Jennifer was feeling extremely overwhelmed by the whole experience, and wanted nothing more than to get back home to Molly. The concerned mother’s biggest fear was that the news of Molly’s attacker’s release had reached her before Jennifer had a chance to talk to her daughter about the stunning turn of events.
Justin hated seeing both the physical and emotional toll this process was taking on his mother. He wished with every fiber of his being, that there was something he could do to make this easier. If he was being honest with himself, he was barely keeping it together. But he knew for Molly and Jennifer’s sake, he couldn’t afford to break down at least not now. When he was alone or had time to clear his head and think, he might allow himself the needed space to release all of his frustration.
“Forget about them Mom, let’s just go home and we’ll deal with the rest as it comes,” Justin spoke softly as he ushered Jennifer into the passenger seat of their silver sedan. Walking around to the driver’s side of the car, Justin quickly slipped inside and started the engine, and was soon on a set course toward suburbia.
Molly stayed in bed for about another hour after Jennifer had gone off to work, but was awakened by the pleasant smell of bacon and eggs being prepared and coffee brewing down in the kitchen. This made her furrow her brow in confusion because to her knowledge, she was at home alone and would be for quite sometime. Molly quietly got out of bed grabbing her robe from the bedpost and padded to the door. She stepped into the hallway looked in both directions to make sure her earlier assumptions were correct. Molly slowly tip-toed downstairs, her eyes nervously shifting left and right as a soul numbing fear took over her body.
Molly hated this fear that always seemed to overtake her ever since being raped. She especially hated how people tip-toed around it and used words like “attack” or “the incident”. She just wished things would just go back to being normal again. Hated feeling this way. Trying to calm herself, she quietly moved towards the kitchen. Taking a peek around the corner she was able to determine that it was Sarah making breakfast.
A cold sweat broke out over Molly’s skin at the overwhelming relief of finding Sarah in the kitchen and not some lawless intruder. Molly felt herself sag with relief against the wall, sweaty palms holding herself up. Taking a deep breath, Molly walked into the kitchen. Sarah was standing at the stove with her back to Molly, so she didn’t hear when Molly came up behind her.
“Sarah, you scared the shit out of me.” Molly called out causing her friend to instantly turn around, and return the sentiment.
“Molly! I’m glad you’re finally up and joining the ranks of the living,” Sarah said teasingly with a smile. “But I think I’m the one who should have been scared out of her wits. I didn’t even hear you come down.”
“What are you doing here anyway?” Molly asked as she shuffled over to the counter, pouring herself a cup of coffee before sitting at the table. “Don’t you have anything better to do than spending the day babysitting an emotional cripple like myself?”
Sarah’s brow furrowed in confusion at Molly’s questioning response. She had just assumed that when Jennifer called her the previous night, that Molly knew she was going to be spending the day with her, obviously her mother hadn’t disclosed this information. She didn’t want to cause a rift between the Taylor women, but she felt it was only fair that she be honest about the reason for her little home visit.
“Uh...that’s exactly the reason why I’m here,” Sarah stated trepidatiously “Not because you’re an emotional cripple, but because your mother asked me to come over and keep you company today while she was out. She didn’t want you to be left alone.” Sarah bit her bottom lip slightly as her face turned a deep shade of crimson in embarrassment of her admission.
Molly did her best to hide her anger at the words Sarah had spoken, but was unsuccessful in pushing it down far enough not to be noticed.
“My mom did what?” Molly asked incredulously as she stood and slowly stalked over to where Sarah was standing. “She actually asked you to come over here and babysit me like I’m some fucking weak, helpless child? Just tell me this, when did she ask you and why didn’t you at least try to call and ask ME if I wanted your company?”
Sarah tried not to take the slight personally, but she still felt her chest tighten at Molly’s angry words. It was never her intention to alienate Molly or to cause her any further emotional stress.
“I’m sorry Molly, I thought you knew,” Sarah told her softly. “I never would have deliberately deceived you...you know that right?”
At the moment Molly wasn’t sure what to believe. On the one hand Molly knew that she shouldn’t be too angry with Jennifer for having Sarah come to stay with her. Truth be told, she wasn’t really all that keen on being alone these days...although she’d never admit it aloud. In fact she was actually glad that Jennifer had thought enough about Sarah to trust her with her well being given how close they were.
It still angered her though that Jennifer just assumed that she couldn’t handle anything by herself these days. Everything Molly did lately was so orchestrated and micromanaged and Molly couldn’t stand being so suffocated. It seemed like the consequences of the rape would never go away. First she’d been forced to do things against her will by those monsters. Now, even the people who loved her seemed to think that they could order her around and control her life without her consent. Just because some assholes attacked her, it didn’t mean that everyone had to infantilize her, treating her like child who couldn’t make any decisions on her own. Why couldn’t her mother have just asked her if she wanted Sarah to come over? No, instead, she just arranged it all without asking or even thinking about what Molly wanted.
Molly’s anger at her mother wasn’t going to get her anywhere, though. The woman wasn’t even here right now and complaining to Sarah wasn’t likely to help. Molly would just have to internalize that little piece of anger along with all the rest. In the meantime, she and Sarah finished a tension filled breakfast then moved into the living room and turned on the television hoping for a bit of a distraction, while her friend cleaned up the dishes.
As Molly flipped through the channels not finding anything interesting on the idiot box. She skipped over a really annoying talk show where the host was talking about the latest in celebrity plastic surgery, some cooking show doing an ungodly thing to eggplant, and the shopping channel where she could buy a cubic zirconium tiara for only five payments of $89.99. Molly wasn’t sure exactly why anyone would watch daytime television. Then, suddenly, her channel surfing brought her to a local channel and came to rest on the afternoon news. What she heard during the broadcast caused all the color to drain from her face.
“We take you now to our correspondent, Susan Holloway, reporting live from the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas, with the latest on the controversial case of several prominent young men who have been accused of the rape of a fellow classmate during a graduation party. Over to you, Susan,”
“Thank you, Matt. This morning the courtroom was packed for the arraignment of Zamani Smith, Terrance Walters, Jackie Bond and Richard Phillips, all of whom are charged with the sexual assault of an as yet unnamed young woman at the post graduation celebration of St. James Academy. With their families present for moral support, the young men in question, who are all being charged as adults in this case, anxiously awaited Judge Gregory’s decision in response to their collectively entered pleas of Not Guilty. In a stunning turn of events, all parties involved were released on bail until either a plea bargain is reached, or a trial date is set in the near future. This is Susan Holloway reporting live...now back to you Matt.”
“What the fuck…they can’t be fucking serious about this,” Molly said in a mere whisper.
Sarah was dumbstruck, staring at the television screen long after the newscast had switched to detailing somebody else’s horror story.
“How the hell can those monsters possibly have been set free? What if they commit those same vile acts on some other unsuspecting girl?” She continued, her voice getting icier, and harder with each word. It was at that very moment she knew exactly what she needed to do. She would fight not only for her own justice, but for those who might have the misfortune of enduring the same fate.
“I’m so sorry Molly. I wish there was something I could do.”
“There is something you can do,” Molly stated after taking a moment to think about it.
“You can help me by standing beside me while I prepare to take the stand at trial.”
Sarah didn’t quite think that Molly was emotionally stable enough to live through a trial, and was ready to tell Molly just that, but was cut off in the process.
“Look Sarah, I know what you’re thinking, and I’ll have you know that I plan to do this with or without your help or anyone else’s for that matter. So put your notions of poor little Molly aside and tell me if you are going to help me or not!