It was a hot summer day and I was laying out by the pool listening to my I pod. I could feel the sweat forming on my forehead as the sun hit my sun kissed skin. I could hear birds chirruping in the back round and the light breeze barley blowing the trees.

Before my mom had left to pick up some groceries she informed me that I needed to clean up my messy bedroom. I knew it had to be done before I could do anything that night but at that time I was glued to the chair thinking about how fun the party was going to be at my friend Haley's house. No parents, a bunch of hot guys and of course alcohol. It was going to be the hottest party of the summer and I knew exactly what I was going to do that night and trust me nobody was going to get in my way. I Ashley Stella was going to get with the hottest guy in the eleventh grade Nick Tellem. He had dirty blond hair with blue sparkling eyes and a gorgeous smile. He was the quarter back of the football team and the captain of the lacrosse team as well. He was the guy every girl dreamed about and wanted to be with.

While I was in my own world day dreaming, I was rudely interrupted by the lady who carried me in her stomach for almost a year, gave birth to me, and changed my dippers my mom. She screamed something that I was unable to hear because my music was so loud. It was kind of funny because her hands started going and her wrinkles started forming on her forehead and I knew that she was about to burst. I just gave her an empty stare trying to figure out what on earth I did now to upset her. That was until she took my Ipod and unplugged the earphones.
“Did you hear a word I just said?!”
still giving her a blank stare and frustrated that she just ruined my good dream about Nick I didn't respond.
“Okay I'm taking that as a no. I said did you clean your room up yet?!”
quickly trying to figure out an excuse as to why I didn't clean it up yet she grabbed my phone and took it yelling “Your not getting it back until its done”

Don't you just hate when your mom does that to you? Your in the middle of something and bam its like a tornado hits and messes up everything in its path.

I got up from my chair, slipped my pink flip flops on, grabbed my cold lemonade and headed inside. As I opened the sliding glass door I was greeted by my big, scruffy dog Plato and wave of cold hair which was the air conditioning. I could smell coconut flavored tanning oil in the air as my older sister Sarina rubbed it all over her.
“Moms in a bad mood, I would stay away from her” she said.
I replied back to her in a deep voice, “Trust me I already know”

I walked up the wooden stairs to get to my bedroom. I saw my little brother and his friends playing the WII my grandmother had got him this past Christmas in his bedroom. I smiled and thought to myself “It must be great being a little kid with no worries at all.”

As I got to my room my mom was already done cleaning up whatever she thought needed to be put away. That was her anxiety always wanting things to be organized and clean. As I was wondering why my mom even asked me to clean up my room in the first place a bucket of unfolded clothes was shoved into my arms.
“Here fold these their yours” my mom said with an irritated tone to her voice. I listened to what she told me to do trying not to make her mood worse. I did not want her changing her mind about letting me go to Haley's house that night.

When I finished folding my clothes and putting them away I went to ask my mom for my phone. When she gave it back I had 3 missed calls all from Haley. Butterfly's started to form in my stomach worried that her party was canceled and my dream wasn't going to come true. I quickly called her back anxious to hear what she had to say.

“Hello” Haley said
“Hey did you call me?”
“Yes, I just wanted to tell you that you could sleepover tonight”

I was so relieved when she said that and I could feel the butterfly's quickly go away.

“Okay! See you tonight” I replied back.

The night was approaching fast and I still did not know what to wear. I had a million thoughts running threw my head at once and it was almost causing me to have a headache. My mom screamed up stairs telling me my dad was bringing home pizza but I couldn't eat. I was way to nervous about tonight.

As I finally decided on what outfit I was going to wear, finished putting on the makeup I just got from Ulta a couple weeks ago and straitening my long brown hair I looked in the mirror. My multi colored crop top I got from the shore showed off my stomach and my belly button ring. The black yoga pants from Arie I was wearing made my butt look amazing and my hair that always looks gorgeous to me.

One of my best friends Matt was picking me up at 7. I could hardly wait. My phone buzzed, It was Matt telling me he was at my house. I grabbed my purse and my sleepover bag and ran down stairs.

“I'm leaving” I yelled to whoever was listening

my mom heard and yelled back “Be safe and make smart decisions”

In a way I felt bad for my mom. She had no clue that her daughter was going to get p*** drunk tonight or that she was going to get laid by the hottest guy ever. Oh well she was a teenager once as well. I bet she already knew.

As I stepped out side and slammed the garage door, I could already hear Matt blasting his favorite rapper Eminem from his black Jeep. All my friends knew he was obsessed with Eminem's music and he wanted to be just like him but Matt would never admit to that.

I opened the car door and hopped in. Matt's car was filled with the smell of Old Spice his signature cologne and an old stale stench of cigarette's. Matt had always had a crush on me from the time we met. I felt sorry for the kid because he knew that I would never fall for him but he still never gave up on me. I gave him a friendly hug and kissed him on the cheek.
“You look great Ash” he said
I smiled back “Thanks Matt”

Thats one good thing about having Matt as a friend, he always gives me compliments.

Finally we pulled up to Haley's house. Haley's house was perfect to have a party like this at. It was huge. She had an indoor pool and a out door pool, 20 bedrooms, a huge basement with a bar, oh and did I forget to mention a kitchen that has pretty much every kind of food you can think off. When I opened the car door I immediately saw kids pouring out of cars carrying in kegs and bottles of liquor. This is it I thought this is the night I'm hooking up with Nick. I slammed the car door behind me and started walking towards Haley's house with Matt. My two friends Suz and Gab were walking ahead of us.

I called out to them “Suz! Gab! Wait up!”

They turned around happy to see Matt and I. I gave them both a quick hug and continued walking towards Haley's house. When we got inside I spotted Haley flirting with a tall brown haired kid who was wearing a black mussel shirt and red shorts. She screamed out to me as soon as her eyes caught me.

“Ash! Hey girl! Whats up with you!? I like this boy right here! His names Tom”

I knew Haley was already drunk because once theres alcohol in the room Haley is the first to get her hands on it.

I smiled at him and said “nice to meet you”. Then I whispered in his ear
“Don't take advantage of her please”

He shook his head up and down in agreement and mouthed “I wont”

More and More people started showing up and more and more people were drinking. I did not want to start drinking until I was with Nick but after awhile I was tired of waiting and took three shots. After about 10 minutes I started to feel dizzy. I took a seat on the leather sofa and kept my eye out for Nick. As I was impatiently waiting for him to show up I noticed Matt across the room with a short blond haired girl. She was really tan and was wearing a white mini skirt and a pink tube top which made her look even more tan. Matt realized I was looking over at him and waved at me. I giggled and waved back.
Starting to get a little annoyed, a group of 11 guys walked in the side door and in that group was Nick. I couldn't believe it. I hopped up off the couch and headed straight towards him. All of a sudden before I could get to him, Heather Keagan went up to him and gave him a big hug.

“Hey Nick” she said with a flirt y voice “I got a drink for you”
I thought to myself “Sl**”

I couldn't believe this was happening. My night was turning into a nightmare.

Nick smiled back at heather and took the drink from her shiny pale hand.

Nick and Heather were the couple of the year in 9th grade. She was a cheerleader and he was as you already know the quarter back of the football team. They were what you could call in love. Always sitting together at lunch, uploading new pictures of them kissing on Facebook I swear every second of every day and always holding hands while they walked down the hall. They lasted a pretty long time up until the end of the 10th grade year when Nick had heard that Haley got with his best friend Steve at an end of the year party. It turned out to be a rumor but Nick always believed it was true.

I never really actually talked to Nick before. He was in a few of my classes in middle school and now hes in my honors Chem class but I never had the guts to actually talk to such an amazing human being like himself. I thought that tonight was going to be the night but I guess I was wrong.


Out of anger I took 5 more shots. Now I'm up to 8 and I started not being able to see or think about what I was doing. I went up to this kid Logan who was in my second period Trig class and told him I thought he was cute. He knew I was drunk and told me that I looked beautiful as well. I asked him to get with me because the guy of my dreams was with someone else. He smiled at me and told me I was drunk and that I would regret hooking up with him in the morning. I walked away with tears forming in my eyes. I just laid down on the hard wood floor and ended up closing my eyes.


When I woke up I felt a breeze of summer air hit my face. Something was tightly grasping my ankles. As I opened my eyes I saw what looked to be a guy a couple years older than I was holding my ankles. He was wearing a black sweatshirt with his hood up and black baggy shorts that reviled his checkered boxers. My vision though was to blurry for me to be able to tell if what I was seeing was really true. I tried kicking the guy with my one foot but failed and I felt the back of my head hit the cement. I tried speaking but quickly noticed that there was duck tape over my mouth. I started to scream. The guy who was holding on to me replied back “Shut up or ill kill you”

I closed my eyes tightly hoping that I was only in a dream and I'd wake up any minute but when I opened my eyes I was still being dragged by a mysterious, creepy guy. I wondered to myself if Haley or Matt was going to notice my disappearance. I wished I was at home in my warm bed watching reruns of The Hills eating popcorn and drinking mountain dew. As I was imagining where I wished to be I suddenly realized that there was no longer a tight grip around my ankles. I got up as quickly as a under the influence girl could get up and started to look around. Where was I?! I thought to myself. I felt my mouth the duck tape must have been removed when I was asleep.

“Help me!!” I started to scream. “Someone help me!”

Seconds after I started to scream for help, I felt a hard metal object hit my head. I took my hand and put it over what seemed to be a slit in the back of my head. I pulled my hand away from my head and examined my hand. It was covered in blood. I could feel the blood drip from my head on to my shirt. I was to scared to turn around to see what had struck me. Before I knew it my back hit the freshly cut grass and I was out.

When I woke up the second time I found my self duck taped to a wooden chair in a dark,small room. There was one candle lit that provided enough light for me to see a bed and a roll of duck tape. The sound of a door opened and the same guy I saw who was dragging me by my ankle walked in.

“What are you doing to me?!” I cried

“No talking or I'll kill you” he answered back in a dark mean voice.


As I tried to figure out a way to maybe escape the man quickly approached me with a needle in his hand. Don't move he said. I held my tears back as he slowly injected the needle into my right arm. This is it I thought, this is the day I'm going to die. The man yanked the needle out of my arm and I started to feel a tingly sensation run through my body. My head started feeling heavy and my eye lids wanted to close. I tried keeping the open as long as I could but before I knew it I was asleep again.



The next morning I woke up to the birds chirping their morning song and the smell of fresh rain filling my nose. I sat up not remembering how I even got to where I was. I was surrounded by tall grass and in the distance I could see a small building the size of a gas station. My head was aching and my arms were covered in bruises. I was wearing a baggy white shirt that came down to my knees. It had a blood stain on it as well. It must have been a pretty crazy night I thought to myself. I tried reaching for my phone when I noticed I was not wearing any pants. I got up from the ground and started walking towards the building I saw in the distance. I had the worse hangover you could ever imagine and all I wanted to do was lay down and sleep.


As I finally reached the building that seemed to be a gas station I realized that it was abandoned. I leaned against the dirty brick building and started to cry. My whole body ached and I had no idea as to where I was. I could hear police sirens in the distance wondering if they were out looking for me. I started crying even more and I thought to myself maybe its just better to die. While in the middle of my mental breakdown the police car pooled into the abandoned gas station parking lot. A tall bald man wearing a light blue police uniform top and navy blue pants stepped out of the car.

“Are you Ashley Stella” he called out

I shook my head up and down unable to say a word. As the man started moving closer to me I could read the name tag he had on in the top left part of his shirt. It read Sergent Wolfe.

“You seem very unaware and hurt, do you remember what happened to you” he asked.

Sergent Wolfe had a mustache that reminded me of my Uncle Scott and his breath had a small scent of coffee and cigar.

Still unable to answer him I shook my head from left to right.

“Can you talk” he questioned

Does this guy not understand that I do not wish to speak or does he just not care.

Trying not to start anything with him I whispered “Yes I can”

“Okay thats good” the officer said in a pleasant voice. “Your friends and parents are worried sick about you. Were going to take you back to the station and ask you a few questions then your free to go home” he stated.

As I followed the officer to his car I noticed another man sitting in the passengers seat. He looked very familiar and I began to think where I once saw him. As I got in the cop car I was warmly welcomed with a blanket, some ice for my arms and a pair of shorts.

“Do you like coffee” the man in the passenger seat asked.

I nodded back to him trying to put a little smile on my face.

“Would you like some we have a fresh cup up here that is untouched”

I shook my head again and replied “Yes that would be nice”


He handed back the cup of coffee and I could see a little bit of steam come off the top of it. I wrapped both my hands around the cup and took a sip. The coffee was plain just the way my mom made it for me when I get sick.


As we pulled up to the station I could see my moms silver SUV and Matt's black jeep. The one police officer opened the car door for me and I stepped out. I started walking towards the front of the station where I was greeted by my little brother Carter, my sister Sarina, my mom and dad, Matt, and Haley. I gave them all a hug and smiled happy to see them.


We all walked inside the station together and took a seat in the main lobby. The walls were painted white and there were posters for D.A.R.E, Teen Pregnancy and Robberies. There was also a picture of our town 50 years ago. I could hear a lady typing on a keyboard and another man on the phone. The police who had picked me up at the a banded gas station was putting some papers together over at the copying machine.

“Honey are you alright” my mom asked as she put her hand on my arm.

“I'm fine mom just lucky to be home”

The police officer who was in the passengers seat stepped into the lobby and asked to have a few words with me.

I got up from the green cushioned chair I was sitting in and walked behind him until we approached a small room that had a black desk and green floors.

“Take a seat” he said as he pointed to the chair in front of his desk.

I sat down and crossed my tan legs that were becoming cold from the air conditioning.

“So” the officer began to say “You don't remember anything about last night?”

I could lie to him and say no but I did know what sorta happened and I guess it would be better for me to tell him.

“I do” I replied back in a soft toned voice.


“Would you like to tell me what you remember then” the officer questioned as he took a sip of his coffee.

“Well I was at my friend Haley's house last night and she was having a party. There was alcohol there and I decided to take a couple shots before the guy I was waiting for arrived. When he got there though his ex girlfriend went up to him before I was able to get to him. I was really angry because I was saving this night to talk to him. Out of anger I ended up taking about five more shots maybe even more. I remember going up to this kid Logan who is in one of my classes asking him if he wanted to get with me. He knew I was drunk so he said no. Then I went and laid down on the floor and fell asleep. I woke up outside and felt a grip around my ankle. I was being dragged across cement. All I remember is seeing a guy with a black sweatshirt on with his hood up and black shorts. He had duck tape over my mouth and threatened to kill me if I made noise. He took me to some place I don't know where and hit me with a hard metal object in the head. I passed out from that. I woke up in a dark room ducked taped to the chair. Thats when the man injected a needle into my arm and I passed out again. The next thing I remember is waking up in a meadow and seeing that abandoned gas station.”

The officer looked confused and began to talk “ Well we spoke with everyone at that party last night and nobody mentioned you laying on the floor or seeing a man with a black sweatshirt on and black shorts on. Are you sure this is what happened Ms Stella.”

“Yes I'm sure of what I saw Officer” I replied back kind of annoyed this man did not believe me.

“Okay well we are going to have to examine your body for any evidence. It looks to me that you were involved in a crime. Ms. Stella the details you have described to me that you say are true lead me to thinking you have been raped” the officer explained to me.

I was in shock and numerous amounts of questions filled my head. What kind of sick person would do this? How come nobody stopped him? Was this man going to hunt me down and do it to me again?

A lady with short dark brown hair walked into the office. She was wearing a white robe and glasses. Her name was Karen.

“Hello Ashley, I'm Karen. I'm going to be checking you out today to see if we can find any evidence of rape on your body.”

I hate when people touch me especially people that I have never talked to in my life time.

The lady lead me to a room that had a bed in the middle of it. It had a bunch of cabinets surrounding the room and a sink with a water fountain next to it. You can take a seat on the bed, I'll be with you in a minute. As I walked towards the bed I noticed a bunch of papers with my name on it. As I began to look at the papers the lady walked back in the room.

“Oh don't worry about them they are just your examination papers.”

I jumped, startled by her unexpected reappearance. As the lady started examining me I tried to think back to the night before and all the things that happened to me. I knew it was going to be hard to remember since I was under the influence but I still tried hoping that it would get my mind off of the random doctor checking my body.

When she was all done she led me back out to the lobby where I was rejoined with my family and two friends. She told us we were free to go and the results of the test she took would take a couple days to come back.


Being with my parents never felt so good. I said goodbye to my two friends Matt and Haley and thanked them for coming to see if I was alright. I then got into my families silver SUV and looked out the window as we drove home to my house.


When we pulled into our driveway I saw a sign that said welcome home Ash hanging across the garage door. My brother made it earlier that day eagerly waiting for my arrival home. I gave him a hug and thanked him for his thoughtfulness. I walked inside my house and made my way up the stairs and into my room. I took a long warm shower trying to avoid touching the cut in the back of my head. When I got out, I threw my Pj's on and climbed into bed. It had been a long morning and all I wanted to do was sleep. After a couple of hours of watching reruns of The Hills I fell asleep.


A week had passed and we received no calls from the police about what had happened. It was a Sunday night and my family and I were sitting down stairs eating Pizza Hit pizza and watching football on espn together. All of the sudden we heard the phone ring. My mom got up from the couch and went to the kitchen to answer it.

“Hello” she said as she picked up the phone.

There was a pause and I knew it was the police station calling with reports.

“Okay we will be there as soon as we can” she answered back and quickly hung up the phone.

“Ash we need to go down to the station its an emergency” she yelled as she scurried to get her shoes and purse.

I got up from the couch just after finishing my 4th slice of pizza and slipped my shoes on and headed to the garage door. Both my mom and I hopped into her car and headed to the police station.

As we arrived, we could see a bunch of police cars parked in the parking lot. We parked our car and hurried inside. When we got inside we were greeted by the same police who had picked me up a week ago from the abandoned gas station. He had a disturbed look on his face which started to worry me.

“Come with me ladies” the officer said in a unpleasant voice.

We both followed the officer into the same room I was in a week ago and took a seat. He stared at both of us for a long time and then began to speak.

“We have no evidence that your daughter, Ashley Stella was raped mam” he began to say. “The bruises on your daughters arm are from her hand prints and the cut on the back of her head is from her cell phone we found at the crime scene a couple blocks down from your daughter's friend Haley's house. There is no evidence that a man dragged her there or that he hit her with a metal object. We did find a needle mark in her arm left arm right where the crease is but the blood work showed that Heroin was in her bloodstream as well as alcohol.”

I couldn't believe what the officer had said. I knew for a fact that a man dragged me to the spot, hit me from behind, and for all I know raped me.

“Officer” my mom began to say in her irritated voice “My daughter does not do heroin and she knows what she saw. She was raped and you know that.”

“Mrs Stella, your daughter was under the influence and evidence from the test we took state that she had way more alcohol in her bloodstream then 8 shots. You can't think when your drunk, or function when your drunk. All we know is that your daughter was not raped. We believe these marks on her body and the heroin in her blood was all caused by her.”

“I can't believe your accusing my daughter for all this stupid stuff. Police these days. I'm getting a lawyer. I'll see you in court Officer. Come on Ashely we are leaving right this instance.” she yelled and grabbed my wrist and yanked me along with her like I was a little kid who didn't want to attend their first day of preschool.

As I walked out of the office I took one last glimpse at the officer who was sitting behind his desk with a very worried look on his face. Was he right I thought? Did I do all this to myself? Does heroin make you pass out?

When we reached the lobby, my moms childish behavior drew attention to the both of us from the few people sitting in the lobby. I just smiled trying to act like the normal one. When we reached the car my mom started going off again about how ignorant the officer was. “I could to a better job then that man” she yelled “He knows nothing.” I sat back in my seat and closed my eyes trying to zone my crazy mom out.

As soon as we got home I ran upstairs to my bedroom. I knew my mom was going to start telling my dad how ticked off she was about what went down at the station and I did not feel like listening to that all over again. When I reached my room I turned the lights on and flopped in my bed. I reached for the remote but in its spot was a folded piece of lined paper. I opened it up trying to remember if I left this there. It read “I told you I would get away with what I did. If you show any one this letter you will be killed. Watch out Ash, I'm watching you every second of the day (; ”