We had been outside for hours in the summer heat of Texas. My cousins, a mutual friend and I were enjoying our usual activities outside. I was eight or nine, my cousins were four and twelve and our friend Jay was about thirteen. The sun was beaming down on us like a bright light in an interrogation room. Further into our play the sun rays began to sap away all of our energy, so we decided to go in the house to cool down. Jay turned his TV on to Dragon Ball Z then got us all Capri Suns. We lay on the floor wrapped in a blanket, lined up like wieners in a pack with our eyes glued on the television. Pretty soon the outdoors began to call my oldest cousin out to play again. Jay and my cousin raced to the front door knocking down things on the way there. My little cousin and I were still laying down soaking up cartoons.

Then it happened.

My very first encounter with a thief happened right in the midst of Dragon Ball Z. The miscreant walked towards me from what seemed like the front door, he smelled like onions and had yellow stains in the armpits of his white t-shirt. He stood about five foot three and weighed well over one-hundred pounds.

“Give it to me!” He whispered, making sure my little cousin didn’t hear him.

I responded, outraged “Let me go, you can’t have it!” I shouted.

“Sure. We’ll see.” He sarcastically remarked.

He proceeded to hassle me about something very valuable that he wanted. I refused to give it to him and even tried to fight him, but he was too strong for me. I went limp and just laid there. I could smell his last meal on his breath as I drifted into another world. Speculations begin to surface: Why’d he picked me, why here and why now?





























































Yelling brought me back to reality.

“No! She said no!” My little cousin exclaimed surprising both me and my attacker.
I wanted to continue fighting and telling him he couldn’t have the valuables he was after just to protect my little cousin. Almost immediately his anger became apparent. Veins began to bulge and his grip on me grew tighter as if he was a boa constrictor suffocating his dinner. We struggled for awhile longer but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. All tussling had come to an end and I had finally given up.

What took place over the next few minutes was the worst thing that could’ve happened. My innocence was stolen. I was afraid, but so afraid that I appeared emotionless. I was in an unconscious state of mind, there physically but not mentally. Jay held my hands over my head and began to rape me. Someone that I knew had betrayed my trust just to have his way with me. I distinctly remember the sly smirk he had on his face as I stared coldly into his eyes. Once he caught a glimpse of my stare, so full of hatred and disgust, he released my hands from above my head and got up. The damage was done and all in front of my little cousin, who only thought that he was playing too rough.

I laid there for a couple of minutes until I found the strength to get up. I ran to the bathroom nearest the front of the house and locked the door. The pain that I felt brought me to tears. I was covered in blood in a place where I had never seen blood before. Confusion was wracking my brain and then a bell went off. A door bell. I quickly cleaned myself up and threw away my defiled underwear. I opened the bathroom door to my older cousin.
“Hey, let’s go Tippy. Your mom is here.”

I wished that she had come only thirty minutes earlier but she didn’t. When my cousin’s and I made it back over to their house I saw my mom. Instantly I felt relief rush over me. As we entered the front door she jumped up off of the couch she was seated on. She looked somewhat uncomfortable. I wondered why she was there so early since it was supposed to leave Saturday and not Thursday. “Hey mommy, why are you here so early?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Well hi, I’m happy to see you too!” she said jokingly.

“But your grandma told me to pick you up because she had a bad feeling about something.”

“Oh…ok. What kind of bad feeling?”

“You ready to go sweetheart?”

I knew from that minute piece of information that my grandmother could feel that I was in danger. I painted a smile on my face so that i wouldn't seem suspicious to my mother and never spoke a word about the intruder.