Friday, June 29, 2018

Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat


            Josemara Altuve was getting married. This didn’t seem too odd, for she was beautiful but humble about it.  At 28-years-old most Dominicans her age had been thinking about marriage for a while or were already married even though she lived in New York City, a city that normally waits for these things.  Her husband was White.  Many cultures in America try to keep the traditions alive by mharrying within their ethnicity but Hispanics had a tendency to not do this.  Her wedding, however, was traditional in that she invited most everyone she knew.  Even if she just invited her family, complete with cousins, it would have made it a large wedding so why not just include everyone?  The wedding went off without a hitch and she was glowing by the end.

            Larry Couchmanos was of Greek descent.  Upon moving to New York, he found himself drawn to other cultures, especially Dominicans.  For whatever reason, Dominicans reminded him of Greeks even though geographically, politically, and religiously this didn’t make sense. Even the way the women were put together seemed the same.  Both cultures’ women are skinny in the stomach but have large breasts and buttocks.  It was the perfect combination that attracted men.  With that said, they were rarely conceited like many pretty American girls; they normally preferred a more submissive role in the public forum.  One of his closest college friends was a Dominican girl named Janilsa. Janilsa had a large house and threw huge parties there during college, in which Larry always attended.  From these parties, Larry became very familiar with Janilsa’s cousins.  He was traditionally horrible with names but one cousin who was always kind of quiet he believed was named “Juanita.”so he called her that for an entire year.  After a year, another cousin of Janilsa’s Larry had befriended scolded him and told him her name was ‘Josemara.’  Larry then inquired why Josemara hadn’t corrected him for an entire year.  Josemara shrugged her shoulders and said nothing but Alexis, the cousin that revealed her true name, continued to tease Larry for calling her the wrong name.  Larry let it go; after all, he was the bad guy in this situation.
            After college, Janilsa’s parties became fewer and fewer.  The cousins started getting married and had kids that preoccupied them from partying like they used to. In a sense, they were growing up.  One day, Josemara and her husband were going to the lower East Side of Manhattan to have a fun night.  While there, Josemara caught her husband talking to another girl when she returned from the bathroom.  Her husband, upon seeing Josemara, said, “Hey Josemara, this is Heather, Heather, Josemara.”
            It wasn’t what he said; it was what he didn’t say that set Josemara off.  She shook Heather’s hand gripping loosely and pulled away revealing the back of her hand and, by extension, her wedding ring, and said, “His wife.”
            Heather’s eyes darted between the guy and Josemara and then politely excused herself.  Josemara said, “Who was that?”
            “Just some girl I met?”
            “Why didn’t you tell her you were married?”
            “I’m still wearing my wedding ring, so she could have figured it out”
            “She seemed pretty surprised when I told her I was your wife.”
            “Josemara, please, she just started talking to me like five seconds before you got here.  What?  I’m supposed to tell every girl that comes up to me that I’m married?”
            “Yea, pretty much.”
            “You’re being ridiculous, it’s not like you caught us making out or something.”
            Josemara glared at him and said, “If I saw that, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation, I would have just left.”
            “Exactly, so there’s no problem, you told her you were my wife, she left, problem solved.”
            “I shouldn’t have been the one to tell her!”
            “You’re drunk and obviously overly emotional, there’s no problem, you need to just relax!”
            “I’m not drunk, you are in the wrong here.”
            “I’m not discussing this anymore, you’re being completely unreasonable and overreacting, I’m not dealing with your hysterics right now.”
            “Fine, do what you want, talk to all the bitches you want, I’m going home.” As she turned to leave. 
            “Josemara wait!”
            Josemara was already walking toward the exit; her husband caught up to her and grabbed her arm.  Josemara pulled it away and screamed, “Don’t touch me!”
            Her husband rolled his eyes and put his arms up in submission and said, “Fine, we’ll fight about this when I get home.”  Josemara turned back toward the exit and her husband went to the bar.  Josemara was fuming mad as she walked toward the main street to find a cab home. It was late at night and not too many people were on the street.  Suddenly, as she was walking along a park, a hand clasped over her mouth and she was yanked into the park. She couldn’t recognize the pungent aroma but it seemed like something you would smell in a doctor’s office.  At 5’0” with a petite frame, it was not difficult for a man to manhandle Josemara.  She felt her body going numb and her eyelids going heavy.  She squirmed but the man’s grip was tight.  The rag over her mouth and nose was pressed hard so when she tried to scream the sound was muffled, nothing that could possibly be heard in New York City with the common sounds of car alarms, sirens and horns honking.  She found herself unable to force her eyelids open and then everything turned black.

            Josemara woke up in a room panicked. She looked around and nothing looked familiar.  She looked down and realized she was naked.  She looked across the room and saw a man sitting in a chair with a pile of clothes in a metal trash can; Josemara didn’t have to get too good of a look to recognize they were her clothes.  Josemara had large eyes to begin with, which contributed to her cute innocent look, but they got much wider now. She screamed as a startled release.  Her first thought was that she went home with a guy last night, but she didn’t remember being that drunk. She remembered the fight with her husband and walking to get a cab and then….it finally hit her. The struggle, the blacking out, she was forced here.  She looked at herself and didn’t find bleeding, she didn’t feel violated but then again she had never been raped so she wouldn’t really know what to expect to feel.  She looked back at the guy who hadn’t said anything yet. She spoke first and said, “Who are you?”
            “Either you don’t remember how you got here, or you are too stupid to realize that there is no way I’d answer that question.”
            “What am I doing here?”
            “To pleasure me.”
            Josemara lifted her hand to show she was married only to realize that her rings were no longer on her hand.  The man pointed to a small table to his left and Josemara saw her rings laid out.  Her head dropped as her body tensed.  She contemplated demanding he give them back but her situation was beginning to settle in.  She grabbed the covers and covered herself up instead.  She’d have much more strength if she wasn’t nude.
            The man chuckled.  He said. “That’s fine, I’ve already seen you and soon I’ll be feeling you.”
            “Fuck you” she blurted out but it came out much weaker than she had intended it to. 
            The man smiled.  For the first time, Josemara realized that she wasn’t looking at a face.  A fabric was tightly gripped to his face to eliminate all identifying features of a face. He said extending his right hand to point to the basket of clothes. “Now, the first thing I’m going to do is ensure that if you do escape, you’ll have to nude, which will only attract more people like me or, most likely, much more vicious than I.”  as he took a sheet of paper and a lighter.  He lit the paper and threw it in the garbage pail.  It didn’t take long for the basket to engulf in flames along with all of Josemara’s clothes.  Based on how quickly it took, Josemara thought that maybe there was an accelerant in there. 
Josemara’s eyes started tearing up, she whimpered, “Please don’t hurt me, if you let me go, I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”
The man chuckled once again, “Why do people think that will work?  Like I get some sort of last second guilt that didn’t occur to me when I rendered you unconscious, carried your lifeless body here, stripped you and got you on my bed.  All of a sudden now, I’m going to be like ‘you know what; I don’t want to do this anymore?’ Please!”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Duh, I clearly want to.”
“Want to what?”
“As you so eloquently put it before though you meant it in a different context, I mean it literally; fuck you.”
“Why me?”
“You were the only one dumb enough to be walking alone late at night dressed to impress without a man.  I know I know the whole feminist movement, I am woman hear me roar, that really made it much easier for guys like me.  Where is this husband of yours anyway?”  Josemara started crying; she remembered the fight and now regretted what she said to him.  If only she just didn’t overreact and leave, she wouldn’t be here right now.  The man continued, “There’s two ways we can do this, 1) you realize that your situation is hopeless and you don’t resist and let me do whatever I want to you and you do everything I say without hesitation.  This is the option most beneficial to you because it minimizes the pain or 2) You resist and I hurt you to the point that you can’t stop me from doing what I want to you and then I’ll try very hard to break your will so that you do whatever I tell you to.”
“Please don’t do this.” Josemara whined and groveled, “Don’t hurt me, just let me go, I’m sorry.”
“For what exactly?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know” Josemara didn’t care her tears were streaming down her face she choked out between sobs, “Just don’t hurt me, I just want to go home, I want to see my husband.”
“That wasn’t one of the options.” He said as he got up and approached her. 
Josemara sniffled and her body tensed up even more now.  The man grabbed her arm that was gripping the blanket toward her and yanked her out of bed and to her feet pressed against him. His right hand dropped to her butt and he squeezed hard.  He placed the index finger of his left hand below her chin and lifted her face toward him.  He said softly, almost delicately, in any other circumstance, it may have even been mistaken for respectfully, he said, “We’ll start slow, 1st base.” As he leaned in and brought the top of his lip over hers, opened his mouth slightly and pressed his tongue against her mouth. 
Tears streamed down Josemara’s cheeks for she didn’t want to let him in.  The man dropped his left hand and squeezed Josemara’s side as he used his right hand to pull Josemara into him. Josemara gasped as his left hand gripped her side and that gave the man the opening to insert his tongue into her mouth.  Josemara closed her eyes in resigned acceptance and allowed herself to kiss back.  As she made out with him, she couldn’t take her guilt anymore.  She was backed into a corner and cornered animals fight back because they have no other choice.  She bit down as hard as she could on his bottom lip and thrashed her head.  She tasted blood and felt the confidence restore to her body.  It was short lived because a fist slammed against her stomach and the man backed away as she bent over grabbing her stomach with both hands.  The wind was knocked out of her and she was gasping for air.  Part of her wanted to drop to a knee but she resisted the urge.  She wouldn’t have to support her weight much longer.  The man wrapped his arms around her midsection and with ease swung her body around so that her knees bent over his shoulders.  He then threw her off his shoulders and the back of her head and neck crashed hard into the ground.  Josemara forget about the pain in her stomach for a second and grabbed her head withering on the floor. The man reached down and grabbed a fistful of her long black hair and jerked her up to her feet.  He put his left hand on her right shoulder and slipped his right hand in between her knees and pulled her draping Josemara horizontally across his chest.  He lifted her body up to his head and drove her down while kneeling and protruding his left knee out so that Josemara’s midsection smashed over his knee and bent on either side.  He stood back up and repeated the maneuver.  Pain shot through Josemara’s body.  Her chest, stomach and head hurt.   She screamed out, “Stop, please”
The man stood Josemara up on her feet and Josemara’ exhaled in suffering pain.  Her legs wobbled as she wanted nothing more than to collapse but the man had a hand steadying her. He twisted his body and wrapped his left arm around the left side of her hip and scooped up her legs with his right arm so that again she was horizontal but this time her back faced the ground.  Once again he slammed her down and her back contorted around his left knee and thigh shooting pain throughout her body. The man held the position and used his right arm to push down on her thighs and his left arm pushing on her chest bending her body over his leg increasing the pressure.  He fondled her breasts while keeping constant pressure and said, “2nd base, I’m very happy that you decided to go with option 2, it’ll be interesting to see how long you last.  All that eating healthily and going to the gym and doing whatever it is you do to allow yourself such a nice body, has aided me in being able to toss you around.  I’m not even winded, I could do this all night and it would be fun.  Maybe you enjoy it too.  I know how you spics love to be dominated.”
Josemara blurted out in obvious pain, “Please stop”
“What do you mean ‘stop’ you attacked me, you obviously wanted option 2.”
“I’ll do anything.  PLEASE!”
The man shoved her off his knee and she rolled on the ground a couple times before coming to a stop curled in the fetal position.  Her body was enveloped in pain but she was happy to not be over his knee anymore.  It was much preferred lying on the ground.  She’d do anything to avoid being in that predicament again.  This thought would about to be put to the test. 
The man nudged her body flat on her back and he put his right foot in between her breasts steadying her.  Up to this point the man was fully clothed.  He applied slight pressure and said, “Are you ready to be my bitch?”  Josemara only nodded.  He smiled and said, “That’s good enough for now” as he removed his shirt and tossed it to the side.  He unzipped and unbuttoned his jeans and then bent down untying his shoe. He lifted his right foot off Josemara’s body and took off his shoe and placed it back on Josemara’s chest.  He stepped off of Josemara and sat back in his chair where he was when Josemara first saw him. He removed his shoes and socks and his jeans and tossed them aside.  Josemara had turned back onto her side in the fetal position.  Her body and mind had shut off as she was unconsciously preparing herself for the worst.  All hopes and plans of fighting were gone.  She was no match for him. The man removed his boxers so that he was fully nude. He lied in front of Josemara and lowered his left hand and massaged Josemara’s vagina. He grabbed her right arm with his right and lowered it to his penis.  He closed her fingers over it and Josemara weakly began stroking it. The man whispered, “3rd base”
The man started moving his fingers quickly against Josemara’s dry vagina.  He vigorously drove his fingers over Josemara’s clitoris as Josemara screamed in pain which was only answered with a smile by him.  He said, “Massage my balls tramp.”
Josemara did what she was told as the man started inserting fingers into her vaginal walls. It didn’t take long for resistance to ensue as the man had to thrust his fingers to get past the tightness creating internal cuts. Although Josemara’s insides hurt along with the rest of her body she continued caressing, fondling and stroking in a way to not be painful.  Thankfully, the man stopped and guided her hand off his genitalia.  He swung his body toward her and pinned her arms behind her head and hovered above her. He said, “Now, this is what I never understood about you bitches, this whole time I’ve done unspeakable things to you.  You already have stopped resisting and submitted yourself to me.  In reality, there should be no hope left in you.  Yet, you still hold something in the back of your mind, some hope that some knight in shining armor will come crashing through the door and stop me from penetrating you.  You actually will be surprised, even after this speech, when I do this” as he lowered himself and drove his penis into her vagina after the word ‘this.’
Josemara obliged exactly how he said she would.  Her face contorted in shock and pain as reality set in. The man decided to voice what she was feeling, “Now, it’s official, you’ve become a statistic. Just one more slut raped in New York” as he continued to hump her causing more blood to emulate from her vagina.
The man wrapped Josemara’s legs around his waist and thrusted hard.  He started kissing her neck and alternating his hands from caressing her breasts to stroking her legs.  He started kissing her lips stifling Josemara’s moans of pain.  He pushed himself up and commanded her, “Tell me you’re my bitch” Josemara choked and moaned some more, the man drove himself into her harder and yelled, “Say it!”
Josemara sniveled out, “I’m your bitch”
“Louder!” he blurted out
Josemara gasped out, “I’m your bitch” repeatedly as she got louder with every panted declaration.
The man smiled and rolled onto his back and said, “Ride me bitch.”
Josemara’s legs were too short to be on the ground as the length from her thigh to her knees was shorter than the man’s hips.  She leaned forward sliding her arms under his arms and pulled against his shoulders driving her body up toward his head and back toward his feet while his penis was still inside of her.  This caused immense pain but she didn’t dare stop.  The man lied back and moaned in pleasure.  He said “Rub your tits against my face.”
Since Josemara was too short to do this while her groin was still on his and too weak to lift herself off him, she slithered her body up inevitably sliding his penis slowly and painfully out of her as she struggled to bring her upper body along his. She managed to get her breasts over his face and she continued her forward and back motion as his face slid between her breasts.  The man started humming and every sound he made disgusted Josemara.  Josemara was actually relieved when the man sat up and wrapped her legs around his waist again as he wrapped his arms around her.  Even though he forced his penis back into her vagina now he was moving her body, which means she didn’t have to expend what little energy she had left.  The fact that this relieved her was indicative of just how much pain she was in.  The man leaned her upper body back and sucked on her breasts and fondled them with his hand.  He stood up and slapped both his hands on her butt pulling her towards him driving his penis further into her. He squashed her in between him and a wall as his arms again alternated between caressing her legs and grabbing her ass and his mouth explored her breasts, neck, face and mouth.  All Josemara could hope for was that he’d climax soon.  She thought it was over when the man tossed her onto the bed like a ragged doll. 
Instead, he walked over to a backpack in the corner of the room and took out salt, a shot glass, lemon, and a bottle of tequila.  He cut the lemon into slices on the table still holding Josemara’s rings.  He approached her again and straddled her bringing his feet under Josemara’s hamstrings pulling her towards him.  He placed the piece of lemon in between her breasts and licked her left breast.  He then took a salt packet and poured it over the area he licked.  He poured a shot of tequila into the shot glass and then licked the salt off her breasts and took the shot of tequila while taking the lemon in between her breasts.  He sat up onto his knees and said, “It needs something.”
He got up and pulled out jars of oregano, olive oil and pepper. He walked back to Josemara and squeezed a lemon slice over her body.  He then poured olive oil over the same area followed by shaking the shaker of oregano and pepper over her.  He giggled and said, “You gotta marinate your meat.”
The meaning wasn’t lost on Josemara. She was literally being treated like a piece of meat.  He straddled her again and licked her right breasts before reapplying salt and taking another tequila shot off her the same manner in which he treated the left one.  He slid his body down kissing and sucking the marinating agents off her stomach, vagina and left leg. When he came down to her foot, he meaningfully licked the top of it.  He got up and repositioned his body so that his legs wrapped around Janila’s thighs.  He reached back and inserted a lemon slice into her vagina. Josemara screamed in pain as the lemon juice mixed with her wounds.  The man anticipated this so his legs and arms held her legs down.  He poured more salt onto her left leg and licked it off. He took the shot of tequila then turned his body around so that his midsection lied on Josemara’s legs and took the lemon from her vagina.  Josemara was temporarily relieved that the lemon was gone. This wouldn’t last long as the man started licking and sucking the marinating agents off her right leg before taking another tequila shot off the top of her right foot in the same manner as before with the same pain.
The man grabbed Josemara’s legs and turned her over so she lied on her stomach.  Once again he marinated her body from the buttocks down.  He straddled her legs and licked the left butt cheek, inserted a slice of lemon into the bottom of her asshole and a full shot of tequila in the top.  He poured salt over the left cheek, licked it off and grabbed the shot of tequila with his mouth snapping his neck back emptying it into his mouth before spitting the shot glass out onto her back before removing the lemon with his mouth as well.  He set up another shot and another lemon as before and repeated it with her right cheek.  He maneuvered his mouth down her left leg.  He set up the shot glass and another slice of lemon into her butt again.  He bent her leg up and licked the bottom of her left foot and discharged salt from the shaker onto her foot and licked it off before throwing her leg down lying onto them and removing the items from her butt with his mouth starting with the shot glass. He slithered his mouth down her right side making her relive the moment with the other foot. 
He smoothed her hair down along her back and supported himself to hover over her.  He said, “Time to claim your ass.”
He snapped his pelvis down hard slamming his penis into her buttocks.  He drove his penis into her slamming it each time as he counted every thrust out loud until he got to 10.  Blood oozed from Josemara’s butt down the back of her thighs and hamstrings to the bed.  The man jerked her legs toward him and stood her up standing behind her.  He shoved her so she was draped over the corner of the bed. He entered her posterior from behind and reached around and caressed her breasts with his hands as he kissed her neck.  He humped her repeatedly and said, “You’re way too tiny to get me to cum trick.” He panted harder as he propelled himself harder and faster until, much to Josemara’s delight, he started making choke like noises as semen exploded from his penis inside Josemara’s rectum. 
He removed himself from her and said, “About time, God, your dress didn’t reveal how huge your areolas were, your ass is much to be desired and kind of a disgrace to wetbacks everywhere.  Your legs are scrawny and belong more to a chicken but whatever I got off anyway because I could make the most of it.”
By this time Josemara’s tears had dried on her face but new ones replaced it. It was one thing to be assaulted physically the way she was but the verbal onslaught seemed excessive.  The man walked back to the backpack as Josemara rolled off the bed and collapsed onto the floor. The experience was finally over. 
The man removed lipstick from his bag and knelt next to Josemara.  He said, ‘Oh no honey, I’m not done with you yet.”
Josemara’s eyes widened in fear as the man put lipstick onto her lips.  He lifted her to her knees, turned his back to her and shoved her face into his left butt cheek.  He said, “Kiss it bitch”
Josemara puckered her lips and left her lip mark onto his butt cheek. The man made her repeat it with his right cheek before dropping her head to kiss both the top and bottom of his feet.  He took pictures of her kissing and the mark it left after he pulled her away.  He stood her up and grabbed her hands in his and bent them back.  Josemara collapsed to her knees almost instantaneously.  The man wriggled his hips slapping Josemara in the face with his penis, which was erect once again. He looked down at her and said, “Now you’ve known where my penis has been, but you’re still going to put it in your mouth bitch.”
Josemara opened her mouth and the man placed his penis inside.  She sucked on it until the man barked “Lick my nuts”
Josemara obeyed and the man breathed out, “Put them in your mouth”
Josemara used her tongue to juggle the man’s two testicles inside her mouth.  The man gasped and panted out, “Lick my taint bitch.”
Josemara pulled back so that the man’s scrotum was out of her mouth.  She looked up expectantly and panic filled her eyes.  Her body started shaking for she wanted to obey but she didn’t understand the order.  She watched as the man glared down at her with anger in his eyes.  She stuttered before the man’s eyes softened and said, “The area between by ass and my nuts.”
Josemara leaned back in and licked that area before the man unceremoniously kicked her off him with his foot against her chest. Josemara collapsed to the side waiting for her next torture. She wouldn’t have to wait long.  The man knelt next to her and helped her up to all fours, he then said, “Sit.”
Josemara leaned back onto her legs, for she already figured out what he meant.  He brandished a piece of chicken in front of her face and said, “The worst is over bitch, you’re almost free.”
He held out his other hand and said in a voice normally reserved for babies and dogs, “Give me paw.”
Josemara lifted her hand and put it in his.  Unlike a dog, the man had to apply pressure to keep Josemara up since she couldn’t support her weight on three limbs alone.  The man said, ‘Other paw”
Josemara switched hands and the man shook it and dropped it and tapped on the ground.  “Down” he commanded.
Josemara lied down the way a dog would by extending her arms and lying flat on her stomach with her arms in front of her.  “Roll over.”
Josemara tried but her body didn’t respond.  She didn’t want to ask for help though she managed to roll onto her side and the guy rubbed her chest and stomach and said, ‘that’s a good girl.”
He stopped and ordered her to get up.  He stood and said, “Now crawl and speak”
Josemara managed to get up on all fours but didn’t have the strength to crawl.  Her body collapsed down as her arms gave way.  The man stood behind her and slapped her butt and said, “Speak bitch.”
Josemara let out a faint bark.  The man sat down and hoisted her onto his lap laid across with her butt staring back at him. He smacked her ass and said, “Speak”
Josemara whimpered out a bark and the man smacked her again, “Speak louder”
Josemara was only minimally louder and the man repeated the spanking eight more times before he was satisfied with Josemara’s barking.  He scooped up her body with his right arm under the back of her neck and the left arm under her knees. He carried her much like a husband carries his bride across the threshold of their house.  He brought her into a bathroom and placed her in the tub.  He turned a faucet and picked up a hose.  He sprayed Josemara with the hose and said, “We gotta clean you up now.”
Josemara made no effort as the water splashed against her body.  She had been so thoroughly humiliated, assaulted and battered that there was nothing left in her.  The man stopped spraying her and walked toward her.  He grabbed a pair of surgical gloves and put them on snapping the latex against his wrist.  He knelt down and said, “Look baby, I don’t want to kill you but I can’t have any evidence for when you go to the cops.  I promise that after I bathe you, I will leave you forever. But, I must say given how little you resisted, you must have wanted me to do this to you.  I mean a couple of tosses here and there and I got complete submission.  That was much easier than I expected. I thought you border jumpers had sass and passion and wouldn’t give up so easily”
The man rubbed soap all over Josemara’s body.  Feeling his touch against her didn’t bother Josemara anymore.  The soap felt good as did the water. Instead of hosing her down, he used a bucket of water and a sponge.  The man rubbed the soap and the sponge rigorously against her skin.  Unlike before when his body was rubbing against her there was plenty of lubrication that wasn’t olive oil and lemon juice.  The water flowing to the drain was tinted red with specks of oregano, pepper and lemon seeds but it all went down the same drain.  When the man was finished he dumped the remaining contents of the bowl of water over Josemara’s body, got up and walked out. 
Josemara lied in the tub for a long time before she finally realized that she could act independently again.  She was still in a lot of pain but somewhere deep inside she realized she would die if she stayed here.  She gripped the edge of the bathtub and rolled toward it.  She guided her body over the tub and let it fall out onto the tiled floor.  She rested there to compose herself before turning onto her stomach. She crawled toward the doorway and crossed the threshold.  She lifted her head and stared up at the door to the place she was in. She had no idea where it led but knew it was a way out so it couldn’t be worse than here.  She inched herself toward the door. When she got there she reached up and turned the knob.  Luckily the door opened by pushing and not pulling so she could fall into the door opening it.  She was met by a stairway that led down to an alley.  She crept forward collapsing on to her stomach several times before reaching the stairway.  She knew she couldn’t stand so she pulled herself forward and glided down the stairs crumbling at the bottom of it.  She rested a bit and saw what she was looking for.

Larry Couchmanos had gone to a bar in the lower east side with some friends.  Larry had been there once before, the bar served all alcoholic beverages in tea cups.  There were no signs outside with the name of the bar, no bouncer checking ID’s.  The nature of this bar was you had to know where it was if you wanted to go.  Larry never understood the logic of that; it’s not like anything illegal happened there.  They just served alcohol, which is legal if you’re over 21.  The bouncer was found inside the room.  Larry always believed they would make more money if they were like any other bar and had a sign announcing it so foot traffic could go in.  This place, however, seemed to discourage foot traffic entrance as much as possible.  Even if you knew which door to open from the street it only led to a stairway into an alleyway.  You cross a short distance and go up another stairwell where the bar was located.  It was really late and Larry decided to go home. He said bye to his friends and walked out the door and down the alleyway.  Normally, Larry was quite oblivious but he noticed something in his peripheral vision down the alley.  He walked over to check it out his hand firmly on a pocket knife he always carried with him.  Apparently there were other stairwells leading to this alley and at the bottom of one he saw a naked woman.  He knelt over and put his hand on her back and asked, “Are you okay?”
The woman barreled into Larry and wrapped her arms around his neck and cried onto his shoulder.  Larry hoisted her up and carried her where he came from out to the street and sat on the sidewalk cradling her in his lap.  He reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone and dialed 9-1-1. 
“9-1-1 emergency, what is your emergency?”
“I found this girl, she’s naked, and well I don’t know what happened, she needs help I think.”
It just occurred to Larry now that maybe the woman would be pissed that he called the police.  For all Larry knew, she was just really drunk and passed out but finding her naked in an alley seemed like a good enough reason to call 9-1-1.  If the girl was upset with him, however, she showed no signs of it.  He felt her body relax slightly as she buried her face into his chest no longer crying but as if she was going to sleep.  The 9-1-1 operator said, “Okay, where are you?” Larry gave her his location.  “Do you know what happened?”
Larry nudged the woman on his shoulder and said, “Hey, what happened? Who did this to you?”  When the girl didn’t respond, Larry said, “She won’t answer, she’s really shaken up though, you should still send a car.”
“I sent one to you already, they’ll be there shortly”
“Okay thanks”
“Can you describe her?”
Larry eased the girl off his shoulder so he could see her face, he tried lying her on the sidewalk but she squirmed and shook her head no.  Larry rested the phone between his head and his shoulder and used both hands to cradle her in his arms so that his right hand was behind her head and his left hand held her legs against his lap.  He said, “Tan skin, big eyes, long jet black hair, olive skin, thin, probably like 5’2” hard to tell I’m cradling her right now” Larry began shaking his head and then said what he was thinking, “She’s a pretty little thing” he shook his head back to reality and said, “Sorry, that’s not very relevant.”
“It’s fine; ask her what her name is.”
  “What’s your name?”
The girl’s mouth formed a weak smile and said very faintly but Larry was paying close attention so he heard it, “You…think…I’m…pretty?”
Larry rolled his eyes and laughed, “Yes, you are, but do you have a name?”
“Josemara” came the response in the same weak voice. 
Larry snapped his head back in recognition.  It just dawned on him that she did look familiar.  He repeated “Josemara” before getting louder, “Josemara?! Altuve?!”
Josemara looked at him confused she didn’t have the same recognition as Larry but she nodded her head.  Larry screamed out, “FUCK!” as he snapped his head forward but kept the rest of his body still.
He heard the operator on the phone, “Calm down, sir, do you know this girl?”
“Yes, she’s my friend’s cousin.  Now I’m sitting here, I have a horrible story about how I came to this.  Goddamn it.”
“Calm down sir, this doesn’t change anything, can you see anything off on her body. Any indication what’s wrong? Ask her again.”
“Larry looked down and for the first time realized there was blood in his lap.  He sighed, “She’s bleeding from her groin.  I think she’s been…” he didn’t dare finish the sentence.
The operator said, “Does she appear to have been raped?”
“Yes, but I’m not an expert.”
“Ask her who did this.”
Larry gently shook her and said, “Josemara, you’re going to be okay, don’t worry help is on the way.  I’ll get a hold of your husband, he’ll meet you at the hospital, everything will be fine, but this is very important, who did this to you?”
Josemara didn’t answer.  Sirens approached and every ounce of Larry wanted to drop her onto the street and run.  He knew he was innocent but he sure as hell didn’t look it.  EMT’s came rushing toward him asking both her and Larry questions.  They didn’t get much out of her so they directed them at Larry.  Larry said, “I came out of the bar and found her in the alley.  I know you’re not supposed to pick an injured person up off the ground but it was just instinct.  I wanted her on the street to make it easier for you people to find us.”
He heard them ask her, “Is there a number we can call? Someone to contact to come for you?”  Josemara just shook her head, Larry said, “I have two of her cousin’s numbers, let me call her, she’ll find her husband and get him here.”  After he said this, Josemara closed her eyes presumably going to sleep. 
They secured Josemara onto a gurney and loaded her into the ambulance.  The cops pulled Larry to the side and started asking him questions.  Larry knew he was always too honest for his own good.  He should ask for a lawyer, he even knew some but that’s not what he was doing.  He had an idealistic vision that the truth will set him free.  It had worked on a handful of occasions but he rarely found himself being questioned by cops. This time, he refused to answer questions he said, “Someone needs to call her family.  Just let me make the phone call or someone else make it.  I know one of her cousin’s numbers by heart.” He screamed out the number and said, “Someone needs to call her.”
The cop softened and said, “Make your phone call, but don’t leave”
Larry pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number.  He knew his friend never answered the phone but he would alternate in between the two cousins until he woke someone up.  The other cousin he knew had moved to Philadelphia with her husband after she got married.  She had a young child at home but Larry didn’t care right now.  He just hoped she didn’t change her number.  Larry dialed each number back to back until his friend answered on the third try.  He said, “Janilsa, are you sitting down?’
“I’m laying down, I was sleeping” she said groggily
“Well, I don’t know how to say this without just saying it, so I was out and I found Josemara and I think she was raped so you need to find out her husband’s number because her cell phone isn’t with her and she’s not talking much.”
Janilsa shot up out of bed and screamed, “WHAT?!”
Larry told her the name of the hospital they were taking her so she could tell her husband.  Janilsa ended the conversation by saying, “Oh, I’ll get a hold of him, but I’m coming too, and your ass better be there.”
“Thanks but I can’t promise that.  There’s a cop right in front of me and he may not let me.”
Janilsa hung up and the cop smiled.  Larry put the phone back in his pocket.  He knew Janilsa would take care of getting a hold of Josemara’s husband.  Right now, he was going to go through a harsh interrogation.  The cop received something on his radio.  Josemara had been requesting Larry for a while now and they wanted him at the hospital.  The cop said he would give Larry a ride.  They loaded him into the backseat of the cop car and took him toward the hospital.  As they were driving, the cop asked, “So, what happened?”
“I came out of the bar, I saw her in the alley so I went over there.  When I put my hand on her back she hugged me.  I picked her up and carried her to the street and called 9-1-1.”
“A little coincidental that you just happened to be in that alley, why were you at the bar?”
“I was there with some friends.”
“What are their names and numbers?”
Larry gave it to him and the cop radioed for others to call to confirm Larry’s story.  “Do you normally go around picking naked girls up in an alley?”
“I’ve never been in that situation before so no”
“You can get in trouble that way, it’s pretty dangerous. It could be a trap.”
“I didn’t think of that at the time but I guess your right.”
“Pretty girl though.”
“Yea,”
“She’s alone all by herself at night.  You approach her, you probably don’t think your game is good enough to get a girl like that so you just grab her and have your way with her.  You then threaten her to not tell anyone it was you or you’ll kill her but if she keeps her mouth shut, you’ll take care of her.  So you fulfill your end of the deal and now she’s fulfilling hers.”
Larry was a poker player so was trained to not outwardly show what he was feeling inside.  This scenario seemed preposterous to him.  He merely responded, “That sounds like a pretty big risk sir.”
“Nah, once you assault them, they’ll do whatever you say.”
“I don’t know sir, I’ve never tried it.”
“And you think I have you piece of shit?!”
“No sir, I think you’ve seen a situation like that, I’m just shocked it would work but the psychology of a rape victim is a weird thing.”
“And how would you know that?”
“I majored in psychology.  I just don’t get why she wouldn’t feel safe once she’s in a hospital surrounded by cops.  I also don’t understand why they wouldn’t want to press charges once they caught the fucker.  It’s always the same story how they don’t want to relive it but why don’t they want justice?  Hell, I barely know the girl and I want that guy fucking killed.”
“Strong words but not very convincing.”
Larry sighed, “Look, I know what it looks like.”
“What does it look like?”
“Guy has a girl bleeding from the vagina; his clothes have her blood on it.  He probably did it.  I don’t know why I wouldn’t just leave her on the curb, and anonymously call it in from a payphone or something.  Or just ask someone on the street to do it.  I mean yea, maybe they could identify me but so could everyone who sees me carry her onto the sidewalk.  But I guess you think I just wanted to play the victim and the hero.”
“You said it not me.”
“Well, when you check her for semen, you’ll see mine isn’t there.”
“Did you have help?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“So, you were in the alley having a cigarette and you saw her.”
“No sir, one, I don’t smoke, two, I was leaving the bar to go home.”
“That’s a pretty weak ass story, it’s way too coincidental, I’ve been doing this too long to buy a story like that.”
“Yea, if I had planned this, you’d think I would have come up with a better story.”
“Don’t sass me boy.”
“I’m not sir.”
Larry contemplated telling him that rape victims probably wouldn’t ask for their assailants to meet them in the hospital but figured mentioning anything Josemara said as evidence would be accused of his forcing her to say it.
They got to the hospital and the cop opened the door for Larry to get out.  He said, “Don’t get too comfortable, this isn’t over.”
Larry nodded his head and said, “Thank you sir” because he didn’t know what else to say.
He walked into the hospital and he was escorted to Josemara’s room.  He sat next to her bed while two cops looked on and said, “I got a hold of Janilsa, they’re finding your husband, they’ll be here soon.”
Josemara reached her arm out and held Larry’s hand. Larry squeezed it and said, “It’s going to be okay.”
Larry wanted to ask Josemara to help him by telling them it wasn’t him. Tell them anything about the man.  This whole no talking thing was doing him no favors.  But looking at her and how frail and hurt she looked, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.  He held her hand as she relaxed her body and they sat there in silence.  Larry was thinking that he had a long night ahead of him as the cop wasn’t the only person who’d be interrogating him that night. Shortly after, the doctor came in and told Larry to leave so he could treat her.  The EMT’s had already examined her on the way over there.  Larry went into the lobby and buried his face in his hands.
A while later, Larry heard someone rush in, it was Janilsa followed shortly by one of her cousins and a white man he’d never seen before but assumed it was Josemara’s husband.. They all ignored Larry and ran toward the front desk demanding to see Josemara. The nurse told her to calm down, that she was being examined by the doctor and she couldn’t go in.  Janilsa went over to Larry and demanded to know what happened.  Larry told her the story and Janilsa sat down next to him to digest it all. After a long while, she said, “I don’t understand, how could she tell you her name and such but she couldn’t tell you who did this?”
“Maybe she doesn’t know Jani.  He may have used a ski mask or something.  It might actually be a good thing because if Josemara knew who he was, he probably would have killed her.”
Larry regretted saying it the second he did but he was stressed out.  He didn’t see accusing eyes from Janilsa but he did on her other cousin, the guy and the cops’.  The doctor came out and they said that visiting hours were over and only the husband could go in.  Larry was confused why they let him in before but didn’t say anything.  The doctor spoke to the cops and then walked toward Larry and said, “Well the results are in, I need to talk to you.”
Larry got up and followed the cop into a room the hospital set aside to interrogate Larry.  Although he couldn’t see them he could feel Janilsa and her cousin’s, who he knew to be named Jacinta, eyes pierce into him.  After all, the cop did everything except scream that he did it.  Larry knew this was a bluff to throw his guard off and maybe reveal something but it didn’t work for the sole reason that Larry didn’t do anything.  Still though, the girls didn’t know that.  He sat down and the cop shined a flashlight into his eyes and said, “So her body seems to have been washed clean.”
“How did she take a shower like that?”
“Oh they don’t think she bathed her, they think someone else did.”
“Finger prints?”
“No, water and soap have a way of wiping all that clean.”
“Okay.”
“You wouldn’t mind if I searched your hands for latex would you?”
“No” Larry said as he extended his hands out.  He called in a forensics examiner and they took a swab of Larry’s hands. 
“Even without the latex, her blood on your clothes is enough to build a case.”
“Yes sir.”
“You don’t seem worried why?”
“I didn’t do it.  Look, I know that people are always punished by doing the right thing.  I think the only thing I can do is sit here and answer all your questions.  I probably should call a lawyer, I know a few too, but I’m more worried about her.  That, and quite frankly sir, I think I’m safer in here with you then out there with her family.”
The cop smiled, “She’s been talking”
“That’s good.”
“Can you tell me why she said you did this to her?”
“No sir”
“That news didn’t seem to upset you.”
“Because you lied sir”
“And how do you know that?”
“Because she knows I didn’t.”
“So who did?”
“I don’t know sir”
“I don’t appreciate being called a liar”
“I didn’t call you a liar sir, I said you lied.”
“It would be in your best interest to treat me with respect.”
“Understood sir”
The questioning preceded this way with massive repetitions about Larry’s story and how they got there.  Eventually, after a couple hours, they let Larry go.  He went back in the lobby and sat down next to Janilsa.  This didn’t stop Jacinta, Janilsa’s cousin, from coming up to him and saying, “What the fuck did you do?”
“Nothing Jacinta.”
Jacinta slapped Larry across the face, and said, “If I find out you had something to do with this, I’ll fucking kill you myself.”
Larry stood up and calmly responded, “If I had anything to do with this, I’ll let you, your husband and all your cousins do whatever they want to me.”
“Oh, we don’t need your permission for that bendejo”
“Yea, I figured as much”
Larry knew Janilsa well enough to know she wouldn’t intervene.  He didn’t think Janilsa thought it was him but from a principle perspective, Janilsa would never side with him over her family, even if her family was wrong.  Larry was taking the gloves off in this argument and said, “Remember my house warming party a while back when Janilsa attacked me like she always does when she’s drunk and you kept yelling at me to hit Janilsa back.  You kept telling me I had your permission to hit her.  And what did I do Jacinta?”
Jacinta softened her tone, “You didn’t hit her.”
“No, I didn’t because I don’t hit women.  You think someone like that, would do this to one and then stick around at the hospital to face her family?”
“No, but I’m just saying, you better not be involved with this.”
“Got it.”
Larry, Jacinta, and Janilsa waited in the waiting room until visiting hours started the next day.  Jacinta and Janilsa went to sleep, Larry did not.  He couldn’t help but feel nervous that he was being accused of this. He kept contemplating going home but somehow he felt that made him look guilty.  When visiting hours started, Jacinta and Janilsa rushed to Josemara’s room.

Josemara’s husband stayed by her side crying all night.  At first, he tried to ask her what happened but when Josemara couldn’t respond except by holding his hand, he kept apologizing.  He blamed himself for Josemara being this way.  He should have chased her outside.  He shouldn’t have let her leave; he should have introduced her as his wife to Heather.  Josemara just squeezed his hand.  Seeing her with IV’s and tubes was too much for him to handle.  He stayed with her all night and was awoken when Jacinta and Janilsa came storming in.  Josemara just gave a weak smile. 
Larry stayed outside not knowing whether to go in or not.  Suddenly, he had no idea why he was in the hospital anymore.  He wanted to leave, this was a family matter, but he didn’t. 
Jacinta sat on the opposite side of Josemara and held her other hand.  She said, “Josemara this is very important, they just arrested Larry.  He can’t hurt you now.  Do we need to check on anybody? Is somebody else going to get hurt now that Larry’s been arrested?  Who do we need to check on?”
Josemara shot up, moaned in pain and lied back down.  She started crying and said, “No”
Jacinta kept going, “It’s okay Josemara, he can’t hurt you I promise, you can talk now, tell us what happened.”
“It wasn’t him!” she screamed out
Her husband shot up and said, “Who’s Larry?”
Janilsa waved him off but he was insistent. Janilsa walked over to him and whispered in his ear, “He’s in the lobby, Jacinta thinks…” she didn’t finish her sentence as the husband darted out of the room. 
Janilsa didn’t bother to chase after him; she had to be a sane force to limit Jacinta.  She let her get away with this so far, but now she had to stop her.  Jacinta said, “Then who was it?  If not Larry, then who?”
“I don’t know, I swear, I wish I did”
“So Larry didn’t threaten you?”
“No” she was crying harder now, “And you arrested him for it.”
Janilsa contemplated telling her Jacinta lied but didn’t.  She understood what Jacinta was doing was necessary.  She was just doing a horrible job with it.  Janilsa decided to change the tactic.  The good news was Josemara was talking now.  She said, “Josemara, you got to tell the cops something, something so they know Larry didn’t do it.  You have to tell the cops something or else Larry is going to go to jail for this.”
Jacinta inserted, “Unless you think Larry should go to jail.”
Josemara looked around took a deep breath and said, “I’m ready to talk to the cops now.” Janilsa and Jacinta glared at each other. 

The husband walked into the lobby and blurted out, “Who’s Larry?”
Larry raised his hand as he stood and the husband walked over to him wrapped his hands around his throat and shoved him against the wall.  Larry drove his palm into the husband’s solar plexus before hotel security separated them.  The husband started screaming, “What did you do to her? I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch.”
Larry remained calm.  He said, “So I take it she isn’t talking yet.”
The husband calmed down and said, “No, didn’t say anything all night, just cried and slept.”
“Have you talked to the doctor?  Is she going to be okay?”
The husband sat down and Larry sat next to him.  The husband wanted to talk to someone and deep down he knew that Jacinta said he was arrested when he was in the lobby.  He heard Josemara scream it wasn’t Larry but he needed to let out some of his frustration and Larry was an easy target.  He realized it might help to talk about it. “There’s a lot of bleeding down there and from her ass, and a cracked rib.”
“I’m sorry man.”
The husband grunted, “Sorry I choked you.”
“I understand, Jacinta probably told you I did this.”
“I know you didn’t”
“How?” he started before catching himself, “I mean, I’m glad you know that but….oh fuck it, how?”
“She told me”
“So she is talking”
“She started talking after Jacinta told her you were arrested and wanted to find out what you did to threaten her, if you threatened one of her other cousins or something.  That snapped her out of her trance, and she blurted out that you didn’t do it.  Janilsa told me you were out here, so I confronted you.”
Larry chuckled, “That’s one way to put it.”
“So what happened?”
“All I know is that she was naked in an alley, I saw her when I was leaving a bar, brought her to the street and called 9-1-1.”
Larry noticed that cops were within ear shot looking away but eavesdropping still seeing if his story would change.  The husband, unlike anyone else, seemed to accept this story.  He said, “It’s my fault.”
“How?”
“I was with her, we had a fight, she stormed out, I didn’t go after her.”
“You couldn’t have known this was going to happen.”
“I should have gone with her.”
Larry sighed and took a deep breath, being brutally honest always got him into trouble but here he was going to sound insensitive, “You’re just saying that because of what happened. Yes, women can annoy the shit out of us, especially when you’re married to them.  At the time you probably didn’t want to deal with her. She probably told you not to follow her, she probably told you not to come home. You can’t be faulted for listening.  I know women always say one thing but mean another and sometimes they want to make sure you love them by not listening but it’s really a fucked up and confusing tactic.  It’s not your fault.  Obviously she didn’t deserve that, nobody does, but at the time you stayed in the bar, you were merely doing what you thought she wanted”
“Something like that.”
“I know it doesn’t make you feel any better, but it’s the reality.”
“Yea”
Larry and the husband didn’t say anything for a long while. 

            Jacinta and Janilsa had called in the cops saying Josemara was ready to speak. The cop came inside and said, “Can you describe the man”
            “he had nylon over his face, so I don’t really know what he looked like.”
            “Tall, short, race?”
            “Tall, tanned skin, like Italian or something.”
            “Skinny? average? heavier? Muscular?”
            Josemara started thinking about what happened and shut down again because she couldn’t separate seeing him and what he did to her.  She said, “I don’t know, it was dark.”
            “Any identifying marks?  Tattoos, piercings.”
            “No”
            Janilsa blurted out, “Did you see his chest?”
            Josemara seemed confused but said, “Yes”
            Janilsa turned to the cop and said, “Larry has a tattoo of the Greek flag on his chest.  It couldn’t be him.”
            “Alright, we’ll look into that.”
            Josemara shut down again.  She got what she wanted, to exonerate Larry. The cop asked some more questions but Josemara just shook her head and exclaimed she was tired.  The cop asked Janilsa to talk to him in private.  Janilsa followed him out of the room and said, “You shouldn’t have interfered, she was talking, that was good, we were closer to finding the guy.”
            “No you weren’t”
            “Don’t tell me about my job.”
            “She doesn’t want to talk about it.  You want to make your job easier by just blaming it on Larry. Well, sorry, it’s not that easy.  You think this is a waste of your time, you have to have dealt with several rape cases, this one means nothing to you.  But this one is my cousin and you’re accusing my friend.  So, I did your job for you, I ruled him out.  Give her time, we want to catch this guy as much as you do but if it was simple, she would have told you.  She doesn’t know him okay!”
            “Why don’t you show me this tattoo on Larry?”
            They walked out into the lobby and her husband looked up expectantly.  Janilsa didn’t even bother with decorum, she knew Larry well enough to know he had no problem showing his tattoo.  She said, “Larry pull your shirt down and show him your tattoo”
            Larry pulled down his shirt and sure enough the Greek flag the size of his pectoral over his heart stared back at him.  There is no way you could miss that, it wasn’t subtle at all.  The cop shrugged his shoulders and took out his card.  He gave it to Janilsa and said, “Whenever you feel she’s ready to talk.  But, the longer we wait, the harder it will be to find this guy.”
            Janilsa and the husband reentered Josemara’s room.  Josemara looked back and said, “Where’s Larry? Did they let him go?”
            Janilsa said, “Yea, he’s in the lobby.”
            Josemara didn’t put together that it was way too short of time to be discharged from the police station and be back at the hospital by now.  She just said, “I want to see him.”
            Janilsa went out and got him. He came toward her and she held his hand again, looked into his eyes and said, “I’m so sorry for what my family did to you.”
            Larry glared at her, “Don’t worry about it.”
            “I mean…”
            “No, don’t worry about it.  They just care about you and they want to catch the guy who did this. I understand, I’m not mad, neither should you be, you should just focus on getting better.”
            The husband said, “Easy man, don’t talk to her like that!”
            Larry rolled his eyes. Damn being available, he needed to go home.  Josemara said, “No, it’s fine. Can I talk to Larry alone for a second?”
            The other three people in the room glared at Larry. Larry looked just as surprised as they were because he was.  They didn’t dare disagree with her because they felt bad for her so they got up and left the room.  Josemara said, “Why did you stay?”
            “I don’t know, I thought it would look worse if I ran than if I faced everyone.”
            “Did they hurt you?”
            “Who?”
            “The cops”
            “No, they just questioned me, look don’t worry about me, worry about you.  Be selfish.  What happened to you was much worse than what happened to me, you helped me, it’s over. Just focus on getting better.”
            “I like that you don’t talk to me like I’m a little kid.”
            “It’s easier for me.”
            “Why?”
            “Well, to be honest Josemara, I barely know you.  Those people stayed in the lobby just so they could be here the second visiting hours started or if something happened, they would be here for you.  Your husband stayed by your bedside all night. They love you.  I don’t Josemara.  You’re my friend’s cousin, you didn’t even recognize me, you had to tell me your name before I realized who you were.  I’m not a hero.  I just saw a hurt naked girl and I helped her out.”
            “Why do you sound mad?”
            “Because I hate the guy who did this to you.  But unlike your family, I don’t have the extra emotional attachment that it’s you that was the victim.  Yes, I will be there for my friend Janilsa, but I don’t know how to console her from this.  Just as how I’m not the guy to console you.  I’m not empathetic.  I want nothing more than for you to tell the cops everything you know about this asshole.  I can’t guarantee they’ll catch the piece of shit but I wish you’d help them.  I understand what everyone says, ‘rape victims don’t want to relive the event so they just repress it and shut off all memory of it.’ But that’s how these people get away with it.  The cops can go on very little information.  Maybe, they can combine it with someone else’s description.  You’re probably not the only girl he did this to.”
            “I told them enough to get you off the hook.”
            “I know, and I’m grateful, really I am, but quite honestly, I want the cops to know everything you know about this man.  If they do, that’s fine.  I know I’m being an asshole here, but like I said, get better, do what you need to do to get out of here.  Be selfish do what’s best for you, not me, Jacinta or anyone else.  You’re done helping me, help you now.”
            “Okay, call the cop back in.”
            Larry was shocked this worked.  He wanted to say more, but he didn’t.  “He left, Janilsa has his card.”
            “Okay, I’ll call him.”
            “Alright, sorry I snapped at you.”
            “Don’t be, thank you for treating me like an adult.” She said with a smile.
            Larry had a strange feeling that she was still helping him but he didn’t care.  Josemara took a deep breath and Larry left to get Janilsa and tell her to go in there.  When they did, Larry went home and went to sleep. 

            Janilsa was surprised when Josemara asked her for the cop’s number.  Janilsa asked if she was sure and Josemara insisted.  Janilsa gave her the number and she, Jacinta and the husband eavesdropped on the conversation.  Josemara already looked in better spirits and she answered all of the cop’s questions.  The cops canvassed the area.  It wasn’t hard to find the abandoned room that she was in; it was marked by Josemara’s rings. The man focused so hard on cleaning Josemara, he forgot to wipe down the rings.  Now they had a partial print.  They did take Larry’s finger prints and quickly realized they weren’t a match. Unfortunately the system didn’t find a match either.  The case went cold pretty quick and Josemara got her rings back and an apology. All they could really do was keep the information on file in case it shot up again. 

            Josemara returned from the hospital a couple days after Larry left. Being home was not as beneficial as she thought it would be.  Her cousins stopped by a lot checking on her but she was despondent.  None of them really asked what had happened to her because deep down they didn’t want to know the details. She was raped; they were okay with just that. Everyone was very supportive and nice to her but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it disgusted her.  She tried seeing therapists but they just wanted to put her on meds.  She tried the meds but hated feeling numb all the time.  Eventually she called Janilsa and said, “Hey Jani”
            “Hey Josemara, what’s up?”
            “Not much, can you give me Larry’s number?”
            “Ummm sure, why though?”
            “I need to talk to him.”
            “What about?”
            “I can’t explain it.”
            “Okay” as she gave her the number. 
            Josemara called Larry and Larry answered confused for he didn’t recognize the number.  “Hello?”
            “Hey Larry, it’s Josemara”
            “Oh hey” still sounding confused, “How you feeling?”
            Josemara rolled her eyes, she was getting sick of that question, “Fine, do you mind if we have dinner?”
            “Umm, with your husband and maybe Janilsa?”
            “No just us two”
            “Does you husband know?”
            “Don’t worry about him”
            “Ummm yea, sure, where?”
            “You pick the place.”
            “I’m not a picky eater and Janilsa will tell you I always pick shitty places.”
            “Okay, I’ll pick” she told him the restaurant and the time and Larry agreed. 
When the time came Larry met her at the restaurant, they greeted in the traditional way, with a hug, cheek to cheek and kiss the air.  Larry sat opposite her and was clearly uncomfortable.  He had already prepared to be hit on and how to let her down gently.  Josemara noticed this and smiled.  Larry started, “Look Josemara, I’m glad I could help you out and I’m sorry about what happened to you but….”
“No you’re not” she interrupted.
Larry sighed, “Okay, maybe I was a little harsh at the hospital.”
“No, you said what needed to be said, I recovered a lot quicker because of what you said, the physical injuries were easy to take care of, just some disinfectants on the wound, anti-inflammatory, couple stitches and a cushion on my ribs.”
“Okay, so you’re all better now?”
“Physically yes, the stitches are out.”
“Mentally?”
“Not really.”
“Yea, I figured.  Is there anything you want to talk about?”
“Yes, but I want you to be the asshole in my hotel room.”
“That shouldn’t be hard, there’s no IV’s in you to soften me up now and your kind of yelling at me.”
Josemara smiled and said, “Exactly, so I’m going to vent to you because you don’t give a shit about me right?”
            “That’s not what I said”
“Oh yea, I’m your friend’s cousin so you care a little bit about me but you don’t love me.”
Larry laughed just to relieve the stress, “Yea but”
“No ‘buts’ that’s what I want.”
“Okay, so what’s up?  Did you just call me here to rehash our last conversation, what good does that do?”
“I came to vent to you.”
“Okay”
“I’m sick of everyone being so nice to me.  They all tiptoe around me and glare at me always afraid of offending me. I just want to scream at them but I know they’re only trying to help.  I tried psychologists but they just want to put me on meds and keep trying to tell me it’s not my fault.  I know it’s not my fault but I just wish I could go back to normal.  I guess it’s a weird thing to complain about, people being nice.”
“No it’s not’
“Really?”
“Have you told anyone this?”
“No, I think it’s mean.”
“It’s not, I told you at the hospital to be selfish, this is what it entails; telling people that.  Expressing how you feel.  What happened to you was monstrous but you can’t keep it inside.”
“I can’t tell anyone what happened. I tried with the therapists they just told me there’s nothing I can do to change what happened, it’s how I react, but they don’t tell me how to react.”
“By not letting that piece of shit win”
“He already won.  They never found him.  I told them everything I knew and all it did was get my rings back.”
“Him getting away with it doesn’t mean he won”
“What do you mean?”
“Josemara, you’re a sweet girl.  I know I didn’t know you too well before this happened but that girl that stormed in here telling me to be an asshole; I don’t think that’s you.  I want the shy Josemara who wouldn’t correct me when I called her the wrong name for an entire year.  I want that respectful girl. Let me ask you something, do you look at your cousins and other people that haven’t been raped and get mad because it happened to you and not them?”
Josemara squirmed a little.  “Yes”
“Would you really wish what happened to you on any woman?”
“No”
“Not even your worst enemy?”
“No”
“Just because someone didn’t experience what you have, doesn’t make them a bad person.  You know how you win?  You don’t let this experience change you.  You go back to that sweet innocent girl that I knew.  Or not innocent, or whatever you were before this happened.  Act the same.  He may have penetrated you in multiple ways but the one thing he can never penetrate without your permission is your soul.  If you fully recover from this and go back to the way it was, then he loses.  If he can’t break you, he loses.  Kick out Josemara! Don’t let that piece of shit that’s not worth more than the dirt at the bottom of your shoes win.”
“So just forget the whole thing?  Forget about rape!” as her voice rose at the end.
“No, don’t forget about it.  Learn from it.  Don’t trust men.  Stay with your husband, travel in groups.  Do all the cliché things they say to do.”
“It’s kind of hard with everyone else.”
“So talk to them.”
“It’s a strange request”
“Do you want me to?”
“Oh suddenly you care about me?”
“No, I hate rapists, I don’t want them to win, and I will help you defeat my enemy.”
“Ah” as she smiled, “yes, I do want you to tell them.”
Larry smiled.  He didn’t really want to but Josemara seemed to be grasping this selfish thing after all.  They made small talk and finished their meals. Josemara then said, “Can I go back to your place?”
Larry sighed, “I don’t think that’s a good idea”
Josemara smiled and said, “Oh, don’t flatter yourself, I’m married, but there are things I can’t talk about in public.”
Larry knew what she meant.  He agreed and they went back to his apartment.  Josemara said, “I want to tell you something I never told anybody.” Larry prepared himself, he knew what was coming.  He often told his friends to unload their stresses on him because he’s emotionless but it was kind of an act.  Some things were so fucked up that he was affected.  He never showed it to the person though; he waited till the conversation was over, made himself a drink and drowned his sorrows.  Contrary to common beliefs, it worked.  The only thing the alcohol couldn’t take away was when he did something repulsive to himself and had to unload it on a friend just as cold as he.  There was only one friend he had to resort to doing this since he had real problems that his upper middle class friends couldn’t possibly compete with.  He knew Josemara would be the second person.  He was prepared though no matter what he heard, he would utilize his poker face and not react.  Josemara continued, “I remember every solitary detail about what that piece of shit did to me.”
“Okay”
Josemara’s eyes went blank and stared into the distance as her body tensed and she told Larry every solitary detail pulling up the memory that she had repressed for so long and didn’t tell anyone because she didn’t want to hurt them.  She didn’t care if she hurt Larry; after all, it was just her cousin’s friend.  When she finished, Larry didn’t make any facial features whatsoever, just as he hadn’t throughout the whole story despite it killing him inside.  It wasn’t merely being stripped and having him slip it in for a quickie, he fucked her up.  Despite all that he said, “Doesn’t change my advice, he won a battle.  He won a very decisive battle. I’m kind of surprised they didn’t find his blood from when you tore his lip but that would have been information helpful in exonerating me.  Doesn’t matter though, you told them enough to get me off the hook.  My point is, he won the first battle, but you need to win the war.”
“Yea, I know but I needed to tell someone.”
“I’m really good to unload fucked up thoughts to, so anytime you need to, you have my number.”
“I appreciate that”
“In the mean time, I’ll take you home and we’ll talk to you husband together.”
“Okay”
“Does he know you’re here?”
“Of course, he makes sure to always know.”
“With me?”
Josemara gave him a knowing smile, “Yup”
“Alright let’s go then”
“Larry took the subway to Queens and walked Josemara home.  He walked in and told her husband he needed to talk to him.”
All three of them sat down and Larry said, “So after your argument with Josemara, how long did you stay at the bar?”
“I had another drink then left.”
“And when Josemara wasn’t home?”
“I looked up the GPS on her smart phone but it wasn’t working.  I tried calling her but it went straight to voicemail.  I figured she shut her phone off and stayed with a cousin or something so I just went to sleep.  That is, until I got the phone call waking me up.”
“Do you still blame yourself for not chasing after her?”
“Every day.”
“Stop”
“Look, you can’t just say that and it goes away.”
“For Josemara”
“What do you mean?”
“Everything you say, every time you treat her differently from how you would before the incident reminds her of what happened to her.” The husband looked around not seeming to understand where this onslaught was coming from. He looked at Josemara who gave a wry smile and nodded.  Larry continued, “Do you hate the man who did this to her?”
“Yes”
“Then don’t let him win.”
“How did I let him win?”
“By treating Josemara differently”
“I’ve been really nice to her and supportive.”
Josemara butted in, “And that’s the problem”
He looked at her incredulously, “What do you mean?”
“Well….” Larry finished her thought, “You’re treating her like a little kid not an adult.  The best thing to do is to go back to the way it was. If you fought over throw pillows, fight over the pointless throw pillows.  If you’re mad at her, yell at her the way you would have before.  I don’t know how you treated each other before, but I don’t think you’d be so happy about her going to dinner with some guy she’s not even close to alone.”
“Yea, that did piss me off a little”
“But you said nothing”
“I see your point.”
“Okay then”
“Every single therapist told me to be patient with her and let her open up to me.”
“And she’s telling you not to.  Who are you going to believe?”
“I think we wasted a lot of money on therapists”
“You wouldn’t be the first ones.  In fact, I think nobody gets their money’s worth with those quacks”
The husband laughed, “Yea, seriously” he turned toward Josemara and said, “You’re a tough chic, a lot tougher than I thought.”
Josemara smiled.  Larry excused himself and went home.  The husband kept his word and put the whole experience behind him.  He was kind of surprised how easily he was able to do this.  The husband took care of setting an example that the rest of the family followed.  He got some static about how he treated her but he just repeated what Larry told him and confirmed that Josemara wanted it this way.  Nobody could argue with that.  In a way, the kid gloves they used with Josemara is what forced them to not use kid gloves anymore; they didn’t want to upset Josemara. Josemara backed him up when needed and everything went back to normal.  The rapists may have gotten one night of fun, but he couldn’t break her.  Josemara took his best, and she spit it back at him.  Therefore, Josemara won.