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“No, but later he started coming to my bed when he thought I was sleeping. He didn’t do anything except pull my blanket away and breathe funny. After months of doing that he started touching me and pulling my panties aside. I always pretended to sleep, but one day he tried to take my panties completely off me and I made sounds as if I was about to wake up and it made him leave. The next day I told my mom.”
“Good for you,” I said.
She scoffed. “My mom said I was lying and that I was just jealous of her man. But I think she must have confronted him because they had a loud fight that night and he threatened to leave her.
“I don’t know why she wanted him to stay, but she begged him to, and after that they sometimes came to my bed together. There were noises that I didn’t understand, slurping noises, and he would still sit on my bed and touch my legs, arms, breasts, and sometimes more. Now of course I know she was making him come, but I was so scared and would often cry when they finally left me.”
It was hard to listen to Cia’s memories, but I kept quiet and didn’t touch her.
“Shortly before my fourteenth birthday it escalated and they would talk quietly and say dirty things about me. Sometimes he would cum on my belly and my mom would wash it off with a wet cloth afterwards”
“Did they never suspect you were awake?”
“I don’t think so, but then the day before I turned fourteen I saw him give her a bottle of pills in the kitchen. It made me suspicious so I eavesdropped after they thought I had gone to sleep. I heard them plan everything.”
I held my breath, not wanting to hear more, but I had to.
“Dennis asked my mom if she had managed to slip me the pill and she confirmed that I had emptied the glass of Coca-Cola she gave me. What she didn’t know was that I had poured it out my window because I knew she was up to something. My mom had never brought me a glass of anything before that day.
“They talked about giving me another half hour before going in to my room, and Dennis promised her that I wouldn’t wake when he took me.”
I sucked in air. “Shit. So that’s why you ran away from home. Because he was going to rape you that night.”
“Yes, I even saw him kiss her and thank her for the gift – me – before I went back to my room, grabbed a few things, and slipped out the window.”
“And that’s when you went to Brent, who then rejected you,” I said with a clenched jaw and felt even madder at my big brother for having failed his daughter.
Cia took a deep breath and steadied her voice. “Yes, and I’ve never seen my mom or Dennis since that night.”
I couldn’t see her face, but her voice told me she was crying and I could see that she used her hands to dry away her tears.
“Sweetie, can I touch you?” I asked, feeling a burning desire to comfort and protect her.
She nodded and I instantly pulled her into a hug from behind. “I don’t even know what to say except to thank you for sharing it with me.”
“You still think I should meet with my mom?”
“Yeah, although now we might face a different problem.”
“What?” she turned her head and looked at me over her shoulder.
“Now I want to kill her for you.”
Cia turned her body around and cupped my face. “Please don’t, G, she’s not worth it, and you’re not a killer.”
I actually was, but I didn’t say that. My time in Afghanistan hadn’t been a picnic, and there was a reason I had been awarded a silver cross for my bravery.
I brushed her tears away and kissed the tip of her nose. “I’m so sorry that it happened to you,” I whispered.
“Me too.”
“I wish I could have been there to protect you.”
She lowered her eyes.
“Cia, look at me.”
She did.
