THE RAPE I WITNESSED

Before I begin, this story will be graphic and hard for some readers.

A few nights before my best friend got raped she invited me to an air B and B party with a few of my other friends and some random people that I barely met that night. This event took place June 13th, 2020- June 15th, 2020. Everyone at this party seemed pretty ordinary, no one came off to me as creepy. The house had three bedrooms, two living rooms, one dining room, a kitchen, three bathrooms, and a pool. Everyone entered through the garage so the cameras didn't catch how many people actually entered the house. The three bathrooms were designated to certain people for those who wanted to spend the night. One was the master bedroom and was designated to the one person who paid for mostly everything. The other bedroom was called the "guy only bedroom." Leaving the last one to be called the "girl only bedroom." Each bedroom contained three beds. Those of us who showed up to the party first on the first night got to pick our beds first. I showed up first so I picked the bed all the way to the left side of the room. My best friend picked the bed on the right of the room and this other girl picked the bed in the middle. The other girls who were staying the night slept on the floor, didn't sleep, or slept in one of the living rooms. My best friend invited one of her close guy friends over so her boyfriend would show up. Her boyfriend doesn't know that many people at the party, so he said that he would go if that one guy showed up. Two hours after the party started, both of them arrive together. My best friend got so excited that she ran outside to walk them in. But, little did she know that inviting her close guy friend would make the worst night of her life.

About five hours later, I was convinced to try an edible for the first time. The girl gave me 500 mg of a Sour Patch Kid. I didn't want to drink because this was my first-time experience on Marijuana, but my other friend poured a couple of shots in my drink without telling me. In my friend group, if you get liquor in your cup you have to drink it. It doesn't matter if someone else gave it you, it's a trust thing. But, my friend was super drunk so she gave me coke with two shots of Jack and said that I had to drink it because it's the rules. I drank it and a few minutes afterwards the whole party gathered around the table to play Jenga. Each block had a truth or a dare written on it. And before I continue, my friends tried setting me up with this guy that really liked me two months before this party. I didn't know that they were going to invite him because I got together with my boyfriend three weeks before this party. My friends, however, really liked this guy they tried setting me up with so the persisted to keep trying to push us together. They gathered the table around to play Jenga once he showed up. Also, my boyfriend attended the party half an hour after this game. The guy my friends set me up with pulled his Jenga block and it said "play seven minutes in heaven with the party's choice." The party chose me to go in the closet with him for seven minutes. This was the master bedroom closet so it was pretty big and had two chair in there for both of us. While I was in the closet, the edible kicked in. I strictly told him that I have a boyfriend after he tried to kiss me and he respected that. After a few awkward minutes, we were let out of the closet. We went back to the table to finish the game. The rules of this game of Jenga is that whoever knocks over the tower has to take three shots of vodka. Because the edible kicked in, I accidentally knocked over the tower. Right after I took my three shots, my boyfriend showed up and gave me pizza. I then ended up not feeling so well from the shots and the edible, so I rushed to the nearest bathroom. My boyfriend held back my hair and after I was done I went to the girls bedroom and laid down on my bed. He quickly kissed me goodnight and let me sleep. He drove home right after because my friends didn't make him feel welcomed.

I eventually woke up that night to someone walking into the room. It was dark that night so all I saw was a boy with dark hair and his shirt off. He was on top of this girl and I quickly assumed that it was this other girl and her boyfriend having sex right next to me. I thought that maybe they thought that they could have sex in here because they thought that everyone was sleeping. So, I turned over without a second thought and put a pillow over my ears. The next sound that I heard was a girl crying. I quickly jumped up and tried to push him off of her but he pushed me down to the floor so I asked for help from someone else that she trusted. My best friend was the girl and June 13th, 2o2o was the night that she got raped by her closest guy friend. The guy knocked out after they pushed him off of her because he was drunk. They very next day she said was the hardest day for her through all of this. My best friend said that: "nothing feels worse than seeing the people you care about most hurt because you're hurting. They all woke up this morning looking at me as if I was a broken record." I was also a rape victim but from childhood so I knew exactly what she was feeling at this time.

Later the next day, the guy woke up and was kicked out of the house. My best friend didn't call the police until June 16th, 2020 because she wanted to enjoy the party. My friends all supported her and told her that if she needs anything that we are there for her, but the rest of the party was surprisingly split on this idea. The rest of the party were close to the guy that raped her so they said that "there's no way that he could've done this" or "he's too nice to do that." My best friend said that is exactly what I thought until he did this to me. So, the party quickly split sides between the victim and the rapist. The opposing sides believed that I was too drunk to see what actually happened. They claimed that my best friend and I were liars.

After the party on June 16th, 2020, I received a phone call from the Rancho Cucamonga Police Station. They asked me for a lot of personal questions as well as questions related to that night. I told the officer everything and he said that there will probably have to be a court case after everything settles with COVID-19. We are all still currently waiting on her court date. But, after everything that happened I wasn't the same person anymore.

I had to make some new changes because of what I went through. I couldn't handle waking up in the middle of the night with nightmares involving rape. I told my friends that I had to see them less until I was myself again. They said that it was fine and that they understood. Being without them for a little while at first was hard, but it got easier and I started having less and less nightmares. Later on, I began to realize that they weren't the best of people and that they were a bad influence on me. I decided to do one last hangout with all of them before I told them that I would be leaving the group. The first thing that they said when I show wasn't hi, but a "you should really break up with your boyfriend and date someone in your own league." After that they took my phone and went through it because they all know my passcode and texted a bunch of guys on phone asking if I could go on dates with them. After this day I was sure that I had to leave this group. I didn't want to hangout with people who judged people based on appearances rather than their attitudes. So, I met new friends a couple weeks later and they are truly the kindest people that I have ever met.

Because of the party, my life really did a total turn around. I made some new friends and left the old group behind. I started to talk to more people who went through the same thing that my best friend and I went through. Even though I left their friend group I still talk with her and make sure that she has all of the friends and support that she needs to get past this.