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Why Her?

My best friend was raped and the police turned her away.

By RJ ScottPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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It was 11:34 PM. I was in my bed and almost asleep. I had told my boyfriend good night when she texted.

"Hey! I was just thinking about you :) How are you doing?"

I reply because she's my best friend and I hadn't heard from her in a while. Not since spring break.

"I'm good! How about you?"

"That's great! I've been better but wait... do you care if I tell you something?"

"What do you mean? I care about you and wanna help you and listen whenever you need to talk."

"First, I'm sorry for what you're about to read. It's like, a lot."

I was worried at this point, but I guessed I was reading too far into things. This is the message that was sent to me.

"Well, to start off, the day after we got lunch together, I got back to school and was raped off campus by a stranger. I had this huge investigation with the police and the investigators accused me of lying. I was so overwhelmed with the way they treated me that I ended up cutting myself to relieve the stress and pain of it all. I found out a few days ago that I was pregnant with this fucker's baby (I was five weeks and six days). Right now I've spent the last few nights in my friend's room because my roommate couldn't handle what happened. My roommate told me that she "couldn't support me." So my roommate left me by myself when I found out I was pregnant. Now we don't get along. Currently, I'm in my friends room recovering from my medical abortion. I am in so much pain. This whole thing is just crazy..."

I couldn't even fathom what I had just read. I had known her and loved her since we were in sixth grade together. How could that happen to her? She is the nicest girl I know, but she could knock someone out if she wanted to...

I sat on my bed and cried harder than I ever had before. I felt as if my soul was leaving my body to go hundreds of miles away to go comfort her. I decided to wipe away the tears and the anger and to call her. She was excited to hear from me.

While on the phone, she told me the entire story. She was out for a run off campus and this guy came running up behind her and whenever she would speed up or slow down, so would he. He tripped her, dragged her to his car with a knife to her back and did it, then dumped her off where he had taken her.

When she told the police what had happened, they gave her a psych evaluation and told her "that kind of thing doesn't really happen around here. Are you sure you're telling the whole truth?" If only polygraph testing were legal in our home state, they would know what happened. They told her, "You know, if you make these kind of allegations and they go public, that could scare a lot of people." She's a criminal justice major and told them that. "I'm a criminal justice major so I know the consequences about lying in this kind of situation."

"Well, we know criminal justice majors to do much worse."

After she finished her story, I was furious. I'm not sure if that kind of thing has happened before, but now, the next time someone gets raped, they won't believe them and that scumbag gets to go free. Why is there so much power when it comes to outing celebrities of their crimes, but when it comes to everyday people, the police would turn a blind eye so easily? I want to go to her campus or go to where she was raped and set up a sign reading, "My best friend was raped here. The police didn't believe her. Have you been raped or sexually assaulted in this town? The police need to hear you. #METOO"

I wonder what would happen if that sign were to be set up. I wonder if anything would change. She would still have the painful memories and the physical pain of the abortion, but at least her mind could be eased if he wasn't out doing that to more unsuspecting victims.

Thank you for reading. Please, be careful out there. The world is a terrifying place.

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About the Creator

RJ Scott

Mechanical engineer who loves to write music, short stories, and stories from their past

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