Viva logo

Why I didn't speak out

A story of a legal loophole

By Cheyenne HarrisonPublished 4 years ago 2 min read
2

February 2018, I was in the midst of a crisis. I was in an abusive relationship at the tender age of 17. Now a question you might ask is, why did you stay with him? Well, any woman that has been abused by a spouse, will say this. "I loved him".

17 year old me didn't care that he would leave bruises on my thighs and legs. Not to mention, he hated my father, I hated my father. My father decided to come into my life when I was 17 years old. After being away for many years. After I had been in a recovery facility.

We will call this guy Jackson, that isn't his name. My father had just found the pictures of the bruises that I took, and he was very angry. He said that he was going to the cops and getting my Jackson sent to jail. I emailed Jackson and told him what was happening.

We made a plan to run away, and so we did. I went to his house in the middle of the night, and he invited me in. I had just lost my virginity a couple of weeks prior and so we had sex, then started running away. We had a tent, food, clothes, and a couple of other things to help us on our journey.

We walked to his grandmother's house and hid under her house, in the crawlspace. And this is when he wanted to have sex again. I was tired, but I said yeah, why not. We didn't have much else to do.

Now let me ask you a question, at any time when a woman says no, whether she said yes first or not. Should he stop? Your answer is yes, i hope anyways. In the state of North Carolina, until November of 2019, that was not the case. The state had a law in place that basically said a guy has a right to finish.

This was the first red flag that really scared me. He didnt stop, even when I asked and begged him to.

Flash forward four days, This was the day that we both went home. When I got home, my dad noticed the bruises all over my body. Some of them because we were out in the woods, and some of them because he had hit, choked, and threw me around.

Worst part of it all, I couldnt say it was rape. Because of that stupid law that was in place. Im glad to hear that they changed it. I just wish they had changed it before.

body
2

About the Creator

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.