Dark Woods

She was a young rebellious teenager no older than 14 or 15. Auburn hair, sweet brown eyes, and covered in freckles. Her life up until that point had been marked by years of abuse, trauma, chaos. Even so, she still managed to hold on to some of her innocence, some of her naïveté.

It was another typical night, but it must have been the weekend or during a school break. She wasn’t usually able to get away for the night if there was school the next day. Her dad was the strict type. He wasn’t about to let a teen of his run the streets, let alone on a school night.

She had recently made friends with a reckless group of individuals. Maybe they all found each other because of their troubled pasts, maybe it was random. But this night would surely be the catolist that ended these friendships.

He was an older guy with a cool truck, he was new and exciting, and he had his eye on her. Tonight was the big mudding party in the woods, and he wanted her to go with him. Although her dad was strict and clever, she still found a way to get out. Love always finds a way, at least that’s what she told her young self.

The sky was clear, drinks were flowing, fire pits were glowing, and mud was flying. She couldn’t remember having more fun. She was surrounded by fun people who wanted to have a good time like her. As the party went on, her clothes became wet with mud and her mind became numb with booze. She was laughing at jokes and dancing to the music. LIFE. WAS. GOOD.

Until it wasn’t.

Parties in the woods had one downfall as far as she was concerned; no bathrooms and she needed to pee. A country girl like her wasn’t gonna let that phase her, though. Afterall, she was tough, she was a survivor.

People always brought TP to these parties, now she just needed to find a good object to provide ample coverage. There was a truck parked parallel to the wood line. It was plenty big enough to hide behind while she maintained what little dignity she had whilst peeing in the woods.

As she turned to head back to the party something, no someone began to embrace her. It was an aggressive embrace, a controlling force, and it was a man and he wasn’t nice.

The booze in her system and her young age made it difficult for her to fight him off. The music was too loud for anyone to hear her screams. And this truck that was once appreciated for its coverage was now working against her. But everything inside her said, “FIGHT! DON’T STOP FIGHTING.”

The light of the bon fires was slowly fading away as he pulled her into the dark woods. Before she knew it, he had thrown her into a truck head first. Before she could spin around and reach for the door he was in the drivers seat with his arm around her kneck like a chokehold.

It was pitch black all around her, her heart was pounding, and she was fighting a stranger who’s face she didn’t know. What did he want from her? Where was he taking her? How long had he been watching her? Where did he come from? WHO WAS HE?

As the truck bounced and twisted through the woods she kicked at the windows until her heels were bruised. During the struggle on the way to the truck she must have lost her shoes, because her feet were now bear. As she fought for her life, the man became enraged and threatened to shoot her if she didn’t comply.

Suddenly they stopped. It was pitch black and the thickness of the woods hid any sliver of light that may have been cast by the moon. He snatched her from the seat by her shirt and drug her to the back of the truck. He told her to take off her pants and lay down. She begged for mercy, begged for her freedom, begged for her life. He said if she complied he would let her go, if not he would shoot her in the head.

The inner voice telling her to fight, now told her to comply. Do as he says. Follow his orders. She was so young, she wasn’t ready to die.

She did what she could to muffle her sobbing, pulled down her pants, then her panties, and laid on the ground. Almost immediately he was on top of her. As he began to force himself inside of her the pain was unbearable. She was a virgin, she was so young, her body wasn’t ready.

The pain was causing her to tense up making penetration nearly impossible. Frustrated, the man stood up and sat on the tailgate. He screamed at her to get up as she cried and begged for another chance to let him penetrate her. She didn’t want him to shoot her, she didn’t want to die.

As she begged for another chance he grabbed her by the back of the head and forced her to perform oral sex on him, using his other hand to hold a gun up to her head. Luckily for her, he seemed to finish almost as quickly as this had all began.

When he finished, he zipped his pants as the girl sat there sobbing and praying. He wasn’t amused by her relentless crying, but how could she help it? He quickly snatched her up and threw her back in the cab of the truck again.

Fearful she had upset him, the girl fought off her tears, calmed her breathing and begged for her freedom. He didn’t say a word, the only noise were the tree branches as the truck sped through the trails in the woods. With his arm around her neck, the girl bounced in the seat as she searched desperately for an escape.

That’s when a light appeared. It was an orange glow and they were headed for it. Was it a fire? Was it the party? Was he really bringing her back?

As the light grew closer, the girl realized it was the light of a fire. She had no clue of it was where her friends were, but she didn’t care because she had hope now. When the fire was about 25 feet out the truck slid to a stop, the man reached over and unlocked the door, kicked the girl out, and took off.

The moment her body hit the sand she took off. No shoes, bloodied, bruised, and scared she rand for her life. There was a patch of woods between where they stopped and where the fire was, but the girl didn’t feel a thing on her bare feet. She ran towards the fire, towards the music, screaming for help.

As she emerged from the dark woods, she landed near a fire pit where party goers were sitting. Screaming for help she collapsed. She made it, she wasn’t dying that night.

This life was hers, it was painful, but hers. She was tough. She was a survivor.