Dad was still absent from the house. Mom had returned. She looked exhausted. Dark circles traced under her eyes, showing her lack of energy and sleep.

“Hi, dear. Did anything happen when I was gone?”

I kept my back facing her, pretending to be occupied in something else.

“No.”

She shrugged her shoulders and went about her business. Today was Saturday. There was nothing much to do.

“So, do you have any plans with your friends from school? How about the ones that invited you to the party?”

My thoughts froze. The mention of the party made my entire body stiff.

“Nothing”, I responded coldly. Visions of the rape still replayed in my mind. The memories were still fresh as if it happened yesterday.

God, for that one moment, I hated myself right then. Why did I let it happen? How stupid was I? It still angered me that I didn’t do anything to stop it.

“Oh. Well, I heard that Dad is on an important business trip. He’s going to be gone for about 6 weeks. He’s very busy.” Her tone was attempting to sound convincing but I knew that she knew Dad was not going to be very busy with his work. He probably was going out with some ditzy chick prostitute who was willing to sleep with married men.

“Whatever. I don’t care.”

I took a peek behind my back. Mom was glaring at me but I didn’t find any reason why she had. Dad was plainly cheating on her and she knew it. Yet, she still acted like he wasn’t.

“I’ll be in my room if you need me”, she said sternly.

“Whatever.”

With her out of my sight, I grabbed the car keys and went out. I had no intention of where to go but just drive. My mind needed refreshment.

At speeds around 45, I wounded my way to the nearest grocery store. Parking right in front, I pulled the keys out and placed them in my pocket.

The store was medium-sized. It did contain most of the basic items. Wandering from aisle to aisle, I searched for some simple quick foods to buy for Mom. As I was about to head to the cash register, my eye caught sight of somebody’s tattoos. They looked familiar. As my gaze traveled up, I was trapped facing a set of dark mesmerizing eyes.

“Um, hi”, I muttered.

“Hi.”

We stared at each other for a while before I wretched my gaze away from him. It was the same Goth I had bumped in at school and spotted near the car shop.

“We’ve met before, haven’t we?” the Goth dude asked.

“Yeah.”

“The name’s Butch.” He extended his hand out. His arm was plastered with tattoos.

“Nora.” I returned his greeting with a hand shake.

We both withdrew our hands at the same time and stuck them in our pockets.

“So..”

“So..” I repeated.

“It was nice meeting ya. I betta go. My buddies are waiting for their drinks.” He lifted up a small pack of cokes. “They’re probably wondering what happened to me by now. See ya around sometime.”

“Yeah.” I stood idiotically before him.

“Well, I betta be going. Bye.”

Before I could manage to say another word, he was gone.

Cursing to myself, I collected more items before storming to the cash register and mumbled a word of thanks when the kind cashier bade me a good day.

With all of my stuff in the trunk, I drove to the next place I could think of. The car shop. As the car curbed to the corner where the car shop was, my eyes searched for the Goth guy. He was nowhere to be seen. Shrugging, I made a quick U-turn and went towards the stop light. Just as I was leaving, I spotted somebody from my rear-view mirror. It was him, staring right back at me. Slowly, he winked and then was out of sight.

Circling around the area, I finally made my way back home. Taking out the groceries, I went in and loaded the cabinets with food. Although, I knew I wouldn’t be eating them, I still had the feeling that I should stock up when the food ran low.

After the task was done, I sat down at the computer desk and surfed the Internet for a while. Time passed by slowly. There was nothing to do around the house. My legs needed to stretch. I checked the clock. Once again, I grabbed my clothes and dashed out.

My legs kept on long strides as I ran. I kept on running as if I could keep on going and never stopping. Time flew by. I struggled to keep my pace and pushed myself harder. Happily, I knew that I was exceeding my point from yesterday. Probably 6 miles by now. When I reached home, I knew that I had accomplished something. For once, I could control something. This put a slight smile on my face.

The next day, Mom went to a bingo game with her few girlfriends. I was left alone once again. I drank a cup of orange juice before making my daily run.

Instead of going the regular path, I decided to go down by the park. Usually, it was vacant. Nobody I knew would see me there.

Unfortunately, as I approached the park, a group of teenagers around my age were already there, chatting and laughing out loud. However, among those teens, one of them looked very familiar.

“Hey Nora!”

My thoughts nearly froze. It was Jason.

I waved and tried to dash past them but Jason was already catching up to me. He grabbed my arm. In panic, I struggled to twist my way out. He dropped his hand and backed away, a puzzled look on his face.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, his face looking purely innocent.

“Um..no. I just don’t like getting touched.”

“Oh. Sorry.” He slid his hands in his pocket and slightly hung his head.

I felt guilty. Here was a guy who seemed to have no bad intention towards me yet I still felt untrustworthy, more careful than ever.

“Um. It’s okay. I’m just sensitive.” Carefully, I gently placed my finger on his arm. It made me feel foolish, as if I was cautiously checking to see whether he bit or not.

“Oh.” He brightened up a bit and smiled back at me.

“Um. I’ll see around then, Jason.” I waved him off before he could say another word.

Still, my heart was beating wildly. I couldn’t stop thinking about Jason. He was only acting kind yet I treated him with cold disrespect. It was mean to do so to him.