Silencing Joy (2 page)

Kara lingers as the game continues and decides to sit
down for a short time to watch. Her heart thuds, keeping her eyes
on the back of Derek as he walks away from the field into the
night.

After a few minutes, she can barely see him anymore.
The lights of the field blind her as she looked towards where he
disappeared into a throng of nothingness.

Everyone around her stands and cheers, startling Kara
out of her trance. The visitors scored a touchdown. The shouts and
hollering radiate around Kara, sending a buzz through her eardrums.
The entire crowd is focused on the field. She immediately forces
her head down and covers her ears, shifting in her seat
uncomfortable with the whole situation. The cheering seems to last
forever.

Kara shifts again and her foot slips between the
bleacher openings. Something tugs on it. Her foot is pulled down,
and Kara collapses onto the steel. No one sees. Hands maul her and
yank at her waist as her hands try to hold onto the cold metal. A
hand covers her mouth, and she loses her grip and falls. Kara lands
flat on the ground in the dirt and trash under the bleachers.

A cloth envelops her mouth and is tied at the back of
her head. Kara’s hands are yanked and bound behind her back with
thick rope. Someone flips her over like a hog, tied and dressed for
roasting over a spit. Her eyes screamed in terror.

I lay on the cold ground for what seems like
hours, too scared to move. I noticed the beat-up guy stirring. He
must have passed out and was now coming to. He groaned. I didn’t
have the strength to get up, so I crawled over to where he was. It
felt like a 10-mile crawl with arms and legs of lead. My jaw and
neck throbbed in painful stabbing jabs.

When I reached him, I asked, “Can you move?
They’re gone.”

He shook his head a little as he lay on his
back. He moaned again and looked at me. He could only open one eye
halfway, they were so swollen.

“Who’re you?” he asked groggily.

“I’m Joy. I was taking pictures of the game.”
I gently rubbed his arm. “Can you move?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you have a cell phone? They took mine.”
His eyes closed again.

“Nah,” he breathed out. “I’m going to try to
stand. Can you help me?”

I stood and grasped him under the arms. He
got up on his knees. Dark, red wetness slid down his cheek in the
weak light. With great difficulty, we shimmied and moved until we
were out from under the bleachers. He leaned on me as we made our
way to the parking lot and into the welcome light. I realized as we
stumbled along that he towered over me.

“Do you have a car? I think I should take you
to the emergency room,” I said.

“No, no car. I just need to get home.” He
whispered, every step an effort for us.

“My car is over here. Move this way.” As we
stumbled towards my car, leaning on each other, I was thankful that
my car keys were in my pocket and not my camera bag.

I unlocked the passenger side and helped him
in. He gritted his teeth and held onto his stomach as he tried to
get in. My little Ford was kind of small to fit his long legs. He
must have been six-feet-two. As I finished helping him into the
car, I leaned over him to put on his seatbelt for him.

His eyes finally opened and he said quietly,
“Thank you, Joy. You’re a lifesaver.” My heart stuttered a little
as I clicked his seatbelt securely.

I shut his door and walked around to the
other side of the car. As I got in myself, a thought occurred to
me.

“Hey, I don’t know your name.”

“It’s Will,” he said as I turned the car
on.

“Where to, Will?”

“Head to Providence. I’ll give you directions
from there.” He pulled in a few sharp, labored breaths.

We drove for about ten minutes in silence.
Will sat quietly with his eyes shut. I peeked over at him. His lip
and eyes were very swollen. He never let go of his stomach.

“Take a right on to Dexter and a left on
Pine.” I did. “I’m the white house on the left with the black
shutters.”

I turned to pull in the driveway, parked my
car, and looked down at my hands, shaking on the wheel. Will
noticed and put his hand on mine to steady it.

“What happened to you?” he whispered.

I didn’t want to talk about it. My eyes
filled with tears. I couldn’t speak or look at him. Not being able
to talk turned into choking sobs. They racked my whole body, and I
pressed my forehead to the steering wheel.

“Hey...hey... Don’t cry. I’m sorry that I
dragged you into this. I didn’t mean to,” Will offered gently.

He awkwardly tried to pull me into a hug, but
I resisted. His bulging black and blue eyes stared at me like he
saw me for the first time.

“Wait a second, do I know you?”

I wiped my eyes and sniffled. “No, I don’t
think so.” I said through a cracking voice.

“Did you ever go to Pittsfield?”

“Yeah, a couple of years ago.” Tears
continued to stream down my face.

“I was a sophomore when you were a senior,”
he said, a small smile trying to peek through his fat lip. “You’re
Joy Tilden.”

“Yeah, that’s me.” I reached across him to
the glove compartment and grabbed some tissues to blow my nose.
“Wait, you’re a senior now?” I asked, feeling compelled in this
harrowing situation to keep the conversation going.

“Hmph...yeah. A 19-year-old one. I stayed
back a couple of times. I got into trouble...a
LOT
. I was
out of school more than I was in.”

“Is there someone you want me to go get in
the house for you?” I asked, uncomfortably shifting in my seat to
look at the house and not at him. The house was dark and barely
even looked habitable, never mind appearing like someone was
home.

“Nah, I’ll be alright. It’s just me.” Will
put his hand on the door handle and groaned as he lifted himself to
get out of the car. I jumped out of the car and ran around to help
him out. “You’re not going to tell me what happened to you tonight,
are you?” he asked, concerned.

“It’s not worth mentioning. I need to get
going.” I grabbed him under the arm to help him up the broken
cement walk to the house.

“Do you want to come in and rest for a while?
You’ve been through a lot tonight,” Will asked as we reach the
door. He twisted painfully towards me.

“No,
YOU
have been through a lot
tonight,” I said matter-of-factly. We stood there looking at each
other.

“Thanks again, Joy.” Will said, his fat lip
trying to smile again as he took a long look at me. He fumbled with
the doorknob and hobbled into the house.

Kara:

Kara’s head snaps back as Tommy slaps her across the
face. Her cheek stings with agony, but it takes her thoughts off
the pricking sensation in her legs where the ropes cut off her
circulation. Tommy shouts at her to stop crying. He yells and howls
at her incessantly. Kara can only hear part of it because of the
daze she is in. People are talking, and there is laughter somewhere
in this foreign place.

“
Stop crying!” Tommy roars. “Stop crying right
fucking now!”

Kara hates herself because she can’t. Tears keep
coming and flow freely down her face. A piece of torn cloth is
wrapped around her face by someone she can’t see. Then another is
placed around her eyes. She can feel the culprit behind her tie it
in a tight knot.

The next morning, I hurt all over and my mind
was murky. Even though my apartment was a small one for students,
crossing the small space just to make it to the bathroom took a
great deal of energy. In the mirror, I could see tiny scrape marks
on my face and dirt crusted on my cheeks, reminders of hitting the
ground face-first when Tommy pushed me. Thinking about it made my
hands tingle in a fearful way and I shook all over again.

Knock. Knock.
I jumped out of my
skin.

“Come on, Joy-Joy, we’re gonna be late! You
know how I am. I don’t want to miss the previews.”

Jen! Whew!

My friend Jen loved slasher flicks and had to
see them on opening weekend. It was a ridiculous ritual we had. We
even get the same seats and the same snacks every time.

“I’m coming.” I unlocked the door to let her
in.

“Oh my...
HOLY...
what happened to you?”
Jen yelled as she worked her way into my small apartment.

“I had a ‘run-in’ at the game last
night.”

“What!?” Jen screeched, examining my
face.

“I was taking pictures...
ummm...
under
the bleachers after the game. These thugs dragged someone
underneath and beat the crap out of him.” I took a breath through
my mouth that morphed into a lump. “I didn’t know what to do, and
they saw me... One of them grabbed me.” Recalling the nightmarish
event made my voice shake and the tears come again.

“Joy! You need to go to the police!” Jen
hugged me and walked me to the couch. “Was that it? They just
grabbed you?” Jen asked. She hurried into the kitchen area and
filled a glass of water, then came back to fuss over me.

“Well...” I hesitated and sat on the couch,
holding a crumpled up tissue in my hands. “I think the guy that
grabbed me may have raped me if it wasn’t for one of the guys
intervening
...I think his name was Derek.”

“The guy who tried to rape you was named
Derek?” she asked, handing me the water. Jen’s face was frozen in
inquisitive horror.

“No...the guy who stopped him...was Derek.
Ugh, it’s all kind of a confusing blur.” I let my head fall in my
hands. “The guy who grabbed me was named Tommy. At least, that’s
what his friends called him.” I didn’t want to talk about it
anymore. “I really need a shower, Jen. Do you mind if we skip movie
mania today?” A light bulb flashed on in my fragile mind. “Damn it!
I forgot! My camera is still under the bleachers somewhere.” I
looked back to Jen, “Oh, and they stole my phone.”

“They stole your phone? Why would they do
that?” Jen asked incredulously.

“I don’t know, but I really need to find my
camera.”

“Look, Joy, I’m coming with you. Then I think
we should go to the police.”

“That guy Tommy threatened me. He said if I
went to the police, he’d kill me.” I turned to Jen. “Jen, I don’t
think I have ever been this scared in my whole life.” I rubbed my
hands up and down my arms trying to comfort myself.

“Joy, what if they find out where you live
and come after you again?” She paused. “And what happened to the
other guy, the one they beat up?”

“Oh, jeez, him? I forgot to tell you about
him. Um...I crawled over to him, put him in my car, and then drove
him home. He wouldn’t go to the emergency room... Jen, you should
have seen him. I don’t think I would even recognize him once his
face heals up. He was so beaten and bloodied. His eyes were swollen
up like he went ten rounds with a professional boxer, and his lip
was three times normal size. I bet they broke some of his ribs too.
He was holding his stomach for the whole ride.”

“Joy, get in the shower then we’ll go get
your camera,” Jen ordered me.

I walked to the bathroom feeling like an
automaton. The water sluiced down the curves of my body. My numb,
violated skin barely registered it as my mind willed the water to
wash away the horror and visions of last night.

When I emerged from the bathroom, Jen had
turned on the TV and the news was on. I slowly dragged myself to
the couch to put on my shoes. I pushed my wet hair away from my
face feeling my sore scalp from where Tommy’s hand had practically
ripped the hair from my skull.

I was so shaky that Jen drove us to
Pittsfield. I didn’t even remember getting home last night. We got
out of the car and walked over to the bleachers. It was a blustery,
overcast day. It felt surreal, like the horror of the night before
happened in a dream or to someone else.

Jen crawled underneath the bleachers.
I
can’t. I can’t move. I am frozen in place.
Jen called back to
me.

“Don’t worry, Joy. I can do this. Where do
you think your camera is?”

“Go to the left.”

After a couple of minutes, Jen yelled back to
me. “I got it.”

A slight relief washed over me.
Thank
God!
She edged her way out from under the bleachers.

“Here it is.”

Jen handed me the dirty camera bag with the
camera half hanging out of it. I took it completely out to examine
it for damage. Surprisingly, it looked okay. I wouldn’t know till I
tried to use it, but it appeared to have survived the kick. I
looked through the viewer, and it wasn’t cracked.

During the ride back to our apartment
building, Jen tried to convince me to go to the police, saying it
was my duty to the public to notify the authorities of these
hoodlums harassing citizens. She made a great case, but I couldn’t
do it. I was too scared, not just scared for myself, but also
scared for Jen.

“Do you want me to come in?” she asked. “I
can make you some coffee.”

“No, I’ll be okay. I just need a nap. I’m
really tired.”

“Well, I’ll be right upstairs if you need me.
Later on, if you want, we can head to the mall to get you a new
phone.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. We can
also test my camera to make sure it works.”

Kara:

Kara’s body welcomes sleep. When she wakes, the
darkness competes with the faded moonlight streaming in from the
outside. The distinct ripping sound of duct tape echoes loudly in
what is a cavernous space. Blind panic revs her heart, reminding
her of the sheer helplessness of her situation.

A hand unties the rag of cloth fastened around her
mouth. A fresh piece of duct tape replaces it and is placed over
her lips.

“
You gotta feed her or give her some water,” a
distant young boy’s voice declares. His voice is a little bit
familiar.