It was a strangely warm April day. Joe and I were outside in my backyard, playing with my dog. Well, I was playing with the dog. He was climbing a tree.
"Don't hurt yourself!" I teased. "Don't want to be sending you to the ER." He was a junior and I was a freshman. A sad pairing; I was too young to go to prom, and he'd already said he wanted to ask me. We'd gone to Sadie Hawkins together--our first 'official date'--but it just wasn't the same.
He only laughed and sat on the branch he'd just reached. "Don't worry about me, Destiny. I'll be fine."
I chuckled and laid in the grass in the sun, closing my eyes, enjoying the warmth. I'd never liked cold weather, and the promise of summer kept me happy. I'd almost survived my inaugural year of high school without too many qualms. The rest would be a cinch.
I heard a door open and close, and thought nothing of it. I'd never noticed the soft sound of him hitting the ground when he jumped off the tree, the soft whine from my dog as he dragged her inside. His footsteps toward me were silent...
The thing that made my eyes snap open was the feeling of his weight, holding me down.
I struggled against him, laughing, thinking he was playing. "Get off of me!"
"Why should I?" His voice was a low purr, sensual. His body was suddenly too heavy and warm, his lips--lips that had given me my first kiss, stolen so innocently--looking hard and unyielding, especially in that smirk that promised something much different than the playful I'd had in mind.
"C-come on," I said, trying to push my paranoia away as much as I was trying to push him away. "Get off."
"I don't think I will."
I took a breath, ready to scream because I'd heard the stories and I knew the rumors and I'd never wanted to believe them but now I did. His hand covered my mouth and jaw, tilted my head up as his lips and teeth assaulted my neck.
I continued to struggle in vain, my eyes closing hard against the pain I knew I was going to feel.
A voice whispered in my head. /I'll protect you./ It wasn't him. It was another.
It was a voice I'd only imagined. But I trusted it, and I let my mind go black to escape.