She's Just The White Envelope Girl

After what he had done to me, I cried, not being able to sleep. I couldn’t believe what he did. It was so horrible. I didn’t know what to do. He threatened he’d do something bad if I told anybody. He had raped me; I had to do something, though. But, I couldn’t. No one would believe me. No one would believe a little girl. Plus, my dad was known around the neighborhood as "the perfect father". I cried more, knowing the next day wouldn’t be any better.

The next morning, I took a shower, feeling really dirty, and went to the kitchen, dreading the worst.

“Good morning, Rosalie,” my mom greeted, pouring orange juice in a cup.

“Hey, Mom,” I muttered, sitting on a chair.

Her face softened. “Oh, Rosalie, I know what your father said was disrespectful, but he’s under a lot of stress.” She came over to give me a hug but stopped.

“What happened here?” she asked, rubbing where my dad slapped me. I cringed at her touch, remembering the pain.

“I, um, just hit myself by accident. I-I have to go,” I said nervously, moving my way to the door.

“Okay,” she said, confused.

Right when I was about to grab the door knob, the door opened, revealing my dad.

“Sorry, I’m just—whoa careful there, Kiddo,” he said like nothing happened the day before.

“Rosalie, say hi to your father. Even though we’re getting a divorce, it will not change anything,” my mom said, noticing that I didn’t say anything to him.

I glared at my black sneakers. I didn’t want to talk to him.

“Rosalie,” my mom warned, her voice rising.

I groaned inwardly. “Hi, Dad,” I muttered.

My dad bent down, eye to eye level. “How ‘bout I take you to school?” he asked, father like, which was unusual because he had never acted like that. But, I knew he was faking it, probably thinking I’ll forget about the night before. I wasn’t giving in, though.

“That’s a great idea. Anyways, it looks like it’s going to rain,” my mom praised.

Biting my lip, I looked at my parents, debating whether or not to go.

I nodded, doing just for my mom.

Getting up, my father clapped. “Great!”

I walked out the door, keeping a safe difference from him.

“Rose, don’t be so quiet,” my dad said, breaking the silence, in the car.

I ignored him and kept staring out the window.

“Rose, I know what I did was wrong, but we can forget this.”

That’s when I blew it.

“Forget this? I can’t forget what you did to me! What you did was horrible! How do you expect me not to think this isn’t big?”

He pulled over viciously, looking at me furiously. “Look here, Rosalie. I don’t care what you think. You’re not saying anything to anybody. And, I’ll make sure you won’t.”

I gulped, scared. I kept quiet for the rest of the ride, making sure that I wouldn’t cry.

The rest of the school day, nothing happened, but all I wanted to do was cry. I couldn’t tell anybody, not even Avon, or the worst could happen.

“How are you keeping up?” Avon asked after school.

“I’ve been better,” I answered, not bothering to looking into his eyes.

“Rosalie,” he softened his voice, “is there something else going on?”

I looked around. “Um, meet me at the park at six thirty, okay?”

“Okay,” he said, confused.

I didn’t think I could keep it any longer.

----

As told, Avon came at the park.

One look at him and I started crying.

He came up to me with worried eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Avon, he did something to me,” I sobbed into his chest.

“What?”

“My dad. He, he raped me,” I cried.

His eyes widened. “What? Rosalie, you have to tell the police—”

I looked at him with pleading eyes. “No, I can’t! My dad threatened me! He said if I told anybody, he’d do something bad. I don’t want anybody to get hurt, like you.”

“Rosalie, nothing is going to happen to me. I love you,” he mumbled the last part.

“You what?” I asked, pulling away from him.

“I, um, like you…” he said, blushing.

I was shocked at this. Avon likes me? My best friend likes me?

“Back to the point, nothing is going to happen, and if anything does happen, just remember that I love you, okay?” he said gently, making myself blush.

I smiled shyly. “Okay.”

“Now, um, do you like me?” he asked, avoiding eye contact.

I blushed wildly. “Um…yeah…”

His face brightened up. “Really?”

I let out a short laugh. “Yes, Avon, I do like you, a lot.”

“Awesome,” he breathed out and gave me a hug.

For a moment I felt happy, but it got ruined by his voice.

“ROSALIE, WHAT DID I TELL YOU?” I heard behind. I let go of Avon and turned around, seeing it was my furious father.

“D-Dad, what are you doing here?” I asked nervously, questions filling my mind. How long was he here? How much did he here?

“Rosalie, I know you told him,” he growled. I gulped, scared.

“Maybe, Mr. Carter, you should calm down, and—”Avon tried to explain.

“Look here, little brat. I don’t care what you say,” he interrupted him rudely.

“Dad, be quiet. He’s just trying to be the good one here.”

He turned to me, glaring. “Good one? You’re the one that told him. Now, you’re going to pay.”

I went on, not showing that I was scared. “Go ahead, but I’ll tell the police first, then you’ll go to jail.”

He snorted. “No one will believe you. You’re just a little girl. They won’t believe you.”

I gulped. “You can’t stop me!” I yelled and then ran for my life.

But, something hit me on the head, leaving me to black out.

---

Pain hit me immediately when I woke up. Getting up was a hard thing to do. But, I was more concerned about where I was. The room was dark, making it unable to see.

“Ugh, what happened?” I asked to no one in particular.

“Rosalie, you’re awake?” I heard. I jumped at the voice. I didn’t know anybody was in there, and of course, I got scared.

“Avon, where are we?” I asked him once my breathing was right.

“I don’t know,” he said sadly. We couldn’t see each other, but I knew he was right next to me, by how close his voice was.

“Do you remember what happened?” I asked.

“Well, your dad hit with something. I can’t remember what it was, though, then you fell to the ground, I ran to you, but your dad hit me too, and that’s all I could remember,” he explained.

“H-He hit you?” I asked, concerned about him. “Are you okay? Does something hurt—?”

“Rosalie, hush. I’m okay; my head just hurts. Now, let’s get out of here. We need to tell the police.” I heard him get up. “Here, grab my hand.” I found his hand, and he pulled me up, but I groaned at the pain of getting up.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, alarmed.

“I had a bad fall, I guess,” I said, leaning on him.

“Well, um, just hold onto me, k?” I nodded for his answer.

We walked until we saw light. It was just a crack of light, but I felt happier.

Avon opened the door that led outside. Once opened, they sky was dark, a few street lights were on, but I had the strangest feeling that I knew where we were. But, the name wouldn’t come to me.

“This place looks familiar…” Avon gave me a hopeful look. “I know where we’re at! We’re near my uncle’s house.”

He sighed in relief “Really?”

“Yes.” Then, I got a great idea. “We can tell him about my dad. He’s really close with the cops. Come on.” I pulled his hand.

---

“This is his house,” I said a few minutes later.

I knocked on the door; seconds later, footsteps and voices were coming closer.

The door opened, and I sighed in relief, seeing it was my uncle, Sam.

“Rosalie? What are you doing here?” he asked, looking outside.

I ignored him. “I have to tell you something really important.”

He scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. “Okay…come in.”

Avon and I sat down on his couch.

“What do you need to tell me?”

I looked at Avon before replying. “Well, um, my dad—”

“Sam, what shirt should I wear?”

My jaw dropped at what I saw. It was my dad. He was there.

“Oh, hi Rosalie. How did you get here?” he asked all happy.

Avon gave me a confused look; I shrugged in response.

“What are you doing here, dad?” I asked nervously.

“He’s staying here until he can get a house,” Uncle Sam answered for him. “Now, what were you going to say, Rosalie?”

What was I going to do? I couldn’t tell him with my father there.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

Uncle Sam put on a serious face. “Were you going to say your father raped you?” He scoffed. “What did you expect? That I was going to tell on him? Yeah right, he’s my brother. I’m not going to tell.”

○

“I was shocked. I thought he’d help me.” I looked down at my hands, tears slowly falling down my cheeks. “It was a huge blur from there. It went by so fast. One minute we were running and the next, Avon was,” I was going to say it, finally, “shot.”

“He was shot! My uncle shot him, my best friend!” I yelled, suddenly getting angry. “It wasn’t fair. He didn’t do anything. He was helping me. All he got was to get shot and killed.” It was hard to say that word. I had to force it out.

I finally looked into Ash’s eyes, full of shock. I looked away.

“Of course, my dad and uncle ran from the scene. I was left with Avon, who was dying by the second. Then, he finally died.” I started crying again.

“I couldn’t tell anybody what really happened. I wanted too, badly. I had to lie, and the cops managed to believe me. I just wish that I could’ve told on them. But, it’s too late.”

“You could still tell,” Ash spoke.

I shook my head. “No, it’s too late.”

“But—”

I looked at him straight in the eyes. “No.”

He kept quiet, shocked a bit.

I sighed. “So now, you know why I said those things were true. After the divorce, my mom threw herself in work and loneliness. My friends weren’t so supported for Avon’s death. So, I just hung out by myself.”

Ash stayed quiet, probably trying to take everything in.

It was a lot to take in. But, it felt better to take that off my chest.