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Authors: Treasure Hernandez

BOOK: Choosing Sides
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Finally, Riq shuddered and let out a loud groan of pleasure. “Owwww!” He collapsed on top of Halleigh and heaved deep breaths.
Mad Dawg pulled out his erected manhood. “Dawg, get the fuck up so I can get mines.”
Pushing his penis back into his pants, Tariq stood up. “Eee-ooo-wee! That cherry was in there so tight. I'm already sore. But, man, that was the best cherry I ever busted.” He looked down at the blood between Halleigh's legs. Her eyes were glazed. She appeared to be semi-conscious at this point. He scratched his head in disbelief. “I didn't think they made no virgins over ten around here no more.”
Both he and Mad Dog shared a laugh.
“Well, I guess I'll just help break her in some more.” Mad Dog rushed in and climbed on top of Halleigh, and she passed out again.
When she came to, he had turned her over and was sodomizing her. When he got through, Riq took another turn, all of this while Sharina had snuck off to the bedroom to get high.
Sharina had never thought her habit would push her to do something so horrible as to trade her very own flesh and blood for a fix. It was so awful, she couldn't bear to watch them take her daughter's innocence. That's when she went into her room, removed the package from her closet, and wrapped a leather belt around her arm, ignoring Halleigh's screams. She hurriedly put the heroin into a tablespoon and lit a flame to it, causing the contents to melt down. She filled the syringe and located a large vein.
When she felt the drug go into her system, she knew that her decision was well worth it.
Shit, Halleigh will be all right. Truth be told, she was probably already fucking anyway.
Sharina didn't even realize how much damage she had just caused. The last thing she heard before drifting into a nod was the sound of Halleigh calling her name over and over again as the two men brutally raped her.
Chapter Four
A
barefoot Halleigh, crying her young eyes out, stumbled aimlessly down the street. In throbbing pain, she gripped her hand over her stomach. She felt like her coochie and her ass were both going to fall out and hit the ground. The streets were deserted, and she'd never felt more alone in her life. Feeling discombobulated, she could hardly see because she was so blinded by her own tears.
“I can't believe this just happened to me,” she muttered to herself.
This has to be a nightmare,
she tried to convince herself, but the pain that she clearly felt proved otherwise. This couldn't be happening to Halleigh. This wasn't the night's plan. She was supposed to be wrapped up in Malek's arms, but then the sound of her feet scraping the glass-splattered, needle-scattered sidewalk of the empty street would bring her back to reality. This was really happening, and it was happening to her.
Her innocence had been viciously stripped from her at the expense of her mother's drug habit. Her womanhood ached and bled under her skirt as she headed towards Malek's house. She didn't know where else to go. He was the only one that she could ever confide in; the only one who ever made her feel loved and protected. She had to get to him.
Once upon a time it was her mother who she felt she could confide in, who could protect her, but that was a thing of the past. She couldn't believe that her mother had just tricked her out, and as badly as that betrayal cut her to the bone and had her body wracked with pain, her heart ached the most. Who could a girl trust if she couldn't trust her own mother?
She'd never felt more desolate in her life, walking through the only city she'd known as home. Flint's streets were so cold, in more ways than one, and the streets were pitch-black, because the city's hoodlums had busted out the streetlights.
As the thoughts of those two grown men taking turns with her body would revisit Halleigh's mind, she would mumble, “No, no, no,” over and over as she shook her head. She felt so defiled. So humiliated. So cheated. She kept thinking about what she and Malek could have had tonight, if only the rape hadn't happened. Those men could have taken anything in the house, the TV, the DVD, the CD player, which were the only things of value they had left that her mother hadn't already hocked. Those were material items that could have easily been replaced. But instead they chose to take something that was irreplaceable. Something Halleigh could never get back.
What she and Malek would have had would have been so innocent. So pure. So unlike from what she'd experienced with those two animals whom she felt had pissed in and on her. They not only robbed her of her innocence, but in so doing, they had stolen her right to choose. The two men had taken turns, both turning deaf ears to her pleas and ignoring her tears of outrage over being violated.
They didn't care that she had saved herself all these years for the man she loved. All they wanted was to fulfill their own lustful desires. To think she'd waited seventeen years for it to all wind up like this. Now she was just another ghetto statistic.
Suddenly a fine drizzle began to fall and quickly turned into large raindrops, which blended into Halleigh's tears. Oblivious to the rain swirling around her, Halleigh pushed forward with one destination in mind.
As soon as she approached Malek's small, Cape Cod-style house, she began to cry even harder. When she made it to his doorstep, she stood still for a moment before knocking. What should she say? What would she do? Would he even believe her? She weighed her options. Should she just go back home and pretend this whole thing never happened and try to just move on, or should she stay? But what if Malek tried to make her call the police and tell them what happened? What would happen to her mother? Would they take her to jail too for allowing it to happen? Then where would that leave Halleigh? Where would she go? To a foster home for someone to turn around and abuse her again? But what if she went back home and Riq and Mad Dog were still waiting to repeat the entire act all over again?
Absently, Halleigh shook her head. She was too afraid Tariq and Mad Dog might come back, and she never wanted to experience that again. She felt both embarrassed and abandoned as she contemplated knocking on her boyfriend's door.
Will he look down on me for this?
she thought as she stood there, drenched and shivering from the cold rain that fell from the black sky.
Finally, she made up her mind. Malek was all she had. She knew deep in her heart that he would be there for her. He had never looked down on her, so why would he start now? She knocked on the door and crossed her arms tightly around her stomach, her head down.
Seconds later, Malek opened the door, and the sounds of Usher lightly played in the background. Halleigh's knees buckled, and she fell into his arms.
Right away, he knew there was something wrong. Halleigh was crying, her hair was soaking wet, and her shirt was torn. He gently grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her inside, closing the door behind them. “What's wrong, baby?” He held her against his chest. “Talk to me, Hal.”
But she couldn't speak. She only cried.
Malek pulled her away from him, and his heart nearly dropped when she looked him in the eyes. They were filled with humiliation, anguish, and pain. Her tears were flowing, and he could feel her body trembling. “Hal, what's wrong?” he asked again.
“They raped me, Malek,” she said in a low voice in-between her cries, a tremor rippling through her body.
“Whaaaat?” Malek stuttered. He wasn't sure he'd heard her right.
“They raped me.” She embraced him and buried her head in his chest.
“Who? What? I mean . . .” Malek's words trailed off. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. “What happened, Halleigh? Who did this to you?”
Halleigh's mouth opened, but no words came out.
For a minute, Malek didn't realize that he was shaking his girlfriend. He was angry and seemed like he was going to lose his temper. Then he pulled himself into check and just shook his head. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, never wanting to let her go. He was confused and angry at the same time. He was at a loss for words and didn't know what to say to her. His fist clenched tightly as he thought about someone hurting her. Her heartbeat began to pick up as he rocked her back and forth in his arms.
Finally he released her. “Who touched you, Hal?” he questioned again, but all Halleigh did was cry. “Who?” he shouted, frustrated with not knowing who had done this to his girl. He grabbed her by the shoulders and peered into her eyes.
Halleigh was so distraught, she just couldn't answer him. Her hysterical cries muffled her speech.
“Come on.” Malek guided her over to the couch and sat her down to console her.
After finally getting her calmed down, Halleigh was able to tell Malek everything that had gone down back at her house. It brought tears to his eyes. He continued to hug her for the longest.
After a while, he broke his embrace then went to the bathroom and ran a tub of hot water. He helped his girlfriend into the bathroom and aided her in easing off her bloody skirt and underwear. Slowly, he helped her ease down into the tub. Fresh tears filled his eyes when he saw the water between Halleigh's legs and behind her turn red with her blood. He could see the bruises on her back and around her neck, but they weren't open wounds. He knew, without Halleigh saying a word, that she was bleeding vaginally and from her anus. He knew this wasn't menstrual blood. Once again, Malek just shook his head as tears fell. Tears of anger. He wanted to take somebody's head off, but first he knew he had to tend to a broken and bruised Halleigh.
Although they had planned to use a condom, they had also planned to have sex at the safest time in her cycle. She'd just had her period the weekend before. Plus, he'd never doubted that Halleigh had been a virgin before these animals took what rightfully should have been hers to give to whoever she chose.
What kind of men would take turns raping a young girl?
he wondered. Malek had never had to force any girl to have sex with him. And, as horny as Halleigh used to get him when they kissed, he'd never tried to take advantage of her against her will. Tonight, when his girl had finally been willing to have sex with him, the only way he would've wanted it, these animals seemed like they'd gotten off on forcing their way on her.
He gently sponged Halleigh's body and spoke in a low, hushed tone. “You're safe now, baby. I'm here. You're safe.”
Halleigh could smell Malek's cologne, but it wasn't strong enough to cover the smell that had seemed to dwell in her nostrils. She couldn't stand the smell. The smell of the men's nasty sperm mixed with her blood. It smelled worse than when she was on her cycle. She started crying all over again.
“Shhhh. Don't cry, baby. Everything's gonna be all right.”
Even though it was the first time Malek had ever seen Halleigh naked, he didn't think of anything sensual. In fact, sex was the last thing on his mind. He just wanted to soothe her and be there for her.
Halleigh had no shame in her nudeness either, and it almost seemed like a bad dream to her as she kept visualizing herself being raped.
Malek slowly rubbed his hands through her hair while she sat in the tub. He wanted to call the police, but in Flint the police were just as crooked as the criminals they chased down. Contacting them would only bring doom to themselves.
And the same thoughts that had crossed Halleigh's mind while she stood on the porch contemplating her next move crossed his mind too. What if they took her mother to jail? Then where would that leave Halleigh? Where would that leave him and her? At this point, Malek was just ready to take Halleigh as far away from Flint as possible and take care of her.
“Hal, I swear I'm going to get you away from all of this. I'm going to enter the draft, and you won't have to worry about anything. I won't let anything like this happen to you again,” Malek said with confidence.
Halleigh looked up into his sincere eyes. “You promise?”
He wiped a streaming tear from her cheek. “I promise.”
After the bath, he wrapped her in a large bath towel. He found one of his T-shirts for her to put on. “Here, put this on then come on and lay down,” he said, pulling back the spread on his twin bed. “You need to sleep.”
Still dazed, Halleigh lumbered into the bed. They didn't speak, they just laid in each other's arms, wanting to shut out the world. They lay on top of the bed like that for hours, and he could feel her pain as he held her in his arms.
Malek held Halleigh all through the night and watched her as she cried herself to sleep. He himself fell asleep with her spooned in his arms and didn't wake up until he heard a familiar voice screaming at him.
“Malek Lamont Johnson, what in the name of God is going on here?”
Malek sat up with a startled look on his face. It was early morning already, and his mother was off work and standing over his bed, a look of shock and disgust on her face. She had come in from work and found a half-naked girl and her son laid up. The fact that Halleigh wore a T-shirt didn't mean anything, because her bare breasts and nipples protruded beneath the shirt.
“Boy, I know you ain't got some li'l heifer laid up in my house!” She put both of her hands on her hips. “I know you must be out of your mind. What do you think your father is going to say about this?”
When she recognized the girl as Halleigh, she became even more upset. She'd never cared for Halleigh too much. Not that they were rolling in dough or anything, but she'd heard about Halleigh's upbringing and about her mother's habit and illegal career of boosting. She always thought that Halleigh just wanted Malek because of his potential NBA future, and like any mother, she was just being protective of her only child.
Malek was completely taken off guard, and before he could even respond, his mother began yelling again, forcing Halleigh to rustle out of her sleep.
“This is a house of God. I will not allow you to disrespect me up in here.” Mrs. Johnson then focused her attention on Halleigh. “And you, you li'l fast wench, up in here half-naked, trying to trap my baby, get out!”
“Momma, hold up. It's not what it looked like. Calm down for a sec.” Malek pleaded as his mother hollered, quoting Bible scriptures at the top of her lungs.
Halleigh was so embarrassed, so lost, and so confused. Even though she and Malek hadn't done anything sexually, she knew it didn't look good. While Malek was trying to calm his mother down, she just sat there, not knowing what to say.
Mrs. Johnson pointed her finger in Halleigh's face. “Get the hell out!”
“I'm so sorry, Mrs. Johnson.”
But Mrs. Johnson wasn't trying to hear anything coming out of her mouth.
Halleigh got up, and with nothing on but the T-shirt, hurried out of the house while Malek and his mother argued.
Malek tried to run after her, but his mother blocked his path. As bad as he wanted to snatch his mother up and push her out of the way, he didn't.

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