(Note: The first half of this tale can be found here as the March 2nd entry)
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“What’s your name? I’m Ed....yeah, you shouldn’t have to walk in the dark. I’ll be glad to drop you off where ever.”
Jennifer and Ed exchanged pleasantries. He was recently separated from his girlfriend and was lonely, looking for company. Would Jennifer hang out with him? Have a couple drinks maybe?
Jen, being the free-spirited kind of gal she was and lonely too, said all right. They stopped at a gas station, picked up a 6-pack.
Where could they go to hang out? Jen suggested the sprawling park by her folks house. They drove over, parked. It was now totally dark as they made their way to the lakeside.
They sat down, had a couple beers, chatted about their lives.
A couple beers later and Ed suddenly leaned in for a kiss.
Jen, caught off guard, pushed him away. “No, I’ve got a boyfriend.”
In a flash he was on top of her, had her pinned down with his weight.
“What are you doing?? Get off me!”
He caught hold of her hands, wrestled her arms over her head.
She caught the glint of metal out of the corner of her eye. And in the next moment, felt the steel envelope her wrists.
Her arms now handcuffed around a small sapling tree, Jennifer was helpless to fight back. With tears streaming down her face, Ed proceeded to violate her and in those minutes, alter the course of her life forever.
Startled in the middle of the act, he looked up alarmed.
“Shit. A car.”
The headlights of a car from the parking lot were aimed in their direction.
“We’ve got to get out of here. It could be cops.”
He hitched up his pants. They realized he didn’t have a key for the handcuffs, so they had to wrestle its branches down low to slip her arms around them. Once Jen could reach, she wrangled her shorts up. And before she could process what was happening, Ed had hold of her arm and was dragging her forcefully across the grass, back to the car.
“What are you doing? Where are we going?” Jennifer stammered.
“Shut up.”
Ed opened the door of his car, shoved her in.
He climbed into the drivers seat and wasted no time starting the engine.
“Where are we going?”
“I said shut the fuck up.”
He drove quickly, swiftly through town. Jennifer sat mute in stunned silence, tears quietly falling, cuffed hands in her lap.
Ed turned into a large apartment complex and drove down to the far end of a carport. He pulled into the last space, next to a storage room.
He leapt out, rounded the car, opened her door.
Jen slid from her seat, on her butt, straight down to the ground.
“I’ve got to get those cuffs off you,” Ed barked.
Ed went to the storage room and rummaged around.
Jennifer was sobbing now.
Ed returned with a chainsaw.
“You’re going to kill me...” The numb realization that this could only get worse washing over her.
“Shut up!!”
He examined the cuffs, turned on the saw and lowered it as Jen shut her eyes tightly, holding her breath and blacked out. When she opened her eyes, the cuffs were off and Ed was back in the storage room. Without a moment’s hesitation, she made a run for it.
Sprinting over the blacktop, Ed caught up with her, snagged her from behind.
“Don’t leave me, Jennifer....I... I love you!”
Ed was holding her arms hard, making her wince.
Tears were forming in Ed’s eyes.
“Please...don’t go. I love you. I want to marry you. Will you marry me.”
And it was at this moment that Jen saw a way out.
“Yes....yes, sure, I’ll marry you...” Jennifer responded in as calm and even tone as she could muster.
“Really?? Really, you mean it? You’ll marry me?”
“Yeah....sure... But you’ll have to take me home. There’s a lot to do to get ready, I’ll need a good night’s sleep.”
“Really....you’ll marry me? Really? You mean it? I love you...”
“Yes, just take me home, let me get a good night’s sleep, and we can work on the arrangements in the morning.”
Ed held fast to her arm as he led her back to his car. Once in the car, he chattered excitedly.
“It’s going to be great. You and me. Can’t you see it? We can get a house up north...”
Jen worked to keep her tone positive, calming, reassuring.
They drove through the streets, streets Jen had grown up on, which now seemed threatening, menacing.
He cruised up to the apartment complex where she lived, though unbeknownst to him, she’d directed him to the opposite end where her place was, to throw him off.
Ed asked for her phone number and Jen casually wrote down a series of numbers for him on a slip of newspaper.
He begged her once more for reassurance that she really would marry him, and she again responded in her calm voice in the affirmative. He let her go.
Jennifer stepped out of his car and calmly walked into the complex, walking not towards her apartment but towards the central courtyard. Ed drove off. Once in the courtyard, she ran to the little used front entrance of her friend’s place.
Jen let herself in and found her boyfriend’s brother standing in front of the tv, watching a game.
“Hey,” he said, “what’s new?”
Jen collapsed in his over-sized bean bag chair.
“I’ve just been raped,” she responded flatly, numbly.
“What?! Have you called the cops?!”
“No...” her voice trailed off.
He bolted for the phone, dialed the police. Together they worked out the details and he relayed those into its receiver for her.
Wondrously, the police apprehended Ed within the hour at a 7-11, where he was found casually buying a soda, busted handcuffs in his pocket.
March 22nd, 1993 was finally coming to a close. A day Jen would not soon forget.
