Damaged

Chapter 1- charlie Charli couldn’t believe how tired she was. It was only 9 pm on a Saturday night but she was exhausted. Charli didn’t mind though; she might only be 15 but she had done a lot of growing up since her mother walked out on her and her dad when she was just six years old. After seeing her father struggle for years to cover bills and keep food on the table, Charli begged him to let her get a summer job. She knew they could use the money and she was sure she could find someone to hire her off the books. So, after many hours of discussing the situation, Charli’s dad agreed to let her get a job but only for the summer. She was into her 4th week of work at Cappanello’s Italian restaurant as a busgirl now.  She was asked to work a double shift today. They had a busboy call out sick and Charli knew they could use the money at time and a half, so she agreed to the extra hours. She had now been on her feet for 12 hours and she thought her feet might fall off as soon as she took her shoes off. Charli sat in a booth helping the servers get their side work done for the night before she left. After rolling silverware and filling salt and pepper shakers, Charli clocked out and told Mike the owner she would handle the trash on her way out.  Charli was not supposed to be off work until 11 but Mike told her it was starting to slow down and to go home early. Charli did not want to wake her dad; she knew he had to go to work in a few hours. Instead, she decided to just walk home. It was only a 20-minute walk down the road, she wasn’t worried. She walked through the restaurant telling everyone good night before heading out to dump the trash and head home. She was excited business went so well tonight that she received over $100 in tips from the servers. Charli was smiling as she stuffed the money back into the pocket of her skirt and headed out the door towards the dumpster. As she came closer to the dumpster, she heard voices. When she looked around, she saw Aaron Michelans with his friends passing around what looked like a liquor bottle between them.  She knew him from school. He was a few years older than her and a well-known troublemaker. She couldn’t help but stare at him. She was only 15 but she had been secretly crushing on the bad boy of school for 3 years. She knew he was no good and her dad definitely wouldn’t approve of him, but maybe that was the reason she crushed on him so badly. After her mother left, Charli never acted out. She saw how hard her father took her mother’s leaving. She was always a good girl. Never wanting to give her father a reason to leave her like her mother did. Somewhere though deep down, she wanted to do something naughty, something she knew she shouldn’t do and fantasying about Aaron was her way of doing just that. After watching Aaron and his friends pass the bottle of liquor around a couple more times, Charli put the trash in the dumpster quietly before turning and starting to head home. Suddenly she heard her name being called.             Charli turned around to see who called her name and saw Aaron standing with him friends staring at her. Aaron called her over to them. When she didn’t move, he came to her side. He linked his arm inside of her and started walking her back over to where his friends were standing. She stood there quietly, she couldn’t believe Aaron actually knew who she was. He whispered something to one of the other guys before elbowing them and grinning. Aaron offered Charli a drink which she politely said no. Then she thought about it and changed her mind. She didn’t want Aaron and his friends to think she was a goody goody. He might not want to hang out with her anymore. Aaron handed Charli the bottle of clear liquid. She took a small drink. It burned going down her throat causing her to cough at the feeling. Aaron and his buddies laughed at her reaction. Embarrassed at how she acted, Charli took another larger drink this time. Stilling herself from reacting to the slow burn as she swallowed. When she was done, she handed Aaron back the bottle. She was proud of herself. She maybe only 15 but she could hang with the older kids. She looked around and noticed Aaron and his friends were no longer drinking. Aaron was staring at her with a wicked like grin on his face. He looked over at his friends who grinned back at him. Charli started to feel uneasy about the way they were acting. Aaron slowly walked up to Charli and kissed her. Her first kiss Charli thought. It was rough, not soft and sweet like she thought it would be. Charli pulled away from him and just stood there paralyzed. Before she could move again Aaron had kissed her again. Rougher this time, bruising her lips. She tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t move. He snaked his hand up her body and squeezed her right breast making her cry out. This only fueled him on. He started kissing her neck, while roughly squeezing her breast. Charli looked at his friends pleading for help and all she saw was them watching. Aaron moved his lips back up to hers. Trying to gain entrance into her mouth but she wouldn’t give it up. When she resisted. He squeezed her left breast this time and bit her bottom lip forcing her to cry out again. This time he drove his tongue into Charli’s mouth. She tried to scream but he just fueled his fire more. He reached up and grabbed Charli’s left hand. He placed it on the bulge in his jeans making her feel how hard he was at her fighting him. Charli’s eyes shot open wide. Tears running down her face she looked Aaron in the eye. This wasn’t the same boy she thought he was, he was a monster. When he pulled his lips away letting her gasp for air, she told Aaron she was tired and just wanted to head home. Charli pulled away from Aaron and started to head back down to the end of the alley out towards the street. She heard footsteps behind her, and she quickened her steps, but the steps behind her quickened as well. Aaron began calling for Charli and she could tell from the way he talked that he was angry Before she could get any further, she felt a hand snake around her waist and started pulling her backwards. Before she could scream Aaron put his other hand over her mouth and pulled her, dragging her feet behind a dumpster. He pushed her up against the wall and started pushing one hand roughly over her young breasts again When he removed his hand from over her mouth to pull on her shirt Charli let out a scream. Aaron back handed Charli across the face knocking her off her feet and down to the ground. He turned her over onto her back where two of his buddies held down her arms while Aaron ripped her uniform shirt open to display her breasts. Charli began to cry again, and Aaron grabbed her around the throat to silence her. She could hear his friends laughing and encouraging Aaron to continue his assault on her. Charli stopped crying but rotated her sight between the three boys attacking her. Once Charli had stopped crying Aaron removed his hand from her throat and proceeded to roughly pull her skirt up and tore her panties off. Charli tried to fight back but Aaron punched her in the jaw this time and then in the stomach twice before she finally stopped fighting. Aaron let his hands roam her body as well as his friends for what felt like an eternity to Charli. She closed her eyes and just prayed that it was over quickly. She was worried her father would be upset with her because she was hurt. She was afraid he would make her stop working and they really needed the money. As Charli sunk within herself and tried to find a place for her mind to escape the terrible situation she was in, she heard the sound of a zipper. Her eyes sprang open to find Aaron unzipping himself and positioning himself between her legs getting ready to r**e her. Something in Charli snapped and she knew right then that she had to fight back no matter the result. She could not give in and let this happen. Charli took in the largest breath she ever had in her life and let out the loudest blood curdling scream she could. Startling Aaron for just a moment and he froze in place. When he realized she was screaming he began punching her again. First in the stomach and then in the face again and again trying to quiet her, but she would not stop screaming. Since his fists were not stopping her, he placed both hands around her neck once again and began to squeeze. He gripped her throat tighter and tighter trying to keep her quiet. Charli screamed as loud as possible but felt the breath leaving her body. She tried to squirm free, but it was no use. He was stronger than her and she could feel the blackness settling into her head. As the darkness started to fully take over all she could see before passing out was Aaron repeatedly hitting  her already badly beaten and bruised body. In the final seconds before Charli blacked out, she heard another male voice. It wasn’t one she heard before, but she couldn’t see who it belonged to. A few moments later Charli slowly awakened to the sounds of yelling and grunting. She realized she didn’t feel the weight of Aaron on her anymore.  She gasped and coughed trying to regain consciousness curling up against the brick wall behind her. Her vision was blurry, but she could surely see another man or was it a boy now fighting with Aaron and his friends. She watched through fuzzy sight as the stranger punched one of Aarons friends square in the nose breaking it and sending blood flowing everywhere. Aarons second friend came at the stranger swinging a lead pipe. The stranger didn’t even flinch as he lunged forward grabbing the pipe causing the other boy to fall before stumbling back to his feet and running off with his buddy leaving just Charli, Aaron and the stranger in the alley. Aaron pulled what Charli thought was a switchblade out of his back pocket and ran at the stranger. The stranger just smiled an evil kind of smile and swung the lead pipe at Aaron like it was a baseball bat. The pipe made contact with Aaron in the side of the head, rendering him unconscious on the ground in the middle of the alley. The stranger dropped the pipe and made his way over to Charli. She stumbled to get to her feet trying to get away from the stranger. She didn’t know him, even though he just took out Aaron and his friends she didn’t know what he wanted. Charli violently shook her head no and started swinging her hands in front of her to stop the stranger from attacking her next. As he approached her, he assured her he wouldn’t hurt her. He held his hands out in front of him and waited patiently for Charli to let him help her.  He helped her to her feet and told her she was going to be okay. The stranger scanned Charli’s body from head to toe. He noticed her shirt was torn and her panties laid on the ground behind her.  He took off his jacket and covered Charli with it covering her torn uniform up. Just as they started to walk back towards the back door of the restaurant Charli looked down and saw blood running down her leg. The stranger looked her in the eye just before she passed out. He caught her keeping her from falling to the earth below her feet. He picked her up and carried her the three blocks to the hospital. He walked into the Emergency Room and told the nurse what he had witnessed and what had happened. The nurse called for a gurney and then called the police. They took Charli and rushed her into the ER to check her out leaving the stranger in the waiting room. As they wheeled her away, she thought to herself, this man had just saved her life, beat up three people and she never got his name.