The First Encounter

I feel the need to tell a little bit of my story.

It is not pretty. But I will only tell a little of it tonight. Hopefully, I will be able to tell more and more as time goes on.

The first time it happened. *insert huge sigh here* It was what I like to call "The First Encounter".

It was during band camp and Bob (we'll call him Bob as to not disclose any real names) sat next to me. At the time, I was a sophomore and he was a senior. Well, me and Bob, we were ok friends. We talked and such, but not much more than that.

He asked to talk to me one day during a rehearsal during band camp that was being held in the band room. Of course, being the obedient underclassman that I was, I followed. I followed him out into the hallway. There was no one around.

He started to talk and the next thing I knew, he had one hand around my throat and the other over my mouth. I had never been so frightened in my life. I was crying and my whole body went numb. I couldn't feel anything, and I couldn't breathe.

During all of this, he was saying the most disturbing and gross things. I will not and can not say what he said to me, for your sake and for mine. The whole time I was thinking that I had to get away, but my body wouldn't move.

Eventually, his one hand left my throat and traveled down towards my chest. At the time I couldn't care less that he was touching me there, I was just happy I could breathe again! Because of the length of time he had his hand around my throat, I had almost passed out from not being able to breathe!

At last, he left me. Before he left he warned me not to tell anyone what had happened or else it would get worse. I nodded, scared for what could possibly happen to me. He then instructed me not to leave until he has been gone for at least 5 minutes. That became an unspoken rule later on.

This was the beginning. It was the beginning of everything. The bad. The good. The part where I lose all control and lose it and the part when I start to heal.

This is the beginning of my story. It gets worse and then, eventually, it gets better.

-Lara