The Secret

The Secret

By: Hannah Cairns

Introduction

It was summer and the two teenage girls had nothing to do for the season. They were both keeping secrets from one another so they started to get distant. One of the girls (Kate) called the other to meet in the treehouse they hung out in when they were little. Kate just couldn’t seem to keep the secret bottled up inside anymore. Kate wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but she knew it was going to be bad…

Part one

Kate

    My alarm went off and I wanted to burn it. My mom says that you should always keep on a regular sleep pattern even if you are not doing anything the next day. All I want to do is sleep in, but i’ve been sleeping so much that my mom has started to notice. I want to sleep all the time because it’s the only way I can escape from the thought I have had for the past few weeks.

    I’m a coward, I know that. I blame myself for everything that has happened. I just hope when Lenn hears what I have to say she will forgive me.

    “Kate! Get up!” my mother called from the kitchen.

    “I’m up!” I screamed back.

    I swung my feet off my bed and sat there for a second. Flashbacks started happening like they usually do when I first wake up. She’s there, He’s there, and i’m there, then the whole flashback goes dark. I couldn’t take it anymore. I can’t keep it inside anymore. The flashbacks are getting worse, I feel like I'm going to pass out when the flashback goes dark. I just got my phone from off the charger and started to text her.

    “Hey Lenn, do you remember that old treehouse we used to hang out at as kids?”

    “Yeah, why?”

    “Can you meet me there in an hour?”

    “Why? I’m really not feeling up to going anywhere.”

    “Please Lenn. It’s important and I want to tell you this where I feel safe.”

    “Okay… I will meet you there in an hour.”

Part 2

Lenn

    When I got that text I started to panic. Does she know? Who would’ve told her? Do other people know? I really do not want to find out. Kate is my best friend and I have told her everything, but if I told her this I would feel absolutely humiliated. I would also feel humiliated that I didn’t tell her when it happened. It would make me feel small. She has a right to know as my best friend but I don’t know if I could trust her not to tell because of how big a deal this is. 

    I decided to just not think about it so I got dressed and headed out. When I got downstairs I saw my mom in the living room watching the news. In that moment, when I looked at her so calm, I wanted to tell her. But the thing is, I know deep down that she wouldn’t believe me. I looked around and saw how much I have, how much my parents have. We live wealthy, we are wealthy, so things like this don’t happen to people like me who are in the upper class. It usually happens to the people who have nothing. I have everything and nothing at the same time.

Part 3

Kate

    I got dressed and headed out to the tree house. It’s quite a long walk but Lenn is a lot closer. I started to walk and walk and try not to think about what happened. But then I saw a group of people coming out of the store. It was him and his buddys that I go to school with. They are the kind of guys where everyone knows that they are terrible but everyone still wants to get along with them. They are hard not to get along with anyway.

    “Hey Kate,” He said while he and the others walked over to me.

    I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to run but i’m more of the type of person that freezes up when they are scared instead of running away. 

    “Yeah, hi, I got to go,” I said then tried to walk away but he stopped me.

    “I know that you know Kate.”

    “Uhhh what,” I said stupidly.

    “I said have you seen Lenn around?”

    “Oh uh no. I really have to go,” I said.

    I probably looked crazy, I sure felt crazy. This secret was starting to make me freaking hallucinate. I couldn’t just walk anymore, I had to run. I couldn’t keep this secret to myself for much longer.

Part 4

The Treehouse

I finally made it to the treehouse and when I walked, well ran in Lenn was already there. I was out of breath trying to talk but I couldn’t. Lenn was trying to help me breathe and when I finally caught my breath I looked at the space around me. It was full of our old kids' drawings and poems. I walked around the treehouse and was amazed at how fast our childhood went past us. I missed when the only secrets we kept were about our homework not being done.

I was looking around aimlessly then turned my eyes to Lynn.

“I know you were raped Lynn.”

Part 5

The first look she made was shock then she turned to fear.

“How do you know Kate? Does anyone else know?”

“Lynn… I was there. When he hurt you in that bathroom, I was there. I guess Jake thought that the bathroom was empty but I was in one of the stalls. I wanted to stop him and say something but when he pulled out the knife I got scared and I froze up.”

She didn’t say anything for a minute. She looked upset but not in a way that she was mad at me.

“I understand why you didn’t do anything. I know your worst fear is getting raped again Kate. I never understood how you felt until now,” she said in the most comforting voice.

I couldn’t believe that she wasn’t mad. Then I thought of the run in I had with Jake earlier.

“When I was on my way here I saw Jake.”

“What did he say?”

“Just asked if I have seen you.”

“Kate, there is probably more that you should know.”

Oh geez I thought to myself. Could this get any worse?

“Jake is moving in with me. His dad is marrying my mom.”

I wasn’t sure what I should say so I just looked at her with a confused look.

“Is that why you haven’t told anyone?”

“That’s a part of it. I know that my mother wouldn’t believe me. She loves Jakes father and maybe loves Jake more than she loves me.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

“It is. He’s moving in today.”

“Then we need to tell your mom and the police.”

“I can’t. It’s too embarrassing.”

“You shouldn’t be. He’s the one who hurt you. You are a survivor and the survivors shouldn’t be embarrassed, it’s him who will be embarrassed. I will be there with you and I will never let you down again,” I said while trying to be as supportive as possible.

“Okay, I guess. But you have to promise not to leave me.”

“I’m not going anywhere Lenn.”

Part 6

We decided that we would try to tell her mom first then the police. But on our way we saw Jake. I got enraged when I saw his face. All I saw in him was my best friend getting hurt. 

“Hey gu-”

“She knows,” Lenn said, cutting him off.

I looked at her like she was crazy.

“What are you doing?”

“Just trust me,” she said then turned back to Jake.

“You might be living in my house and sharing my mom but you will never be my brother. You are an awful person and I'm done being afraid of you.”

When she said that I was about to have a panic attack because for one he wasn’t alone, two we were in an alleyway, three only God knows what weapons he had on him, and four the way he looked at us. He didn’t look mad, he was calm, way too calm. He just gave a slight smile then got in Lenns face.

“You think you’re better than me? Don’t worry, you will never be my sister. But look at the big picture. My dad is marrying your mom, I'm moving into your house, I hurt you and there is nothing you can do to hurt me. And Kate over here I can hurt even easier. I’m moving in and taking over your life until you are nothing without me.”

After I heard that my anger went down and my fear went skyrocketing, but I couldn’t just freeze up again and say nothing.

“She is a lot better than you Jake. If you think you can break her down you’re very wrong. If you think that you can hurt and break me down as easily as you say then you are very wrong on that too. I’ve been raped before and torn down by someone like you and if you think I will let that happen to my best friend or me again well then you’re an idiot.”

“Never use that word again,” he said while getting up in my face but it didn’t scare me this time. I could tell that he meant the word rape.

“Why? It’s the word to describe what you did,” I said.

“You are very wrong. I can do a lot worse. I can show you the real definition of rape,” he said. There is just something about him that makes me terrified one second then pissed off the next.

I kicked him where no boy wants to be kicked and he fell. I grabbed Lynns arm and ran. I could tell that she was still shocked at what he just said and so was I, but I was done just freezing up.

“I don’t want to take the chance on telling my mom first, can we go to the police first,” she said when we were far enough away to stop and catch our breath.

“Okay let's go.”

We barged in there like crazy people.

Before she could say anything I grabbed her to the side and asked, “no matter how scared he might make me, I will never leave you Lenn.”