"I'm a mother Elena. Do you think it joys my heart seeing you in the condition that you are in right now?" Lynn cried out, tears welling up in her eyes. Giving out a slight huff, she looked at Elena's eyes, letting her see how she felt damaged that she was a victim of such a violent act. She cared, like all mothers, and seeing a child in such a sorry state was not too welling.
"One day when you get to have your children you will want what is best for them, and you will fight for them. With all that you've got to your dying breath. Elena, please... I know you're scared, but trust me, it will get better. The calm will come after the storm and you'll be glad and at peace for what you've done. And I will be here with you, all the time. Till he's where he needs to be and after that."
I trusted him, she thought. I wanted to give you my all Ethan. I... I, you seemed like the right choice. Then you... why? Why did you have to do it?
After some seconds of deafening silence, Elena turned to her mother and replied with a simple nod. She didn't seem sure or okay at first but something inside kept telling her that this was the right thing to do. Lynn shifted her attention to Weiss who had been standing behind the two all the while. The attorney stepped forth.
"Elena, I am going to ask you some questions if you're okay with that." She said looking at Elena who had been seating on the bed. She nodded.
"Are you okay with us conducting the interview here or would you like a different location?" She asked yet again.
"No, no. It's okay. Let's do it here."
"And will you need someone else to be present or are you okay with us being alone?"
"No, no. just the two of us, please." She took a glance at her mom. Lynn understood Elena's decision of course. The trauma was too much for her daughter to tell the incident with her present. Lynn got out of the room with the nurse. Weiss locked the door, got to her handbag, and took out a notebook. Elena had got down from the bed and was seating on one of the chairs by the table.
"So, Elena...tell me what happened yesterday." She began as she sat down on the other chair.
"I, I was raped."
Typical Elena. Made it hard for the investigator.
"I was minding if you would tell me what happened prior and during the act if you can please." She sounded so gentle not wanting to nag off the victim. Something about such interviews was that the investigator had to be cautious enough to prevent the victim from falling back into that dark world and still manage to get the answers. It required perfect execution and Weiss was good in her job. She hoped that she would get to her soon.
"So, there was this party that um...he...Ethan was hosting and he asked me to attend so I went. We had been friends for a long time so I saw no reason to not go. Well, the party was fun and all until when he became angry with his sister after he found out that she..." she stopped talking immediately. She looked at Weiss who had been listening.
"After he found out that her sister?" Weiss asked.
"Um...uh... umm...I really can't remember what it was," she lied, "but when he told me the idea of taking me to his home I obliged, after all, I trusted him. And when we got there he...he did it."
"Okay. Okay," said Weiss as she noted something down on her book. "And how do you and Ethan relate with each other? How did you two get to know each other?"
Elena sighed before she narrated how they had been friends since high school till university and how they had this on and off thing that was never that serious that they shared once in a while. She also informed her of how good he had been to her all those years and she now suspected that it was all a tactic for him to get his hands on her. Weiss wrote a whole bunch of words.
"Can you describe in detail the chronological events of what happened during the act?" She asked again after scribbling something at the bottom of a page. She turned over the leaf to a blank page.
"Is it really necessary?" Elena asked with her voice breaking apart. She tucked her arms between her legs.
"I want to help you, dear. I know you're scared to share such information with a stranger like me. I want you to know that I am here to help. If you can manage to give me the details, he might get the right sentence that he deserves. Every little piece of information that you will provide will be helpful."
Elena tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Well...he was showing me around his house and we came to his bedroom as our last stop. We started flirting...I started flirting with him and he was okay with it. One thing led to another and we kissed. And before I knew it...um, he was forcing himself up to my underwear... well, there, and I noticed this and stopped him. But he just looked at me and was probably thinking of how he had laid a good trap for me. He shoved me on the bed and I quickly ran away. But before I could get out of the room he grabbed me and dragged me back inside. He tied me up and tore my dress off my body and he did it...without hesitation, without remorse! Even after he noticed the blood, um you know, from there... he still... he continued. The pain was horrible."
Weiss stopped writing. The events were just too sad. Coming from a girl to a woman she understood her pain in more than one way. Elena's eyes were forming tears for the like a millionth time as she recalled the events once again. It was a contest between fear and bravery and it seemed to end in one jousting winner; tears!
"And did you try to stop him? What did you do to shrug him off? Did he threaten you? Was he on drugs or intoxicated?"
Elena narrated all that she could. Her voice was heavy. Short breaths were coming about with every second spent discussing the nightmare tale. She just wanted it to stop, all of it. She told her how Ethan was sober before and during the act, of how he had threatened to kill her if she continued screaming, and how she had begged him multiple times to have mercy on her with all in vain of course. Elena talked of how he devoured her to the point that she didn't retaliate anymore. Weiss could hear her voice tremble and notice her body shake. Putting herself in Elena's shoes, she concluded that she had been out from a horror movie. More questions followed and more answers came. It was an intense interrogation session between the two for about an hour until Weiss asked one of the absurd questions.
"So...Elena, I was wondering one more thing... did you happen to reach orgasm?" She looked at the woman sitting next to her.
"What!" Elena hissed in disbelief with her thick eyebrows drawn closer.
"In some sexual assault cases, victims tend to reach orgasm and that's why they offer no resistance to the offender. I know it's a strange question but we need to be sincere about what you had gone through during the act."
Elena looked at her, eyes jittering with every ounce of gaze. She stood up and walked towards the bed, still in the absurd manner as the pain was still there. She stood in front of it and stared at the wall before her. Lost in her own deep thoughts, she battled with her consciousness as if it was hiding something from her. She returned to her seat and gazed at the table.
"Yes," she answered, feeling beaten. Beaten by the truth. "I felt something..." she raised her head and her hair whipped backward. Weiss recorded something in the notebook. Elena muffled her lips feeling embarrassed of what had she had just said.
"But I didn't like it all...I didn't I swear. It just happened..." she cried out to her. It was her first sex experience after all. She might have never really pinpointed what orgasm felt, but what she felt looked like it was.
"It's okay Elena. Nobody is going to shame you for that. We just need to be honest before the court when we present our case." She assured her. She had brought her palm over the back of Elena's hand in a soothing manner.
"Is there anything more you'd like to share?"
"No. I think that's all that happened." Said Elena shaking her head. She had told her literally everything. From the broken mirror and bleedings from her and Ethan, the hurting, the pains, and cries; she left nothing out.
"Okay well, in that case, I will need you to be viable for some testing. A doctor waits outside to come and check up on you. They will need to collect any sort of evidence on you from the crime scene as they are currently doing in the crime scene. Are you okay with that?"
Elena nodded after a deep thought.
"Are you sure? Yesternight the police tried to get documentation of your body and you were in too much shock to cooperate. That's why we wanted to do it as soon as possible as you were calmer."
"It's okay, really. I understand their job. I guess I was in too much shock yesterday." Elena seemed confident.
"Have you had a bath since you came here?" she asked putting her files and the notebook back in the handbag. She gave Elena an affidavit that she would be coming to take after the tests had been done on her. Elena understood the need of course.
"No. They told me not to do so because I might wash away any piece of evidence of him that is on me."
"Good. Well then, have a good day, I'll see you soon." She said as she stood up. Elena stood up too. Weiss hugged her as she sought to comfort her.
"Don't worry, he's never going to hurt you again. He's going where he belongs!" She told her in her hair. "Elena, I'm sorry for what happened to you."
Elena nodded slightly. The attorney turned and headed for the door and in came a female doctor. She closed the door behind her again and opened up the formalities with Elena. She was calmer today than how she had been the whole of the previous night. The pain was still there but it wasn't as bad as it had been earlier.
She lay on her bed, and the doctor took swabs from her mouth and vagina. She told her to take off her clothes so that she could document the bruises and abrasions that might have been present on her. They were many: from her back, face, belly, legs, and the hurting vaginal area. Elena was simply a walking crime scene. She took her blood sample and did another couple more checks on her. Elena looked at one of the windows in the room. Sun rays were well passing the windows. A church hymn was being sung from distance. The Christmas spirit was in the air. She wasn't feeling it though.