Can't you remember?

• Clare Johnson, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2006

It was dark outside, probably the darkest it had been all winter. The rain thundered down like a four year old playing with the bathroom taps. It was luck that the town hadn’t flooded yet. Cold and tired from a hard day at work, I decided to have a bath to take the pain away. With the bath water running, filling the room with hot swirling steam, I removed my clothes. How good it felt to just relax after the worse day at the office. Naked and ready for a long hot bath, I stepped into the water. I sat down and bugger me if the door bell didn’t ring. Tired and now annoyed that my time had been interrupted, I stood up and grabbed a towel. I dried, covered myself up with it and opened the bathroom door. The hot steam spiraled out of the room as the door ball rang again. I hurried into the entrance hall, standing at the front door in just my towel; I took a deep breath and opened the door.

“What happened to me?” I could barely hear my own voice, but I knew I had said it. I was lying on my back, on the dining room floor. I could hear faint sirens and my friend Danielle’s voice. I looked over and saw that I was lying in blood and then I felt the pain.

I woke up in hospital a couple of hours later. I had a cast on my wrist and could feel stitched in my back. Danielle was sitting by my bed. “What happened to me?” I asked once again. “You were attacked! A man broke into your house! He sexually and physically assaulted you! Can’t you remember?”