The Insomniac Years, chapter 3

"Thanks for saving me Adam...again," stated Jovie, looking out the window of his car with a sad look on her face.

Adam looked at his friend. "Anytime Jovs...Are you okay? You are just not acting yourself lately. You are just so....damaged almost."

Zooey looked at Emily. Emily didn't return the look. Zooey was guessing she either didn't hear her, or she just didn't care.

Jovie didn't respond for a moment. Adam continued, "Well, I know now that whatever happened to you was pretty bad, because, all the other times, you were fine or not fine, but you seemed to recover. And now, you are torn up about all of it, so what did he do to you beside the obvious?"

Jovie didn't answer. Emily turned and faced her, "Jovs, you better tell us, I know what you are doing, you are dying to tell us but you won't because you wanna be a pain in the ass! You are just playing twenty questions so that we will beg you to tell us. Now spit it out you fucking sissy!"

Zooey slapped her sister in the face, "Emily! Shut the fuck up! You don't know anything! If she wanted us to know, you know she would have already told us and you know that! You just want to be a bitch because we are not as worried about you and you are not getting the attention you think you deserve! God! I really am starting to get tired of your fucked up attitude you dumb bitch!"

That shut Emily up. She turned and looked back out the window and said nothing. Jovie smiled at Zooey. Adam frowned and kept his eyes on the road.

"Why do you wanna know so bad?" Jovie piped up.

Adam looked at her in the rear view mirror, "Because we wanna know what that psychotic prick did to you. And we wanna know if he said anything to you...We all know what he did to you, and that was not right of him."

Tears rolled down her face as Jovie began to talk. "He raped me."

Zooey put her arms around Jovie and let her cry for a couple of moments before she said anything. Jovie continued.

"What else do you wanna know?"

Adam felt really bad, but he had to know. "Did he say anything to you?"

"Well first he beat me up, I tried to get Tre and Mike to help me, but they wouldn't, Tre tried, Billie made fun of him for crying on my behalf and then he took me into another room and...and..."

Zooey interjected, "Tre tried to help you?"

Emily turned around, "Did Mike?"

Jovie shook her head, "Mike pretty much stood there and said nothing. Tre did try, then when he knew he couldn't he cried, he saw how bad Billie Joe had beaten me up, and he cried. He cried because he knew he let me down and he knew he let you down too."

Emily shook her head. "I think maybe he didn't because he knew he couldn't."

"That was the definite, but I could tell he was gonna cry too. But he knew that Billie Joe already had me, and there was no way out..."

Adam blinked away tears, "What did he say?"

"Well, before he raped me, he told me that he knew it was what I wanted, and that I tease him on purpose so that I can get a reaction and that I got one. He cut me and then well..."

Emily looked at Jovie in disbelief, "He cut you?"

"Yeah. After it was all finished, he told me he loved me. Then he walked into the bathroom and didn't come out, I left."

Adam recalled, "Yeah, that's when I saw you on the side of the road walking all the way back, so I picked you up. That's why you were covered in blood?"

Jovie turned and looked out the window and whispered to herself, "That's why I was covered in blood."