“I know that you want to protect me from everything, but you can’t. Clearly, the little fucker was determined,” I say with a sigh.
“I called that detective on the way over here. He said that campus police will be the ones to respond but your cases with them so he will take over it when he gets here. He said not to say anything to campus police until he got here.”
As soon as he mentions the campus police, we look up to see a campus officer walk into the room. “What do we have going on here?” he asks.
“You can go,” Zeke says bitterly.
“Son, I don’t think it’s your place to tell me where to go,” he remarks.
“I’ll wait for the police to get here,” I say.
“We got a call about an assaultso we…”
“I said that I will wait for the real police. The ones that actually let my boyfriend file the police report. You can wait somewhere else,” I say.
“Here he is,” Brett says. “Detective McCollins.”
“She was considered a missing person within our jurisdiction since she was taken off of campus. You can go. I will let your supervisor know if I need anything from you,” the detective says.
“I’m going to go. Do you need me?” Matt asks.
“Did you find her?” The detective asks Matt.
“Yes, sir,” Matt nods.
“Take this and write out a full statement for me. It’s my understanding that a few other people were with you, so have them do the same. Just give it to your coach and he can get it to me,” the detective says, looking at the coach for approval. The coach nods and he hands Matt a few sheets of paper from his briefcase.
“I am going to get the footage from the cameras and see if that will be of any help. I am Gavin Chance,” he says.
Once it’s just the detective, Zeke, and Brett with me, the detective turns his attention to me. “My name is Detective McCollins. Just call me Josh though. Can you tell me what you remember?”
I go through the entire story from the time we got to the party to what I remember about the rape. I give as much detail as I can remember just in case it can help. Josh is taking notes as I am talking and when I get done, he simply knocks on the office door.
“Yes?” The coach Chance says, stepping in.
“Were you able to get any footage?” Josh asks.
“Uhm… Yeah… I don’t know if you’ll want to play it here though,” he says vaguely.
“Why?” I ask.
“The boys didn’t specify that they found you in the main shed, so I didn’t think to mention it before, but I had the school put cameras in there because things were going missing,” he says. “It… caught everything.”
“Everything?” Josh asks. “Faces and all?”
“Yeah… Fisher was facing the camera most of the time. I had to fast-forward through to when the boys walked in for it to record. The cheap-ass system is all backward, but anyway, it’s all on here. I pulled about thirty minutes before until Matt picked her up and brought her in here. If you want to watch it, you can use my computer. The network is secure,” he says as he hands a flash drive to the detective, then leaves.
“Can I see it?” I ask. “I know that’s stupid but… there are so many gaps in my memory.”
“Okay,” he says with a pained smile. He turns to the computer and gets it set up to play. Brett and Zeke are sitting on either side of me holding my hands when Josh hits play. I sigh immediately when I realize it has sound.
I sit with them and watch as Fisher brings me in. I am completely passed out as he takes my clothes off. I am limp and lifeless, but you can tell the moment I come to. I watch him brutally rape me. I feel entirely disconnected from the woman in the video. I remember some of this, but it doesn't seem like it’s me.
When I eventually pass out from him choking me, he gets up and takes his condom off before wrapping my dress around it. He looks around before finding a spot in a tote to shove my belongings. When Fisher leaves me there and walks out of the shed, Josh fast-forwards through the day. Occasionally I will shift but for the most part, I never move.
“Give me just a second, guys,” Josh says as he stands. He pulls gloves and what looks like an evidence bag from his bag before leaving the room. I lean into Zeke, and he wraps his arms around me.
“I’m so sorry, Alice,” he says.