The Rapist - Pt. 4

Tap Tap Tap

Someone is tapping on my door. I roll over and ignore them. I manage to catch the time on my VCR; it reads just after 3am.

Tap Tap Tap

It's probably some drunken frosh wanting a condom. I put my pillow over my head and take a deep breath. I hope I go back to sleep quickly.

"Karen," someone whispers from the other side of my dorm room door.

"Karen?"

I continue to ignore them. A moment later they try to open my door; I can hear them jostling the doorknob, but it's locked.

"Karen?"

"Go AWAY!" I yell at them, and roll over in my bed again. I'll be glad when I don't have to live in residence next year.

Tap Tap Tap Tap Knocky Knock Knock Knock Tap Tap Tap Tap...

I begrudgingly throw on a sweater, and stumble to the door.

"Whaaaaaaat?" I say, agitated and annoyed as I crack my door open a few inches. The bright fluorescent lights of the hallway stream in and temporarily blind me. When my eyes adjust I see one of my frosh standing there -- her face is white, and there's blood on her hands.

"I need your help," she says quietly.

"Are you ok? What happened!?!" I say. The blood has jolted me awake. She motions for me to be quiet and so, I grab my slippers and slip them on my feet before following her down the corridor. She uses her elbows to push through the doors leading to the staircase, and we go down the stairs to the floor below me. I skip ahead of her and open the doors to the next floor so she won't get blood on the handles.

My mind is racing with possibilities...

We enter the hallway -- but the lights are out. Strange. We approach one of the dorms in the middle of the hall, and the hairs on the back of my neck begin to stand up again. In the dark I can see a small stream of blood pooling on the floor in front of the entrance way. I brace myself for when she opens the door...

Inside the dorm room, one of the desk lamps is on. Her roommate sits on her bed, knees against her chest; crossed at the ankles. She's naked from the waist down -- and her shirt is torn. There's blood on her arms.

I take a step towards the roommate but am stopped by something on the ground. I look down at my foot to see a leg, which turns into a body -- and blood is flowing from it.

"He was raping her," says the roommate.

"Oh, my fucking God!" I say, as I try frantically to process everything that is going on. How did I not see this bleeding body which was clearly in front of me as I entered the room?

I shake my head.

"Call 911," I say and walk over to the girl. Her eyes are vacant. She's fueling with hatred, and stares straight ahead at the wall opposite her. She doesn't acknowledge me, her roommate, or the bleeding body on the ground.

"What happened?" I say as I look at the body; part of me wants to leave him there to die -- but I don't know that I have it in my to be so vindictive. I try to step around the pool of blood so I can crouch down and see if he is still breathing...realize there is no way that I'm not going to get blood on me; and finally, kneel in it and stick my ear near his mouth. He's face down on the floor, so it's difficult for me to tell. But I don't think he's dead just yet.

"Call 911!" I yell at the roommate who came to get me.

She sits on her bed opposite her roommate, grabs a cigarette, lights it, and says "Let him fucking die."

She walks around me, and approaches her roommate who still stares catatonically ahead. She's traumatized, no doubt. She walks over to her, and brushes her blonde hair away from her forehead, peers down and takes a long look in her eyes before saying, "It's gonna be alright."

I stand up, and walk over to the phone on the desk and pick it up to dial 911.

"911, what's the state of your emergency?" says the operator.

"Um, someone has been stabbed..." I start. My voice is shaky. "I think, I think he's still alive. There's a lot of blood. He was raping someone -- I don't know what happened exactly. There's a lot of blood. Can you please send some help?"

I continue to give the operator the details of where we are. I'm present, but not. It's like someone else is on auto-pilot and using my body and voice to relay the message. It's as if I'm not really there.

I get off the phone and start to think of what I need to do next. I look at the body and remember that I should stop the bleeding.

Why didn't I think of that before?

I open one of the girl's closets and grab a scarf; I don't know if it will work or not, but I use it to try and tie it around the neck. I have no idea what I'm doing. Does the blood flow up the neck or down the neck? And if I tie it too tight -- won't I choke him?

She's stabbed him in the back part of his neck, just above the shoulder. I think...I think he is maybe dead already?

"Let him fucking DIE!" yells the roommate. From outside I hear another frosh and another. They're starting to stir.

"I can't let him die -- do you know how bad that will look for you? Come on, help me try and stop the bleeding." I plead with her, but she refuses to help and simply sits next to her roommate and strokes her hair.

The roommate is still catatonic.

"It's ok. It's ok. It's gonna be ok." she sings softly to her, while I slip around in the blood trying to stop the bleeding but having no idea how.

I know on some level this is all my fault. I know that if I had reported what I knew months ago that this wouldn't have happened. It's just...it's just...I didn't really want to believe it.

The sirens start to approach and become louder by the second. In a moment the police will be here -- or the ambulance? Or the firetruck? I have no idea...but I can't sit here and watch this asshole bleed out and not do something. My conscience is tugging at me.

"What the hell happened?" I say to her, "You need to tell me what happened, RIGHT NOW!"

"The creep thought she was here by herself; but I was just in the washroom. When I came back I could hear her muffled screams -- so I grabbed the letter opener and stabbed him, to get him off of her. There's no way I would've been able to pull him off."

And that was it. Her statement. Simple. Blunt.

That's probably why the hall light was off -- which they never are. When he opens unlocked doors he doesn't want to wake anyone unnecessarily with the light streaming in.

This is all my fault...

I look down at my hands and see them nervously trying to stop the bleeding with the scarf -- but there's no use. I'm pretty sure by now he's bled out. I can hear the footsteps of the emergency people -- whomever they are; firemen, ambulance, police...they're just coming through the doors at the end of the hall.

They'll be here any moment.

"Just tell them exactly what you told me," I say, as I stand and look her square in the eye. "And if you're smart you'll start playing the scared victim who didn't know what else to do. Unless, that is, you feel like going to jail for a while."

She takes a drag from her cigarette and nods.

I suppose that is why she woke me up in the first place.