Crystal is an ex-Venice High student. She attended Venice High last year, but transferred to another school this year. She has decided to tell her story hoping that somehow it may help someone. She knows rape is not a joke. After having been raped, she doesn’t wish it upon anyone. She feels relieved that she can now talk about and she doesn’t have to carry it all within her.

It was the week before Crystal’s seventh grade summer vacation. It was like any ordinary bright sunny day, school had let out and she was walking home. Her sister had plans, so she had to walk home alone.

As she is walking, she sees a guy that looked like an old neighbor so she starts a conversation with him. The man looks baffled and Crystal realizes she has made a mistake. She apologizes and walks away quickly. The man says nothing but keeps following her at a regular pace. Crystal goes into her apartment building near Walgrove Avenue, hoping he has stopped following her. She is struggling with her key. As she is frantically trying to open the door to her apartment, the man appears. Two seconds after she sees him, the door finally opens and she tries to hurry and get in.

She falls to the floor in her house. She is confused and thinks she tripped. As she looks up, she realizes the stranger pushed her. She looks at him terrified, not knowing what is going on. She tries to get up from the floor but he kicks her. She keeps trying to get up, but the man just keeps kicking her down to the floor. He begins to beat her and pulls her hair. He muffles Crystal’s screams of pain with his hand. Tears pour out of her eyes and stream down her face, making it hard for her to see.

The mad man pushes his body unto hers and begins to touch her breasts. He pushes his weight down on his hands as if trying to hurt her. He moves down to her waist and tries to pull off her pants. He succeeds.

He didn’t bother to use a condom. He finished and left. Crystal just lay there, filled with anger and pain. She continued to cry. By the time her sister got home she was sitting on the couch. Crystal was still crying hysterically and when her sister asked ‘What’s wrong?’ Crystal didn’t say a word. She never reported it, she never told anyone. She kept the pain within, until one day it was too much to bear. She told her story. Now she can live with less pain.

A couple of days later, Crystal finally told some of her closest friends what had happened to her. Her friends told her to report it to the police but she refused. Her friends advised her to go get checked at the hospital. They were concerned that maybe she was pregnant, had an STD, or maybe even had AIDS. As time went by, she knew she wasn’t pregnant or had gotten an STD. Crystal refused to do everything her friends had requested. The only thing she allowed herself to do is tell her story.