“Larissa” she said despondently, trying to get her attention, but her eyes stared ahead, out the paned window where trees and flowers gently swayed in the sunshine. She was flush, and still shaken. The bags under her eyes were darker than usual.
“Larissa!” she said again.
Larissa turned to her friend and stared blankly into her eyes.
“You need to go to them. You can’t go on like this. They will help you”, she said nodding. “You need to trust that they’ll protect you.”
Larissa turned her head away slowly, and continued staring out the window.
She waited for a response and finally dropped her face into her hands and released a deep sigh of emotion.
“Okay.” she said finally. Her voice was meek and relenting. Her friend looked up triumphantly, with hope.
Larissa walked into the the police station and approached the counter. There was a buzz of activity all around.
“I need to file a report.” she said to the woman at the front desk. She spoke without emotion.
“What kind of report?”
“A domestic violence report.”
A few heads turned to see who this woman was, and a tall gentlemen with a pressed white shirt and a round belly and kind eyes came to the counter.
“So what’s the problem ma’am.”
Larissa looked at her feet. “My boyfriend… he’s so disrespectful… he’s… abusive. He does things to me… things I don’t want. He’s a monster.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that miss. You tell me what he did so we can get this restraining order in place and this monster won’t go anywhere near you without hearing from us!”
“He…. he… he touches me.”
More police men and women gathered around with curious concern.
“Go on miss. We’re here for you.”
She continued, “He takes his hands, his fingers… and he puts them places… places I don’t want him to go.”
Their eyes squinted and their brows furrowed as she spoke, trying to recreate the story in their own mind while giving the full look of attention.
“Miss, I know this must be so hard for you, but you really need to be more descriptive and tell us more.”
“I know officer. I’m sorry… it’s just hard.” she said apologetically. You could sense the emotion building in her voice.
“You see… we’ll be laying there… in bed… and he’ll get this crazy look in his eyes… and I know I’m not safe. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He knows I’m helpless. He enjoys it. He even smiles.”
Their eyes widened.
“My god miss. He sounds like a monster.”
“He is. He knows he’s a monster. He even calls himself a monster.”
“Unconscionable”, the officers mumble to themselves. “Go on miss.”
“You see… he gets that crazy look, and he’ll just stare with his beady eyes until he knows that I know what he’s gonna do next… and then he smiles… he smiles wide with his big teeth and those crazy eyes…. and then… and then…” her voice trailed and she broke into a trance.”
“Go on miss…”
Moments past that felt like minutes. A thick tension hung in the air.
Silence broke: “And then he grabs my wrist with one hand… and…and he takes his fingers with the other…. and then he yells loudly….”
The officers reel back with anticipation and disgust.
“He yells…”HERE COMES THE TICKLE MONSTER!!!!”
The crowd maintained their look of disgust, as if frozen, still processing with a veil of confusion.
“and he starts tickling me all over… and I get so mad I start crying with laughter but I feel so violated. And he doesn’t stop until I pee myself and he just keeps on tickling and he won’t stop no matter how much I fight, no matter how much I cry.”
The officers stare forward in disbelief, then roll their eyes and walk away.
THE END.
William Dare 