I tumbled out of my smoke filled apartment with a wet towel covering my nose and mouth.
The complex was being burned alive. Hazy smoke occupied every crevice. Jagged flames ripped through the building, bright streaks eating away at our livelihoods. Terrified people ran like headless chickens, clawing for a way out.
I ran along with rest. I inhaled shallowly, trying to avoid as much smoke inhalation as I could.
“Help!” a ravaged cry came from a room I ran past. I doubled back, seeing as no one else had heard it and opened the door. The fire from the apartment upstairs had spread to the one below it. A man was pinned down on the floor by a wooden beam that had fallen when the ceiling had collapsed. Smoke billowed in from above, the room barely visible.
“Help,” He croaked again. I was close enough to recognize his voice. It was a voice that made me freeze.
He had been a friend once until one day he wasn’t. He had been a friend until one day he had touched me and kissed me. He had been a friend until one day he had violated my trust. He had been a friend until one day he had raped me.
He had never been caught. Never been to trial or had charges pressed against him. I was too scared and in denial. Friends didn’t rape friends, or so I thought. Worst still was when I later confronted him about it. He denied the whole thing, insisting I had wanted it, wanted him.
What a cruel twist of fate. Now I got to decide whether he smiled or suffered. I would relish this moment as he relished my moment of pain.
Did he regret it? The ink blot of hurt that stained my once innocent life, spreading and bleeding until that was all I had become. I didn't want him to say sorry. I wanted him to take it back. I wanted him to cease to exist. I wanted him to never to have been born so that his hands would have never have touched places that did not belong to him. So that his lips would have never grazed the places that he will never own. So that he would have never had a wandering thought of me.
He would never regret it though. If I saved him now his eyes would not suddenly open and notice his transgressions. In fact he may go to hurt other girls.
“I hope you know that this is only a small bit of the hell you gave me.” I whispered. He couldn't hear me but that didn't matter.
I shut the door.