One terrible thought flashed through her mind: had Tyler been part of it too? Then came another, even worse: had those boys recorded any of it on their phones? Knowing what kind of people they were, Emily realized anything was possible. She finally broke down and sobbed openly.
Through tears, the shattered graduate made her way down the empty early-morning streets of town. When she reached home, she quietly unlocked the door and went straight to the bathroom. After scrubbing herself clean, she collapsed into bed and fell into a heavy, exhausted sleep.
By the time Emily woke up, Susan had already left for another shift. Only Michael was in the kitchen, and he casually asked how the celebration had gone. Instead of answering, Emily burst into uncontrollable tears, frightening him badly.
He rushed to comfort her and demanded to know who had hurt her. Through sobs and panic, Emily finally managed to tell him the truth about what had happened after graduation. Hearing the story, Michael was furious, cursing the boys and the cowardice of the school administration alike.
He said a crime like that couldn’t be left unanswered, but Emily was terrified of public exposure. She feared the gossip would spread through town and damage her mother’s already fragile peace of mind. Michael stood firm. Rumors were going to spread anyway, he said, so they needed to go to the police immediately.
In the end, his argument won out, and Emily agreed to file a formal report. When Susan learned what had happened, she was horrified and took her daughter in herself to seek justice. But in the investigator’s office, the two women were met with cold cynicism.
The questioning dragged on for hours and felt like a second ordeal. Emily came away with the sickening sense that the man across the desk blamed her more than the boys who attacked her. With a skeptical look, he asked whether she might have given them reason to think she was interested.
Emily desperately tried to explain that she had always been quiet, careful, and barely socialized outside class. The investigator replied that he would draw conclusions only after speaking to all witnesses. Susan, outraged by his tone, asked directly why her daughter’s word was being treated as suspect.
He ignored the question and kept pressing with invasive, humiliating questions about Emily’s personal life. He openly doubted she had been inexperienced before the attack, implying that there must have been some reason the boys chose her and not the girl who had set things in motion. The situation was made worse by the fact that, in shock, Emily had washed away the biological evidence….
