And then worst of all, none of us realized anything was wrong.
I s
aw something was different and still didn’t protect her. I didn’t hold her hand when she went to the clinic. I did nothing.
Liesel purses her lips and blows through them. She’s trying not to cry.
Her and me both.
“What stopped you from going through with it?”
She bites her bottom lip, rolling it around between her teeth.
“The child’s father did.”
“Jesus,” I curse. Enzo’s father stopped her.
I didn’t know that part of the story. It’s bad enough the bastard raped her, but then he forced her to have his child.
She shakes her head. “He told me if I aborted our child, he’d just rape me again and again until I got pregnant.
“I never wanted to have children. Especially not as a teenager, but I had no choice,” she says.
I should have been there. I should have helped her.
“After graduation, I ran. I told everyone I was taking a gap year before I went to college. Enzo had given me some money, and he’d already paid for my college. No one questioned why I wanted to take a break before school.
“I ran. I hid. And I had the baby—alone. Then I made the choice to give him up—alone. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she whimpers.
Sharp pain shoots through my body at her words. I tracked her every day of her trip. I watched her from afar. I knew the truth, and I did nothing. I let her be by herself.
I pound my fists into the ground, trying to hold back the tears.
Liesel was my best friend growing up.
Until everything changed.
Until she started chasing Enzo instead of hanging with me.
Until I fucked it all up by not keeping my word.
Until I made a promise that ensured I would stay away from her forever.
I put my hand on the ground behind me as I lean back.
Somehow, my hand finds hers.
Our fingers intertwine.
We sit on the beach, holding hands like lovers.
“Did you know? Did you know that I was pregnant? That I was raped?”
I squeeze her hand as my tears finally fall.
She doesn’t cry, though.
She never cries.