The Bus Ride

Kaiyla supressed a yawn as she stared out the window. The strobe light mounted on the roof of the bus flashed in a broken beat and the images outside of her window passed like the pictures of a slide show. With them flashed the slideshow of her life, piece by piece.
The house where her best friend had once lived was illuminated for an instant then swallowed back up by the early morning darkness. A few moments later Jake Richards house was flashed then gone. In her mind further images flashed in the same eerie slide show that was passing now unseen across Kaiyla's vision.
Disjointed images of a girl with clear blue eyes looking back at her from a foggy mirror in different outfits and with her ebony hair drawn into different styles flashed in front of her. She hadn't know what to wear, no one had ever invited her before.
Amanda standing outside of her front door waiting with an excited smile flashed and was gone. She'd been invited too, they'd decided to walk in together so that they could support each other morally. It was the the kind of thing best friends like that always did for each other.
A dark street shadowed the one flashing in front of the bus windows. Jake lived close enough that they only had to walk there, it wasn't as dark as it would be later in the year and the streets of their neighborhood were safe enough.
College kids and Seniors filling the huge living room and glimpses of them in other rooms. It was the first party she'd ever been to and the guy she'd been crushing on for ages had invited her. Her fifteenth birthday had only been a month or so ago and the thought that she might actually go into a real relationship this year was one that had Kaiyla daydreaming as she made her way through the crowd.
The images came faster now, the timeline of the flashes less spred. Almost she was reliving it now. Reliving that night.
Jake stood talking with some of his friends, not drunk but still acting no better then the others around them. He was two years older then her and he ran with the seniors and the past seniors that were now in college.
He saw her and grinned, asking her if she was enjoying the party. She told him she'd only just got there but so far so good. He laughed and led her to the area that seemed to have been designated the dance floor. Kaiyla had been akward at first but, in the end, she'd relaxed.
They danced for hours and soon Amanda had somehow joined them. She'd somehow wound up with a beer in her hand and her breath already smelled like the bitter drink.
Eventually the other party goers started leaving. Some of them calling taxis with promises to come back for their cars tomarrow, others being helped to the car by their designated drivers. Only a scattered few remained. Kaiyla laughed as she and Amanda tumbled in a heap on an empty couch. Jake joined them and asked again if they were having a good time. Both girls told him they had.
That's when he'd started kissing her, then pulling Amanda closer. Amanda was too drunk to care, laughing and kissing his neck as he pulled on Kaiyla's shirt. She started to pull away but Amanda whined for her to lighten up and 'she' ended up taking Kaiyla's shirt off soon follwed by her own.
Jake pulled Kaiyla onto his lap as he reached for Amanda to kiss her...
Kaiyla stumbled home alone that night, tears blurring her vision. She'd ignored her mothers pleas of what was wrong and gone up to her room to collapse in the security of her bed. For the first time in years she reached under the bed to retrieve the bear she'd slept with when she was little, curling herself around it and muffling her sobs in the soft fibers of it's fur.
The next morning she Amanda stood outside her door, sobbing that she was sorry and begging her to let her in. She hadn't known what she was doing, she cried. Eventually she gave up and went home.
Eventually Kaiyla's mother came upstairs, demanding what was wrong then cradling her as she told her through hiccups and soft broken sobs what Amanda and Jake had done. At first her mother was silent and then she hugged her tighter and told her everything would be alright. She told her not to blame Amanda for what had happened she was just as much a victim as Kaiyla.
They'd called the cops and charges were being pressed against Jake for rape and for having alcohol when he and many of his friends at the party had been underage. Amanda wouldn't testify and in the end Jake had gotten off with only the charges for the alcohol, no one believed Kaiyla had been raped.
Amanda moved away not long after, she couldn't live with the memory of what she'd been a part of.She wrote every once in a while, sometimes through emails, but she and Kaiyla would never be best friends again.
Kaiyla had recently been told she was pregnent... the school would let her finish the semester then she'd have to leave and go back the next year. She wondered what it would be like to be a mother. Jake hadn't been told, wouldnt be told. Kaiyla's mother had told her if she wanted to put the child up for adoption then that was her choice but she also told her she didn't have to. She made enough money, they'd manage alright.
The flashing images outside of the window stopped as they pulled into the highschool parking lot. In her heart the flashing images remained with her like a long slide show of memories that could have destroyed her.
It had taken a long time to decide what to do with her baby. In the end she'd made the decision that, no matter it's begining, it was hers and she would take care of it.
With time the flashbacks would fade and so would the pain and the fear of what had happened. Kaiyla would never truly forget but she knew it would make her stronger.
The parking lots lights illuminated a smile on her face as she stepped down off the bus. Not a happy smile but one filled with hope. Everything would be alright in the end, somehow she knew that. Everything would be alright.