“Where have you been!? We were so worried about you! What happened to your clothes?...Betty, call Samuel and let him know she’s back. Oh look at you, you’re soaked to the bone and filthy. What in the world happened to you?” Ahnali began to cry, her dad was still looking for her, her mom had stayed up waiting for her return, everyone was worried. She felt so dumb and useless having made everyone so scared.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I-I wasn’t thin-king at all.” her mom warmly embraced Ahnali, softly stroking her hair.

“Shhh, it’s ok dear, you’re ok. Let’s get you cleaned up with a nice warm shower, when your father returns we can talk, ok?” She led Ahnali up stairs to her room. “Take your time darling, I’ll go make you a warm drink.” She left Ahnali alone in her room.

Ahnali began to take off her accessories. She walked into the bathroom and for the first time saw how she looked. Her body was covered in dirt, she had scrapes all over her arms and legs, probably from when that man pulled her to the ground. Her hair was a twisted mess, eyes were red and puffy from all the crying. Rain’s baggy shirt was the only thing that seemed clean. She took off the shirt and folded it neatly, leaving it on the sink counter. Her dress was completely beyond repair. She slipped out of the outfit and left it crumpled on the floor. She turned on the shower letting the hot water fill the air with steam. As she slowly stepped into the water, her body adjusting to the temperature, she began to relax.

For a moment she just stood there, being completely engulfed by the warmth. However something in her head told her ‘you’re dirty, you’ve been sullied” Over and over she heard this small whisper in the back of her head. Ahnali grabbed the loofah and began to vigorously scrub her neck where the man had licked her. She scrubbed until the skin was bright red, she felt a painful stinging and stopped scrubbing abruptly. She gently tapped the area feeling the stinging pain again. “Ugh, what have I done?” She put to loofah back down, instead she just used her hand to wash the rest of her body. Every now and then she felt a little bit of pain from the cuts and scrapes but nothing too bad. “I’m really lucky this is all that happened...That Rain came and saved me, it could have been a lot worse.” she let out a big sigh then finished rinsing off the soap. She scrubbed her hair real quick and finished her shower.

After stepping out she wrapped her hair up in a towel and gently dried her body, softly patting the wounded areas dry. She wrapped the towel around her body and began brushing her teeth trying to get rid of the bitter after taste of vomit. After about 3 rounds of brushing she put away her toothbrush and began fixing her hair. She didn’t want to dry it completely so instead she just put it in a braid and squeezed the water out a couple of times. After finishing with everything in the bathroom she went into her room and put on some warm and cozy pajamas. Ahnali didn’t feel ready to go down stairs yet. She sat on her bed staring at the rain falling outside her window. The sound comforted her, it made her feel like she wasn’t alone.

She heard a door open and shut down stairs “Where is she?” her mother replied in a softer voice.

“She’s changing, she looked horrible, I don’t know what happened, let’s give her a little more time to come down, let’s wait in the living room, I made some warm drinks.” Ahnali sighed, she knew she would have to go down eventually.

“I better go now, they deserve to know what happened.” she got off her bed stepped into her slippers and went down stairs. Her parents were talking quietly in the living room. She slowly inched around the corner and said “hey” almost in a whisper. They both looked up at her.