Shelly's Story
Copyright© 2025 by JRT
Chapter 4: Shelly’s Return
Shelly missed three days of school after that weekend. She spent some of that time being treated by various medical personnel, her mother always at her side. She spent some of that time giving depositions, one of her parents and a lawyer always at her side.
She spent some of that time in therapy - rape counselling, sex worker intervention, even a priest came by and left her with a rosary. These were the only times she did not have her parents with her, though this was by her choice, initially. These were the times that she realized she needed her parents with her. Then, she found out that her parents were under investigation.
The court assigned her mandatory rape counselling and a ‘vulnerable juvenile’ advocate. Shelly would spend months trying to figure out who she was and who she wanted to be.
She was spared the media scrutiny by law. Her classmates were not restricted by any legalese, and they didn’t hold back. With three days for the rumor to circulate, a lot of Shelly’s ‘activities’ were added to the truth to create a damning story.
With only three days of school remaining, Shelly bore up under the barrage, from the stupid to the cruel, from the vulgar to the pitying, and even the rare encouragement.
She’d spent more than half of her life hiding in her own mind - hiding from herself and her own actions. These school children rarely came up with anything close to her own brutal self-examination and self-condemnation.
Counseling gave her some coping mechanisms and some ‘social tools’. Her counselors, she had many over the coming years, helped her in many ways, mostly allowing her a safe space to vent and explore thoughts and feelings without judgment.
Her court appointed advocate was a slender older woman who checked in with Shelly randomly, curtly asked seemingly random questions, and was always in a hurry. Helen, the advocate, told her that the old maxim ‘time heals all wounds’ didn’t mean that there wouldn’t be scars. She told Shelly that movement was the lubricant for the body and art was the lubricant for the heart.
She signed Shelly up for Tai Chi - with Helen - twice a week. She directed her to return to her dance classes, she didn’t ask, she instructed. Finally, Helen gave her two weeks to sign up for at least six hours a week of some type of art classes, ‘or I’ll assign you something with a bunch of old ladies making doilies,’ was her advocates ‘encouragement’. Shelly believed her.
The problem was that Shelly didn’t have an artistic bone in her body. Sure, she enjoyed dance, but she only learned the moves, she never really learned how to express herself. It opened a new understanding in just how her mind had adapted to being controlled.
She hated the smell of paint, didn’t like sitting still long enough for drawing, and was put off by the mess of pottery. Shelly was getting desperate, and even had a nightmare wherein she was hunched over a bloody doily, desperately trying to sew while poking her fingers with the needle over and over.
Speaking of nightmares, she was almost completely off of medications, and she only woke up screaming or crying about twice a week now. Having new nightmare material was almost a relief to the troubled teenager.
Finally, with only one day to spare, she signed up for drama classes with a local theatre group. She found herself in desperate hope that Helen would accept it. Helen loved the idea, and Shelly would eventually find one of the great loves of her life was to be on stage. In fact, many of you would recognize Shelly were I to give you her real name.
Unfortunately, Shelly’s early years contained more troubles before that future arrived.
Not that everything was bad. In addition to gradually finding herself on the stage, Shelly also found herself back with Jake.
Shelly showed up for Tai Chi, on time, knowing that Helen would be there as well and strangely not wanting to disappoint the older woman. The class was held in a large, open room at the YMCA. On her second Lesson, she noticed that the instructor was Jason’s dad.
She got an unexpected hug from her first ‘ex’ as she arrived for her third class, and Jason babbled on for five minutes before Shelly realized that she was happy to see him, too.
Shelly learned that he was happy and dating. He told her that he was sorry to hear that she’d been ‘hurt’, and if there was anything he could do she could count on him, and so on. Shelly gave him a tentative smile, but her mind was whirling a million miles an hour. She both dreaded and yearned for what was surely to happen next.
There was no doubt that what Jason knew, his best friend would soon find out.
Sure enough, Jake showed up for her fourth class. He met her as she walked down the hall toward the class. Her world seemed to crash around her. Her mind’s eye conjured all of the ways she had betrayed not just her boyfriend, but herself as well. She stood stiffly, awaiting his outpouring of wrath, her thoughts spinning through the litany of her sins and wondering which one Jake would start condemning her with.
His gentle hug confused her more than anything else. She involuntarily settled into his arms. Shelly was actually taller than Jake, but he was broader across the shoulders and his long arms enveloped her. A part of the young woman marvelled at how she could just shrink into his embrace.