And This Too Shall Pass by E. Lynn Harris

Author:E. Lynn Harris [Harris, E. Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-83174-3
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2012-11-28T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

DON’T GO THERE

Wednesday afternoon, Mia stared at the rum and Coke sitting on her kitchen counter. She knew she shouldn’t drink more because she was already drunk, but she reached down, lifted the glass, and drank. After she finished, she turned up the glass and allowed the small ice cubes to slide down her tongue, savoring their rum-coated taste. She looked at the empty rum bottle and wished she had purchased two bottles the night before instead of the one.

After a week of calling in sick, she had returned to work and it had not gone well. The extra makeup and dark glasses had not helped, but caused more problems. When she walked into the station, prepared to tell the station manager she had been in an accident, Mia bumped into Cheryl. Without knowing why Mia was wearing sunglasses, Cheryl laughed and asked in a very flippant manner, “Whatsup, Miss Mia? So popular that you have to wear sunglasses in the station?” Mia didn’t answer, but instead something went through her like an electric charge and without warning she slapped Cheryl. Mia was shocked at her own violence, and Cheryl appeared stunned as she ran into the ladies’ room in tears. Mia had never slapped anyone in her life. An hour later, Mia found herself suspended from work for at least two weeks. She told management what had happened, how she had suffered a sexual assault, and although they were sympathetic, the general manager said he couldn’t allow Mia’s actions to go without punishment. He suggested that she take some time off and regroup to seek some counseling.

During the entire meeting, Mia didn’t shed a tear. While her manager was talking to her, Mia wondered if women were born with a talent for crying in silence, so that after a sexual assault or beating, they could cry and not have to talk about it.

The Sunday after her arrival, LaDonna returned to Los Angeles. Mia had assured her she would be fine. LaDonna had tried to talk Mia into taking some vacation time and coming back to Los Angeles with her. When she said no, LaDonna suggested Mia call her mother and tell her what happened. Mia said she didn’t want to worry her mother. But Mia was not all right, she was simply determined to get on with her life. She knew if her parents, especially her mother, found out what happened, they would be in Chicago in a heartbeat. They would baby her and try to convince her to move back home. Dallas and babying were the last things Mia felt she needed.

The Chicago detectives handling Mia’s case had attempted to contact her several times, leaving notes on her door, phone messages, asking her to come down to the station to give them more information regarding her rape. But Mia had not returned their calls nor had she any plans of going to the station. She did not remember what happened that night and could not face questions as to why she said Zurich Robinson had raped her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.