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It tempts her everyday-it has for as long as she can remember. It glistens in the sunlight, ripe with morning dew. The silky threads beckon. She inches toward the web, crossing thresholds she hasn’t dared to before. Surely just getting a little closer won’t do any harm. Suddenly, she finds herself at the foot of the intricate network of fibers. She begins to climb, relishing in the soft strands that caress her, oblivious to how tangled she’s getting. I stare at my plate of spaghetti, pushing it around with my fork. I feel my mother’s eyes on me. I look up at her; her eyes plead with me. I look down at my plate. Numbers stare back. “Your jeans have been feeling kind of tight.” The voice in my head reprimands me for considering it. Still …show more content…

She grows, bigger and stronger A man approaches the caterpillar. I watch him creep towards her. His face is a mask of determination and lust. In his hand, he holds a net. He is selfish. He will wait for the caterpillar to become a butterfly and then he will pin it up. Hang it in his study, or maybe his living room. The unwitting caterpillar continues to crawl through the grass. I know what comes next. I shut my eyes. I open my eyes and he is on top of me. He moves his face towards mine and I try to turn away. I can’t move. She evades the net, but not the sole of the man’s shoe. He steps, unaware of what he’s doing, and crushes her. He continues, searching for another. I am walking up the stairs, on my way to biology, when I see him. My stomach drops; I am back in that room, pinned down. My vision blurs. I want to scream, but I can’t. I duck into the nearest bathroom and vomit. After washing my face, I go to the nurse’s and tell her I need to go home. I stay home sick the next day. She is motionless. So am I. I am sure she is dead, her body is flattened. I peer closer and see her small body gasping for air. She strains to raise her head and slowly crawls on. A year later, one of my assaulters contacted me. He offered to pay me to clear his name. He demanded a reply, upset because he had just been kicked out of a party and called a rapist. He was relentless, trying to convince me that I provoked the assault and he was normally a

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