"What do you mean be 'almost assaulted?!'" Rick exclaims as the echo from the thunder finally dies down. "What happened that you never told me about?"
"Don't blame yourself. At the time, I didn't think it was as big as I'm making it out to be. Maybe." Will stops chuckling. "I shouldn't even bring it up, but it has been driving a wedge between me and Jim lately. I barely tell my own therapist this stuff. I guess it's just the nature of being a psychiatrist."
"Will," I start, "tell us what happened." Everyone else is.
Will inhales a few times before he starts.
"It was the week after I finished eighth grade. Rick was in Lexington getting his operation, but I didn't know that at the time. Jim had just started a job volunteering at the hospital. Dad was driving him, as Jim wouldn't get a car until just before school started back. I had gone to a neighbor's house to swim. They were just about the only ones around who had a pool, so they let many of the local kids use it. As long as there was someone old enough around to make sure no one drowned or anything like that. That afternoon, it was only me and Jim's best friend Ray. He lived over a mile away, but he always seemed to be around. He and Jim used to let me hang around with them, on occasion. They never got me into any trouble, but it was kind of weird, now that I think about it."
"I had been swimming for, like, half an hour. There had been others around when I came by, but there were only me and Ray left. The woman, Mrs. Rogers, maybe, had just went back inside for something. Well, I felt that I had to pee. They had facilities just inside their garage, just off from the pool. The Rogers were very strict about anyone going in the pool, so I quickly got out, put on my sneaks, and ran to the garage. As you know, swim trunks don't have flies, so I had to pull them down far enough to go. I was just standing there, when I heard someone come into the garage and open the door. I was in such a rush, I hadn't locked it. I yelled, 'Occupied!' but they still came in."
"It was Ray. I was just about to yell at him to wait his turn, when I noticed that he already had his trunks down, exposing his, excitement to me. This was the first time I ever saw it, and I was scared. Ray then tried to grab me from behind and push me down."
"Wait, wait. Will how come you never said anything about..." Rick sputters.
"Let me finish. Now, Ray may have been almost eighteen, all but an adult, but he was short. Maybe five six or so. I, however, was in the middle of a growth spurt, and nearly as tall as he was. Sure, I was bone skinny, but I had some leverage on him. I was able to shove him off of me before anything happened. I pulled up my trunks and ran out of the garage. I grabbed my towel and stuff from the pool and ran all the way home. It wasn't that far. Ray never came after me. After I had been home for a while and calmed down, my Mom came to my room and told me that dinner would be late. There had been an accident on highway, and Dad and Jim would be held up for some time. They would try to find a detour, but that might take them longer than just waiting for the accident to be cleared."
"Since I had the time, I decided to go over to Ray's house and beat him up." Will simply states.
"What? Beat him up? That's so not like you. I don't remember a single time, in all the years I've known you, that you got angry. Especially not to the point of hurting someone." I chime in.
"Well, I guess it was hormones and almost getting violated. Anyway, I walked the mile plus to Ray's house. I had been there enough time with Jim to know the way. I snuck around back to his bedroom window. I was just barely tall enough to see into in; the curtains were fully drawn. No one knew I was there. That's when I saw Ray. He was lying on his bed, without any clothes on. And there was his step-father, about ready to do to Ray what Ray had almost done with me."
"Will, if this is too much for you, you can stop any time. If this secret is this bad, then maybe you should stop." Pete tries to calm Will down. I can just barely tell that he's shaking.
"No. I need to say this. Ray's father died in a mining accident when Ray was only two. His mother remarried a huge hulk of a man. Well over six four, two hundred thirty, easy. She had twin girls, but that really took a lot out of her. I guess that step father needed something he couldn't get elsewhere, and he wasn't going to look for it outside of the marriage. I ran back home, and I never told anyone at the time. Not about what happened to me or Ray. In hindsight, I should have, and maybe this story wouldn't have such an unhappy ending." Will goes on.
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