Chapter 25

Back in Jack's living room, Julie's tears flowed anew. Erin was also crying. Jack's mouth was open and had been so for the last 10 minutes of Julie's story. He was dumbfounded.

Erin stood up and walked over to her friend and embraced her in a hug. "I'm so sorry Julie."

Julie pulled two tissues from her purse and offered one to Erin. The other she used to dab her own eyes. "That was really hard telling that story. I haven't talked about that night in a long time. But I think I'm going to feel better tomorrow now that I've gotten that off my chest," Julie said.

"How awful," Jack said.

"Yeah," Erin agreed. "Jack and I use casts all the time to have fun in our relationship. But to have one used against you like that..." Erin shuddered as she left the words hanging.

Erin sat back down next to Jack. He put his arm around her. They sat in stunned silence for a few minutes before anyone spoke.

"So I guess it was pretty lucky that Toad guy happened to come along," Jack said.

"Yeah, he saved me from an awful experience, that's for sure," Julie agreed.

"So what happened eventually?" Erin asked.

"Well, Toad put those shorts back on me. Then he got a bucket and held it for me. I was so sick after that I threw up. I asked him to stay the night with me. I wouldn't let him leave me alone at all. I even made him take me with him to the bathroom," Julie giggled. "Poor guy. I at least let him face me against the wall. But I did not want to be left alone anymore that night. And so he stayed with me. We both stayed in my bedroom. Sometime in the early morning the last party guests left and Toad went to check on Kelly. She slept through the whole night.

"The next morning, Kelly woke with a huge hangover, so Toad took me to the doctor by himself. They cut me out of that cast - in reverse order of the way they put it on. And let me tell you, I was so happy to get out of that thing. I made him drive me home and I went straight into the shower. I think I spent a full hour in there.

"Then on Monday morning Kelly and I had to go to the radio station. Those two radio idiots had Toad keep the pieces of the cast and they taped it back together so they could take our picture with it. They interviewed us - me mostly - on the air. Then they gave us the prize."

"So did Kelly keep the trip for herself? Seems to me she'd give it to you for all the trouble you went through," Jack said.

"After telling her what happened, Kelly did offer me the trip. I think to this day that she believes I exaggerated about what Sean did, but she did feel bad. I considered taking the trip for myself, but you know what - what happened wasn't Kelly's fault. She kept her end of the bargain. Here's something, though. Her and Nick got in a big fight on that trip and they broke up two weeks after they got back. Maybe I should have taken it for myself!" Julie joked.

The group shared a chuckle. Again the room filled with silence. This time it was Erin that broke the reverie. She asked the question that Julie had been dreading. "What ever happened to...you know?" she asked, not wanting to say his name aloud.

Julie appreciated Erin's delicate handling of the subject, but she was determined to release the hold he'd had on her all these years. She took a deep breath. "I never reported the incident. Toad and Kelly pushed me to but I just wanted to get on with my life. I knew it would have been his word against mine and his dad was a judge and a partner in some big law firm. I just didn't want to go through all that for nothing. Maybe if he had actually...you know."

"I understand," Erin said reassuringly.

"Anyway, the good news is that Sean left me alone after that. I didn't have to avoid him anymore. I only saw him a couple times after that on campus and he just went the other way as soon as he saw me. A year later I graduated and I've never seen or heard anything about him since." Julie paused a moment in reflection, a hint of regret shone in her eyes. "I just hope he didn't go on hurting other women after that."

Erin could see the struggle Julie was having with her conscience. "Well, at least other women would have a fighting chance."

"Yeah, that was the worst part," Julie said. "Through that whole thing, I was completely powerless. Other than faking that laughter, I didn't do anything to stop him or hurt him. I couldn't do anything. I had nightmares about being tied up or paralyzed for a long time after that incident."

"I can imagine," Erin said.

"What about Toad?" Jack asked, changing to what he hoped was a more pleasant subject.

A smile formed on Julie's face. She had a faraway look in her eyes. "Ah, Toad. My knight in shining armor."

"Yeah, what happened to him?" Erin asked eagerly. "And how did he get that awful name? Did he look like a frog or something?"

Julie giggled. "Heavens no. He was a good looking guy. And his real name is Todd. But ever since he was a kid, everyone called him Toad. He never told anyone that, but everyone just seemed to come up with it on their own. Even those radio station jerks."

"Poor guy," Erin said. "So what did happen to him?"

"Well, for one thing, he quit going by his first name. Only his family calls him Toad anymore. Now he goes by his middle name."

Jack's eyes lit up with a look on his face as if he'd found a treasure. Then he settled back into the sofa looking like the cat that swallowed the canary. "His middle name is Mark, isn't it?"

Mark and Julie shared a smile.

Erin's face lit up like the fourth of July. "Oh my God! You? That was you?!" she asked Mark.

Mark beamed and nodded.

The group shared a good laugh. They abandoned their card game for the rest of the evening, instead preferring to chat. Sometime after midnight, Mark and Julie left. Before going, Julie had one more thing to say.

"You guys, I just want to thank you for being such good friends. Really. It means a lot to me that I was able to share this story with you."

"Thanks," Jack said.

"Yeah, thanks," Erin agreed. "And I'm glad you were comfortable enough to tell it to us. And I'm also glad that we can share our special interest with you two. We never thought we'd meet anyone in person that also wore casts for fun. It's great that we found that in two such great friends."

After saying their goodbyes, Mark and Julie drove home in quiet. Julie slept soundly that night. She had feared nightmares after reliving her ordeal, but they never came.

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