Loving A Stranger

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Prologue

The fourteen year old girl couldn't help but cry in pain from the constant beatings and the hurtful words hurled at her.

"What a whore you are child, blaming your own protective cousin for raping you!!" The girl's eyes stung with undeserved guilt.
"That's so low, even for you. He couldn't even hurt a fly and you condemn him for doing those horrible things to you." her aunt scorned.

"Shame on you. May you die and rot in the blackest pit of Hell", she cowered beneath the woman's bony finger.

She looked at her malicious cousin with tearful eyes. To her dismay, he had the audacity to smirk and mouth "I told you so", over his mother's shoulder. Her eyes scanned over the people who surrounded them, who spoke to each other in hushed whispers, no doubt blaming the girl. She couldn't face their reprehensionful glares . Her eyes fell to her lap, staring blankly at the rag of a dress that clung to her knees.It was covered with dirt and blood.

A slap echoed across the room. It wasn't until she felt the red-hot burning of her cheeks,that she realised her aunty had slapped her. She couldn't help but whimper in pain as vague images of her parents and little brother clouded her mind. They were the only ones that would have helped her now; they believed her side of the story.

How could she blame others for not believing her? Her cousin was the epitome of perfection. At twenty one he was excelling as a university student,and a football quarterback.He was handsome with those shining amber eyes, chiseled jaw, full lips; an embodiment of what God did in free time. In his college, girls loved him to the full extent of blatant obsession and craziness. She had found different girls stalking him for his attention, yet he blatantly ignored them. He never had a record of disrespecting any girls. Scratch that he was never caught with any kind of negative record; never grounded, never got detention, never let anyone down. Except for his cousin, His 'perfect, fun-loving cousin' image was destryoed when he raped her.

The girl could no longer withstand the feeling of eyes glaring into her soul. She shakily pushed herself to her feet and bolted to her apartment, where she sobbed uncontrollably. The crushing pressure of her sobs caused her to collapse into her pillow in pain, and slowly fall asleep.

Soon after drifting to sleep, she was jolted awake by the opening of her front door. She immediately assumed that an invader had entered her apartment and jumped to her feet, but to her relief it was her parents. They looked sorrowfully at her state and her mother flung herself at her for an embrace. She stiffly returned it.

"Daddy!What happen?What did they say?"she desperately questioned her father.

Her father looked at her with remorse and spoke softly " I would be honest with you Lexi.The board members don't trust us anymore. They think you are lying..."
Lexi choked back her tears as he continued " Fear not baby your mom and I do.They also decided  to prohibit us from society gatherings and meetings".

She had never been the type to feel emotionally invested in other people's lives, but this really hurt her. She knew that if her parents stopped associating with her, they would be accepted back in society. Knowing her parents they would never even consider that, so at that moment, Lexi made the decision to move across the continent, to her much nicer aunty's place. One way or another she would not let her family suffer. By hook or by crook.