Dollar Basement was far from exciting. Brady, the manager, was rude and obnoxious like the girls had warned. He would slither through the store, bossing them around, yelling that everything they were doing was wrong. He was a useless manager, and they all despised him.
Brady insulted Alessa often, singling her out since she was the youngest worker. “Your boobs are too small. Too bad you ain’t got a pair of knockers like the other girls.” This was his favorite way to insult Alessa.
Alessa tolerated Brady because she needed the job. She understood his obnoxious behavior was driven by his power as the manager at the Dollar Basement store.
Alessa knew that power changed people. It made them want to have total control over others. Brady was like her Uncle Danny and even her mother, Caterina; they were each busy positioning themselves as a master puppeteer of those they perceived as weak. Alessa wondered what people like them got out of being cruel and manipulative. She told herself that someday if she came into a position of power, she would make sure she did not abuse it. But she would use it to help people. Until that time came, though she doubted it ever would, she would focus on the positive. The job at the Dollar Basement store was paying her rent and keeping her fed. For now, that would have to be good enough. She was proud that she was living on her own. And now, with Tasha as her friend, she could enjoy life, too.
Alessa and Tasha hung out every night after work, and they savored each other’s company. In the months that had passed since Alessa first arrived in the neighborhood, Tasha had become her new family. She checked in with Zoe less frequently but was relieved to learn there was no manhunt on to find her. Zoe had assured her she was better off without her rotten family anyway.
Alessa had learned over the months that Zoe was still struggling to come to terms with her daughter’s death. Even over the phone, Alessa could tell from her tone that her friend’s mother was losing it. She had become a total recluse and had stopped “dating” altogether. Alessa still loved her and would never forget what she had done to help her in her hour of dire need. She felt guilty that Zoe had done all she could to help her move on, but was now where she couldn’t help herself. Alessa felt impelled to do something for her and return the favor, but Zoe insisted there was nothing the young girl could do.
“The only good thing to come out of Rhonda’s death,” Zoe told her, “is that I was able to help free you of the chains that had bound you since you were a little girl. Let me take joy in that, Alessa. You have helped me by making me feel I’ve done something worthy for another person.”
Alessa tried her best to avoid all the riffraff on the streets of North Philadelphia. She minded her own business and was careful not to make eye contact with anyone. Her senses were on red alert when she walked to and from the city bus stop. Mostly, she was left alone, aside from the occasional hooting and hollering directed at her, as she passed groups of men. Even Lea, Alessa discovered gradually, had a softer side to her personality that emerged in the girl’s presence. Instead of the usual grunt with which she had acknowledged her new tenant earlier, the old lady greeted Alessa now when she ran into her. The other tenants at Lea’s house were older and kept to themselves. Their aloofness filled Alessa with a sense of relief because of her persistent anxiety about people asking her more questions about herself than she could comfortably answer without giving her past away. Until she turned eighteen, she preferred to remain inconspicuous, to fly below the radar. She couldn’t risk drawing attention to herself and being sent back home.
Now that Lea knew neither Alessa nor her friend would cause any trouble, she even allowed Tasha to go up to her apartment. When Tasha first saw the miserable living conditions, she felt sorrier for Alessa than she ever had. She’d developed the greatest respect for Alessa’s ability to adapt herself to her circumstances and surroundings.
One night, while the two friends were having dinner, Tasha gazed at Alessa.
“What?” Alessa snickered.
Tasha let out a raspy breath. “I’m leaving on a trip with my parents in a couple of days. We’re going to Atlanta to visit my aunt. I’ll be gone for two weeks. I wish I could take you with me.”
Alessa sighed deeply. “That’s okay. I need all my hours at work, but I’ll miss you while you’re gone.”
The girls had been inseparable since the night they spent at Pulsations. They did everything together. Alessa even hung out with Tasha while she was selling weed on the street.
Once Tasha had left for Atlanta, Alessa was lost without her friend. One night after work, she stopped at the Dauphin Mini-Mart to pick up some groceries. When she came out of the store, Tag and his boys were standing across the street. Alessa immediately stepped up her pace so she could get back to her apartment with no trouble. As she passed by an open lot between row homes, however, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. Before she knew it, a few boys had grabbed her from behind and were dragging her to the trash-strewn lot. It was dimly lit, and not a soul could be seen in the vicinity. As she tried to anticipate the torture that might be in store for her, Alessa’s heart sank. Her stomach twisted with fear and revulsion, remembering the boys on the bus telling her that if she puked the next time, they would make her eat her vomit.
When they finished dragging, Alessa noticed they were now at an empty lot. Six guys stood around her. They stared at her with contempt as she pleaded with them to let her go, offering the fourteen dollars in her wallet. Tag made his way to the front of the group and glared at her. There was no sign of a human behind the dead brown eyes with a frighteningly vacant expression.
“Lift your skirt,” he spat at her. “We want to pick up where we left off. I wanna see what ya got goin’ on under there.”
Alessa cried and begged them to leave her alone. Between sobs, she pleaded with them not to hurt her. With one swift gesture of his head, two of Tag’s boys seized her by the shoulders, wrestled her to the ground, and pinned her down. Tag dropped to his knees, grabbed the bottom of her denim skirt, and pulled at it with one hand. As Alessa struggled to get free, he punched her in the left eye. She reeled from the blow, hitting her head hard against the ground, and lost consciousness for what couldn’t have been more than a minute. When she opened her eyes again, her skirt was pushed up. She lay there helplessly for a moment. Then she cried and pleaded again to be left alone. The boys were unaffected by her tearful pleas. She gasped in pain, as Tag mauled at her body. He raked his fingers down her stomach, feeling the hard muscles below her flesh.
“Now that’s some sweet meat!” he said slowly and deliberately. “Just like I had imagined.”
Tag motioned for his cronies to draw closer. One by one, they got closer to her. Then their leader shoved his way to the front again and unbuttoned his jeans.
“Hold her real good!” he ordered.
Tag viciously assaulted her, and Alessa feared he would snuff the very breath out of her. After, he turned to the heavy boy standing next to him and said, “You’re next, brother.”
Alessa clenched her teeth and rolled onto her side, trying desperately to make them leave her alone. As another boy bent down and forced her onto her back, she heard the roar of angry voices coming down the street. She wasn’t sure if she believed in God anymore, but Alessa now closed her eyes and prayed for help.
When she opened her eyes again, the first person she saw was Harlin. The rest of his gang was coming up quickly behind him. Harlin had his gun out, aiming it at her tormentors. Tag and his crew froze in their tracks and looked back at the other group. Harlin walked over to the teenage boy restraining Alessa. Before he could react, Harlin’s left hand had come up, and the blade of the knife he was gripping had sliced through the boy’s stomach. The boy collapsed on the ground in a heap of flesh, holding the open wound.
Harlin sneered at Tag. “What’s going on here, scumbag? You boys think this shit is fun?”
“Listen, man, we don’t mess with any of your stuff,” Tag said defensively. “Me and my boys here are lettin’ off a little steam. What do you care? She ain’t nothin’ to you. I should kill you for cutting my boy open!” he snarled, gesturing toward the stabbed teen.
“Oh yeah? Come on, you worthless piece of shit. Let me see you try.” With that, Harlin raised the gun in his right hand and placed its muzzle hard against Tag’s temple. Harlin’s gang instantly took up position, their guns on the ready.
Tag threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “All right, man! I get it, okay? Take that metal away from my head.”
Harlin lowered the gun and grasped Tag by the collar. He pointed to Alessa. “You see that girl there? She’s with me, you bastard. If I ever see you or any of your crew near her again, I’ll hunt you down, one by one, and make sure you regret it. You’ll wish that I had sliced you open quick like I did your fat friend here. I’ll make sure your death is a slow, painful one. Do you understand me?”
Tag yanked himself free of Harlin’s grasp. “Yeah,” he muttered, “I understand.”
Tag’s crew hoisted their dead comrade off the ground and carried him out toward the street.
Alessa was shaking so violently that her teeth chattered. Harlin looked down at her, then took off his shirt and wrapped it around her. He motioned to two of his friends, who picked her up and carried her the few blocks to Harlin’s house. Harlin instructed them to lay her on the mattress in the spare bedroom. Alessa was still crying and trembling. She was so distraught, her mind couldn’t make her mouth form words. She kept looking at Harlin’s crew with wide, terrified eyes.
A few minutes later, Harlin walked into the room with a blanket and told the others to go out into the living room and wait for him. He covered Alessa with the blanket and sat down on the mattress beside her. He talked to her softly, assuring her she was all right, that she was safe. Alessa couldn’t be consoled and she cried uncontrollably. She let out her fear and anger until she was calmer.
“What did they do to you before we got there?” Harlin asked gently.
“Tag, he . . . he . . . raped me. You showed up as that other boy was going to do the same,” she answered in a trembling voice. With the vivid memory rushing back on her, she was shaken to the core.
Harlin hugged her. “Those pricks! Don’t you worry. They’ll pay for what they did. If I had known Tag raped you, I would’ve killed him on the spot. Well, so happened that we heard the commotion when we were walking down the street. One of my boys said he had seen you at the mini-mart and noticed those punks following you. I’m sorry we didn’t get there sooner. Are you okay? You on the pill?”
“I think I’m okay,” Alessa said. Then she shook her head. “And no, I’m not on the pill.”
“Oh. Should I take you to a doctor or something?”
Alessa shook her head. There was no way she was going to a doctor or the police. She wanted this horrible experience to go away.
“Why is it men like to hurt me?” she murmured. “Do I have a sign on my head that says, ‘Abuse me’?”
Harlin looked at her in surprise. “What are you talking about?” he asked curiously. “You’ve been raped before?”
Alessa nodded and looked down at her hands to avoid looking into his sympathetic eyes.
“Nah,” Harlin told her, “you ain’t got no sign on your head. You’re missing an attitude that screams, ‘Don’t fuck with me or I’ll kill you.’ We’ll work on that.” He gave her a brilliant, broad smile that warmed her insides even in the dark moment.
“It’s okay,” he said soothingly. “You’re safe now. You’ll stay here with me for a while. At least until Tasha gets home. Then you two can have that girl talk. I’m sure she can make you feel better.”
The fear that had gripped Alessa lifted as she lay back on the bare mattress. She shed silent tears as the reality of what had happened to her sank in. She grasped Harlin’s hand before he got up. “Thank you, Harlin. You saved my life tonight.”
For the first time in his life, there was a tug on Harlin’s heart for a woman other than his sister. He was new to the feeling, and it took him by surprise. He realized then that he liked Alessa. He was understanding the special quality about her that appealed to his sister. He could see that Alessa took nothing for granted. He sat with her until her slow, steady breathing told him she was asleep. Then he walked out into his living room and looked at his crew.
“Tag and his puppets need to pay,” he stated forcefully. “Tag raped her. Any man who can’t get sex without stealing it deserves to die.”
