#by /u/Zeldaspellfactory

[prorevenge]

Attack Me? Get Ready for Doom

I have had migraines since I was 3 or 4. Sometimes they start slow and sometimes they hit like a hammer. I can be instantly unable to function if they hit quickly. In college this could be a huge problem. The only available medications just knocked you out so you didn't care that you hurt and wanted to vomit. My freshman year (1987), I was at a party for my roommate's boyfriend's birthday. I had never had champagne and didn't know it was a migraine trigger. I took a sip or two of champagne and instantly got a migraine. We were at someone's house about 20 minutes away from the dorm. My roommate didn't want to leave the party so she arranged for a guy she knew to drive me home. She had no idea what he was really like. She just knew him from a few parties.

On the drive that I thought was to my dorm, this guy pulls over on the side of the road in an undeveloped area. No one was around. He sexually assaulted me and left me on the side of the road. I didn't even know where I was, much less how to get back to the dorm or to a hospital. After a while, some lady found me curled up on the side of the road. She thought I was dead. Cell phones were not a thing, so she half lifted me into her car, wrote down where she found me, and drove me to the nearest hospital. I could barely speak enough to tell the hospital people my name. I was beaten black and blue by this guy. The hospital knocked me out for about 8 hours with pain meds and muscle relaxers, once they were sure I didn't have a head injury. He only hit me in places that it would not show.

My roommate didn't get home until about a day after I did. She was staying at her boyfriend's dorm room. She probably wouldn't have come home as early as she did but her parents called at the same time every weekend and she HAD to be home for that. She was shocked when she saw how beat up I looked. I asked her how she knew that guy and learned she didn't really, he was just at a party now and then. I wasn't happy with the situation, or that she let some creep she barely knew drive me somewhere. She felt really guilty, but guys don't advertise that they like to rape girls. She did have some information on the guy. He didn't live in our city but instead went to a really Christian school with a great law school. He was in law school and was visiting for the party. His dad was a really well known lawyer for a televangelist's church. That was the beginning of what I learned about him. Remember, the internet was in its' infancy and social media did not exist.

I called some other people who knew him from the party and got some information from them. I learned his girlfriend's name . Then I went to the library and learned about this girlfriend, the church, the law school, the college he was at, etc.... I had photos from the hospital. I had declined to press charges because even then I knew that it would be hard to prove. Even with all the bruises. It would be my word against his. He was from "a good family" and went to a Christian college and law school. My family was not prominent, and I was wearing a miniskirt that night. At the time, it was normal for lawyers to smear rape victims based on what they wore, if they had a drink (especially if they were under 21), etc... I didn't want to have to deal with all of that. I just wanted to ruin his life without having it ruin mine.

I got phone numbers for the Dean of his Law school, the head of the college overall, for his father, for his girlfriend, and for the person who owned his apartment complex. He lived in some fancy apartment owned by a guy who was a big donor to the college. It was for people getting Master's or law degrees or medical degrees after they already had bachelor degrees. The apartments were given out as a type of scholarship to the school, and they were supposed to be really nice (I never went there, so I don't know firsthand what they are like, but I heard about them from this guy's friends). I wrote some letters, including tear stains that made some of the writing blur a bit. I included copies of the photos of my bruises. I said that I didn't want to press charges because I knew it would be an embarrassment to the college/law school/televangelist/his parents (whichever one fit the person I was writing to). I just thought they ought to know because he could harm a member of their family/congregation/school. He could also be a HUGE publicity nightmare if he did this to someone else and I didn't want that because I believed in their message (sent to the church and the school). I called the girlfriend (her number was in the phone book) and told her that her boyfriend raped and beat me. She cried, and said he had beaten her too, but she thought it was her fault. I told her the rape was not my fault, I was trying not to puke when he attacked me. I told her to stop seeing him and have nothing to do with him if he treated her that way. She said that her family would be upset as he was from such a good family and he was so well thought of at the law school. I didn't tell her that I was working on ruining that for him.

I sat back and waited for things to happen after I mailed the letters. . His family was shocked but not surprised. They wrote me an apology, saying he had been in trouble before but they thought he had gotten better after the church intervened in his life. Apparently he hadn't and they were cutting ties to him. The man who owned the apartments actually called me. He wanted to hear what happened from me so he could figure out if I was telling the truth. So I told him what happened and why I didn't press charges. He believed me and started eviction proceedings. A representative from the church called me to ask me to stop telling lies about the guy. I told them that they shouldn't protect a rapist. To ask girls he dated how he behaved because his girlfriend told me that he beat her when he got angry. They were shocked. I never heard from the college, but the Dean of the law school called me. He asked if I told the truth and assured him that I had. DNA wasn't commonly used (it was 1st used in a criminal case that year), so it was my word vs. his word. Just the accusation was enough to have the guy kicked out of law school, especially with the photos of my bruises and the tear stains on my letters (which was the reason I wrote them out by hand and let myself cry while I wrote them). Apparently those accepted to that law school should be above reproach. I don't know if they would have handled it the same way if I tried to prosecute the guy, but since I "was trying to keep it quiet so I didn't harm the school's reputation", it meant I was a good Christian girl who could be believed.

I was actually surprised that the letters had so much success. I expected his father to send a letter telling me to stop slandering/libeling his son. The letter saying they were cutting all ties to him was a surprise, but a good one. Sadly, it indicated that I was probably not the 1st to accuse him. About a year later I found out he was working for a company installing carpet in homes. I called that company and told them that they were sending a rapist into people's homes. I even offered to send photos of the bruises if they wanted them. The woman that I spoke to was horrified. Just the idea that he had been accused of rape, and that I cared enough to call when I learned he was going into people's homes was enough for her. I learned that not only did the company fire him, they called other companies and told them what a liability he would be if they hired him. He had started to drink heavily by that point, at least according to the friends who knew him at my school.

I went on with my life, got therapy to help me cope, eventually got married and have had almost 30 years with an amazing husband. I don't know what happened to this guy, but I know he never became a lawyer (his dream). I know that I made his life a LOT harder. I did google him a few years ago. He has had many arrests and has spent quite a few years behind bars. I like to think that by getting him kicked out of law school and getting his family to understand that he was very much un-reformed, I helped speed him into the defendant's chair in a courtroom.

(source) story by (/u/Zeldaspellfactory)