This story is about an issue of conscience.

It was about eleven o'clock in the evening when my best friend Sarah's boyfriend Matthew was driving her home from their date. The evening had been perfect. He took her to Galveston Island, prepared a romantic picnic dinner for two on the beach, and walked hand in hand with her, up and down the shoreline, gazing at the stars. Sarah was utterly head over heals for Matthew. She was in love, and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. There was nothing he could ever do to change that feeling; or so she thought.

It was a long drive home, and Sarah was feeling quite fatigued. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. The next thing she knew, she woke up to find the two of them driving down an unfamiliar, dark, unpaved road.

"Where are we?" Sarah asked, but Matthew didn't respond.

English: By Rembrandt.

English: Folio 9 from the codex; beginning of the ...

Sarah Xmas 06 family sketch

He just kept driving without a single, solitary word. Frightened at what was going on, she screamed for him to take her home, but he just kept on driving in complete silence. Finally, after what seemed like hours, the car stopped in the middle of the woods.

"What's going on?" she cried, but Matthew again said nothing, and jerked her out of the vehicle. He gagged her so she couldn't make as much noise, and dragged her deeper into the woods. He threw her down on the ground, and proceeded to rape her. She tried to fight him, but it was no use. There was nothing she could do. When he finished raping her, he threw her back into the vehicle and drove her home.

"If you tell anyone, or turn me in, I will kill you, and then kill myself," he stated. With this said, Sarah got out of...