When Martina got back to the street fair she slowed to a fast walk, so as not to draw attention to herself.

Hurrying back through the now much thicker crowd of people, Martina was headed for home.

With her mind on getting back to her house, Martina was looking down, not paying any attention to what was in front of her when she walked right into a young woman, causing them both to almost trip.

"Sorry," Martina muttered.

"It's okay," the girl told her in a sweet, undetstanding tone.

The girl looked at Martina and immediately realized something was wrong with her.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Martina mumbled before looking up and realizing the person she had bumped into was Lainy, the lead singer of Etherial Truth.

Now clearly able to see Martina's face, it was obvious she had been crying, and there werr drops of what looked like blood, on the corner of her mouth, so Lainy asked again, "Are you sure you're okay? Did someone hurt you?"

Martina was filled with anger, rage, and disgust over what Barry had done to her, but at that moment she broke down and tears began to pour from her eyes again.

Lainy knew this girl needed someone to talk to, so she placed an arm around Martina. "Come with me. You're safe now.."

She led Martina to her band's tour bus which was parked behind the stage, where the Womanless Pageant was now taking place.

Once they were inside, Lainy sat down and wrapped her arms around Martina. That was all it took and Martina began to do more than tear up, she began to bawl.

Lainy sat next to Martina and held her for several minutes while she cried. Lainy didn't say anything, just held her. Finally, after the sobbing stopped Lainy asked a question.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Silence from Martina.

Is it something you need to report to the police? . . . "

Continued silence from Martina.

"Look, you don't have to talk if you don't want, but no one can help you unless you do."

Martina didn't answer her questions right away, but she knew she felt safe right now and she couldn't control the tears.

Lainy continued to hold Martina and console her.

Moments later she began to quietly sing a beautiful slow tune as she gently rocked Martina back and forth.

Martina had never heard this song before, but she found its lyrics, along with Lainy's voice to be very soothing, comforting.

About the time Lainy finished the song, one of her bandmates boarded the bus.

Seeing the two of them, he asked, "Is she okay?"

Lainy gave him a look that conveyed she was unsure. At the same time, Martina raised up and spoke in a quiet, broken voice.

"I did something bad, really bad, but it was because someone did something bad to me."

"You wanna tell us what happened," the guy asked sympathetically.

"No," Martina replied forcefully.

Lainy motioned for her bandmate to leave the bus.

He nodded at Lainy, indicating he understood, then exited the bus, closing the door behind herself.

Once he was gone Lainy spoke.

"Would you like to tell me? I promise I won't repeat anything you don't want me to. It'll be just between you and me. Getting it out might help, though."

At this point, Martina's face scrunched up and tears welled up in her eyes again.

"It's okay, take your time," Lainy comforted.

Martina took a deep breath and told herself she had to get it out. For some reason she felt like she could truly trust Lainy and after a few moments, she spoke.

"I - I w-was . . ."

"It's okay, go ahead."

"I was, I was . . . raped," she mumbled through a sob.

"Oh baby, I'm so sorry. Have you reported it to the police?"

"No . . . but they know."

"Did this just happen, before you ran into me?"

"Yes."

"Then you really do need to report it, so they can do a rape kit, preserve the DNA evidence and catch him. If you let him get away with this, he'll probably do it again. You have the power to stop him. Do you want to be responsible for another girl having to go through what you and who knows how many other girls have gone through? I'll go with you if you want."

"No need. They have him, along with a note from me about what he did, plus my DNA is on him."

"What do you mean," Lainy asked, confused.

"He knocked me out and raped me. When I woke up his um, his . . . yeah was between my lips. My first instinct was to bite it to get him to stop, but I bit too hard."

"What do you mean you bit too hard? So you hurt him?"

"You could say that. Actually, I almost bit it off, literally. I don't think he'll ever be able to do this to anyone else."

"I get it. You don't want to go to the police, but I still think you should. If not now, then at least tomorrow. Like I said, if you'll go now, I'll go with you for support."

"No, I can't. Just leave it at that, please . . . Actually, I think I'm going to go home now. Thank you so much for recognizing that I needed someone to talk to, but I'm sure you've got better things to do than just sit here with me."

"Well, if you're not gonna go to the police tonight, at least don't go somewhere you'll be by yourself. You need to be around other people. You've just been through a traumatic experience. I wouldn't want to see you fall into a state of depression and start contemplating suicide or worse. You're welcome to stay here for a while if you want. Our bus doesn't leave for another four hours and I've got nothing to do until then."

"You don't have to worry about me. I have no plans to commit suicide, and thanks for the invitation but I really think I should go."

"Just promise me you won't be alone tonight. You never know what could happen."

Lainy grabbed a pen and began to write on a piece of paper.

"Here's my number. Call me if you wanna talk more or you start to feel the urge to do something you shouldn't and I don't just mean tonight either."

Martina took the piece of paper and stood up. She thanked Lainy for being so supportive and turned to leave.

"Martina?"

"Yeah," she replied, turning back around.

"Can I pray with you before you go?"

Martina hadn't ever had anyone want to pray for her before and she was unsure of what was about to happen.

"Yeah, I guess," she replied uncomfortably.

Lainy stood and reached towards Martina. Taking both of Martina's hands, she began to pray.

It wasn't at all like Martina thought it would be. Lainy's prayer wasn't showy and pretentious, or filled with archaic old English words, but rather Lainy talked to God as if He were her friend, physically standing right there in the same room with them.

She asked that he comfort Martina tonight and keep his hand of protection on her. She asked God to shower Martina with his love in a way she would know He was with her. She ended her prayer asking God to give Martina the boldness and courage to do the right thing in this situation regardless of what it took.

When she was done praying she wrapped her arms around Martina in a loving embrace and reminded Martina that she could call her at any time if she needed to talk and she was welcome to come back and hang out if she felt she needed to.

Martina again thanked Lainy for being there for her and headed towards the door. As she stepped off the bus, she knew regardless of what Lainy had said, she didn't think she could handle being around a lot of people when she would still be all alone.

Martina decided she was going straight home, take a long hot shower, change back into her boy clothes, and get into a bottle of her mom's wine.