Page 8 of Not Your Body

“Can you believe this?”Amy’s voice whispered over the video with a tremor of fear.“What the hell is going on?”

“I want to go home,”Jasmine murmured anxiously. A faint notification dinged in the background. Moments later, Jasmine spoke again, her voice shaking.“Amy… look… look at this… what is this?”

The girls went silent briefly.“I’m gonna call Jade,”Amy whispered with renewed fear.“We’re going home. I don’t care if we still have classes.”

The video ended.

Jade shook, her heart pounding.Seeingthe picketers with her own eyes frightened Jade. Emboldened,entitledmen were terrifying and dangerous. It felt surreal to see them standing out in public and making such claims to and about women, like a living nightmare.

The second video caught more footage of the picketers, zeroing in on three young men who looked right into the phone camera. They turned their focus on Amy and Jasmine, making direct, derogatory comments to the young women. The camera withdrew as the girls retreated from the protestors, but the men advanced, walking toward them.

“You can’t run away, bitches. There’s nowhere for you to hide anymore. We’re in control now.”

“Yeah, come on back. Give us a taste.”The man speaking grabbed his crotch.“I’ll give you a taste—whether you want it or not.”

“We don’t need your permission anymore. We can take whatever the fuck we want, and you can’t say a goddamn thing.”

Jade could hear Amy and Jasmine’s quickened, shuddered breaths as they retreated in a hurry moments before the video ended.

Her throat worked with rage and Jade’s vision distorted. “It was you three fuckers, wasn’t it?” Her voice strained as freshfury scalded her insides. She swallowed hard and opened the last video.

Amy and Jasmine’s worried faces appeared on screen and Jasmine had tears in her eyes. Amy was recording as they walked through the park.

“A-Are they following us?”Jasmine trembled.

Amy squinted, using the camera to look behind them.“I-I don’t think so. We’re almost home. We’re okay—”

“What?”Jasmine whimpered.“What is it?”

The three men from the second video appeared a few yards behind them.

“Oh shit,”Amy hissed.

“Will… will they do anything out here in the open? In broad daylight?”

“I-I don’t know.”Amy was scared.Reallyscared.“Let’s hurry. We’re almost to the apartment building.”

Amy kept the camera on as she and Jasmine walked faster. The men picked up their pace and called out to the girls.

“Hold up, girls. Where you going?”

Amy and Jasmine didn’t acknowledge the men and moved along more quickly.

“Hey! Bitches! Who do you think you are? You can’t say no to us anymore!”

“Yeah, sluts! That’sourpussy now! We don’t need to ask!”

The girls breathed harder as terror washed over them. The camera lowered and shook as Amy and Jasmine ran from the men, who hooted and hollered and gave chase.

Pandemonium broke out and the phone struck the ground facedown, the screen dark… but still recording theaudioof the brutal assault. Amy and Jasmine screamed—then were abruptly muffled. Scuffling sounds erupted from the phone. Whimpering and crying. And the men’s voices.

“Yeah, bitch, give me my pussy!”The man grunted and Amy cried out—“No! Please no! Stop!”More grunting… more cries.“Fuck, yeah… take it, cunt… no means yes now…”

Jasmine screamed and then gagged.

“You’re mine, slave,”one of the men panted heavily.“No use fighting—I fuckingownyou and your pussy!”

The men grunted and laughed while the girls cried and fought them.

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