The Twelfth Night

The Twelfth Night

It was the night of February the first; I knew I was making the right decision.  I was always the person who made the wrong decisions, whether it was little silly things like what to have for lunch or big things like choosing the wrong friends.  However big or small, the decisions I made were always wrong.  And this was the worst decision of my life.  I was fifteen, I was just a child.   I cannot even imagine what was going through my head that night. I will never forget the wrong decisions I made but in the end I made the right one…

It started when I was about fourteen and a half, I joined a chatting website as I thought it would be cool to meet new friend from across the globe.  When one day I received a message saying hello my name was Jake. I replied.  He later told me where he lived I was amazed that we lived in the same town.  Without really thinking I replied telling him that I also lived there.  As the weeks went on we learnt more about each-other he told me that he was 16 and told me which high school he went to. (I looked it all up on the internet it was all real, he had obviously put a lot of planning into it).

After about two months of just talking he asked if I wanted to meet up with him.  At first I was a bit weary of the idea of meeting up with a total stranger.  I had a chat with one of my closest friends and she didn’t think it was such a bad idea, if I met up with him in a public place full of people.  So I took her advice and we met 

up that weekend.

Everything was fine, at first anyways.  We met up in the high street with lots of people as my friend suggested.  My heart felt like it was trying to escape out of my chest when I saw him approaching.  I was as nervous as a pet in a new home. Everything ran smoothly, so did next few times we met up with each other.

After a few months I had begun really strong feelings for him I was so blinded by him that I didn’t even realise that he was getting aggressive and protective.  If he asked me to meet up with him and I couldn’t he would ask me where I was going or who I was with in an aggressive tone.  At first I thought it was nice that he was protective over me, that he cared about me.  I just ignored it and just told myself that that’s just the way he was.

Time flew by I was approaching sixteen it was twelve days until my birthday Jake had already turned 17.  He asked me to meet up with him in the park at 7pm so he could tell me something exiting and he wouldn’t tell me what it was.  I agreed to go.

The first thing that flew through my insecure mind was that he was going to propose, I panicked but somehow wanted him to, that just shows how stupid I was.  Think about it a fifteen year old girl engaged to a 17 year old boy.  At the time, I thought it was cool that I had a boyfriend that was older than me.  How wrong was I?

I stood up to my fears of what was going to happen and left the house telling my parents I was meeting a friend I felt really bad about not telling them that I had a boyfriend, they wouldn’t mind but if they found out how old he was that would be a problem so I was going to wait until I felt ready to tell them.

I arrived at the park Jake said to me;

 “I have two single tickets to Spain; we can go together me and you.”

My face said all that i was thinking I was paralysed, I could barely reach out to get the tickets.  He waved the tickets in front of my face then handed me them.  I read the detail on the tickets, the name printed on them was Shaun Smith; I thought his name was Jake North.  I thought it was strange but maybe he just didn’t like his name.  That could have been the case but it wasn't.  I just wanted to see the best in him.

I told him that I would think about it and stood up so I could walk away; he tightly wrapped his hand around my arm, like an anaconda, slimy and suffocating.  He said to me,

“You better make the right decision or else.  You have twelve nights.”

I quickly placed the tickets down then I promptly walked away.  I could barely breath I was having palpitations my stomach dropped as I thought about what had just happened.  What was I going to do?  I’m fifteen, I couldn't run away.  I ran and I didn’t stop running until I got to my house.  

I quickly calmed myself down and ran straight up the creaky stairs and into my room.  I lay in my bed shaking until I remembered about the name on his tickets.  I typed Shaun Smith into Google when newspaper stories and criminal records came up I clicked on one, the picture that came up was of Jake or Shaun.  I scrolled down and found that he has been jailed twice one for child abuse in 1992.  Then something clicked, if he’s really seventeen then he must have been born in 1995 at least.  I soon found out that he was 37 and that he was also charged with abuse to women...

I immediately ran down the stairs and told my parents everything that had happened.  I broke down as I saw the disappointment fill their eyes.  They told the police and told them everything.  They jailed Jake for the third and hopefully the last time.

Twelve nights later we received a phone call, telling us that he will be jailed for a minimum of twelve years.

I could finally rest knowing that I made the right choice when it really mattered.