Destruction
by Laura F. Schomberg
Webpage maintainer's note - Because of the nature of this story, I am including a separate lead-in page. This story is of an adult nature and deals with the aftermath of a rape. While the rape itself is not in the story, the subject is sensitive enough that I feel it warrants a warning page. The author recommends a PG-13 rating. Following are Laura's notes preceeding her story. - Shelagh
This is a story about the aftermath of the rape of one of the main characters. I started this story back in early December. Although it's been plotted out in my head since the beginning, it has taken me four months to write.
When I started, a lot of things got in the way of writing it. First, I didn't originally want to write it. The subject matter is very uncomfortable to me. I owe deepest thanks to Sandra for discussing the story with me and convincing me to go ahead with it. Then in January, when I was well into writing, I read Susan Williams' excellent story "The Devil You Know," and almost decided not to continue with my story at all. It took a lot of time talking out my fears with both Sandra and Joanne before I decided to finish what I had started. If only for my own sake.
Another reason it took so long is that I wanted to do this right. I feel that male rape is often not handled realistically in fanfic. I spent a lot of time doing research on the web and found a treasure trove of information that hasn't made it into hard print as of yet. If anyone is interested in the URLs for the web pages I've found, please contact me and I'll be happy to send them to you.
After reading Susan Williams' story "The Devil You Know," I purposely avoided all stories dealing with rape. It was too painful to see a similar scene already planned in Susan's story. Any other scenes similar to any one else's work is purely coincidental.
I also want to state that this story is not an attack on slash. That would be hypocritical of me. I read and have even written slash stories. This story came about, however, due to a slash story I read in a Due South zine, in which one of the main characters recovers emotionally from a brutal rape in less than one week. I found that very hard to swallow. Because of an incident of child abuse when I was 5, I have a great deal of difficulty getting on escalators. If I'm still affected by that incident at 31, I would expect someone suffering from a much more traumatic experience to take longer than a week to recover. As I thought about that, this entire story filled my head. It wouldn't let me sleep.
I feel it is important to tell you my personal views on rape. I do not believe it is about sex. It is, in my opinion, about power and control, and it can have a devastating impact on the victim.
There are a few people who I would like to thank for their invaluable help. Sandra, our listmom, convinced me that I needed to write this story. Until then, I was almost content to let the story fade away. Joanne, my nearby TS viewer, may not know what a phone looks like, but she's been a wonderful editor throughout this process, has helped me work through things and given me much needed guidance. My sister, Dr. Kitt Schomberg-Klaiss has been an wonderful resource for all the medical details involved in this story, and her husband, Bruce Klaiss, has been a great go-between. Sis has a busy practice and a two-year old, so Bruce would print out my questions and then type in her answers. And finally, my beta readers: Kerguelen, Shelagh, and Monica.
You get to read all of that to find out that I'm rating this story PG-13 for strong language and content. This story is very important to me and I'd like to know how it makes you feel. I will respond to everyone who writes to me, it just may take a while.
