15 Seconds to Life

It was shocking to say the least, something I never could have expected, so bizarre it simply defies logic. To help you better understand the circumstances I'll try to be as explicit as possible and as detailed as my memory allows. Although it all happened a few years ago, there is not a day in my life since then I have not thought about the events of that day as well as the few weeks that followed.

I was in college then, a junior, studying computers and systems at a large state university. I'd mention the school, but it is really irrelevant as this could have happened at any school in the state, if not the country. Actually, it didn't really happen on campus, the only connection with the school was that she and I were both students at the time.

I am not sure if I can use her real name, so I'll call her Cassie. Anyway, I met her in a bar a few miles from campus. It was a Friday night and with only a bit of studying to do that weekend, I was celebrating a temporary escape from the grind of my classes. I started the night with a group of my fraternity brothers, but when they decided to make a run of the local strip clubs, I bowed out, choosing to remain at the bar.

I had noticed Cassie, by then and thought I'd try to introduce myself. Something about her caught my eye; she was very attractive, with short and curly red hair, a fair complexion with a sprinkling of freckles. She wasn't someone I'd call thin, but she was certainly not overweight.

Cassie was with a couple of female friends, but didn't seem all that interested in what her friends were doing or saying. She sat at the table quietly, occasionally smiling and nodding to one of the girls, but not really engaging in the conversation. The other girls were dancing with a number of guys, but Cassie stayed at the table, turning down a number of offers to dance.

Seeing her alone at the table after both friends got up to dance, I finished my drink, summoning a bit of courage from the alcohol, and walked over to her. Figuring she probably wouldn't want to dance, went over to her table and nervously said, "Hi, looks like your friends abandoned you."

To the best of my memory, she said, "Yeah, they weren't much fun anyway."

"Can I buy you a drink?" I asked.

"Yes you may," she answered.

"I have a table over there," I said, pointing. "It's a bit quieter there, we could talk some."

Standing up and putting her hand on mine she said, "Lead the way."

Again, mind you, the conversation I recall is basically what we said and talked about, and is not exactly word for word. Anyway, we moved over to my table and ordered the drinks; mine a margarita, hers straight bourbon on the rocks. Thinking that was a pretty serious drink she ordered, I realized her speech, though not slurred, was a bit odd, almost mockingly formal. I was hoping to get to know Cassie better and hoped to spend some time with her that evening, so I certainly didn't want her falling under the table on me, so I drank slow, hoping she'd do the same.

Well, after ordering the drinks and introducing ourselves, we seemed to be getting along very well. Cassie was a very demonstrative person, very touchy, so she held my hand, rubbed her hand along my arms and several times relaxed her hand on my thigh while she talked. I didn't pay a lot of attention to her touchiness until she leaned forward and kissed me.

It was not just a quick peck on the lips, while staring into my eyes, she slowly leaned forward and gently touched her lips to mine, then she pressed harder, opening her mouth and parting my lips with her tongue. For the next few moments, it was like I was trying to catch up to her as her tongue explored my mouth, finding my tongue and circling around it. While the kiss continued, her hand slid upward along my inner thigh stopping just short of my crotch.

When we broke apart, I gently grabbed her upper arms and held her away for a moment while I caught my breath. I sighed and said something like, "Wow, that was a nice surprise."

She then said something like, "Well then, you better get ready for this." Then she leaned and kissed me again, again running her hand along my thigh.

Figuring her signals were very clear, I kissed back, running my tongue into her mouth while I let my hand reach to her knee. Her legs immediately opened some, letting my hand explore along her thigh. I whispered to her, inviting her back to my apartment. She agreed and I quickly paid the tab and we headed out to my car, stopping on the way to kiss again.

Well, I drove back to my apartment and we walked, hand in hand up the stairs to my apartment. Once inside, we began kissing again, with both of us running our hands over our bodies. She ran her hand down my side and then slid over to my crotch, where she pressed her palm against my erection. I moved both my hands to her breasts and gently squeezed them.

Continuing kissing, we each moved our hands to each other's asses, squeezing as we ground together, my cock against her pussy. I then reached up to unbutton her blouse, but after a few seconds fumbling with the first few buttons, she stepped back and unbuttoned it herself.

We watched each other undress, standing a few feet from each other. She was enticing, with nice, pale white breasts with bright pink nipples. Looking down, her stomach was firm, only lightly tanned, so beneath her bikini line, the skin was just slightly lighter, but her triangle of curly hair seemed to shine a bright red. I moved my hand and gently ran them through the curls as she pulled closer to me, rubbing her breasts on my chest.

We moved back to my bedroom where she sat on the bed and opened her legs. I kneeled between her legs and began kissing her breasts and sucking on her nipples. In a few moments she leaned back onto the bed and slid back from the edge a ways. I then followed her, kneeling between her legs, kissing her on the lips and face.

Feeing her hand reach to my cock, I let her guide me toward her pussy. She opened her lips with one hand and guided me in with the other. Feeling that wet, softness, I slowly pushed into her, easing almost to the hilt, when she suddenly shouted: "Stop."

Not sure what happened, I looked at her and said, "Excuse me."

"I said, 'Stop,'" she said loudly.

"Stop pushing into you?"

"No, just stop this. Stop!"

I pulled my cock from her pussy and then sat beside her, "I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"

She didn't say anything, she just sat up, went to her clothes and began getting dressed. I followed her and began putting my clothes on, trying to find out what the problem was. All she would say was she wanted to stop.

After we finished dressing, I drove her back to campus and dropped her in front of her dorm. She climbed out of the car and walked to her room. Utterly confused, I drove back to my apartment and went to bed.

Well, the next morning I woke up to a banging on my door. It was the police and in moments I was in handcuffs heading to the police station. They charged me with sexual battery and locked me up. The college suspended me, my fraternity kicked me out and within a few weeks my parents where struggling to pull together money to defend me.

Apparently, after I dropped Cassie off, she called an old boyfriend who rushed over and convinced her to call the police. She did call them and filed a report. She spent the night with the boyfriend, moving in with him the next day. It was nuts.

"But I read somewhere that she said you dragged her into your apartment to rape her," the man across the table said after I finished telling my story.

"That is what I understand, but when the police told her that the cameras in the parking lot most likely recorded us going into my apartment, she admitted that she walked in," I replied.

"And the trials, how did they go?" he asked.

"You read it all, the first trial ended in a hung jury, and in the second trial the prosecution offered me twelve months probation."

"And?"

"I turned it down, I should say we, my attorney convinced me there was no way I'd get convicted. Well, I did get convicted, fifteen years probation and I'm now a registered sex offender for twenty-five years."

"Well, though your story has convinced me of your complete innocence, there is nothing I can do. You see, the waiver you signed, assigning you probation instead of jail time also had a provision prohibiting any further appeal. Regardless of how ineffective your counsel was when you were convicted, you can't make any claims."

"But what about Cassie's prior claims."

"You mean her charging that other man with rape, then taking it back saying she wasn't sure it was rape cause she was drunk?"

"Yes, shouldn't that..."

"No, the rape shield laws prevented that from becoming evidence, that ruling would still stand."

"But within a few days, she was back out at the bar, how..."

"I'm sorry, there's nothing you can do about that."

"But in just those 15 seconds from when I first was inside her, to when she decided I needed to stop... my life... my whole life was ruined. And she... she's out trolling bars a few days later. From 15 seconds to life..."

"I'm sorry," was all the man could say.    

Based on a true story!