The CD That Saved My Life

I had a really good friend named Annie. She had a band she sung in and she was one of the greatest and one of the most protective people I knew. Her band wasn't famous but her dad had a recording studio in their basement. So she recorded their first cd with the band there. Her very first cd was a gift for me on my birthday and I hadn't listened to it yet. 3 days after my birthday, Annie was raped by her older brother who's 17. He left the city supposedly and they didn't catch him. He always scared me but I never said anything. She was only 13 when she died.

The next day in the hospital when I was sitting with her, she tried to speak and tell me something. But when she was raped, he choked her and damaged her throat so much she wouldn't be able to talk for a while. Before I left the hospital, a nurse had come up to me in the parking lot and told me she died and gave me a note she wrote before she died.

I was so depressed about it, I refused to touch her cd and note, which I left in my room. One night when I was home alone, I was thinking about her so I decided to finally listen to the cd. There was a song on there called "Painful memory", a song she wrote about rape when a friend of hers was raped. Some of the chorus goes "He tried to find you, he's upstairs." All of a sudden, the cd starts skipping and continuously repeats "He's upstairs, he's upstairs, he's upstairs." I thought it was kind of weird because I never listened to the cd and it didn't have any scratches. So I just put it back in and played the song again. When it came to the chorus, it skipped and repeated the same words again. I cleaned the cd and tried again. It still played the same words.

I was scared now so I locked my door and listened to the silence. I could hear boots walking down the hall. I looked in the key hole and saw someone walking down the hall. I quickly called the police and they came. They found her 17 year old brother hiding in the bathroom. He said he was waiting for me when they questioned him.

The next day I found the note in the cd case when I put it. I opened it and read. "When my brother raped me he told me he would rape you next. I promise no matter what I wont let that happen. Love, Annie." And I think she kept the promise.

Sent in by Becky