The beginning

As Jenny stood on the bridge, she just knew the rest of her life would be perfect. She stood there wearing jeans and a blue tank top and her hair was shimmering with glitter in a pony tail. Mark’s mom was crying her eyes out, as they knew she would, and as the preacher spoke, the world seemed to just stand still. Mark’s whole life was within this moment. He held his soon-to-be wife’s hands while listening to the preacher speak, but just couldn’t take his eyes off of her face. Her beautiful big brown eyes were the most comforting he had ever seen. Family and friends stood gathered around watching the ceremony. Less than 20 people attended and most were Mark's family. Thrown together last minute, this wedding was very casual and obviously impromptu. Their friends laughed and even made bets on how soon they would divorce, but they just knew their love would last forever.

The two 17-year-olds began their new life together as husband and wife in a small 2-bedroom public housing apartment filled with hand me down furniture and rummage sale picture frames. Mark worked full time at a pizza place for a little more than minimum wage and Jenny took on her new role as a homemaker. Although they were both now legal adults, Mark and Jenny were still just kids. Fights about absolutely nothing became a regular occasion throughout their first year. Several fights were because Jenny had a much stronger sex drive than he did. She tried everything to get her husband’s attention; lotions, lingerie, and even toys. Unfortunately, Mark was still very much into his video games, and it seemed to Jenny that the only way she'd get any intimacy from her man, was if she wore a helmet like the characters from Halo™ and painted an x-box controller on her chest.

Jenny came home after running errands one day to find a truck backed up to her home. "What the hell is going on?" she thought, confused. She got out of her car to see several boxes and furniture in the back of the truck. Mark was letting his friend Jared move in with them, but he had failed to talk with his wife about the decision beforehand. Jenny was furious, but she held it in, the best she could at least. They had an extra bedroom, but space was not what bothered Jenny about their new houseguest’s arrival. Mark was only thinking of himself and his friend, but had neglected to think of his wife’s feelings. As time went on, it became obvious by her short and angry comments, that she was still unhappy about his making such a big decision without her consultation. Mark, Jenny, and Jared learned to get along eventually. Together they threw parties, played games, and watched movies.

Mark decided he wasn’t making enough money at the pizza place so he began selling weed from home. Jenny hated it and argued with him so much before she finally gave up on reasoning with her husband. It was bad enough, to her, that he even smoked it, brought it into her home, and now he was selling it. All she could think about was that he would get busted and she would end up in jail as an accomplice even though she never smoked the stuff. Mark even did cocaine about the same time with his ex-girlfriend and her friend. The more drugs that he came into contact with, the more pissed off Jenny became.

It was a cool autumn night when the housemates decided to drink. They played board games late into the night, but Mark had to be up for work early, so after swallowing a few pills he bought from his friends, he went on to bed leaving Jared and Jenny drinking together in the living room. Jared encouraged Jenny to keep drinking, as he made comments that she couldn't keep up with him. Jenny accepted the "challenge" as she saw it and drank as much as she could before she passed out on the couch. Jenny awoke the next morning in Jared's bed with her chest burning. She looked down and saw a cigarette burn. Confused; she got up to investigate what the hell was going on. As she stood, her pants fell to the ground and she began to remember bits and pieces of the night before.

Mark was still in bed when she awoke; he had to be up in an hour for work. She saw Jared sitting in the living room talking to his underage girlfriend as if nothing weird was going on. Woozy and scared, she walked across the hall into her bedroom. She laid in bed beside her husband as fuzzy and unorganized visuals from the drunken evening before came to her mind slowly. She remembered being carried off the couch, at the time she assumed it was her loving husband taking her to bed, but she now knew that wasn't the case. At one point, while Jenny was passed out she had a brief moment of sobriety. She opened her eyes to see Jared above her on the bed, but she passed out again and unable to comprehend the situation. Jenny had been raped in her own home by her husband's friend.