Darkness Before Dawn

When Keisha’s parents arrive, she confesses all the sordid details of the evening to them: “I hung my head in shame again. Leon, who had been so kind and so genuine with me, who had given me the lovely silver necklace, I had treated like dirt—dumped him to run off to be with Jonathan” (209).

Mr. Montgomery wants to give Edna money in gratitude for saving his daughter, but she refuses. She says it’s better to pay it forward by giving money to another person in need. Keisha’s father agrees to do just that. He then insists on taking his daughter to the nearest police station to file a report. Keisha is so ashamed that she doesn’t want anybody to know what happened, but the female officer who takes her statement is sympathetic. Keisha then learns that Jonathan has completely disappeared though the police find ample evidence of their struggle in his apartment.

Back at home afterward, Keisha refuses to go to school. She can’t bear to face anyone and won’t take any phone calls from her friends. By the beginning of March, she is still sunk in such a deep depression that she isn’t functioning at all. Then, she gets a surprise visit from Rita Bronson, the girl who left the track team unexpectedly during the previous fall.

The first thing Rita does when she arrives is slap Keisha in the face. This gesture is meant to be a wake-up call. Rita says, “What are you ashamed for? You ought to be proud of yourself. You survived. You’re alive! You managed to outwit him, overpower him, and escape from him. [...] The only way to beat him is to live, and live well!” (219). Rita explains that she wasn’t so lucky in her encounter with Jonathan. She’d been dating him secretly long before he started working at Hazelwood High. One night, at his apartment, she couldn’t escape, and he raped her, cutting her neck with his silver knife during their struggle.

Unlike Keisha, Rita went back to school the very next day. She told Jonathan that she was going to expose him, but he cut her again with his little silver knife and said he would kill her if she spoke up. Frightened by this threat, Rita left school immediately afterward and moved away with her mother. Kiesha wishes she could move away, but Rita encourages her to return to school. Rita points out that Keisha’s friends want to help her, not hurt her.

Feeling better after Rita leaves, Keisha accepts a call from Rhonda and learns that Jonathan’s father resigned as principal. The new head of the school is the humorless Emmalina Wiggersly. Later, Leon calls too, and Keisha apologizes to him for the Valentine Dance incident. Leon says that he’s just happy she’s coming back to school.

On her first day back, Keisha is nervous about how her classmates will treat her, but everyone is supportive. They help her get through the assignments that she missed. Keisha says,

Leon was the rock that he promised he would be. He listened if I needed to talk. He comforted me if I needed to cry. He made me laugh. He asked for nothing for himself […]. I needed lots of space, and that’s what he gave me (234).

During a class meeting, the students conspire to put Leon in charge of the senior class prank for the year. He promises that it will be memorable. Unaware of this plan, the principal tells the seniors who the graduation speakers will be. To show their support for her, everyone asked to have Keisha address the class.

By April, Keisha feels that her life is returning to normal She attends group therapy with other survivors of sexual assault and is making good progress. At the beginning of May, she even hosts a birthday party at her house for Rhonda. All their friends have been invited. Shortly after everyone arrives, a thunderstorm causes a power outage. Undeterred, the teens celebrate with cake, ice cream, and bubble gum. They pass the rainy afternoon telling each other what their future college plans will be, and everyone is anticipating successful careers. At the end of the party, Rhonda says, “‘Wow! What a birthday party! Cake! Ice cream! Thunder! Lightning! Darkness! Bubble gum! You really know how to throw a good one, Keisha.’ ‘Wait till next year,’ I promised. ‘I’m working on a tornado for you!’” (254).

The week before graduation, the senior class is making its final farewells. During a humorless lecture from their new principal about what a disappointment they are, Leon unleashes his prank. Everyone at the assembly drops concealed marbles on the floor, about 1,000 in total. They roll toward the principal, causing her to retreat in terror.

At home, Keisha’s family receives a visit from former Principal Hathaway. He has come to apologize. He explains that he covered for Jonathan and allowed him to escape on the night he attacked Keisha. Then, he drove his son to stay with relatives in Kentucky, where Jonathan once again tried to rape a 15-year-old high school student. Keisha asks if Jonathan threatened the girl with a small silver knife. Principal Hathaway confirms this and says the knife was the only gift Jonathan’s mother ever gave him.

After this most recent attempted rape, Jonathan was caught, tried, and sentenced to 30 years in prison without parole. Keisha thinks, “Inwardly, I sighed with relief. It was as if a dark storm cloud had been lifted from me, as if I hadn’t breathed since that horrible night in February” (265). She feels that her life can finally resume a normal course again.

Graduation Day finally arrives, and Keisha has written a special speech to honor her classmates. She mentions their resiliency in the face of personal tragedy and reminds them to look toward a brighter future with hope in their hearts. She says, “Let us not leave this place in sorrow, however. […] Let us take our spirits now, like the flames of many candles, to a new world, a world of hope and possibilities, a place where butterflies are magic and dreams can never die” (270).