SCARRED - Part 5 (4 page)

“No, not at all,” she said. “I mean...it was intense, but that’s what I needed.” She told him what happened to Derek without mentioning Jesse. Max listened and when she finished talking he said, “Do you think your ex had something to do with it?” She hadn’t had to say anything, Max already figured it out.

“Yes, I do,” Chloe told him. “I believe he had everything to do with it. I don’t believe we can prove it though, unfortunately.”

“Then make sure that you’re extra careful. Remember everything that we’ve gone over here and don’t let your guard down.”

“What exactly do you do here?” Jake asked. “I know Chloe said it was self-defense, but what did you mean by “simulation?”

“Part of what we do here is help the woman who has been through a traumatic episode, be able to channel all of that terror that stays with her into strength...to fight back. We do mock-attacks or recreate an attack that still gives her nightmares.”

Jake looked at Chloe and then back at Max and said, “She’s a foot shorter and maybe seventy or eighty pounds lighter than Jesse. I haven’t seen him in a few years but he had a lot of lean muscle on him the last time I did. I’m sorry, but do you really believe that teaching her to fight him is wise? No matter how good she is, he’ll always have the size advantage. Shouldn’t she be taking gun courses or learning how to run instead? I don’t mean any offense, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me...it doesn’t seem safe to put in her head that she can fight this guy off.”

Max looked Jake up and down and said, “You’re about a foot taller than her and seventy pounds heavier. Would you care to suit up and let Chloe show you what she can do?”

Jake raised an eyebrow and looked at Chloe.

She smiled and said, “I could use a work-out to get rid of all of this aggression I’ve been feeling since Derek’s “accident.”

“Okay, let’s do it,” Jake told Max.

Max took Jake back and got him set to suit up. When he came back to find Chloe he said, “I hope you don’t mind. I should have asked you first. I’m just like a proud papa...I want to show you off.”

Chloe smiled. “I don’t mind at all. Like I said, I have a lot of angst inside of me right now. I can’t stop thinking about Jesse doing this to Derek and it makes me even angrier than anything he’s ever done to me.”

“If the time does come that you have to defend yourself against him, Chloe, stay focused on the task at hand and channel that anger into strength. Also, most importantly remember that once you start fighting him, you can’t stop.”

Chloe nodded. “I don’t plan to stop,” she said. “This has to end.”

She looked up and saw Jake coming from out of the back completely suited up except for his helmet which he was carrying under his arm. When he got close he said,

“I feel like Robo Cop. I think this may be just a bit of over kill.”

“Hold that thought until we’re done,” Max said. He looked at Chloe and said, “Ready?”

She nodded.

Max looked at Jake and said, “Put on the helmet and fight dirty...like Jesse would.” Then he looked at Chloe and said, “Remember, once you start fighting, don’t stop until he’s dead.”

Chloe saw the look on Jake’s face at Max’s words. It’s a hard concept to understand unless you’ve ever been viciously attacked. Chloe understood it well. She stood with her back to Jake and Max said, “Go.”

She suddenly felt his arm go around her neck. She had to will herself not to panic. That was one of Jesse’s specialty’s choking her from behind. He would choke her until she blacked out and then he would...do things to her. Chloe slipped her arms up between Jake’s arm and her neck and she spun and then ducked. She didn’t miss the shocked look on Jake’s face when he realized that she’d slipped out of his grasp. Chloe knew he was going to blame it on not holding onto her tight enough. He came towards her and she threw a carefully aimed punch that landed against the pad that covered his right jaw. His head snapped slightly over to the side but he shook it off and grabbed for her again. Chloe retreated, but Jake was quick. He had ahold of her around the arms and chest and he was dragging her backwards. Chloe went limp in his arms and made him drag dead weight. As soon as he lightened his grip on her she started fighting again. She remembered what Max told her about not letting the fight go to the ground. She was trying to fend Jake off long enough to get back up to her feet. He dodged a few of her punches and then grabbed hold of her thin wrists with one hand.

Chloe was still calm as she felt Jake’s weight shift and begin to lower down on her. When the padded suit across his chest made contact with hers she screamed, “No!” and exploded. She braced herself with her arms against the floor, slightly bent her knees and used all of the strength in her body to buck up her hips and launch the big man back off of her.  Jake landed about two feet from her and looked more stunned than anything else as he pushed himself up off the floor. Chloe crab walked as she scrambled to her feet before he could pull himself back up to his own. As soon as he did, she was ready, landing a shot right to his groin. Jake was forced back again, but this time he didn’t fall to the mat. Chloe rectified that by throwing a high kick out and connecting with the side of his padded head. Then, while he was stunned and trying to shake that off, Chloe started throwing punches...right cross, left jab, retreat. Jake grabbed at her, but she was moving too fast. She continued to attack, as he backed away from her and bobbed and weaved. At the point when he was expecting another cross was when she put everything she had into her legs and spun around in a roundhouse kick, knocking him to the mat on his stomach. Chloe didn’t hesitate, she started kicking him in the sides repeatedly until at last Max blew his whistle and said, “Okay Chloe, I think we proved our point.”

Chloe stopped and stood looking down at Jake as she recovered her breath. Jake rolled over onto his back and looked up at her with crystal blue eyes eerily like Derek’s. For a second she panicked. He wasn’t saying anything and she had no idea how to interpret the look he had on his face. Then suddenly his face broke into a grin and he held his arm up to her. She took it and Max took the other one and they helped him to his feet in the heavy suit. Once he was up Max asked him, “So, what do you think?”

Jake was still smiling as he said, “I think Jesse Donovan doesn’t have a chance.”

Chloe smiled. Her confidence was on the rise again.

She thanked Max while Jake changed out of his suit. Max smiled at her and said, “Do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“When you get where you’re going, stand in front of the mirror and tell yourself, “I can stand with my head held high, I’m confident and I know that I am worth defending. I can do it myself...I am nobody’s victim.”

Chloe hugged him. “I’m nobody’s victim,” she said. Jake stepped out of the back as she repeated those words. His eyes locked on hers and he smiled.

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A
lmost a week later Chloe sat on the couch in Derek’s posh Manhattan apartment waiting for Jake to pick her up. They were headed up to Samantha and Trevor’s house. Samantha was making lunch and Chloe was looking forward to seeing Trevor. She hadn’t had a chance to see him yet since his discharge from the hospital. She asked them if she could bring Jake. Samantha was thrilled. She told Chloe that she loved Jake and looked forward to it.

Jake hadn’t let her out of his sight for the past week except for when she was at the secure apartment. His demeanor with her had gone from cold and suspicious to warmer and less suspicious. It was far from warm and fuzzy yet, but it was getting there. She found that ironic, since a few weeks ago if she’d met him, she would have been the suspicious and untrusting one. They’d been spending a lot of time together and Chloe got the impression that he was beginning to trust her more all the time. One day when he’d dropped her off after the hospital and helped her carry up her groceries he found her looking around the room at all of the photos of Sarah and Derek.

“Do the pictures of him and Sarah bother you?”

Chloe looked around. She had honestly been so preoccupied over Derek that she’d barely noticed much in the apartment at all. She looked at her sister’s smiling face...the sister she was cheated out of knowing and said, “No. I never got to know her, I’d be sad if people who did know her kept her from me even now. Did you know her very well?”

Jake nodded. “She was one of those people that everyone loved. She was sweet and feminine and she just made everyone around her feel special. She made my brother happy and that was a big part of it for me. Dad says you do that for Derek now. It’s a big part of why I decided to give you a chance.”

Chloe nodded. “I understand,” she said. “But from what I know about Sarah, she and I are worlds apart in the personality department.”

He laughed, “I’ve noticed,” he said. It seemed to be another small turning point in their relationship.

Chloe had her journal out now and she was staring at the last entry she had made in it. It was the one she made right before she and Derek headed to New York to spend the weekend with her parents. That was only a little over a week ago. To Chloe, it felt like so much longer. So much had happened.

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A
ugust 4th,

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I
t’s been a while since I’ve written. It’s been a busy week. Last weekend started out as a celebration of family and ended tragically. Derek and Trevor were in an accident and I am certain that somehow Jesse caused it...more than that, I’m certain that he planned it. The police haven’t gotten back to us yet with the final report, but Derek’s father has been pushing them to investigate every possibility. It’s nice to have people with some kind of influence in your corner. I’m pretty sure that had I told them myself I thought Jesse was responsible without Kevin Stark’s back-up, I would have been met with a different reception.

I spoke to Samantha today and she told me that Trevor was healing nicely. I thank God every day that he only had minor injuries. I don’t know how I would have lived with the responsibility of Samantha losing another person close to her in her life. The two of them haven’t been up to see Derek yet. They’re waiting for him to get out of the ICU, I believe. Samantha didn’t come right out and say that, but she told me that they had both been left with the impossible task of shaking the image of what poor Sarah had looked like after the accident that caused her death. I believe they are reluctant to see Derek in a similar state and I can’t say that I blame them.

They call every day to see how he is and ask if I need anything. I’ve been well looked after by Kevin and Jake. I have to say that this being taken care of is so foreign to me that it’s taking me some time to get used to it. I also never realized before what a huge responsibility it is to have people who love or care about you. Staying safe is suddenly no longer just about my survival...it is about the ones who love and care about me not being hurt as well. Samantha and Trevor have already been through the loss of both of their daughters. I think it’s only fair that I tell them what I am facing with Jesse. I’m on my way to do that today. I hate upsetting them. It’s going to make them worry, but when it finally all comes to a head...and it will, it won’t come as a complete shock.

I called Chantelle yesterday. She went to New Hampshire when she got out of the hospital to stay with her aunt while she heals. I’m not sure that she’ll ever come back to New York. She says that her wounds are mostly all healed...but she doesn’t sound like her old, cheerful self anymore. Jesse did what he does best...he stole a piece of her when he beat her and left her for dead that night. I hope that someday there is something I can do for her to at least make up a little for what he took. She tells me that the pain and destruction that Jesse leaves in his path is not mine to own. I’ve been hearing that a lot lately and I’m trying to keep it in the forefront of my mind...but with people I care about hurting around me because of him, it’s difficult. 

I have spent most of my week at the hospital with Derek. Jake picks me up every morning and we ride in together. After he has his visit, I go in for mine. I’ve started taking books I found in the apartment and reading to him. The staff at the hospital takes really good care of him, but I think they could see that the nervous energy was killing me so a few days ago they began teaching me how to help with his bed baths and dressing changes.

The physical therapist taught me how to do his range of motion exercises and while I do all of that, I talk to him. I don’t know if what they say is true and that a person with a coma can hear everything that is said...but just in case he can, I don’t want him just lying there with no stimulation. It helps me too. I feel like I’m still sharing things with him and it makes the time pass quicker. I want the time to pass because the doctor says that by Monday...which is only two days away, they will start trying to wake him up. I’m living for the day when I see those beautiful blue eyes open and look at me. Hopefully soon I’ll have that entry to make.

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J
ake called up from the door when he got there. Chloe put her journal away and as she was walking out of the apartment a picture of Sarah caught her eye. It seemed like her sister was looking at her in that one. Chloe smiled back at the photo and said, “Wish me luck.”

Chloe and Jake drove out to Albany in mostly silence. Jake seemed a little subdued, but Chloe didn’t want to pry into his thoughts. They weren’t that close yet. She just assumed he was thinking about Derek...he was what was always on her mind. Chloe did appreciate the time to get her thoughts in order and the moral support that Jake was providing by going with her. When they drove into the driveway of the home, Jake turned off the car and looked at her.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

She forced a smile. “Yeah, I think so.”

“You want to know something?”

“What?”

“I’m proud of my little brother.”

Chloe was confused. She knew that. She smiled again and said, “Yeah, me too.”

“I mean, I’m proud of him for having what I would have to say is really good judgment when it comes to women. I’m impressed with you, Chloe. I’m sorry if I was kind of a dick to you at first. It’s a protective mechanism that you’re just automatically instilled with when you become an older sibling. You’ve been to hell and back more than once and you’ve come out the other side of it stronger and more capable than most people are on any given day. Derek is lucky to have you and I’m proud to call you a part of our family.”