Chasing Jenna

by Micki Fredricks

  “What?”

  I turned toward her, irritated. I didn’t have time for these stupid games. “Listen Becky, I know what you do for a living. Do you have anything we can defend ourselves with or not?”

  She scurried over by the bed and pulled out a baseball bat. I frowned as she handed it to me – then she pulled a knife out of her purse.

  "This is it? You really need to get some serious protection.” She shrugged her shoulders at me.

  “I’m not ready to die, are you?” She stared at me with shocked eyes, as she slowly shook her head.

  “Okay, I’ll let Angel out first; whoever is in there won’t be expecting a dog. I’ll crack him over the head with the bat; you come in with the knife only if we need it, okay?” She nodded.

  I turned back to the door where Angel was still standing. I knelt down to him and rubbed behind his ear. I was putting a lot of trust in an animal who had only been “mine” for about thirty minutes. When I stood up, he put his nose right at the door; like he understood the plan. I cracked open Becky’s door, and had the perfect view of my door from here.

  My heart beat drowned out all other noises. I concentrated on the coolness of the bat in my hand. One hit was all I needed. I knew if I pictured it too much in my head, I wouldn’t be able to go through with it. Already, my conscious told me that I couldn’t do this; I wasn’t a killer. But it was him or me. There was no choice – and when I told Becky that I wasn’t going to die today, I meant it. Whoever came out that door would be Quinn – in my mind. A strange calmness came over me. I could do this.

  As my door cracked open, I felt Angel stiffen next to me – I tightened my grip on the bat. Whoever was coming out of that door was going to die.

  The door opened wider and I could see the back of him. He wore a black hoodie pulled up over his head and a gray denim jacket pulled tight across his broad shoulders. He slowly backed out of the door like he was waiting for someone to invite him back in.

  I pictured Quinn’s face. He was the one who had killed my friend – the one who had done unimaginable things to her. I wanted to see his face, wanted to see who had found me and for some reason, wanted my face to be the last thing he saw – for Katie.

  Picturing her face one more time, I swung the door open. Angel bolted toward Katie’s killer.

  He didn’t have time to fully turn around before Angel had a hold of the back of his upper arm. I lifted my bat, waiting for the perfect shot.

  Katie was the only thing on my mind – how she looked the last time I saw her, and what she had to endure to keep me safe. I could feel the rage of her death rising in me. I was ready to make someone pay for all the fear and pain I had felt in the last few days.

  The stranger yelled in agony as Angel pulled on his arm in an attempt to bring him to the ground. But something in that yell made me stop. Something made me lessen my grip and scream Angel’s name.

  “Angel! Come here!” Angel let go of the stranger, but paced between us, not wanting me to get any closer.

  The stranger dropped to his knees and then onto his side, grabbing at his arm. I could already see the dark stain of blood coming through his coat as he moaned in pain.

  I took a few steps toward him. My bat still raised and Angel between us.

  “Who are you?” I yelled, but he didn’t respond. I moved a little closer and lowered my voice. “Tell me who you are or I swear I will turn you into a dog toy.”

  Angel growled and the floor made a terrible creaking sound as I walked a few steps closer.

  He slowly rolled over into a sitting position and the hood fell from his face. Tears streamed down his cheeks and I felt my head start to spin as he looked at me.

  “They killed her, Jenna. They killed my Katie.”

  “Marcus?”

  >CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX<

  “We have to get inside.” I grabbed him by his other arm and helped him to his feet. He trembled against me. I used my foot to push the door open further and shuffled him into the apartment, steadying him on the wall. He gasped over and over for air, trying to calm himself.

  “They killed her, Jenna.”

  “Come on.” I grabbed the chair and moved it over by the sink, helping him lower himself onto it. He grabbed at me, desperate for something.

  “I know.” I kept my eyes down. I couldn’t let him see her the way she was when I had seen her last. I was afraid that if I looked at him, he would somehow be able to see my memory of her. He was already broken – if he saw what I saw, he would crumble.

  “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  The hallway was empty. I inched along the wall but kept my eyes toward the stairwell. I tapped Becky’s door with the end of the bat and waited. Nothing. I tried the door but it was locked. I couldn’t blame her for not wanting anything to do with me; I had known her for fifteen minutes and asked her to stab someone.

  Slowly I backed into my apartment and closed the door.

  Marcus sat in the chair, his head hanging down. I swallowed to fight off the sob that had a tight grip on my throat. I could feel his terror and disbelief – I knew it well.

  “I’m going to get your arm cleaned up. We need to make sure you don’t need stitches.” The only thing I could do right now was avoid. He’d want to know all the details, and I’d have to tell him. But right now I had to do something other than think about Katie.

  The old pipes moaned when I turned on the water to fill the sink. “Marcus,” I said as I crouched down and touched his leg, “I’m going to clean up your arm.”

  He turned his head, looked down at me and put his hand over mine. The moment our eyes met, the weight of his heartbreak hit me and I fell forward onto my knees. His eyes begged me to tell him it wasn’t true – his hand tightened around mine, because he knew it was. He hung his head when he saw the tears falling down my cheeks. We cried together for the one person who held both our hearts.

  ~~~

  I helped him take off his jacket and hoodie. He sat motionless while I cleaned the bite wounds. They were deep and oozing; he never made a sound. There was no physical pain that could overpower what his heart was feeling right now.

  I tied a ripped towel around the deepest wounds and began to wash the blood out of the rest of them.

  “How did you find this place?” I worried if Marcus knew where this place was, maybe some of the other Brothers knew as well.

  “I followed Ryan here one day. I’d noticed he would disappear for hours at a time, and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t doing anything that would get him into trouble.” Angel, who had been sleeping at Marcus’s feet, lifted his head as Marcus slowly stood. “Whose dog is that, Jenna?” Angel stood up, stretched and trotted over to the bed, jumping onto it and making himself comfortable.

  “Mine, I guess.” Marcus just shook his head. He walked over to the window and looked out through the curtains into the dusk of the night. “How did you get in here?”

  “The door was open. I was scared of what I’d find in here – not exactly a neighborhood where doors are left open.” In the midst of my panic attack, after hearing about Katie, I’d run out without even shutting the door. I rolled my eyes at my stupidity.

  The quietness of the room seemed heavy. I searched for the answers to the questions that he hadn’t even asked yet, but I was sure were coming.

  “Why are you here, Jenna?” He asked, as he turned to face into the room. I sat on the bed and began petting Angel. My mind had so many thoughts running through it, making it impossible for me to speak. “What happened to Katie?”

  I understood I was going to have to tell him everything that happened. What I couldn’t figure out, was how to handle the aftermath of telling him the truth. The things I need to tell him would be like a sledgehammer slamming into his chest. I didn’t know how to soften it. So I decided to start at the beginning. “Marcus, this is what I know…”

  But before I could get anything out, it was happening again; the deep, low, growl I would trust my life with Angel
had lifted his head, staring at the door. My stomach twisted as my heart instantly started to race. I motioned to Marcus to be quiet and he quickly positioned himself with his back against the same wall as the door, giving him the advantage of being behind the door when it opened. I moved off the bed, grabbed the bat I’d propped against the door earlier and slid next to Marcus.

  Angel effortlessly moved off the bed and stood a few feet back from the door. The hair on the back of his neck was standing straight up and he had dropped his hind quarters a few inches in preparation to leap at whatever was coming through the door.

  Marcus looked down at me and whispered, “Let Angel start and I’ll grab him – you run.” I shook my head; there was no way I was leaving him here. In my mind I was back in my dorm room, begging Katie to go with us.

  “No. No, I won’t leave you.” I couldn’t allow one more person I cared for to die fighting for me. If anyone would die tonight, it would be me, fighting to keep Marcus alive.

  “Jenna, listen to me,” he was moving his eyes back and forth wildly from the door to me. “It will do no good for both of us to die in here. The only chance we have is for you to run across the street and call for help. No matter what you hear, just keep running until you get to that store. Do you understand me?” Angel growled again, bringing our attention back to the door. “That’s the only way we both live.”

  I handed him the bat.

  The door knob turned slowly first, and someone tried to lean on the door. It creaked as the locked deadbolt held its place. I tried to swallow but my throat had gone completely dry. I was staring at the knob and trying to listen to every small movement made on the other side of the door, but all I could hear was the pounding of my own heartbeat in my head. Every muscle tensed, but I tried to remain as level-headed as possible.

  There was a clinking on the other side of the door. Something was trying to slide into the lock.

  “He’s picking the lock.” I panicked. “He’s going to get in.” Marcus put his finger to his lips, his eyes pleading with me to be quiet.

  I moved directly in front of the door. “Who’s there?” The door cracked open and I sucked in my breath.

  “Jenna?”

  I swung the door open and threw myself at Ryan, he examined my face as I tried to hug him.

  “What happened to your face?” I walked backwards into the room, refusing to let go of him. “Jenna, tell me, what happened?”

  I wanted to tell him about Katie, and what happened with Becky and Marcus, but I couldn’t speak. A thousand emotions swirled in my head but I couldn’t form a single word. Tears flooded from my eyes. I grabbed at him, like he was my last breath, holding him as close as I could. His strong arms held me up, while I buried my face in his chest, needing his presence. I knew it didn’t make any of this go away, but still, it was all I wanted – to be close to him. He would fix this somehow.

  Ryan spun around quickly, as the door slammed behind us; Marcus spoke, “I left her with you, and you said you would protect her. Now, who the hell is going to tell me what happened to Katie?”

  CHAPTER TWENTEY-SEVEN

  “I asked you a question, brother.” Marcus said calmly, but the edge of anger in his voice made it clear he was not asking. Something had changed in him since Ryan had stepped into the apartment. There was a coldness that wasn’t there before. He wasn’t looking for answers – he wanted to place blame.

  Ryan slowly stretched one hand out toward his brother. I wasn’t sure if it was a gesture of peace or his attempt to keep some distance between them. “Marcus, please … calm down and we can talk about it.”

  Ryan’s words set off a firestorm inside of Marcus that played out on his face. He grimaced as if the words had caused him physical pain. The electricity between the two brothers shot out and twisted in the room, making my heart jump into overdrive.

  Marcus’s red-rimmed eyes bore into his brother, demanding the answers he really didn’t want to hear – but needed to know.

  Ryan’s outstretched hand shook slightly as he carefully stepped in front of me. I slid behind him, leaning into his back and hiding my face from Marcus. Reaching down, I expected to find Angel at my side, but he wasn’t there. I made a quick scan of the room, turning frantically to look in all the corners, but he was gone … probably ran out when the door was opened. My heart tore open with anxiety at the thought of being without him. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself.

  “Don’t you tell me to calm down. My fucking girlfriend is dead – murdered – and you’re going to tell me to calm down?”

  Marcus slammed the bat against the kitchen chair, sending it sliding it across the floor toward us. Ryan caught it, slowly setting it up-right next to him, never taking his eyes off of his brother.

  “Don’t tell me to calm down!” he screamed again. “Tell me exactly what you know.”

  “That’s what we’re trying to…”

  “Stop … just stop. I don’t want the bullshit answer.” Marcus ran his free hand quickly through his hair. “I want to know exactly what you know about all of it, and I’m only going to give you one chance to tell me the truth, Ryan.”

  There was a pause in the conversation as their eyes locked. Something passed between them, some sort of silent communication that confused me.

  “I tried to take her, I really did, but she wouldn’t let me,” Ryan pleaded.

  Marcus tilted his head, looking at him with suspicious eyes. “What do you mean she wouldn’t let you? Did you ask her?”

  Something twisted in my gut as the scene played out in my mind. I couldn’t remember – did he try to get her to come with us? The whole scene was clouded with fear; all I remembered him saying was that we would be back. Why wouldn’t he have made her go?

  I took a step away from him, staring at his back while trying to replay that horrible night. My mind raced, trying to remember the details, while at the same time trying to block the image of Katie’s bruised and battered face. It was too much; I just couldn’t see it again.

  Ryan glanced over his shoulder quickly as he felt the distance between us – our eyes met. My shoulders shook and I covered my mouth with my hand.

  “Of course, I tried. All she was worried about was that I get Jenna out of there. So that’s what I did.” I started to slowly shake my head, knowing he never tried to get her to go.

  He turned back to his brother, his voice was low. “I didn’t know they were going to hurt her.”

  Marcus started to pace, never taking his eyes from Ryan. A sarcastic laugh filled the room. Suddenly he threw his arm in the air, pointing a finger right at Ryan.

  “But what do you know Ryan? That’s the real question isn’t it?”

  My heart had been paralyzed by what was happening in front of me, but my mind knew instinctively that this was not going to end well. I needed to leave … Now!

  I moved slowly, trying to avoid attention, until the back of my legs hit the bed. Bile began to rise in my throat as I realized I was trapped. There was one door and both Ryan and Marcus were between me and my only hope of escape. My heart beat hard in my neck and pounded in my ears. A shaking started at my core and quickly spread throughout my whole body – I couldn’t contain it. Oh God, not now. I had to keep myself together.

  My eyes darted back and forth from Ryan to Marcus, oversensitive to every little move either of them made. Every breath, every twisted expression, every flex and release of fists, felt like fingernails on a chalkboard to my nerves. The tension between them was so overwhelming it consumed me.

  Ryan watched his brother out of the corner of his eye, not looking directly at him, but never letting him out of his sight.

  Marcus suddenly stopped. His face changed from anger to pure hatred – it made me cringe. I held my breath waiting for him to make his move.

  When he spoke again, the words dripped from his mouth like he couldn’t stand the taste of them. “I stopped by the house today, Ryan.”

  Ryan didn’t move. Not even a flinc
h. Marcus continued, taunting Ryan with his words.

  “I went to the basement.”

  An excruciating silence swirled around the three of us. I mentally begged one of them to talk, to break this unbearable weight in the room. Finally Ryan spoke; his tone was low and controlled, “Why?”

  Marcus spat out a sound of disgust like he couldn’t believe Ryan had the nerve to ask him that. His eyes fell to the floor for only a second while he ran his hand over his face. Ryan motioned for me and I instinctively stepped away from the bed.

  The bat in Marcus’s hands rose quickly in Ryan’s direction.

  “Don’t move, Jenna,” he growled. Anxiety surged through my veins, leaving my face burning, but the rest of me ice cold. An unfamiliar emotion crossed Marcus’s face. He nodded his head slightly at me and I realized he wasn’t threatening me, he thought he was protecting me. He was trying to keep me away from Ryan.

  Once he was sure I wasn’t going to move, he resumed his pacing. This time it was a more leisurely pace, almost arrogant. His lips slowly turned up in a small smirk. Oh my God, what did he know?

  I covered my eyes with my hands willing myself to calm down. I wouldn’t pass out … I won’t pass out. His expression, I couldn’t take it. He knew something, but he was waiting for something from Ryan to put it all together.

  “Why did you go to the house, Marcus?” Ryan asked again.

  “When you’re looking for clues about who murdered the only person you’ve ever loved, and you have a pretty good idea who that someone is – you start in the dark places. The places you aren’t allowed to go. Seemed like the obvious choice.”

  “No, no, no,” I whispered shaking my head back and forth. I closed my eyes tightly and covered my ears, trying to drown out everything going on in this room. But I couldn’t hide; there was nowhere to go, no way to be invisible in all of this. I felt like I was standing in the middle of an ice-covered lake with cracks all around, unable to move because of the damage – so you just wait until it’s your turn to fall in and drown.