by Becca Little
“Ten years?” Jenny asked apprehensively.
“Ten years.” John said firmly. “She was just like you. She was down on her luck, struggling to make it, and then she met him. The next thing I knew, she was gone. I found this letter…”
John tossed the letter on the table and Jenny picked it up. It was like the one she had left behind for Abigail when she left. It was addressed to her family, telling them that she was okay and she had made a choice—one that would take her away from them for a while. Reading it was eerie, especially since she had written one so similar the day she walked out on her own life. She dropped the letter on the table after reading it, leaning back in her chair with her head spinning from the mixture of alcohol and nicotine. She had so many questions, but she didn’t even know how to ask them.
CHAPTER 16: DAMNATION
Jenny woke up the next day and her eyes adjusted to the room. The previous day had been overwhelming. She had a few drinks and ate with John and Abigail, but she spent the day silent for the most part, lost in her own thoughts. She was no longer in her bed and her Daddy wasn’t there to greet her. She sat up and walked to the door, finding it locked as it was the night before. She had willingly entered the room, still confused with everything she had heard from Abigail and John. She believed everything her Daddy—Damien Fields—had told her. Seeing the real world again was awkward and strange. The door opened shortly thereafter, and Abigail entered the room. Jenny walked back to the bed and sat down on the edge.
“I can’t believe you’re here.” She said. “I was sure I would never see you again.”
“Where is here, exactly.” Jenny asked.
“This is John’s place.” Abigail replied.
“So, are you with him now? Did you break up with Charles?” Jenny asked.
“Charles and I are no longer an item. As for John and me, no, we aren’t together.” She shook her head.
“How did you meet him?” Jenny asked in a perplexed tone.
“Through Charles.” Abigail said. “When we were together, Charles was always taking me to various events, trying to push the relationship to the next level. You know me, I’m not the type to settle down. One night, I sat down next to John at one of the events and he could tell something was wrong. When we started talking, he opened up about his disdain for Damien Fields and mentioned that was the one thing he had in common with Charles.”
“How did you figure out I was with him?” Jenny asked.
“Well, that is an interesting story. After I split up with Charles, I got a call from John. He asked if I’d like to have a drink. I figured there was no harm in a drink—it wasn’t like I had a reason to decline. One thing led to another, but when he pulled up outside your old building…those emotions came back. I missed you, Jennifer—Jenny.” Abigail drew a breath and sighed.
“Either one is fine.” Jenny said, waving her hand as she realized Abigail was struggling to call her Jenny. “Keep going.”
“I started telling John about you and how you lived there in that building. Being there again had a bit of an emotional toll on me. He started asking a lot of questions and before long, he put the pieces together. He remembered you. He only saw you once, but he remembered seeing you get into Damien’s car.” Abigail reached out and put her hand on Jenny’s arm. “Thank goodness he did.”
“So you devised this plan to kidnap me?” Jenny asked.
“We talked about it, but it wasn’t until we spoke with your mother that we decided we had to act. She’s not in the best of health and she really wanted to see her daughter again. John told me the story of his sister, Samantha, and all the awful things Damien Fields did to her. I knew we had to do something, even if it meant we had to take you against your will.” Abigail said.
“My mother is always dramatic…” Jenny shook her head. “I told her I would be away for a little bit.”
“A little bit?” Abigail’s temper flared. “It’s almost been a year! Were you ever going to call her? Were you ever going to call me?”
“I don’t know…” Jenny shook her head. “Things were going so well…”
“Yeah…” Jenny heard John’s voice and realized he was standing at the doorway. “He has a way of making people forget everyone that cared about them.”
Abigail and Jenny followed John to the kitchen. He served them pancakes and bacon. Jenny hadn’t had anything but cereal for breakfast in a long time, but the thought of pancakes was too overwhelming. She quickly ate her food and took a cigarette from John. After it was done, she decided to shower. Abigail gave her some clothes and after she showered and put them on, she became aware of how thin she had become. She was always the same size as Abigail, but the jeans were loose around her hips and the t-shirt hung loose on her stomach.
“Tell me about your sister.” Jenny said as she walked into the living room and sat down in a chair.
“My sister…” John stood up and walked over to the liquor cabinet. He poured a drink and returned. “My fucking sister.”
“It’s a tough subject.” Abigail said.
“I need to hear it.” Jenny said. “I understand if it is tough, but please…”
“I know. You really do need to hear this story, even if it is hard to tell.” John lit a cigarette and Abigail patted his hand. “My sister was a damn angel. She was beautiful. Every guy in high school wanted her, and I coasted on her popularity. I was popular just because we shared the same blood. She always took care of me.” John laughed and Jenny could see a tear in his eye.
“I’m sorry.” Jenny said. “You don’t have to keep going if it is this painful.”
“No.” John held up his hand took a drag off his cigarette. “She always took care of me. One day, a bully decided that he didn’t care how hot my sister was, he was going to kick my ass. He did too. He fucked me up good for no real reason. Samantha and her friends spread rumors through the school that he had a little dick. I mean, it was childish, but it was high school. He was Little Dick McGee until he graduated. I guess it helped that he did actually have a very tiny dick.”
Abigail and Jenny couldn’t help but laugh to themselves. Jenny reached for a cigarette, feeling like her Daddy’s anger was on her, but she was already feeling the need for that nicotine craving again.
“That was just the kind of person my sister was.” John said. “She was strong and independent, with wits to match her beauty. After graduation, she went off to college. That was when it started to go downhill. She was always so smart she could coast through her classes, but college was a lot of work. She started to party, get mixed up with guys who only wanted a one-night stand. She was overjoyed though, when she got an internship at Fields Digital Media Distribution and she adored Damien Fields.”
“I hardly saw him when I worked there…” Jenny remarked.
“He was still building it. I mean, he was already approaching billionaire status, but he had a lot of dreams for the future—my sister just didn’t realize he had his eye on her too. After the internship, he kept in touch with her. Strange, right? Why the fuck would a billionaire keep in touch with an intern. She thought it meant she had a job lined up after college, but she didn’t quite understand what he had in mind for her.” John paused, taking a drink and tapping ashes off the end of his cigarette.
“This is where it gets tough.” Abigail said.
“Yes.” John nodded. “She failed a couple of classes and she was on the verge of failing out of college. Then came her white knight in a Mercedes-Benz. He offered her a chance to come live with him, to finish college, and have a wonderful life.”
“Sound familiar?” Abigail asked.
“A wonderful life as his fucking sex slave.” John spat at the floor angrily. “My sister won’t talk about their time together. She disappeared for years. All we had was a letter and nothing else to go on. One day I saw an advertisement for a marketing company with the name Samantha Fields, and although I hardly recognized her, I knew it was my sister. He made her take his name. He
didn’t marry her, he just made her take his fucking name.”
The words hit home with Jenny, who had signed paperwork to become Jenny Fields.
“I hunted her down and found her at an event. She looked right through me. She didn’t even recognize her own fucking brother. When I finally did get a chance to talk to her, she acted like she had seen me every single day. Then I saw Damien, watching us. It wasn’t long until he was ushering her out of the building and scolding her in the street. Before I could get to them, they were gone… That was the last time I saw her before she finally came home.” John’s teeth gritted in anger.
“What did she say?” Jenny asked.
“She said she had become the woman she was meant to be.” John shook his head. “She was the owner of the marketing company and it was making a decent amount of money. I mean, any company backed by Damien Fields is going to make money. She seemed determined, almost like she was the person I remembered, but that didn’t last long…”
“What happened?” Jenny was on the edge of her seat, her cigarette almost burned to the tip as she listened.
“I don’t know exactly. As the days went by, she just got more and more withdrawn. The company tanked once he wasn’t financing it, and she tried to do something with what was left, but she just couldn’t handle it. She would wake up in the middle of the night screaming things like Daddy, I’m sorry. Daddy, I love you. It was all nonsense then, but after I saw how you were dressed, it makes sense. Neither of us ever knew our father. Eventually she wouldn’t even eat. I had to have her committed…” John lit another cigarette after tapping out his last one.
“Committed?” Jenny blinked in shock and looked at Abigail, who nodded as if she had heard the story before.
“She’s out now, doing the best she can. It was the last straw, trust me.” John said. “I hunted Damien Fields down and I tried to talk to him, to ask what the fuck he did to my sister, but he had his bodyguards throw me out into the street. I moved to the city and tried to run her marketing firm, but it was mostly just managing the bankruptcy. That was when I met you.” He nodded towards Jenny.
“You did save me…” Jenny admitted.
“I saved you twice.” John said. “You don’t know how dangerous that man is. He’s got the world by the balls and whatever he wants, he gets. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone. If I hadn’t come to get you, who knows how long it would have been before you ever left that house.”
The words echoed in Jenny’s head as she tried to go to sleep that night. Everything was so confusing and she was left with so many questions she couldn’t answer. She trusted her Daddy. She though he had her best interests in mind. She couldn’t believe the horror story she heard, but John was convincing. He had won Abigail over—she hung on every word. Jenny felt like there was more to the story and she wasn’t going to just accept his version without hearing it directly from the person who once lived in the same room she lived in while she was with Damien—she wanted to talk to Little Sammy.
CHAPTER 17: MOMMY DEAREST
The next day was a bit chaotic. Abigail made arrangements for a road trip. They were headed to see Jenny’s mother, although Jenny wasn’t sure she wanted to go. She finally relented and climbed into the passenger seat of Abigail’s car, leaving John behind at his house. It was just like the old days, the two of them driving along the open road, cigarettes pressed between their lips as the radio blared the latest conglomeration of pop music nonsense. Jenny was nervous to see her mother to say the least. She had no idea how she would explain her absence.
“Oh, Jennifer.” Jenny’s mother met them at the car and hugged her daughter.
“Hey, mom.” She said as she returned the hug.
“Come on inside.” Mrs. Crane said. “You too, Abigail.”
The two women followed Mrs. Crane into her home and she poured them both a glass of tea once they were seated. Jenny’s stomach was a nervous wreck just thinking about what she was going to say to her mother. It would be a difficult thing to explain, but she was at least wearing normal clothes when she had the conversation. Her mind was still convoluted when she thought about her Daddy and what she had heard from John about the woman he converted into his Little Sammy. Jenny sipped her tea as her mother finally sat down.
“You’re very thin.” Mrs. Crane said. “Have you been eating well?”
“I eat enough.” Jenny nodded.
“I’m going to get some cookies. You need to eat something.” Mrs. Crane stood and power walked to the kitchen.
Jenny looked over at Abigail who raised her eyebrows. Jenny watched as her mother returned with a plate of cookies. She sat them down in the middle of the coffee table and put two on Jenny’s plate before finally taking a seat. Jenny reached down and picked one up, taking a bite, mostly just to please her mother. Abigail reached over to the plate and got a cookie, taking a big bite and washing it down with a sip of tea. Jenny nodded that the cookie was good before putting it back on her plate.
“So tell me about this job.” Mrs. Crane said. “It must be going very well.”
“It’s been good.” Jenny replied. “I’m in school now.”
“That’s wonderful.” Her mother beamed with pride. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
“I’m going to let you two have a talk.” Abigail stood up and grabbed her purse. She quickly exited the room and walked outside.
“So?” Her mother asked. “Do you have a boyfriend?’
“I have someone…” She admitted. “I’m not sure Abigail likes him though.”
“None of my friends liked your father, either.” Mrs. Crane laughed.
“They didn’t?” Jenny had never heard that before.
“Lord no.” Mrs. Crane shook her head. “He was a ladies man, never seemed to be interested in settling down. That changed when we found out we were pregnant.”
“You got pregnant before you were married?” Jenny’s mouth opened in shock.
“As far as anyone knows, I was already married.” She smirked. “But yes, you were with us when we said our wedding vows.”
“Whoa.” Jenny blinked a couple of times.
“If you have someone that loves you, and you know he’s the one, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” Jenny’s mother beamed. “This is your life to live and you’re the only one who knows what makes you happy.”
“Abigail said…” Jenny paused. “She said you weren’t doing well.”
“She shouldn’t have said anything.” Mrs. Crane sighed. “Yeah, I had a bit a scare a few months ago. Abigail showed up right around the time I was trying to figure out what I was going to do, and she caught me at one of my weaker moments.”
“What’s wrong?” Jenny tilted her head with obvious concern etched on her face.
“It’s cancer.” Mrs. Crane shook her head. “I’ll be fine. The doctor says it is treatable.”
“Oh my God.” Jenny put her hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you.”
“Nonsense.” Mrs. Crane waved her hand at her daughter. “I was fine with your decision. I hoped you would call or come see me at some point, but I know we didn’t have the easiest relationship after your father passed.”
“You’re still my mother.” Jenny said quickly.
“I know you care.” Mrs. Crane smiled. “The money helps.”
“The money?” Jenny asked.
“What you send me every month.” She remarked as if Jenny should know what she was talking about.
“Uh…” Jenny’s eyes opened wide. “Right…”
The only explanation had to be Damien. She certainly hadn’t been sending her mother money—she had no money to send. The revelation left Jenny with feelings that were even more confusing than what she had heard from John. Things started to click into place. She understood why her mother was being so cordial and nice. She thought her daughter was successful and making so much money she could send some home every month. Jenny didn’t have it in her heart to tell her mother she wasn’t
responsible for it.
“So…” Mrs. Crane said. “Can you say for dinner?”
“Yes.” Abigail said as she walked back inside. “We’d love that.”
When Jenny’s mother went to the kitchen, she went upstairs with Abigail to her old room. It didn’t have much of her old life. Damien had sent for all her belongings after she became his Little Jenny. There were a few trinkets of her past, some books on the shelf, and the array of stuffed animals she grew up with. Abigail picked up a yearbook and brought it over to the bed, taking a seat as she started looking through it.
“I thought you said my mother wasn’t doing well.” Jenny said as she stared out the window.
“She seems better now.” Abigail remarked. “When I visited before, she didn’t seem to be doing very well.”
“Damien has been sending her money every month.” Jenny said as she sat down on the bed. “Maybe he’s not the monster you think he is.”
“I’m sure the money is nothing to him.” Abigail replied. “It probably keeps the one person he thought would come looking for you pacified.”
“We should go help in the kitchen.” Jenny walked towards the door.
They walked back downstairs and started helping with dinner. Soon the food was on the table and they were enjoying a home cooked meal. Jenny had missed her mother’s cooking, even if she didn’t realize it until they were at the table and eating the wonderful array of butter soaked food. After the main course came desert, an apple pie topped with ice cream. Jenny felt stuffed, but she forced it down, still remembering how skinny she was when she put on Abigail’s clothing—one desert wasn’t going to hurt anything. Once deserve was finished, Jenny walked into the living room and saw Abigail looking at family photographs.