by TJ Rudolph
A few minutes later, she came out of the room and back to us. “She is ready to see you now, please don’t be alarmed by her restraints; she has been behaving erratically over the past few weeks. One of the nurses will be close by in case you need assistance.”
Chase walked into the room and I followed cautiously behind him. The room was not very spacious, it had a single bed with blue sheets on top, a white tray was placed next to it and a window overlooking the garden had iron burglar bars in it. His mother was sitting on a brown rocking chair, her arms were strapped to it with white cloth. Her honey blonde hair looked like it hadn’t been washed in a few weeks and she wore a stained white night gown. She looked up and smiled broadly when she heard us come in and I noticed that Chase inherited his brown, serious looking eyes from her.
“Chase, my sweet, sweet boy, I have missed you so much.”
“Hello, Mother,” he said coldly and stood at a distance from her.
She moved her head to the side trying to look around him at me.
“And who is this beautiful young woman you have brought with you?”
I stepped out from behind Chase. “Hi, I’m Grace.” I tried to smile, even though I was shocked to see her tied to a chair.
“Well now, Chase has never brought a girl home. This must be serious.”
“Why have you been calling for me?” Chase asked her bluntly.
Her eyes went from sparkling to sullen in seconds and her voice took on a whiny tone. “I need your help,” she sulked. “I need you to ask the doctor to give me less meds, they’re making me coo-coo,” she said and stuck out her bottom lip.
“This is a state hospital that you have been sentenced to, Mom. I can’t do anything about your meds,” Chase said through his teeth.
“Will you at least get your daddy to come speak to them for me,” she pleaded.
“You know that he is dead,” Chase hissed.
She looked as if she was about to cry and then she turned toward the window. She stayed like that for a few seconds and then turned back to Chase; her expression was one of anger this time.
“Oh yes, that’s right you killed him.” She started raising her voice, “you killed the love of my life you selfish, good for nothing bastard.”
Chase said nothing.
She started shaking her head madly. “You ruined my life! Ruined my life! Ruined my life!” she screamed.
One of the nurses came running past us and I took Chase by his hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
“That’s right,” we could her screaming from her room. “Just keep on running you piece of shit and never come back!”
Chase increased his speed as we walked to the car and he slammed his fist on the hood when we got there. “I don’t know why I came, I don’t know what I was expecting,” he said.
I walked toward him and lifted his chin, but he kept his eyes averted.
“Look at me, Chase,” I said. When he did I could see the tears building in his eyes, I could see how much she had broken him. I didn’t have the words to console him in that moment; my mother was just as messed up as his. But I wanted him to know that he didn’t need her anymore, he had me and I loved him. I put my hand on his cheek and his eyes softened. He pulled me into his arms and I knew that was all he needed. To know that there was someone who understood his pain and who would never stop loving him.
We eventually climbed back into the car and drove home. It was a quiet drive but the tension of earlier had disappeared.
We walked to my room when we got home and he stopped me as I was about to open the door. He turned me toward him and stared into my eyes, his own eyes glistening with tears.
“Is everything okay, Chase?”
“I don’t know how I would have done this without you. I spent so much time pushing people away that I never realized how much I needed this. To let someone in and show them the darkest parts of your soul.”
“I don’t think I say this often enough…I love you, Grace Delaney, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
I responded by folding my arms around his neck. “I love you too, Chase Ryder,” I said before pressing my lips to his.
“Don’t ever go anywhere,” he said against my mouth.
“I’m right here, Chase, you don’t have to worry about me leaving.”
He sighed softly.
I turned around and opened the door. “Are you staying over?”
“If I’m wanted here,” he smiled.
“Mmm, I’ll have to think about that,” I told him.
“Well, if you do decide that I can stay I am taking the sofa; lying next to you is becoming too hard for me.”
“Sure, I’ll get you some pillows,” I told him.
I went to the closet and thought about how glad I was that Chase was being patient with me. We both had so many issues, so much emotional growing up we had to do and wounds that needed healing, that waiting was the best thing we could have done. And I loved him more for it; I knew that he had to exercise a lot of restraint.
I walked back inside with a blanket and pillow but Chase was fast asleep. I covered him and watched him sleep. He looked as content as before and I was relieved that he was finally dealing with the demons of his past.
I switched off the lights and walked into my room when my phone started buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out; there was a message from an unknown number. I opened it and my heart started racing as I saw a picture of my mother. She was sitting on a cemented floor, her hands tied with rope. She had black smudges below her eyes, which meant that she had been crying. Another message came through straight after that and my hands started to tremble as I read it.
Grace Baby, your mother is in trouble again and she needs your help. I’m sure you don’t want me to send you her remains. I’m having a little show on the 2nd December near my country estate in Glengarry. Why don’t you take a drive down and we can work something out. If you don’t… Consider your mother’s blood on your hands. Show starts at 7, so don’t be late. See you soon my little gem.
I blinked a few times, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Then my hands started to tremble as the full weight of the situation hit me. I walked around my room, thinking about whether or not I should tell Chase. I shook my head; I didn’t want him involved with this. I needed to speak to Aaron. I closed the door and called him softly, hoping he would come but he never showed. I got into bed fully clothes and after a few hours of tossing and turning I decided that sleeping was not an option for me tonight. I knew what I had to do; I knew what Aaron and Chase would say but was I really ready to let my mother die?
Who was I kidding; she hadn’t been my mother for a long time. I didn’t owe her anything. But was I really that person? Could I be the reason she ended up dead, even though I had the power to stop it? I swallowed a lump in my throat when I realized that this time I needed to stay far away from this; Jerry would never stop if I gave in to him. He would always use my mother and she would always let him use her. I knew this was the right decision; I just needed to stick with it. I got up from my bed, went to Chase and curled up next to him on the sofa.
“Grace,” he whispered opening his eyes, “you okay?”
‘’I am now,” I said snuggling into his arms. He kissed the top of my head and I eventually fell asleep, feeling safe in his arms.
Chapter 12
Exams had come and gone and Bobby left a day before college was scheduled to close to go make things right with her father. Apparently, he came to terms with her dating Dean and wanted to apologize. Chase and I decided to stay at college until a week before Christmas, it was more my idea than his. I needed more time to tell him about Aaron before I introduced him to Chris and Agatha. The night before our last day of classes, Chase came over. He sat on the sofa while I made us chicken and mayo sandwiches. “You coming to our gig tonight?” he asked.
“Actually, if you don’t mind I would like to do the final touches to my painting. We have to hand it in tomorrow. Besi
des it’s your last gig of the year and it’s going to be packed.”
“If you’re worried about that, you can wait for me backstage,” he offered.
“It’s not that. What I mean is that it’s going to be packed with girls in short skirts, throwing you their underwear and trying to grope you. Don’t think I can stomach that.”
He stood and walked toward me. “Baby, you don’t have to worry, I won’t allow any of them near me.”
I didn’t find much comfort in that. “I really need to finish my painting for Miss Demerol. She needs it tomorrow to add the grade of the painting to our final grade.”
He pulled me against his warm body and kissed me softly. “Wait up for me,” he said.
“I will,” I told him and he grabbed a sandwich as he left.
When I was done eating mine, I walked over to the art studio. It was quiet outside; only a slight breeze was rustling the trees. Everyone who hadn’t gone home for the holidays yet had obviously gone to see The Bleeding Hearts. When I walked into the studio, I switched on the lights and put my hand over my heart as I looked at all my paintings hanging on the wall.
‘’I hope yer don’t mind,” I heard a voice behind me. It was Andy. “They were too bonnie to be stashed away,” he said.
‘’I love it, thank you, Andy.”
He nodded his head and left.
Most of the paintings were of Aaron, he seemed so real in all of them and I really did love it. I thought that I was finally ready to tell Chase about him.
I took out the painting that was due the next day and put it on the easel. I decided to paint a picture of two people who were standing at the opposite end of canvas and they were blindfolded. They were trying to reach for each other’s hands. There was also a wall coming down behind them. I added some more color and effects, which took me a few hours and then I stepped back to survey it.
Painting the picture was easy; the hard part was coming up with a description and knowing that it was a window to my past. I stood with a pen in my hand for a few minutes, knowing what I wanted to write, didn’t make it any easier. Finally. I started to write it down; I titled the painting, ‘When the walls come down.’
“Wow,” Chase said behind me, I thought you couldn’t be more amazing, but that painting…”
I turned around and smiled, ‘’thank you.”
He walked toward me with his eyes fixed on the painting, “I assume this painting is about me somehow?”
I blushed, “it’s about both of us,” I said.
“And all the others that you were hiding from me, I see that they are up on the wall, can I look at them now?” he asked.
It was time for me to tell him everything about Aaron. I nodded and my body stiffened as I watched him look at the first painting I did of Aaron. It was the first one of him I did with his back toward me. Chase turned to me. “Is this him?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
He walked around the room looking at all of them where you could only see Aaron’s back and then he went to the other side of the room and looked at the painting I did of Aaron facing me. It was directly under the skylight and it made Aaron’s blue eyes sparkle. He stood there for a few minutes, staring at this one the longest and then he stepped back suddenly. “Aaron Wheeler was your friend that died?’’
How did he know Aaron? I wondered as I walked toward him. I mean of course he did, Aaron was the most popular guy at school.
Chase fell to his knees and I went to kneel next to him. “Chase?” I asked, alarmed. “What’s going on?”
‘’I don’t know how I missed it before. It was so obvious.”
“What was obvious, what did you miss?” I asked.
He looked at me with tears in his eyes and I thought I knew the answer before he told me.
Chase started to tremble, “I… He… He was the boy… The night of the accident, my dad woke up in the back seat and started fighting with me, choking me. I lost control of the car and before I could stop, I saw the lights of another car and…”
I stood up as the tears rolled down my face. “You? It was you who killed him?”
“I’m sorry, Grace, I didn’t know it was him.”
We looked at each other, both knowing that this had severed our relationship forever.
“Grace, please…” he pleaded, “It was an accident.”
I shook my head, it couldn’t be true.
Chase stood up and took my hand, “Grace, please say something.”
I jerked my hand away from him and stepped back as I looked at him angrily. “You killed him,” I whispered again.
He said nothing. There was nothing that could save us now. I turned around and walked away. “Grace, where are you going?” Chase called after me.
I turned back to look at him, “just stay away from me, Chase, I don’t ever want to see you again,” I choked and ran to my room.
As soon as I was in my room I ran to get my laptop. I never wanted to know anything about what happened that night. I told everyone that I would rather not hear the details and look where it got me. My ignorance caused me to fall in love with the man who killed my best friend.
I scrolled through Rosewood’s library archives until I found the one I was looking for, the headline read: Teen kills fellow student in a car crash
I stood up and paced the room, I wasn’t ready to know. I wasn’t ready to read the graphic details of how he died but I knew I had to. I forced myself to sit down and read further. My hands were trembling as I scrolled down.
Chase Ryder, a former student at Rose Valley High was driving his father to a local jail in Rosewood, after a domestic violence episode erupted in their home. His drunken father woke up in the back seat while his son was driving and tried to strangle the teenager, causing him to collide with another vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle, Aaron Wheeler, died on impact, along with Chase’s father. Chase Ryder was rushed to the hospital and miraculously suffered only minor injuries.
I skimmed through the rest of it not being able to read more of the gory details, until I saw Agatha and Chris’s name.
The parents of the deceased, Agatha and Chris Wheeler, said that they forgave Chase Ryder because that was what their son would have wanted. Mr. Ryder was unwilling to give a comment after the death of his fellow student and father. The incident was ruled as an accident by the court.
I snapped the laptop shut. In that moment, I was so angry with Chase. I didn’t care that it was an accident. I never wanted to see him again.
I ran to my closet and pulled out my black suitcase. I threw all my clothes into it and sobbed while doing it. I needed to get away from WRC as soon as possible. I never heard Chase come back to his room and I was relieved that he stayed away. I zipped my bag closed and headed for the door, as my tears blinded me. I put my suitcase in my car when I realized that I forgot my handbag with my phone in the room and as I turned around to go back, a black SUV pulled up next to me. When I tried to go around it, one of the tinted windows rolled down and when I looked up, to my horror Jerry was smiling back at me.
“Jerry!” I gasped.
“Why don’t you get in, Grace?” he said still smiling.
I turned around and ran but I didn’t get very far when I felt two big arms envelope me and lift me up from the ground. I kicked and screamed until he threw me into the back seat with Jerry. I looked around in the car for a handle, but there wasn’t one. I rubbed my hands on the black leather interior to see if there was a hidden lock but I didn’t find anything.
“Help, someone help me!”
Jerry started laughing. “They can’t help you, sweet cheeks. Nobody can hear you.”
I folded my arms and stared Jerry down. “What the fuck do you want from me, Jerry?”
“Now, now, Grace. There is no need to be rude.” He smirked. “I told you I need your help.”