Forever In Time

by Charlie

  After that everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Not pausing, despite the blood that was dripping down his arm, Jake continued to reach for the gun, bending, grasping the handle, curling his fingers around the cool metal, pivoting and swinging the weapon upwards towards his assailant all in one smooth flowing motion. In the background, he could hear Steph and Ella but, didn’t have time to register what they were saying. The sunlight streaming in through the front window was playing havoc with the visibility inside, creating bright pockets of light and areas of deep shadow that left the eyes struggling to constantly readjust to the varying amounts of illumination. What seemed like ages actually only took a split second to occur and Jake suddenly found himself face to face with Jarrod. The other man’s arm was raised, ready to strike a deadly blow to his chest. Without hesitation, Jake cocked the trigger and yelled “Freeze!”

  Jarrod’s arm swung halfway down before the forward motion was stopped. He paused, his hand hovering indecisively in mid-air before lowering his weapon in defeat and stepping back. Behind him, Jake could hear the ladies breathe a sigh of relief. He straightened, keeping the gun fixed on his opponent as he barked out orders. “That’s right. Drop the knife. Now keep backing up, right over there to that chair.” The other man sullenly retreated and sat down, his eyes full of rage. Jake took a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. That had been close. Keeping one eye on his prisoner, he stepped towards Stephanie and Ella intent on seeing how they were doing, only to stiffen when he heard a sound behind him.

  “Get away from them, Jake!”

  Turning, he saw Paula, standing in the doorway with a gun trained on him. “Paula—!”

  “I said, get away from them. I know how to use this gun, don’t make me show you!” Paula was pale but her face was grim and determined, her arms braced. She swallowed hard and cocked the pistol.

  At the sound, everyone began speaking simultaneously.

  “Paula, I can explain—“Jake began, lowering his weapon as a precaution.

  “Paula, you’ve got it all wrong—“Stephanie cried out from her crouched position on the floor.

  “Paula, sweetheart… ” Jarrod rose from the chair he’d been sitting in, extending his hand towards her.

  Paula’s eyes swung from Jake, to Stephanie and then to Jarrod, her confusion evident. She half lowered the gun and stepped towards the man she viewed as her boyfriend. “Jack? What are you doing here?”

  “No!” The other occupants of the room called out in unison, but it was too late. Jarrod’s arm snaked out and pulled the gun from Paula’s hand. He spun her around, pinning her to him and pressed the gun against her throat. Everyone froze.

  “Jack! What are you doing?” Paula’s eyes looked like large black pools of fear in her pale face.

  “Shut up Paula! And my name is Jarrod not Jack.”

  “Jarrod? But, but… “ Paula stammered.

  “Yeah, Jarrod. Jarrod Simpson. Didn’t Stephanie ever tell you about me?”

  “Well, yes but—“

  “Good. Now shut up and let me think.”

  Rising from the floor, Stephanie spoke in a trembling voice. “Jarrod let her go. It’s me you want.”

  Jake took a half step forward, his heart pounding in fear. “No! “

  “Don’t move! None of you move or I’ll kill her.” Jarrod’s eyes darted over their faces while his grip on Paula tightened. A small whimper came from her, tears rolling down her face as the gun pressed harder against her throat.

  The room was silent except for the ticking of the clock as everyone stared at the gun wielding man, wondering what his next move might be. Jake tried to keep his face impassive as he assessed the situation, calculating the odds of being able to successfully carry out a frontal assault. As much as he wanted to step forward and wrench the gun from Jarrod’s hand, he had to consider the safety of the other occupants of the room. If it was only himself that he had to worry about, he wouldn’t care, but the there were three women in the room and who knew where a stray bullet might end up? While he was confident that he could help one injured person, multiple casualties in rapid succession might be too taxing on his abilities. No. He’d have to wait for the right opportunity.

  When Jarrod finally spoke, they all started. “All right. This is what’s going to happen. Everyone head upstairs. Stephanie you lead the way to your old bedroom. I know the door will be solid, since Ella must’ve replaced the one I broke. I’ll lock you all in there while I make some phone calls then we’re all going to go for a little ride together.”

  Jarrod waved his gun and ushered them toward the stairs. Jake helped Ella up and they slowly made their way to the second floor.

  Chapter 20

  As the door slammed shut behind them, Stephanie found her arms full of a sobbing Paula. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I thought Jake had his gun pointed at you, Stephanie. You told me he was the stalker and when I heard you beep the horn when you left my house, I remembered how much you hated it when people did that, so I looked out the window, and I thought I saw Jake in the car holding a gun. I came over here to rescue you.” She finally paused for a breath and Stephanie was able to get a word in.

  “It’s all right Paula. I thought Jake was the stalker too, but he wasn’t. It’s Jarrod, or Jack—whatever you want to call him.” She took her friend’s face in her hands and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “You did fine, Paula. You picked up on my hint that something was wrong and you called the police and tried to rescue me… ” Stephanie paused as she noted a guilty look washing over her friend’s face. “Paula, you did call the police, didn’t you?”

  Paula bit her lip and looked down at the floor. “Well, I so worried about you, that I just grabbed my keys and jumped in the car and I forgot to call them from home. Then, I was going to use my cell phone and call as I drove over here, but the battery was dead… ”

  Stephanie held back the frustrated scream that was growing inside her and instead gave her friend a quick hug. Paula had good intentions but seldom thought things through as thoroughly as she should. “That’s okay. Don’t worry. We’ll think of something.” Paula looked rather pale and Stephanie felt sorry for her. Not only had her friend forgotten to call the police, but she’d managed to get them all captured and then, to top things off, her new boyfriend was a criminal. If the situation hadn’t been so grave, she could have laughed. Once again, Paula’s love life was running true to form!

  Looking around, Stephanie noticed that Jake had Ella lying down on the bed and was rubbing the older woman’s leg. Leaving Paula, Steph hurried over and took her foster mother’s hand. “Ella, are you all right?”

  “Yes, Sweetie, I’m fine. I twisted my knee when I swung that cane at Jarrod. It’s strange though. It hurt real bad down stairs but now that Jake has me all propped up comfy here, it feels just fine. If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think I’d never had surgery.”

  “Perhaps it just popped back into place.” Jake suggested, stepping away. He walked over to the door and turned the handle experimentally, then began examining the hinges.

  “Could be… ” Ella watched him thoughtfully for a moment before glancing at Stephanie. “I hate to say it, but Jarrod was right. This house is old and most of the rooms have really poor fitting doors, but this one is new and tight as a drum.”

  “What about the windows?” Jake asked.

  “Old as the hills and painted shut, last time I checked.” Ella shook her head. “Since I got out of the fostering business a while back, I haven’t had to keep these rooms up.”

  “We could break them,” Stephanie suggested. “But it’s a long way down.”

  “And Jack… er… Jarrod would hear the breaking glass and be up the stairs before even one of us got out.” Paula added pessimistically, plopping down in the lone chair and pulling her knees up to her chin. She began to nervously chew on her thumb nail.

  “So… ” Stephanie stared around the room. “We’ll have to think of something else.” By now Jake was
sitting on the floor, his head resting against the wall, apparently deep in thought. She wondered what he was thinking. Did he know that she’d thought he was the stalker? He must have gone to the apartment, found the pictures scattered all over and decided to go looking for her, though how he’d known to come to Ella’s, she wasn’t sure. Hesitantly, she sat down beside him, hoping he wasn’t too angry with her.

  Silently, she chastised herself. She was supposed to be the calm, logical one and what had she done? Jumped to conclusions and as a result, landed them all in this mess. Officer Carter had placed a few seeds of doubt in her mind and then the taped message and the pictures had just seemed to confirm everything…

  The room was quiet, each lost in their own thoughts. Stephanie went over the recent events and wondered how her peaceful, orderly life could have gotten turned so upside down in just a week. Glancing over at Paula, she recalled how her friend had proclaimed that a new hair cut would be the start of a whole new life. Somehow, this wasn’t quite what she had envisioned.

  Jake shifted beside her and she looked at him, her eyes taking in the strained lines around his mouth, his clenched fists, the blood on his wrist… She gasped. In all of the confusion, she’d forgotten that Jarrod had cut him with the knife. “Jake—!”

  He shushed her, nodding toward the other side of the room. Ella’s eyes were closed as were Paula’s. Whether they were resting or thinking, she wasn’t sure, but she lowered her voice. “Jake, your arm! Let me see.” She grabbed his arm, frantically looking for the wound. “Where’s the cut? I know you’re hurt. There’s dried blood on your arm.”

  “Stephanie, don’t fuss. I’m fine.” He whispered the words to her, his eyes darting towards Paula and Ella.

  “But Jake, it doesn’t make sense. There should be a cut somewhere.” She twisted his arm this way and that, once again trying to locate the source of the blood, then began pulling at the body of his shirt, thinking the wound was somewhere else.

  “Steph.” He managed to catch her hands in his and she stopped her search. “I’m fine. I… I heal quickly.”

  “Jake, no one heals that fast.”

  “I do.” She looked at him sceptically. “Steph, it’s hard to explain right now. It’s like a… a gift that I have. I can heal myself. Others, too.” He reached out and stroked her face. The vague throbbing of her cheek from Jarrod’s slap immediately faded away.

  Stephanie reached up and touched her face in wonder. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  “I’m glad.” He continued to cradle her face and stared into her eyes.

  ”Jake, how did you do that? How is that possible?”

  “Stephanie, I’ll try to explain it all to you later, but it’s important right now that no one else knows this. Not Ella, not Paula, not anyone. It has to be our secret, please?” She frowned but nodded. “Listen, I will get you out of this. I haven’t waited this long just to lose you again.”

  “Again?”

  “Yes, ‘again.’ There isn’t time to explain it properly right now, but just remember that I—“

  At that moment the door to the bedroom swung open, and Jarrod stepped into the room. “Okay, everything is ready. I’ve got friend downstairs with a van. He’ll do the driving while I keep an eye on you guys. First we’ll head over to Paula’s so I can get some stuff from my car and then we’ll go for a nice, long drive. Come on, get up.” He waved his gun at them.

  Reluctantly, they got to their feet and moved downstairs. Instinctively, Stephanie started to turn towards the front door, which was the entrance that was always used. Jarrod put out his arm, blocking her. “We’re not going out that way. We’ll use the back door. There’s less chance of being seen.” In frustration, Stephanie tightened her hands into fists. Being seen by one of the neighbours had been her only hope. The backyards were small and led to a seldom used alleyway. The likelihood of attracting attention from there was slim.

  Jarrod herded them into the kitchen and toward the back door. Just before opening it, he issued a warning. “Be quiet and don’t do anything stupid to try and attract attention. I have this gun and my friend in the van has one, too.” The four captives exchanged glances, each obviously having had the same thought. Opening the door, Jarrod gestured for them to step outside.

  The house sported an old covered porch with a wooden railing around the edges. In its day, it had been quite grand, but now the paint was peeling and the boards creaked under their feet. It was quite high up, due to the sloping nature of the backyard and steep cement steps led down to the ground level. Stephanie still remembered when the new steps had been installed. Ella had always intended to have a hand rail added on to them, but it had never materialized. As a result, the exit was seldom used anymore.

  As they crossed the porch, Ella hesitated near the top of the stairs, quite probably unsure of being able to navigate them with her knee.

  “Ella, let Paula and I get on each side of you. You can hang on to us to keep yourself steady.” Stephanie suggested moving to stand beside the older woman.

  “Hurry up, quit stalling!” Impatiently, Jarrod shoved the older woman and she stumbled. Paula reached out to steady her while Stephanie turned to chastise him.

  “Leave her alone! She’s just had knee surgery.”

  “I said to be quiet!” Jarrod backhanded her across the face, the nose of the gun hitting her forehead. Blood spurted from the cut.

  With a growl of rage, Jake grabbed Jarrod by the front of his shirt, swinging him around and nearly lifting the man off of his feet. Jarrod jerked backwards, causing a chain reaction as everyone bumped into each other, exclaiming loudly as they scrambled to keep from falling down the steep cement stairs. Momentarily distracted, Jake glanced over to see what was happening and reached out to steady Ella who was dangerously near the edge. His small lapse in concentration was the opening that Jarrod needed.

  “I’ve had enough of you.” And without further notice, Jarrod pulled the trigger of the gun.

  The sound echoed between the buildings as did Stephanie’s scream. In horror, she watched Jake’s eyes widen as he stumbled backwards crashing into the porch railing. The old wood broke under the force of his weight and he fell to the ground below, a red stain rapidly spreading across the front of his shirt.

  “Jake!” Heedless of those around her, Stephanie slid down the steps and ran to Jake’s side. She pressed her hand to his chest, trying to stem the bleeding but it ran between her fingers. “Jake? Can you hear me? Oh God… ” She leaned over him and his eyes fluttered open.

  “Steph?” He tried to reach up to her.

  “I’m here, Jake… ” She caught his hand and held it to her face, pressing a kiss against his palm. His fingers trembled against her cheek, sliding up towards her hair, touching the cut on her forehead.

  “Steph, I lo—“Suddenly, his hand fell limp in hers and his eyes went blank, his face lax.

  “Jake! Jake!” She knew she was screaming… There was a roaring sound in her ears… Hands were pulling at her… Dragging her backwards. She fought against the arms that wrapped around her waist and shoved her into the back of the waiting van. Even as the door slammed shut she flung herself against it, pressing her blood covered hands against the rear window. As the van sped away down the alley, kicking up clouds of dust, her last glimpse of Jake was of his lifeless body lying abandoned on the blood stained ground.

  *****

  Jake could sense the blood pouring from his body with each pump of his heart. Strange how the very organ that had kept him alive all these years was now helping his life blood seep away. He was cold… So very cold… But at least the pain was fading and the heaviness was being replaced with a sense of lightness as he floated above himself. He could see the red stain spreading on the ground, his own eyes staring blankly up at the sky. It had been a good life… The tingling energy of the universe began to absorb his spirit… A sense of oneness, of homecoming was filling him. Looking back at the earth, he saw his lifeless body sprawled on the
grass. He gazed around at the trees and the flower bed nearby, wondering if he would miss seeing them; he’d always been partial to nature. A loud sound drew his attention and as his vision began to fade, he noted a van careening down the alley, knocking over garbage cans as it raced away, a blood covered hand pressed against the rear window…

  Chapter 21

  Jarrod sat in the back of the van guarding the three women. They were silent except for the occasional sob that came from Stephanie. Paula was holding her while Ella sat ramrod straight staring defiantly at him. He glared at her, but then glanced away. There was something about the old biddy that always made him feel uncomfortable, like she could see right inside him. He wondered if she knew how much he hated her; how his stomach was clenching right now and that he was sweating bullets trying to figure a way out of this mess. He’d bluffed his way through the first part, telling his friend Murray who was driving the van, that he’d hit pay dirt and was going to give him a big cut for his help. Murray thought the old lady was worth something and they were holding her for ransom. He wouldn’t be happy when he found out she wasn’t, but Jarrod decided to worry about that later.