by Hannah Ford
Raven felt her body stiffen as if someone had just put a gun to her back.
This “news story” wasn’t about Jake at all—it was about her.
“Raven,” her father called, “they’re talking about you too!”
She made eye contact with Danny, and he just shook his head slowly, as if to say, I told you this would all go wrong.
Raven’s mother wiped her hands as she scurried past Raven to see what was going on.
“Aren’t you going to watch?” Danny asked her. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
“No,” she said. She didn’t even know what the story was about. All she knew was that anything to do with her and Jake was a lie. Whatever this story was going to be about, it didn’t matter.
But her father was turning up the volume on the TV now and the reporter’s voice was louder than ever. “Raven Hartley has been gaining notoriety as a member of Jake Novak’s entourage who has been seen more and more often in public him lately, and it appears the two are now dating. This comes at a difficult time in the embattled pop star’s career, as a tremendous backlash occurred when an old video was leaked that showed him making controversial remarks about depressed people, victims of bullying, and even those who have committed suicide.”
Danny slid the newspaper slowly away from him. “Do you know what they’re going to say?” he asked Raven.
“No,” she replied, shaking her head. She wondered if this was just some sort of puff piece, where it was all leading. Maybe they were going to show pictures from yesterday, when some of the paparazzi had snapped photos of them walking to the bar, and afterward the brawl, from when they were talking to the police.
The reporter’s voice took on a new tone of seriousness and excitement. “But in a bizarre twist,” she said, “a new video has surfaced. Only this video has nothing to do with Jake Novak. This is a video of Raven Hartley, and it shows her engaging in some very naughty dancing at a party.”
Jake sat forward on the couch.
Raven’s mother gasped and put a hand to her mouth.
Raven felt like she was going to faint.
“They found the video,” Danny said, his voice angry. “Of course they did.” He shook his head. “You had to come back and drag all of us back into your mess, didn’t you Raven?”
“Shut up, Danny,” Raven said, and then walked quickly into the living room to see it with her own eyes.
There it was, in living color, right there on the television screen.
Raven was dancing, starting to tease Caleb as she lifted her shirt past her belly. Caleb’s voice, from off camera, could be distinctly heard, as he laughed. “Wow, that’s so hot, Raven. You are seriously crazy.”
“You have no idea how crazy I can get,” Raven said, smiling seductively into the camera.
Suddenly, the TV screen cut back to the anchor desk, where a couple of women and a man sat shaking their heads.
“And that’s not all of it,” the reporter said. “That’s just what we can show on network TV. The rest of it is available, and will surely be all over the internet—it gets pretty racy.”
“So what’s the big deal?” the other woman asked. “A girl dancing and taking off her top is not big news these days.”
“No, it’s not,” the reporter replied. “But our sources tell us that a few years ago, this video caused a pretty major scandal in Southbridge, where Raven Hartley is from. There were accusations that she’d engaged in sexual activity with a group of boys at a party that night. This led to a whole slew of legal activity, and Raven Hartley engaged in a lawsuit against some of the participants, which included her boyfriend at the time. Eventually, she was hospitalized for a suicide attempt, and then dropped all charges before leaving Southbridge.”
The male anchor at the desk looked disturbed. “Sounds like a very strange story,” he said.
“It is very strange,” the reporter told him. “I think what’s unfortunate here is that by getting involved with someone as popular and famous as Jake Novak, Raven Hartley’s checkered past is truly going to come out and be revealed in all its gory detail. And based on her history of mental health issues, that could be a recipe for disaster.”
“I’m sure Jake Novak’s friends and family are probably scratching their heads and wondering about some of his recent choices as well,” the other woman added.
“Strange stuff indeed. We’ll make sure to check back on this story as it develops,” the anchorman said, his face as serious as if he’d just announced a war with Russia.
They cut to another story, and Raven’s father turned the television off.
Raven’s mother had her face buried in her hands, and her shoulders were shaking.
The room was completely silent.
Jake was still staring at the TV, as if he was somehow continuing to watch the program even with the power off. His expression was blank.
“I shouldn’t have turned it on,” her father said softly. “I shouldn’t have even turned the fucking thing on!” He suddenly threw the remote across the room and it hit the wall, instantly shattering.
Raven startled. “Dad!” she cried out.
He shook his head, his cheeks turning purple. “I can’t…believe this…is happening again.” His breathing was becoming labored.
Danny was brushing past Raven now, shoulders hunched. “Dad, come on, we need to get you in your wheelchair and back on oxygen.”
“Fuck my oxygen,” her father shouted.
“Come on Dad.” Danny grabbed hold of her father’s wrists and started pulling him to his feet so he could get him into the chair.
Her father was wheezing badly.
Raven ran over and started to help, maneuvering the wheelchair closer.
Even Jake was involved, as they got her father seated and put the tube of oxygen up to his nose. Her dad was taking big, heaving breaths in through his mouth, and his cheeks were growing a deeper shade of purple while the rest of his face was growing paler.
“Dad, relax and breathe slowly,” Danny said.
“Is he okay?” Raven asked.
Danny shot her a look. “I don’t know. I’m not a doctor.”
Raven’s mother was wringing her hands. “He’s having trouble breathing!” she yelled. “Look at him. Help him, please.”
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Danny replied. “Dad, take slow deep breaths, okay?”
Her father nodded and he really did seem to be trying, but his chest was rising and falling rapidly, and his skin was waxy and clammy. Something was wrong.
“Do you have a pulse oximeter?” Jake asked, taking her father’s wrist and applying pressure with two fingers.
“Yeah, yeah, we do,” Danny said, spinning and then bending down and grabbing a small bag slung over the side of the wheelchair. He dug through it quickly, grabbed a small white piece of plastic and affixed it to Raven’s father’s finger.
Jake looked into her father’s eyes. “He’s struggling to breathe, like an asthma attack. Does he have an inhaler?”
“Yes, but—“
“Get that. Something’s wrong. Misses Hartley, call 911,” Jake said.
“Okay,” Raven’s mother replied, and ran into the other room to get the cordless phone.
“What’s happening?” Raven asked Jake.
Jake glanced at her. “He can’t breathe and I’m not sure exactly what’s preventing him from getting enough oxygen. Could be his airway is narrowed, or could be something to do with the airflow from the oxygen tank.”
Her father’s hands were jumping off the chair, as if he was having some kind of fit.
“Come on Dad,” Danny said. “You have to breathe.”
“His oxygen saturation is at seventy nine percent and falling,” Jake announced.
“What’s it supposed to be at?” Raven said, her heart pounding.
“Over ninety percent, at least,” Jake replied. He tried to push the oxygen tube deeper into her father’s nose. “Get the inhaler, Danny, quick
ly!”
Danny had dug the inhaler out as well, but he fumbled it in his nervousness and dropped it on the floor, where it bounced, the cap skittering away. Raven bent down, picked up the inhaler and put it to her father’s lips.
“Dad, you have to try and breathe in on the count of three, okay?” Raven asked him.
He nodded, but barely. His eyes were rolling in his head.
“Jake, please help him,” Raven said. She couldn’t believe this. Her father was dying in front of her eyes.
“We’ll figure it out,” Jake said, checking the air hose for leaks all the way down to the oxygen tank affixed to the rear of the chair. “Everything looks normal,” he said. “But there must be something wrong. He’s not getting the delivery of the oxygen.”
Raven counted to three out loud and then pumped the inhaler into her father’s mouth, but he didn’t seem capable of really taking it in, he was struggling too much trying to even breathe at all.
“Shit,” Danny said, checking the oximeter. “His oxygen’s at seventy two percent, Jake!”
Jake was kneeling behind the wheelchair, his eyes fixed on where the tube met the tank. He started to turn something—some kind of valve—Raven knew nothing about the tank or how it worked.
Jake’s face was completely transfixed, completely focused as he tried to work on the oxygen tank.
Raven’s father’s eyes rolled up into the back of his head.
“I called the ambulance, they’re on their way!” Raven’s mother said, running back into the room, her eyes wide with terror. “Is he going to be all right?”
“His oxygen saturation just dropped again,” Danny said. Raven had never seen her brother look so afraid.
She saw that her father’s skin was turning almost blue. She touched his hand and it was cold.
He’s going to die.
Dad’s dying, right here in front of me.
She looked up and met Danny’s eyes and saw that he knew it too. He looked like a little kid again.
“Got it,” Jake said, and then there was a new sound, a hissing noise. That sound had been missing, Raven realized, because the tank was malfunctioning.
She stood up and pushed the hose closer into her father’s nostrils, hoping it wasn’t too late. “Come on, Dad. Breathe. Please, breathe,” she said.
There was a long moment when it seemed that nothing had changed, but then suddenly her father’s chest rose and his nostrils flared. And then his mouth opened, he exhaled and took another large gulp of air.
And then another and another. The color began returning to his face.
“Oxygen’s at eighty percent and rising,” Danny said, smiling, with tears in his eyes.
Her father was breathing again. He looked up at Raven and nodded his head weakly. “I’m all right,” he said. Then he looked at her mother. “I love you,” he told her.
Raven’s mother began to sob, and then she ran over and began hugging and kissing him, telling him how worried he’d made her.
Danny extended his hand to Jake. “You just saved my dad’s life,” he said.
Jake shook. “Just returning your favor from last night,” he said, cracking a smile.
Raven looked at him with tears in her eyes. “How did you fix it?”
“The regulator,” Jake said. “It wasn’t seated properly and so a lot of the oxygen wasn’t reaching him the way it should have. Not sure how it happened, but I suppose it might even have been this way for a while, only your father had a flare-up and needed every bit of oxygen he could get.”
“It’s okay now, though?” Raven asked Jake. “He won’t have this problem again?”
“The tank’s fixed now, so he should be okay.” Jake’s brown eyes met hers and then he looked away. She couldn’t tell if he was angry, sad, relieved.
In that moment, she was just thankful Jake had been present to save her father from what quite likely had been a life-threatening situation.
Raven’s mother was done kissing and hugging Raven’s dad. But she wasn’t altogether finished, as she then threw her arms around Jake and squeezed him tightly. “Thank you so much for being here, Jake.”
“It’s okay, Mrs. Hartley. Really, it’s okay.”
Not long after, the ambulance showed up. The EMTs came inside and checked Raven’s father’s vitals and declared him sufficiently okay to remain in the house. They also checked over his oxygen tank setup to make sure it wasn’t going to malfunction again.
When one of the EMTs asked how Jake had known what to do to fix the tank, he’d gotten a strange look on his face.
“My fiancé needed oxygen her last month or two before she passed,” he said. “I got used to handling the tank and just happened to know a few tricks.”
“You probably saved his life,” the EMT said. “He was lucky you were visiting.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Jake muttered, his gaze flickering over to Raven and then away again.
Nobody had spoken about the news story. It was as if it had never even happened.
But once her father was better and the EMTs had gone, Jake announced that it was time to leave.
“You’re going so soon?” Raven’s father said in a weak and tired voice.
Jake was finishing another cup of coffee. “Afraid so, sir. Besides, haven’t you had enough excitement around here since I showed up?”
Nobody quite knew what to say to that.
Raven wasn’t sure what Jake meant, either. As he left the kitchen to go upstairs, she followed him. “What about me?” she said.
He turned on the stairwell. “What about you?”
“Do you want me to come back with you?”
“It’s your call, Raven.” He could hardly look at her.
“You didn’t tell me you planned to leave so soon. I’m trying to figure out how mad you are right now.”
“I’m not mad,” he said. “Come if you want. Or don’t. Suit yourself.” And then he walked the rest of the way upstairs and she heard the door opening and closing as he went into the bedroom.
A moment later, Raven’s phone buzzed with a text.
She took out her cell and checked it. The text was from an unknown number, and it was just one short sentence.
Payback’s a bitch.
* * *
The limousine was waiting for them, parked alongside the curb. Jake carried the luggage over to where the driver was standing.
Meanwhile, Raven gave her mother a long hug. “Sorry we had to leave so soon,” she said.
“Maybe you’ll come back again?” her mother asked.
Raven looked at her. “I hate that you have to even ask.”
“But I do. I do have to ask.” Her mother’s hands were clasped together, her fingers seeming to grasp onto each other as if for support, as she spoke. “I don’t want it to be another four years before I see you or hear your voice again.”
“It won’t be, I promise,” Raven said.
“We don’t care about what happened in the past, or what they say about you,” her mother continued. “We love you.”
“Thanks, Mom. I love you too.” And she meant it. Maybe her mother had changed, after all. Perhaps people didn’t just let you down over and over again forever.
Raven remembered what she’d discovered about Jake’s fiancé and her stomach tightened.
Then again, maybe some people do just keep letting you down.
Raven’s father had already said his goodbyes. He was exhausted after the medical crisis, and now he was sleeping.
Danny came outside last. “Come here,” he said, moving away from the house and the limo, taking her over by the chain link fence that separated their yard from the neighbor’s yard.
“What’s up?” Raven asked. She glanced at Jake, who was getting into the limo now, not even waiting for her.
She shook her head slightly.
“You need to stop seeing him,” Danny said.
“Who? Jake?”
“Yeah,” Danny said, laughing as if he couldn�
��t believe her stupidity.
“Danny, he just saved Dad’s life and you still hate him.”
“No, I think he’s a really cool guy. I’m grateful that he saved Dad’s life, but that doesn’t mean he’s good for you.” Danny stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at her.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s a lot going on right now.”
“I see that,” Danny said. “And I also saw the way they dragged your skeletons out of the closet on national TV. That’s just the beginning,” he told her. “They won’t stop until they’ve torn your whole life apart.”
“They’re going to do it either way, I can’t stop them.”
“That’s not true,” he said. “They’ll stop the minute you two break up. They’re only after you because of Jake.”
“I’m sorry I embarrassed you, Danny—“
“Stop saying that,” Danny said, his voice raising. “You said that last time when all of this happened and we were all dying inside, trying to figure out how to help. You kept apologizing for everything, but then you started to resent us. You kept saying we weren’t willing to fight to protect you. But all the lawsuits in the world won’t change public opinion, Raven. People believe what they want to believe. You need to be strong enough not to care.”
“Well maybe I’ll be strong enough this time.”
Danny shook his head. “I think we both know that’s not going to happen. Just stop this, already. You’ve finally come back home and maybe now there’s a chance to make things better, heal our family. Get away from Jake Novak before everything goes to shit again. Please, Raven.”
“I need to go,” she said, turning away.
“I’ll be here if you decide to come back, Raven. I’m not going anywhere, but then again, you already knew that.”
Raven started to run, to the limousine. She needed to get away from the memories, get away from her family and the secrets and recriminations. She needed to distance herself from her sad mother, resentful brother, and dying father.
She got to the limousine and the driver let her in.