by Cybill Cain
“Your watch dog finally gave up and left town, and I watched pretty boy leave this morning. I thought now would be a good time to come get what’s mine.” Despite the danger I was in, I felt my eyebrow go up in askance at his remarkably stupid comment.
“There is absolutely nothing here that belongs to you, Jackson. You should leave now. I’m going to call the police.”
“No, you’re not.” He smiled at me as he pulled my phone out of his pocket, and shook it at me. “It’s just you and me now, Annie. The way it was always meant to be. I’ve taken care of everyone who could have come between us.” Oh, my God, Max!
“What do you mean, Jackson? Tell me what you are saying!” I was off the couch, stalking toward him with my fists clenched as hell roared through my veins. If he’d hurt Max I was going to fucking kill him!
“Todd. I killed Todd to keep you safe, Annie.” I stopped, shaking my head slowly in disbelief.
“What?”
“You don’t know what he was like. You told him you didn’t want him, but it made him…crazy in the head.” He twirled his finger by his temple, and whistled for effect. I’d turned Jackson down, too, but that apparently had made zero impact as well. “I saw how he looked at you, and I decided I needed to keep an eye on him for you.”
“God, Jackson, that was all years ago.”
“Not for Todd. The idea of having you wouldn’t let him go. He used to get drunk and rave about you on his boat, how he was gonna come up here and take what he wanted from you. He followed you around and took pictures of you when you didn’t know he was there. You don’t want to know what he used them for.” Jackson’s face curled up in disgust, and I thought it must had been something terrible to make this nut case flinch. His eyes came back to mine, pleading with me to understand.
“He was sick, Annie, but I tried to help him. I did, I tried. You have to believe me!” He screamed the last, making me take a step back, raising my hands to try and calm him. “Don’t be scared, Annie. I won’t hurt you.” Yeah, right. Give me a chance asshole, and I sure as hell will hurt you. He sighed, frustrated that this wasn’t playing out as he had imagined it in his head.
“I listened to him talk, and tried to tell him that he needed to move on. I thought it worked until I caught him on the boat the other night with some young girl. She looked like you, Annie.” He swallowed, “Well, she did look like you, but not at the end. At the end she just looked like chewed meat. That was when I knew I had to kill him, or he was going to hurt you.” Tears came up in his demented eyes. “I couldn’t stand the idea of him doing that to you.”
“What happened to her, Jackson?”
“He killed her. I couldn’t stop him.” He took a deep shaky breath. “I buried her in the woods after I set the boat on fire, and shot him with his rifle.” He leaned on my doorway, as if standing was too much effort under the weight of what he had done. “I wish I’d let him burn up alive, I wanted to so bad, for what he’d done, and what he was planning to do to you, but I needed it to look like a suicide.”
“Jesus Christ, Jackson. What the hell do you think is gonna happen now?”
“Well, you’ll be with me, because I saved you. I’m your hero now, Annie.”
“I don’t want to be with you, Jackson. I’m in love with someone else.” He started shaking, his hands opening and closing frantically at his side.
“I can kill him, too. Is that what you want, Annie? You want him dead? If you fight me, I will kill him.” He smiled at me, crooked and crazy like my nightmares. “I’ll make you watch.”
I moved fast, hitting him head on, planning to knock him down and run, but he was quicker. He shoved me back, and I landed on the end table, hitting my head hard before it shattered beneath me. He was on me in a flash. Blood was blocking my eyes, but I pulled my knee up with all the strength I could manage, and got him right in the balls.
He groaned, his face going white as he released me to cup himself. I scrambled away on my hands and knees, a rudimentary plan forming in my mind. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife out of the block on the counter, and my keys on the way out the back door. If I could get to the lighthouse before him, I could lock him outside. There was a land line there for emergencies that I could use to call the Sheriff. I just had to stay ahead of him.
My vision was going in and out of focus as I ran, but I knew the way by heart after all these years. I put my energy into running, and my faith in believing that my feet knew the way. While I was running for my life it started to rain.
***
Max
I was nearly home when the rain the captain had been expecting all morning started to come down. At first it was a light mist, but by the time I parked in front of the house it was coming down in sheets. I paused before getting out, musing to myself over the fact that I’d just thought of Escape as home.
I did think of it that way. I had almost from the day I’d arrived, and had told Annie as much when she commented on me being all kitchen-y. I laughed out loud thinking of how the first day I’d been here DVD’s were constantly raining down on my head. God, she’d given me such a gift when she’d made the choice to pretend I was just a regular guy.
There was a stuttering beat to my heart when I thought of all the wonderful things Annie had given me since we met. Maybe if I told her Escape would still be our home when I wasn’t required to be on location, it would sweeten the pot for her. That had always been my intention. I knew this place was part of her, and I loved all of her, so I loved it, too.
You should have told her that this morning, whiz kid, my inner critic piped up. Shaking my head, I got out and ran for the front door, using the key that she had given me to get inside. “Annie?” I called out, standing in the foyer. When she didn’t answer I thought she might be upstairs with the music on, and I took a step in that direction. Out of habit, I glanced into the living room as I went by and stopped cold. The end table was destroyed, and her favorite mug was in a dozen pieces, resting in a puddle of what looked like tea.
“ANNIE!” I screamed, running upstairs, frantically checking one room after another, finding them all empty. On the way down the stairs I called Stacy on my mobile. “She’s gone! Something’s happened! We need you, now!”
“Call the Sheriff. I can be there in an hour.”
“NOW!” I roared, holding the phone out from my head trying to burn it to a cinder with my rage to get him here sooner.
“Listen to me!” he said back, his firm confident tone cutting through my panic like a knife. I put the phone back to my ear. “The Sheriff can be there sooner, but I am coming, Max. Call him now.” He hung up, and I dialed 911. My feet had taken me into the kitchen where I found blood on the counter, and a knife missing. I told the dispatcher what was happening as I followed the trail to the key rack by the door. The lighthouse keys were missing. Connecting the dots quickly in my mind, I told the dispatcher to have the officers meet me at the lighthouse, and hung up.
“She has to be safe at the lighthouse,” I told myself, as I burst out the backdoor onto the porch, breaking the hinges in my hurry to get to her. I jumped off the edge, and hit the ground running. She has to be safe, I told myself again, as I ran in the hard falling rain.
***
Annie
I made it to the door of the lighthouse before he caught up with me. He tackled me, landing on top of me. I hit the concrete steps, knocking the air out of me and making me lose my hold on the knife. While I fought to breathe he flipped me over under him. His wild eyes were inches from mine, his head blocking the sharp stinging rain that was coming down around us.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he hissed at me. “I only wanted to be good to you!” My hand groped for anything I could find to help me get away from him. Finding one of the flower pots I kept by the door, I grabbed it and hit him over the head as hard as I could, scrambling up when he rolled away, dazed from the blow.
My hands were shaking when I tried to get the key in the lock, and in
the time it took me to open it, he was up and after me again. “ANNNNIEEEEE!” he screamed as he tried to grab me and half fell through the doorway, blocking my chance to lock him out. I ran for the caretaker’s room, planning to shut him out there, but he caught me again before I could make it inside, moving almost supernaturally fast to put his body in the doorway blocking me.
There was one place left to go, and even in my panic and rage I knew it was not going to stop him, but I had to try. Turning I ran for the steps to the top of the lighthouse. The sound of my feet pounding the wrought iron echoed chillingly inside the old stone structure. It told me the second he started climbing behind me.
I was still struggling for breath, and my vision was going blurry every few seconds as it had been since he’d hit me at Escape, but I pressed on, holding the railing as I pushed my body to its absolute limit.
I reached the thick glass door just far enough ahead of him and shut him on the other side of it. There was a latch on the outside, to make sure it stayed shut in high winds if the caretaker came out. I shoved it home, and sent up a silent prayer that it would be enough to hold him off.
Jackson hit the door full force, vibrating the thick safety glass in its metal frame. His face was a mask of rage and murder as he continued to pound against the glass with his shoulder. I backed up to the railing, as far as I could get away from him, and tried to think of what to do next, but I was out of options. The only way down from here was straight down. Locking my jaw I looked down at the cold hard wet sand. I would die if I had to jump.
From the corner of my eye I saw something moving in the distance. My heart froze to a solid block of ice in my chest when I recognized the beloved form of my Max, sprinting toward the lighthouse. My ragged mind ran through my options. If I called out, Jackson would know he was coming, but he would know anyway as soon as that giant frantic body started climbing the stairs.
I looked back and saw the metal frame of the door was bulging out from Jackson’s hits. I wasn’t sure it would hold until Max got here. I turned again, and saw that he was almost here.
“MAX!” I screamed out. He stopped right below me.
“ANNIE!”
“JACKSON IS IN THERE! HE’S LOST HIS MIND! BE CAREFUL!” I couldn’t see his face clearly from this distance, but I watched his body shift, his shoulders coming back hard as he took off, quickly disappearing from my sight. That was when the door gave out, and Jackson tumbled out to land at my feet.
I kicked him in the head as hard as I could, but before I could land a second blow he grabbed my ankle, and pulled me down hard on the grating. I shoved him away with both hands, but he moved over me, pressing me down with the full weight of his body. Maybe I could distract him enough to give Max time to get here? I stopped fighting.
“Jackson, what are you doing?” His face was above me again, but whatever there had been of Jackson Bartley was out to lunch. The thing I was facing now barely seemed human at all.
“I’m loving you,” he said, cocking his head like I was the crazy one here.
“This isn’t how you love someone,” I told him. He blinked, frowning in confusion.
“You don’t understand. You didn’t even try.”
“I will, Jackson. I will try. Just explain it to me.”
“Liar,” he sneered at me, standing up and pulling me with him. He turned me, holding my arm high up behind my back. I felt something tear in my shoulder, but the adrenaline dulled the pain almost immediately. “You just want to stall me until he gets here.”
The last time I had stood here like this Max had been the one behind me. The safe warm feel of him seemed like a distant dream. Oh, God, please don’t let him hurt Max, please!
“But it’s too late, Annie.” I was going to ask what he meant, to buy some more time, but before I could say anything he shoved me over the railing.
***
Max
I got there in time to see Annie go over the side. The rage roared out of me in a deep primal scream of denial as I burst out onto the platform. Crazy or not, he never stood a chance against me. I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the concrete wall hard enough to hear something snap. He screamed weakly, sliding down the lighthouse wall to the platform.
“ANNIE!” I stepped up to the railing, terrified I was going to find her dead below, but she was holding on to the bottom of the grating with both hands, hanging in mid-air. I knelt down, and grabbed her wrists, bracing my feet on the railing as I pulled her up and into my arms.
She wrapped her body around me like a vine, shaking uncontrollably. I held her, telling her again and again it was over now and she was safe. I took my eyes off Jackson for a second to look at her.
Her head was bleeding, her hands and knees where scraped and torn, but other than that she seemed to be all right. I pulled her to me again, thanking all the powers that be that she was alive. When I glanced at Jackson again he was up on his feet. I stood quickly, putting her behind me.
“You were supposed to understand, Annie,” he whined, holding his broken arm to his body protectively. He backed up, stopping when he bumped the rail. “This was supposed to be my sunset,” he said, so quietly I could barely hear him over the rain still coming down around us. He went over silently, like a wingless bird trying for flight, and plummeted like a stone.
Annie screamed behind me, like a wounded animal. I turned back to her, and wrapped her in my arms. I walked us into the lighthouse, and out of the cold rain just in time to hear the sirens pierce the air over the sound of the pounding ocean.
12- Aftermath
Annie
I wound up spending the night in the hospital with my arm in a sling. Max never left my side. He held my hand as I told the Sheriff everything that had happened, everything Jackson had said. It all seemed like something that had happened to someone else, or a bad dream that my mind was working hard to forget in the waking world. Even talking about it didn’t make it seem real, but the shaking I couldn’t stop certainly did. I was chilled in my soul, and no blanket could fix that.
Sometime in the night I was shaking so hard I woke myself up. The weight of everything crashed into me, Jackson’s face filling my vision as if he were standing in front of me. When I started crying, Max shifted me in the bed, and slid in behind me, carefully pulling me into his arms. He let me cry until it was all out, kissing the top of my head as he whispered nothings just to remind me he was there. Turns out a blanket couldn’t warm my soul, but Max’s arms around me worked just fine. I fell asleep with him, the shaking in me stilled at last.
***
I woke up to a room full of flowers and balloons. “Hey, sleepy girl,” Max greeted me, leaning in to place a kiss on my forehead. “You have some visitors, if you are up for it.”
“Sure,” I wondered who it would be. Turned out it was most of the town. For the next couple of hours everyone from Mr. Haverson to the taffy lady, even Olivia McAllister, the mayor’s wife passed through my hospital room, all to wish me well, and tell me to call them if I needed anything. I was blown away. I’d known them all my entire life, but kept mostly to myself, and had never realized what a solid support network I had in the people of Upton. Last to come in were Mr. Meenan and Stacy.
“Ms. Clemons,” Meenan said, sweeping in as though this were a five star hotel, instead of a hospital room. “I’m delighted to see you are recovering from your ordeal.” He still intimidated the hell out of me.
“Thanks, Mr. Meenan” I mumbled, trying to sit up straighter in the bed. Max helped me up, and put another pillow behind my head.
“Is there anything you need?” Meenan asked, solicitously.
“Yes, when I’m out of the hospital I want to talk to you about Escape.”
“What about it, my dear?” I had planned to talk to Max first, but Meenan showing up here was too fortuitous to ignore.
“Max has asked me to go with him when he leaves, and I’m going to do it.”
“Really?” Max asked, his face breaki
ng into a thousand watt smile that brightened the entire room. I reached for his hand, and squeezed it, returning his smile.
“Yes.” I turned back to Meenan. “We haven’t worked out the details, yet, but whatever they turn out to be, there will be some changes needed for our current agreement.” He inclined his head gracefully.
“Whatever you need. I am at your service, Ms. Clemons. Call me when you are ready to discuss the new arrangement.” He smiled before adding, “I understand you are to be released today. I’ve arranged for Mr. McGill to drive you home, once you are ready to depart, and he will be staying with you a few days. I’m afraid there is a bit of press circus waiting for you when you leave.”
“Circus?” He shrugged, his eyes going to Max before coming back to me.
“Nothing we can’t handle,” he said reassuringly.
***
Max
I walked Meenan and Stacy out, filled with questions about the arrangement they had with Annie regarding Escape. “I know that you own part of her home. What will happen when she leaves with me?” I felt practically giddy inside at the idea of her being with me, but this was serious business. I couldn’t let her lose her home. I’d buy it myself if I had to, to make sure it was safe and ready for her whenever she wanted.
“Rest easy, Mr. Alexander. We will support whatever arrangement is necessary for her happiness, and yours.” Reassuring, but not informative. “I am truly sorry, for you both, that this had to happen. I assume you have a PR rep to handle things from your end?”