by Jayton Young
“It was never about my occupation, it was more that the person I had fallen for wasn’t available. Then I figured when we helped you get away, that I would be able to move wherever you settled and I could work on making you feel the same way, but then he kept following you, and the chance never came. When you liked it here, and made some friends again, I knew I could talk you into staying and figured we could finally be together. I don’t really know why I didn’t talk to you about it when I got here.” He thought for a second. “I guess I was a little intimidated by your friends. I saw how close your group was, and that I wasn’t a part of it. I knew that Garret loved you, anyone could see that, but I didn’t know that you reciprocated until the other night. Don’t worry about me, though. I’ll be alright.”
I just looked at him, knowing he was lying to me.
He laughed a little, and reiterated. “I will. I promise.”
I nodded. “It’s better if it’s the truth. You might not be a part of our little group right now, but if you tried a little harder instead of being so quiet all the time, I know they’d love you as much as I do. You will always be special to me, Doc. No matter who I get to know in the future, you’ll always hold a special place in my heart. I do love you. I’m sorry it’s not the way you want or need, but its genuine love none the less. You’re my best friend.”
“I know, and I appreciate it. I will try harder with them. I do want us to always be friends.” He slapped his knees and jumped up. “Now, how about an Air Hockey tournament? And you’re welcome to join us Garret.” He added as he headed to the game table.
I turned and saw Garret in the doorway leaning against the frame with his arms crossed, and was reminded of the other night when I went to his room. He must have known what I was thinking because he smirked at me and then looked back at Doc with a smile. “Sounds good, but I should warn you two that I’m the champion.”
Doc laughed. “Game on, little boy. I’ll have you know that I played all these games in my spare time in Chicago. Do you remember that massive arcade on Ligure St back home?” He asked me.
We all got up and played and bantered back and forth for a couple of hours before eating lunch in the media room while we watched Shrek the Third. It was funny watching those two grown men laughing at a kid’s movie. I thought that maybe things would actually start looking up.
That only lasted until Garret received a phone call from Stefan.
Chapter 13
Garret had left out of the room when he’d gotten the call from Stefan, so I was getting worried. The only reason he would have left was to talk about something he didn’t want me to hear. I had several scenarios running through my mind, but I was determined to stay calm and wait. I was so tired of being the weak victim all the time. I was twenty six years old, and I needed to start acting like it.
“It’s going to be okay, Diana.” Doc said, bringing me out of my thoughts. “Whatever happens, you are not alone this time; you have a good support system here, and of course I’ll always be wherever you need me to be.”
I nodded and swallowed the lump in my throat. “I know. Thanks Doc.” He had been sitting beside me, so I just put my head on his shoulder, and held onto his hand. He had always leant me his strength when I needed it.
I hadn’t even heard Garret come back in the room. He came and sat beside me, grabbing my other hand, but looked at Doc.
“You told Dina that Chuck had taken a leave of absence from work recently?” He asked.
“Yes. My contact faxed the papers over two days before I was finally able to get her on the phone to tell her.”
“Who is your contact?” Garret asked him, well it was more like he demanded, but I didn’t understand what was going on.
“Why are you asking Garret?” I asked, wanting to know what was going on.
“Stefan got a call from the investigators we have on this, and it seems like Detective Chuck Sanders quit his job and disappeared four years ago.” He told me. Looking back at Doc he said, “There are no bank records, credit records, driving records, or anything else that we can find since about three months after he quit, which was when the fires happened and then a couple of months after. The last thing we can find is from a hotel that he had stayed at, but his stuff was put in storage because he never picked it up or even checked out for that matter.”
“I gave you the file I had. Everything I ever received is in it, please go look.” Doc said defensively. I knew he had to be tired of people questioning him. I knew I was. It wasn’t fair to him when all he had ever done was try to help me.
“I’m sorry to be asking you, but can you understand where I’m coming from? What would you have thought if it was you that had received that info?” Garret told him calmly, and I could see his point, but I was still going to talk to him about it later when we were alone.
“So what does this mean?” I asked, trying to diffuse the situation.
“It means several things.” Doc said, I guess realizing the implications, but I was slow at that moment because I still didn’t understand.
“One, someone has been planting false information for your ex. Two, either he has changed his name, or something has happened to him. I’m thinking the latter.”
“Why?”
“Because he still has a good amount of money in the bank that has gone untouched for four years.” Garret said solemnly.
“But that would mean…” Oh. My. God.
“Someone else is doing this to you, and has been for years.” He finished for me.
“Well it’s not Doc, so you can get your mind off of that right now.” I told him.
Doc squeezed my hand in gratitude, but surprised me by what he said. “Diana, if Chuck is dead somehow, the evidence would point towards me in an investigation as far as who is still stalking you. Hell, if I didn’t know I had nothing to do with it, I would be accusing myself; as stupid as that sounds. I don’t blame him for questioning me, but I keep impeccable records, it’s kind of an obsession with me, so I can show him everything I have.”
“Why don’t we get everything I have so far, and everything you have, and maybe get in contact with your sources, and we will try to figure out what is going on.” Garret said. “Stefan is meeting with the investigator and making some calls, so it will be dinner time before he comes back with what we need, but I’ll tell him to bring the file from the office.”
“Where is Claire going to be?” I asked, concerned for her. None of us needed to be by ourselves at the moment.
“She’s with Stefan right now and will go wherever he goes.” He answered. “They know to stick together.”
“So!” Doc said suddenly, catching me off guard as he had done earlier. “Why don’t you fix us an awesome snack, and we can find something to do until dinner time.”
I knew Doc would try to distract me to get my mind off everything, so I agreed. My mind was reeling. I just couldn’t fathom someone else being out there as twisted as Chuck is, was, or whatever.
It had to be him and he just changed his identity like I did or something. The only thing about that was that if he was still out there, there was no way he wouldn’t be using what money he had in the bank. He would have at least drained his account first like he did when my mom died.
I snorted to myself at that thought. For some reason I still referred to it as her dying, but I knew in my heart he murdered her. He never denied it when I yelled the accusation, but he had been too smart to come out and admit it. Again I could only think of him as to who would do this, but I decided to try not to think on it anymore or at least not that aspect of it anyway; I would drive myself crazy.
I ended up baking some muffins. I knew that was not what he meant, but baking had always been a way to relieve stress for me. Actually, cooking of any kind did that. Eventually Doc and Garret made their way to the kitchen ‘to see if the refrigerator ate me’ or not. Doc’s words, not mine. He was hilarious sometimes. Yeah.
We chatted about different things. Doc told us ab
out some of the weird cases that came through the ER. My favorite was a mother that had to bring her little girl in because the brother had stuck a rock up her nose. It was one of those stories that were awful, but kind of funny at the same time. The rock had been in there for three days because the little boy was scared he would get in trouble, and the little girl didn’t tell. She did anything the brother said because she idolized him, and he had told her not to tell anyone. When the poor girl had gotten in trouble for picking her nose, big brother finally fessed up.
Garret had told about how in the first week of boot camp he had gotten stuck at the top of a wall they were supposed to scale as part of an obstacle course. He had been afraid of heights, but had not disclosed that info to his superiors prior to basic training. He said that he had been a clumsy nerdy type before he enlisted. I didn’t believe him until he pulled an old school photo out of his wallet. He said he kept it to remind him of his ‘awkward years’. I thought he’d been cute with his clunky glasses and said as much. He just rolled his eyes, not believing me.
Garret asked me about my early years, but he had forgotten that Chuck had been a part of most of that. He apologized, but I told him not to worry about it.
“I mean those were our good years; he wasn’t always so cruel and abusive. We had quite a few good years, as friends and then as lovers, before it all went to shit.” I said honestly.
When I said that, they both looked like they were holding back a laugh. “What?” I asked.
“Cussing just doesn’t sound right coming from you. It’s like…” Doc said, searching for the right words.
“Like a kid saying it just to sound grown up.” Garret finished for him, chuckling.
“Yeah, that.” Doc agreed.
I stuck my tongue out at Garret. I knew that I was being childish doing that, but he had just basically called me that anyway.
“Can we stop at the Davis’ shop in the morning? I haven’t seen them in a while and kind of miss them.” I asked Garret.
“Sure sounds great. I love Patsy’s banana nut muffins.” He said.
“You do know that it’s Thomas that does most of the baking, don’t you?”
“I never knew that. Either way, I have yet to come across anything there I didn’t like.” He smacked his lips as if he could taste it right then.
I went up to my room and took a nap after the muffins came out of the oven, and the guys went back to playing in the game room. When I woke, it was six in the evening, and I knew I needed to work on dinner. Passing the game room, I heard talking. I was going to go in until I heard what was being said.
Chapter 14
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” I heard Garret saying. “It would have saved you a lot of grief. Dina said something about it when she finally told us the whole story, but I didn’t put two and two together.”
“I didn’t know you were part of it either.” Doc answered calmly. “You know everyone stays anonymous unless they choose otherwise. You’re not in the database either.”
“Well Margie is big in it. Her mom was abused the whole time she grew up, so when she found out about the organization, she made it her life. When she saw Dina on the bus, she said she knew the look, and knew she was running, but didn’t know from what. She didn’t get ‘criminal vibes’ off of her, so she took her in.” Garret chuckled a little. “Di put up a fight, though. She doesn’t do charity.”
By this point I was standing on the doorway, but they hadn’t noticed me. What organization were they talking about? Thinking over what I had heard from their conversation, I guessed it was the one Doc told me he was a part of that helped me run from Chuck.
If Garret was a part of that, did that mean the only reason for him to have anything to do with me was because he felt it his job? I couldn’t believe that, though. The way he treated me and acted around me wasn’t pity. The look on his face when I would catch him looking at me wasn’t as if he felt sorry for me. But that thought kept running through my head, ‘what if’.
“I know. She would call me when she was hurt, but no more than that. I had been afraid in the hospital that she wouldn’t accept my help, but I guess she finally listened and realized she would not survive the abuse much longer. He was getting worse and worse.”
“Seeing this, I don’t know how she survived what she did.”
I’d had enough. I couldn’t believe that Garret was a part of whatever it was that helped women like me. I couldn’t help but feel that everything that he’d done and said was out of pity. Even as I tried to talk myself out of that notion, the doubts flooded my mind. How was I supposed to know for sure?
I turned and quickly headed back to my room, but I must have done something to draw attention to myself as I left because I heard Garret call after me. I kept going, jogging at this point so I wouldn’t have to face him. Tears were streaming down my cheek. I felt betrayed; like I really didn’t know him. Was I doomed not to be able to trust anyone again? I trusted Doc. He was the only one who had never done me wrong.
As I got to the door, Garret caught up with me and grabbed my wrist lightly, turning me to face him, but I wouldn’t look in his face. I couldn’t. I knew I would crumble if I did. I had let him in; fallen for him, and I obviously didn’t even know him.
“You obviously heard us in there; please let me explain.” He pleaded.
“No, I just need to be alone right now.” I pulled my wrist from his grasp and turned to go into my room.
“I’m not going to let you do that without listening to me.” He said desperately. “You’ll just talk yourself into believing some crazy shit. I know you.”
“Yeah, you know me. You know all about me, but I evidently don’t know you.” I told him, my voice breaking. “I truly thought I did. I thought you were a good guy, but good guys don’t keep things from people if that person means anything to him. I don’t need your pity Garret, and I sure as hell don’t want it.”
I stepped into the room and slammed the door in his face; locking it to keep him out. I knew in the back of my mind that I was overreacting, but I just couldn’t help it. I was trying so hard to be the person I was a long time ago when I was a strong willed, opinionated person, but I just felt like every time I tried to be that person, someone would just knock me down.
I hadn’t always been the victim. When I was growing up and in school, I always stood up for myself and never took crap off anyone. I didn’t take crap off of people, and I hated liars. It had been a saying in my home from my first memory that ‘God hears you when you lie’ so I grew up taking responsibility for my actions and trying my best to never do anything that I would need to lie about.
That had been one of the things Chuck would tease me about; being a ‘goodie two shoes’, but I would have rather made my mother proud than disappoint her. I didn’t start lying until Chuck started hitting on me. Then I had to lie and make up excuses. I hated myself and was embarrassed about the woman I had turned out to be, which was the complete opposite of my true personality. I had never understood how a woman would stay with a man that abused her
until I lived it myself.
I would not go back to that pathetic girl I was. I would not let someone else walk all over me, lie to me, and treat me as Chuck had again. I laid in my bed just thinking about everything, and not really paying attention to the time. I just let myself calm down and then suffered the
embarrassment of my overreaction. Garret was nowhere near the bastard that Chuck had turned out to be. I thought back to the part where he said that he hadn’t put the two together when I told him about Doc helping me escape. I didn’t even know the name of the organization that helped me, so I certainly never mentioned it to him.
I was so caught up in my musings that I didn’t even hear the lock being turned or anyone entering, until Doc came up to the bed with a tray of food and two drinks.
“Come on, Diana, you have to eat.” He said softly.
I jumped when I first heard him, and scared him to wh
ere he almost dropped the tray he carried. “Sorry,” I said. “I just lost track of time.”
“I figured as much.”
“Come on, we’ll eat in the other room.” I got up and walked toward the sitting room. “Let me just freshen up.” I said, and veered into the bathroom. “How did you get in?”
“Stefan came home and Garret’s been moaning on his shoulder for a while, so he offered the key. I requested that they let me come in and talk to you first; see how you were doing.” He said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
I knew he probably thought I had acted like a six year old, but there was nothing else I could do about it than apologize. I used the toilet, and then washed my hands and face before heading
back out to Doc.
“I am so sorry that I acted like that.” I said as I took a seat and picked up a Chinese takeout box full of fried rice.
“You know that you didn’t hear the whole conversation don’t you?”
“I think I heard most of it. I know I over reacted, but it was just a shock to find out he was a part of your organization. What’s the name?” I asked as I took a bite, not really hungry, but knowing I needed to eat.
“G.R.A.B.B.” He answered with a mouthful of shrimp lo mein. I made a face because it was nasty looking, but he must’ve thought it was because of the initials he’d given. “I know it’s kind of corny, but it stands for Getting Rapists and Abusers Behind Bars. We provide shelter for the less severe cases and provide the legal and investigative services to help prosecute the abusers. We are not a recognized group, but all of us have either been in those situations or have lost someone to situations like that.”
“I heard Garret say why he and Mrs. Chambers got involved, but what about you? I never really asked details.” I said, curiosity getting the better of me. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to talk about it.”