Chapter 2
The girl jumped back in fright. Who was this person, and what did he want with her? Was he a murderer awaiting trial or a convicted rapist? "You're in a cell, and nobody can hurt you," she reminded herself. She slowly backed up into the corner hoping if she could make herself invisible, the man would forget about her. She watched through the cracks of her bunk bed and realized this man was a teenage boy a few years older than she was.
The boy had long, shaggy blond hair that hung in his eyes, but he had managed to keep some of it back with an Eagles baseball cap that he was wearing backwards. His gray eyes sparkled in the dim light, and he smiled with deep dimples slightly crooked teeth. He wore long olive-green shorts and a white and brown striped shirt.
"It's okay, you don't have to be afraid of me," he assured her in a boyish voice. He made his way to the set of bars that separated the two cells. "I'm really not a bad person. Honestly, I'm not."
The girl came out from around the bed and eyed her inmate suspiciously. "Who are you?" she blurted out. "What are you doing in here? I mean, you look like a good kid. I don't see you as being a juvenile delinquent."
The boy laughed. "You know, talkative one, you shouldn't judge people based on appearances. Don't you know what- rather who Justice is? She's the statue outside of all courtrooms. Justice is blind, you know, but you don't have to see to be able to seek out the truth. Close you eyes." The girl stared at him, confused at what he was saying. "Go on, close them!" Knowing that she was safer following commands rather than refusing them, she closed her eyes, shaking with every breath she took. "What do you see when you close your eyes?"
The girl paused. What exactly was this boy trying to make her do? Thinking over it for a brief moment, she replied, "I really don't think you're a bad person."
"Good," the boy agreed with a toothy grin. "At least I have one person on my side."
The girl opened her eyes and smiled shyly. "You know, I would really like to know my truth-seeking inmate's name."
The boy smacked his forehead with wide eyes. "Great Scott, my apologies!" he exclaimed. "My name's Jade…Jake Jade…but you can call me Jade." He extended his arm gracefully. With hesitation, the girl took Jade's hand and let him kiss her slender fingers lightly. Although Jade did not realize it, the girl had caught a glimpse of his face blushing a rosy pink color. He quickly let go of her hand and cleared his throat. "So, uhh…what's your name?"
The girl dropped her arms limply to her sides. At least hearing Jade's illuminating speech about "Justice is blind" distracted her for a few minutes, but now the world was coming back on a collision course. She remembered that she was standing in the middle of a cold jail cell and could not reveal her identity. "Don't ask," she answered curtly before retiring to the bed and plopping down on it. Jade watched as she massaged her temples with her fingertips.
"Umm, talkative one?" he asked raising his hand, "If I may say so, for one who asks so many questions, you certainly don't answer a lot."
The girl looked up with narrow eyes. Should she trust him? She silently closed her eyes and gave Jade a silent search. In her heart of hearts, she knew he was not a bad person, but she still had doubts. What if Commissioner Buchanan and Detective Vega secretly bugged her cell while she was getting fingerprinted? They could probably hear their whole conversation. Still, she felt the urge to talk to someone, to open the jar up that she had kept her feelings bottled into. She rubbed her eyes wearily. Why must the simplest and most unimportant questions be the most difficult to make?
"Umm…you still haven't told me your story," she reminded Jade quickly.
Jade grinned and slapped his forehead again. "Crikey, you're right, talkative one!" he exclaimed. He pulled a chair from the corner of the cell, stepped up onto it with one foot, and rested his elbow on his knee. "Where shall I begin?"
"I was born in Illinois in suburb of Chicago," he started, his head tilting back with the memories. "My mother was a very successful psychiatrist– "
"Was?"
Tears started to form in Jade's eyes. "Was," he confirmed. "My mother died in last year in a car accident."
"Oh…" The girl looked into Jade's eyes. "I'm so sorry. Really, I am."
Jade did not think much about it, but he thought that he saw tears in the girl's eyes. They had only known each other for a few minutes; she did not strike him as the most sensitive girl in the world. Somewhere in his heart told him that she was feeling for him more so than he knew. "Thanks," he replied staring at his foot that was shifting on the cold steel floor. "Anyway, my dad never went to college. He worked at a gas station every night after Mom made dinner. Something never seemed right, though. Dad never hugged me or kissed me or told me that he loved me."
"Never?"
"Never. I didn't really give it a thought. You know, I just thought that it dads never showed affection to their sons. So I just continued on with my life, really connecting with my mother and keeping distance from my father. Finally, a few years ago, my parents got in the mother of all fights, and my mom finally packed us up, moved us across town, and filed for divorce."
"Did you still get to see your father?"
"Yeah, he was granted visitation rights, and I sometimes stayed with him a night or two during the summer…not that we'd even do anything. He'd give me a few bucks and tell me to get a burger or something, but it's not like he'd ever be there…except…" Jade sighed, sat down on the chair, and laced his fingers in his lap.
"Except what?"
When Jade looked up, tears were flooding in his eyes waiting to overflow like a waterfall.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be asking if it's too personal– "
"No, it's okay, really," Jade replied wiping his eyes on the back of his sleeve. "I never realized this, but…I really need to talk to someone."
"Jade…you only met me ten minutes ago."
"I know…but I was always taught never to judge a book by its cover. When I look into your eyes, I don't see a girl dressed in black miniskirts in a jail cell. I see a truly good person…and if you don't mind, I'd really want to tell you my life story."
"Of course," the girl replied breathlessly. She did not know why, but her heart felt lighter and more free when she heard Jade's last few words. "He's on my side," she reassured herself. "Even though every person in the Llanview Police Department was against me, this person, whom I had met just a few minutes ago, is on my side."
"One day," Jade continued looking at the girl rather than his thumbs, "I had to live with my dad because my mother had to go away for a few months. He told me that he had lost his job and needed the money in order to keep his apartment. So…he asked me to steal money from this woman who had moved in next door from him the previous day."
"Did you refuse?"
"Well…yes," Jade answered empathetically. "But then my dad made this whole speech on how we are family and if I really loved him, then I would do this small gesture of good will to him. But naturally, I refused. The one lesson I learned from my mother that I had valued very much was never do anything that you know in your heart was wrong. So when I refused again, my father's eyes grew dark. He, uh, he threatened me that if I do not obey him and help him, he would kill me, my mother, and all of my mom's family. I did not want to see my family dead, so I followed him to the lady's hotel room and did everything he asked: my father distracted her, and I stole her wallet that was laying on her kitchen counter."
"And then what happened?"
"I got cold feet," Jade admitted. "Just as we were about to leave, the woman had noticed that her wallet was missing. She had asked us to help her look for it, but my dad said no and hurried us on our way. We were going through the door when I turned around, reached into my back pocket, and boldly showed the woman that I was the culprit."
"Did you tell her that your father had told you to steal the wallet?"
"No. I wanted to, but something did not seem right about it."
"So what did your father do?"
"He apologized over and over for my misdemeanor and then hurried us home. But then he started to scare me. He locked all of the doors and windows, drew the curtains, and turned off the light. I was scared; all I could think about was when I could leave and go back to my mother and be safe. But when I tried to get out, my dad threw me to the ground and started to beat me. He continued to beat me until my whole body was black and blue. I could hardly move. When I talked, all that came out was blood."
"Oh my god," the girl gasped covering her mouth with her hands. She tried to stop the tears from running down her cheeks, but it was useless. This boy who was in the jail cell next to her was a victim of abuse by his own father. She desperately wanted to say something, to tell him how she could relate, but she stopped herself. "Nobody can know your secret," a voice inside of her told her. She racked her brain for something to say.
"Jade," she started shakily wiping her eyes and reaching through the bars to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry that you had to go through this. I know that we just met, but I already know that you are one of the most amazing people I've ever met…ever."
Jade bowed his head for a few moments, but when he looked up, the tears were gone. "I'm not going to cry," he told her firmly. "I've pitied myself for too long, but I can't keep feeling bad for myself. The fact is that I am away from that monster who hurt me over and over."
"What do you mean by over and over. Oh my god, Jade, did he hurt you more than once?"
"Just one other time," Jade replied, "after my mom died. After the first time he hurt me, he sent me home saying that I got in a fight with one of the neighbor's kids. My mother asked me over and over if I was not true, but I assured her that it was and went along with my father's story. Two years later, my mother died, and I was once again in my father's custody. By then, I was hurting beyond words. I was hurting so much that I had gotten drunk. When my dad found out, he had hurt me so badly that I thought I had broken one of my ribs. Finally, he just left me out in an alleyway to die until I was found by a police officer who took me into the station."
"So then what happened?"
"I got medical attention and then I was questioned on end about who did this to me. At first, I did not want to tell them, but then I remembered how my mom always wanted to protect me from all of the evils in the world, including my dad if she had ever found out about it. I heard her voice telling me that the right thing to do would be to tell him and let them take care of me, so I did."
"What did they do?"
"Well, first off, they hunted down my dad and arrested him for child abuse. Then they contacted my aunt, who is my godmother, and she took me into her custody and brought my father to court. She then brought me here to live in Llanview with her and my cousin, and I've been happy ever since. Living with them has been the bright spot of my future, and my aunt has told me every night not to live in the past or live in the future but to live in now, the present. She gave me another chance, and I'll never forget that."
There was an awkward silence between the two of them. The girl cleared her throat. "So, umm…how did you end up here?"
"Oh, alcohol possession," Jade replied waving his hand off as if it were no big deal. "Two guys who I knew from school tried to get me high, and by the time the police caught us, they had run away. I'm honestly not the one to rat out other guys, so I'm just chillin' here until my aunt comes to pick me up. She was out of town for a business meeting about three hours away, so she's probably on her way now." He stretched his arm out and yawned. "So that's my story. What about yours?"
The girl paused and shook her head. "No," she replied flatly. "If I tell you even part of it, I'll end up pouring out my whole life story, and I can't do that. Not now, at least.."
Jade nodded understandingly. "Okay," he said simply. He laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. "You know, I could at least know your name."
The girl thought about this for a second and shrugged before retiring to her own bed. "Just call me Lily."
