Chapter 3: The betrayal

POV: Rudy Gillespie (five hours later)

Time: 4:00pm ; sixteen hours and forty minutes since the start of the incident

Location: Seaford strip mall; Wasabi Warriors dojo

I sighed, going through the papers in my office. I hadn't gotten anything done all day. My mind was too occupied with other things. I dropped the papers and ran my hands through my hair.

There was a light tap on my door. 'Come in!" I called absent-mindedly. The door opened. "Hey guys.' I gave them a half-hearted smile. Jerry, Milton and Eddie stood in the doorway. "Come on in." I told them. They all came in and stood before me. 'What's up?" I asked. They looked at each other.

Finally, Milton stepped forward. "Rudy? We want to know where jack is." He asked. I sighed and put my hand over my face for a moment, thinking. For Jack's privacy, I wouldn't tell them he'd been raped. I'd just tell them he'd been attacked and hurt badly and was in the hospital. I chose my words carefully.

I looked up at their concerned faces. "…Jack…" I hesitated. "Had an accident." I told them. They interrupted me before I could continue. "Is he okay?" "What happened to him?" 'Where is he?" I held up my hands to stop the barrage of questions. "He's hurt more emotionally than physically, though he is injured. He was attacked…." I stopped, shaking my head. "…and he's at the Seaford hospital." I told them.

"Can we go visit him?" Jerry was the first to ask. "Who attacked him?" Kim asked. I had just noticed her. "Yes, you may visit him, but… I wouldn't stay too long." I turned to Kim. "Not sure, Kim." I replied. "He doesn't know?" Eddie asked.

I scratched the back of my neck. "I don't think he does." I replied truthfully. "I'm going to go visit him." Jerry stated, anyone coming with?" He asked, backing out of the room. "ME!" They all cried at once. They turned to me. I shook my head slowly, thinking. "I don't think… that's a good idea." I started, re-thinking what I had told them only a few seconds ago.

They all stopped, staring at me. 'Why?" Kim blurted out. I shook my head, chewing on my bottom lip; still thinking. "I... just don't think he's well enough for visitors…" I told them. They all stared at each other, worried looks on their faces.

I raised my hands. "Now guys, don't go thinking he's injured that badly, but…" I hesitated again. "...i-it's just, his mental condition, he's emotionally unstable at the moment. I know you guys wouldn't do anything stupid, I just don't think…" I shook my head.

"Rudy, we're his best friends, if he's emotionally unstable, we're the best medicine for him." Kim pointed out. I thought for a moment. "Alright." I finally consented. "But just Jerry and Kim, sorry Milton, Eddie, I just don't think he's ready to see all of you at once yet." I told them. Milton and Eddie looked downcast, but submissive.

POV: Jerry Martinez (twenty minutes later)

Time: 4:35 ; seventeen hours and fifteen minutes since the start of the incident

Location: Seaford hospital; room 345

I stared at my best friend. He looked terrible. He was staring at the wall, bandages all over him. I shared a glance with Kim, who stood beside me. Rudy had drove us here, but decided not to visit Jack again today.

"Jack? Hey man, how ya feelin'?" I ask, sitting on the edge of his bed. He didn't move. His head didn't turn, he didn't look at me. He just continued staring at the wall. I swallowed hard. I glanced down. He had a piece of paper in his hand. I cocked my head, trying to read it. It said… 'don't tell or…' I couldn't see the rest, it was too scrunched in his hand. Don't tell or… else? I thought. Who could possibly have given him that? One of the doctors? Rudy? One of the nurses?

I made a face. "Yo, I know you're awake, bro. Hey man, you okay?" I asked, putting my hand on his knee and shaking him. He flinched at my touch, pulling his knees up to his chest and turning even further away from us.

"Jack?" It was Kim's soft voice. She walked closer. "Are you okay?" She asked. He didn't reply, predictably. His face twitched visibly at her voice. "Jack?" She asked again, not noticing it. He flinched again, squeezing his eyes shut. I stared at him, then up at Kim. "What?" She asked. I saw jack flinch again. "Nothing, can I talk to you outside for a minute?" I asked.

"Why?" He flinched again. "It doesn't matter." I grabbed her arm and dragged her out. "Jerry…" She protested. He flinched again. I closed the door. "Dude, you didn't see him flinching every time you spoke?" I asked, putting my hands on her arms, they were folded.

She raised her eyebrows. "No…?" She looked at me funny. I made a face. "Every time you said something, he cringed." I told her. She made a face, staring at the floor. She looked up at me. "I don't know what that means." She told me. I let go of her and crossed my arms. I sighed.

"Jerry, I got to go, say goodbye to Jack for me?" She asked. "Where you going?" I asked. "The dojo." She told me. "Okay." I personally wouldn't be able to do any training today. I was too worried about Jack.

I pushed the door back open. Jack hadn't moved. I went around the other side of the bed. I saw his eyes dart behind me, searching for Kim. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked, resting my hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me. I nearly recoiled at the look in his eyes. What was that? Pain… anger… fear? No, it was more like all three, mixed with a decent helping of angst.

I bit my lip. "Yo, Jack. What's wrong?" I asked, kneeling down to look up at him. He stared at me, for a long time, he just stared. I could see him thinking. He finally blinked, looking down. He rolled over, turning his back to me.

I sighed. That was that. Jack didn't want me to help. So I wouldn't try anymore. I stood up and walked out.

POV: Jack Brewer (right after Jerry left)

Time: 5:00pm ; seventeen hours and forty minutes since the incident

I'd turned my back on Jerry. Turned my back on his help. I sighed. Now that I was alone, I let my tears fall. I had been holding them back all day. Once I allowed them to fall, I couldn't get them to stop. Not for all that was left of my life, I couldn't get them to stop. I cried myself to sleep.

I had been checked on by actual nurses several times. All of them had seen me crying and asked me what was wrong. I kept turning my back to them until they left.

I glanced up at the clock. It was 11:30pm. A horrifying memory flashed before my eyes. I cried out, trying to make it stop. I covered my face, bawling now. My body racked with my sobs. I sucked in a breath, trying to make myself stop. I was stronger than this After several hours, I finally was able to stop. My cheeks burned and I had such a headache…. I blinked, not bothering to wipe the tears.

I glanced at the clock again. It was 10:30am? I had stayed awake crying that long? I nearly jumped when the door opened. "Hey Jack." It was Rudy. I blocked his voice out, fully allowing myself to hide inside a mental shell.

POV: Rudy Gillespie (same time)

"Hey Jack." I said to him. He was facing the wall again, unmoving. I bit my lip, as I had been doing so much lately. "Jack?" I asked. He didn't move. I walked over to the other side of the bed and crouched down so that I could look him in the eyes, which were fully open. Rather than him turning away, or closing his eyes, He just stared through me. I blinked. "Jack?" He didn't respond. I looked at the heart monitor. It was beating steadily. He was fine.

His eyes were red and his cheeks were stained with tears streaks. I looked down at the poor boy. First he was raped, now his mother… I shook my head, my mind swirling back to about an hour ago.

The phone in my office was ringing. "Wasabi Warrior's dojo, this is sensei Rudy Gillespie speaking." I had answered. "Mister Gillespie, you are the godfather of Jackson Brewer, correct?" The female voice was sharp and uncaring. "..yes.." I had answered, confused. "This is Millicent Gouldspring, from the child protection agency, you are now the legal guardian of Jackson, his mother was killed in a car accident early this morning." The monotone voice had informed me.

The confusion on my face had turned to frozen shock. "Mister Gillespie?" I ignored the voice, staring ahead of me in shock. "Mister Gillespie?" Jack didn't need this in his life, not now! "Mister Gillespie, are you there?" The sharp voice cut into my thoughts.

"Uh… yes, miss Gouldspring, what is it?" I asked. "Are you in possession of the child right now?" She asked, I could hear constant tapping of fingers on a computer keypad. "Yes…" I confirmed. "Is he there right now." It sounded more like a statement rather than a question. 'No, that is. Actually, right now he's in the hospital, he… had a little accident yesterday." I told her. 'That's nice." She said in her same, uncaring tone.

"If you do not have the means of keeping the boy, we will be sending an agent over in the morning to collect him and take him to the orphanage." She told me. "NO! I…I'll see what I can do." I told her. "Very well, an agent will be by in the morning with the papers for you to sign." She gave me all of the contact information needed and hung up. I set down the phone, then put my head in my hands. How was I going to tell Jack?

Which leads to now. I had decided to go see how he was doing, and tell him according to his mood. It seemed the news about his mom would have to wait. I crouched there for who knows how long, staring at Jack as he stared through me. I realized he hadn't blinked once since I had gotten there. His eyes were slightly glazed. I closed them. I didn't know if he was asleep or not, but his eyes didn't pop back open. I sighed, looking at the clock. It was 11:00am. I needed to get back to the dojo. "I hope you're feeling better, Jack." I told him quietly, patting his shoulder.

I glanced at him once more as I stood in the door, before walking out.

POV: Still Rudy Gillespie (twenty minutes later)

Time: 11:20am ; thirty-four hours and forty-five minutes since the start of the incident

I sighed and slammed the papers down. It was no use. No matter how I did the numbers, no matter how much I cut certain budgets, I just couldn't make a way to squeeze enough money in for Jack. I barely had enough money to keep my rundown old house, it would be an unacceptable place for a child to stay, and my salary was barely enough for all the bills I currently had. It just, couldn't be done.

Part of me wanted to try anyway. But that would be unfair to Jack. I didn't have enough money to feed him, clothe him, nothing. A thought struck me, I was going to be even more washed out with all the medical bills from him being at the hospital! There was no way after all that I would be able to take him in.

I put my arms down on the desk and laid my head in them. I stayed like that for a long time. Finally, I picked up the phone and dialed the number I'd been given. "Hello?" A more cheerful voice answered. "yes, hi, this is Rudy Gillespie, I would like to speak with Millicent Gouldspring please?" I asked. There was a pause. "Hold on." I waited.

After a few moments, another line picked up. I recognized Millicent's uncaring attitude right away. "Hi, Millicent, this is Rudy Gillespie, we spoke on the phone this morning?" I told her. "Yes, I remember, what is it?" She asked. "Well, I did the numbers. I can't afford to keep Jack here with me." I told her quietly. There was another pause. 'Alright, I will inform the agents to come by and pick him up in the morning.' She told me.

"Uh, actually, he's still in the hospital, can it wait a few more days?' I asked. There was another, longer pause. "Hold on." She told me.

I tapped my foot impatiently as the minutes literally ticked by. Finally, I heard the phone click and there was another voice at the end of it. "Hello, Rudy Gillespie is it? This is Michael Carson; I am the owner of the Child Protection Agency, My office assistant, Miss Gouldspring informs me that one of the children newly listed in our files without a parent, that would be your charge, Jackson Brewer, is currently in the hospital?" He asked.

"Um, yes, Hi, Mister Carson, yes, this is Rudy Gillespie. Your information is correct, they boy, Jack is currently in the hospital." I told him. I heard clicking and tapping. "According to my files, he was taken to the hospital for… sexual assault?" I nodded, as though he could see me over the phone. "That is correct." I informed him.

"And you wanted to know if our agents could be postponed… for how long?" He asked. "Until he is released from the hospital." I told him. "You do realize, that if he is in the hospital now, we would simply move him to the fully operational child medical center in our orphanage facility?" He asked.

I was silent for a moment. "yes…" I said hesitantly. "Good, then I will send an agent for him in the morning." He informed me. "Don't you think that's kind of soon…?' I asked. " Mister Gillespie, it is our duty to make sure that the child is in the right hands as soon as possible. We are able to take him now, so 'as soon as possible,' is tomorrow." He told me.

I was silent, letting it sink in. 'I see your point." I said quietly. "Good, good. Be at the hospital at nine A.M. sharp, the agents will be there for you to sign the release papers and will move him to our medical facility." He told me. I wrapped up the conversation and hung up the phone.

I stood and walked to the bathroom. I opened the medicine cabinet and got out an aspirin. I had been having way too many headaches in the past couple days.

POV: Kim Crawford (the next morning)

Time: 8:30am ; fifty-five hours and fifty-five minutes since the start of the incident

Something was up. I could tell just by the way Rudy was acting. He had been rushing around all morning, not stopping to lead our class, or even stopping to correct me when I made an obvious mistake while he was looking. The others seemed to have noticed too.

It was Saturday, so we were all there, save for Jack, and we were all trying to focus on practice. After finally having enough of Rudy's strange behavior, we all had a mini-meeting and agreed something was definitely wrong. Not that much hadn't been the past few days.

We knocked on Rudy's office door. He was just coming out. "Hey guys, sorry, I can't talk right now." He told us. "Rudy, we need to talk." I told him. "Something's wrong, is it about Jack?" Milton asked. Rudy stared at us for a moment, then looked at his watch and sighed. "I have a few minutes, but there's too much for me to explain the whole thing." He told us.

We all sat down, listening. "I... got a call, yesterday, from the Child Protection Agency, telling me that…" He voice cracked. "…That Jack is now an orphan." He swallowed. "What?" I cried. "His mother was killed, just the other day in a car accident in Minnesota, where she's been for the past couple weeks." He shook his head sadly.

"I was going to try to keep Jack at my place, but… with the bills from the hospital and all the hectic things that have been going on, I can't afford to keep him." He looked up at us. 'What do you mean?' Jerry asked. "I mean… the agency is coming to get him in about twenty-five minutes." He replied.

I jumped up. "Jack's going to an orphanage?!"

POV: Jerry Martinez (same time)

Time: 8:35am ; fifty-six hours since the start of the incident

"He can stay at my place!" I cried at almost the same time as Milton told him 'He could stay with us for a while.' Rudy shook his head. "Sorry guys, he's under my legal guardianship and I can't let your parents take on that responsibility."

I shook my head. "At least let me come with you, so I can help him?" I asked, knowing that, even though Jack had plainly refused my help, he would still need my comfort.

"Sorry, Jerry, this is going to be an avalanche of emotion enough as it is, we don't need more climbers causing more rocks to fall." He shook his head. "Sit this one out buddy." He put his hand on my shoulder and headed for the door.

"Yo, he's my best friend Rudy!" I cried, spinning around. Rudy looked back at me and sighed. "Come on." He told me after a moment. I raced after him. "Wait!" That was Kim. "Sorry Kim, just Jerry." We left before she could protest further.

POV: Jack Brewer (twenty minutes later)

Time: 8:55am ; fifty-six hours and twenty minutes since the start of the incident

I was still in my shell, thinking, brooding, pondering, not letting anything in the outside world take my attention away from my thoughts. I knew that the rapist girl had come in and raped me at least five times during the night, but I hadn't reacted; I didn't care anymore. Nothing could hurt me anymore.

I finally allowed myself to open my eyes to the world again, feeling like I was ready to get over what had happened to me.

I turned my head when the door opened slowly. It was Jerry and Rudy. I gave them a weak smile, trying to let them know how sorry I was for casting them out for the last few days.

"Hey, you feeling better?" Rudy asked. I nodded. I looked at Jerry, who cautiously stared at me, keeping his distance from the bed. "Jerry…" I started, my voice croaked from not being used in days. "I'm sorry." I told him quietly. He blinked, then walked over and rubbed my back comfortingly. "It's all good bro." He said quietly.

I blinked, grateful he wasn't mad. "Jack?" I turned and looked at Rudy. "Yeah?" I croaked. "there's something you need to know." He started quietly. My heart dropped. It couldn't be more bad news… could it?

"You know your mom loves you, right?" He asked, staring at his hands. I frowned, not getting where he was going with this. "Of course, we're all each other has left." I told him. He looked up at me, sorrow and sympathy written all over his face.

"Jack…" His voice shook. "Your mom, she was on her way back home yesterday, and…" He swallowed. "Her car… got hit by a drunk driver." My heart plummeted, I already felt hot tears welling in my eyes. "She's not coming back home, Jack." He told me quietly. I felt fresh tears rolling down my cheeks. She's not coming home? What do you mean she's not coming home? Of course she's coming home! She has to! She… has to… My thoughts raced wildly as my head began burning again.

A man in black entered the room, but I barely noticed him, my eyes were so wet. I thought I had just sworn to not let anything ever hurt me again? But this did. Very badly. "There's one more thing, Jack." Rudy said quietly. I looked up at him, struggling to hold back the tears. "you no longer have a parent, and I can't afford to take you in…"

I shook my head fiercely as the man in black came closer, my eyes wide. "No… no! no, no no, no…!" I wailed as a nurse unhooked me from the IV and heart monitor and the man in black grabbed me. I was unable to hold my wails back any longer. "NO! Rudy, no, you can't!" I screamed, kicking as I was carried out.

Jerry and Rudy followed close behind, tears in their eyes. "Noooooooooooo! No… Nooo…" My wails echoed down the halls as I was carried through them. Many nurses and doctors turned to stare, but none of them tried to stop the man. I was carried outside and loaded onto a van and strapped to a bed inside. 'NO! Rudy, please!" I shrieked, reaching my hand out to him as they strapped me down, my tears rolling faster, my head burning more fiercely.

"RUDY-" My last scream, begging him to not do this was cut off by the back doors being slammed shut. "No.." I whimpered, letting my head fall back. The pillow was already soaked with my tears. Rudy had betrayed me.

(A/N: I must inform you that I'm not the sole author of this story, another writer on this site called AmberJohnston is co-writing this story with me, and I must say she was a tad bit peeved when I didn't mention her in the first two chapters… sorry about that Amber darling! So, don't forget to let her know how much you like the story! REVIEW!