"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
Martin Luther King Jr.
"Jennifer…" A distant voice was calling her name. She didn't want to wake up yet, more than anything she just wanted to keep her eyes shut. "Jen…come on. Show me those pretty eyes of yours." The voice sounded clearer now and much closer than it had been before
As her other senses started to clear so did her memory. She had been at Jillian Greene's house when she heard the arguing, Shane had pulled a gun, they had fought and then… All the pain came shooting up her body at once…oh yea. She'd been shot. Where exactly? She wasn't sure. Right now, she was just hoping she hadn't moved enough to let Shane know that she was awake.
"Jen? Are you awake?" His hand touched her cheek, patting it gently.
JJ made sure that she stayed completely still during all of his attempts. Her wrists were tied in front of her, making her bullet wound feel compressed and squeezed together. She knew that it was somewhere on her left shoulder or chest, in that general area.
"Who is that?" The voice of a girl spoke. It was high pitched so JJ guessed that she had to be around 4 or 5. Luckily, her voice was strong and it didn't sound like she was weakened by any wounds or beatings just yet.
"Her name is Jennifer. She's going to be my new wife and your new mommy." His voice was low and sinister. Without even seeing him she knew that he probably had an evil smile on his face. It was definitely time for her to wake up so she could save the poor little girl from him. She made her eyes open slowly to support the impression that she was waking up for the first time. The room they were in was large with three beds, one large one and a bunk bed on the other side. There were two doors, one directly across from her and the other was to her left. A small window was on one of the walls near the ceiling on the wall to her right. It was too high and too small for anyone to escape. She was sitting in a wooden chair in the middle of everything. A small lamp in the corner was the only thing lighting up the concrete room since it was already dark outside. In the corner, next to the lamp, a small blonde girl was huddled in a ball. As her small, tired icey blue eyes met JJ's cobalt ones, she tried to give her the most comforting look that she knew how.
"Well look who's awake!" Shane was now standing in front of her with his face inches from hers. His breath smelled like cigarettes. "I absolutely love those eyes…" He chuckled to himself. "Jennifer meet Susan, isn't she pretty?" He pointed to the small girl huddled in the corner and started to walk over to her. Her tiny body curled up tighter.
"Leave her alone!" JJ yelled at him, protectiveness bubbling inside of her. She wasn't going to let Shane do anything to harm this poor little girl.
Shane whipped around and JJ saw rage flash across his face. He swung his arm around and slapped her across the cheek. The force was so great that JJ almost fell out of the chair that she was sitting it. "Wives don't talk to their husbands like that! I'm the boss and you do whatever I say." He looked at both of them. "Is that clear, Jennifer?"
"So it's not okay for me to voice my opinion, but its okay for you to hit me?" She lifted her hand to feel her cheek and see if it was swelling. "Did you hit your other wife?" JJ asked, boldly. She had no idea where the bravery came from.
Shane brought his hand down and backhanded her again, harder than the first time. "Is that clear, Jennifer?" He waited for a few seconds, but she didn't say a word. "Say yes right now!" He yelled, balling his fist in preparation to hit her again.
"Fine." JJ spat through gritted teeth. It wouldn't do anyone any good for him to punch her across the face right now.
"There you go. That wasn't so hard was it?" Shane got to his knees across from her and looked at her lips just before he gave her a forceful kiss. She tried to pull away, but he just forced himself harder onto her. It lasted for a good five or six seconds before he finally pulled away and allowed her to gulp in some air. Not only did his breath smell like cigarettes, his lips tasted like them too. She wanted to throw up, but she realized that she hadn't eaten all day because of the case, so all she did was get on her hands and knees by the chair and dry heave.
"I'll be back later with some food. You two get to know each other." Shane walked out of the room and locked the door behind him.
The dry heaving lasted for a few more seconds until JJ let out a few more coughs and then it was over. She crawled over to the closest wall and sat against it. Once she was comfortable, she looked over at the girl in the corner.
Susan had visibly relaxed a little bit once Shane had left them alone, but she still didn't look at JJ. It was easy to see that the poor girl was terrified.
"Susan?" JJ asked, trying to use the skills she had to help this girl. "I'm Jennifer, like he said, but you can call me JJ…if you want. I'm with the police." She tried to talk slowly for her so that she wouldn't feel threatened.
Susan turned her head towards JJ, but still looked hostile and untrusting. "The police?" She asked, but continued on without waiting for her answer. "Why haven't you stopped him yet then?" She asked, expectantly.
"I can't do it alone. My friends have to come and help. It might take them a while, but I promise I won't let anything happen to you while we're waiting, okay?" She smiled at Susan, reassuringly.
"Everyone calls me…Susie." The girl corrected JJ, letting herself relax a little more. She was glad that this girl was slowly starting to build trust with her.
"Okay." JJ nodded, "How long have you been here, Susie?" She tilted her head to the side in curiosity. Hopefully she could keep this girl alive until her team came.
"One night." Susie's eyes drifted towards the floor with a home-sick look in her eyes.
"How old are you?" JJ looked the girl from head to toe and she had to say that she was between four and six, but she wasn't sure which one.
"Five." Susie answered, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. "How old are you?" She raised her eyebrows and the corners of her lips twitched with what seemed to almost be a smile. Almost.
"Twenty-nine. I have a son that's just about your age; he's four and a half." JJ gave the girl a friendly smile.
"I bet he's nice." Susie looked at JJ and then she was reminded of her own family. "I want to go home to my mommy." Her big blue eyes started swimming with tears.
JJ scooted towards her. "Hey, it's okay. It'll only be a couple more days at the most. All you have to do is do whatever he says. Even if I don't or if you don't want to do it, I want you to do whatever he tells you to do."
"I will." Tears slid down the small girl's cheek and JJ wiped them away with her thumb. JJ was glad to feel Susie scoot closer to her and lay her head across her chest.
"Don't worry. Everything is going to be alright. I promise I will do everything I can to get you back to your mommy." JJ smiled at the girl and acted completely confident in herself even though she wasn't sure if she was trying to convince the girl…or herself.
"Sometimes you feel a weight on your shoulders. That in itself is not a problem. When we say 'weight', people think, 'Oh, it's not good!' But to feel the weight is not necessarily bad. The weight comes with the situation. You just have to know how to relate to the weight in a solemn way."
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
Sorry this chapter is so short, but I've been really busy so I decided that I needed to at least post something right now to keep it alive. I'll try and update, but it may be only on the weekends now or at least over a couple days. Sorry! Hope you like it. :)
