Author: Within A Dream
Rating: PG-13
*~*~*~*~*~Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long. I really have no excuse. I came up the plot of this chapter after Thanksgiving dinner while I lay on my bed in a fetal position, which precluded me from procrastinating anymore since I had nothing to distract myself with. So here's chapter three. Enjoy! *~*~*~*~*~
Chapter 3: While The Court Is In Recess
*~*~*~*~*~
"The court is now in recess"Rose took a deep breath as an attempt to calm her nerves. This was it; there was nothing more she could do. Rose, her lawyer, Jack as the attempted-rape witness, and countless others who witnessed Cal's behavior around her had done the best that they could to prove that Cal was indeed guilty. Now the rest lay in the courts hands.
Rose felt a strong and reassuring arm around her shoulder and she turned her head and smiled weakly at Jack. "It'll be fine," Jack told her for the millionth time. Rose nodded meekly and they made their way back to Jack's car.
Jack opened the passenger door of the red convertible and offered Rose his right hand, "Watch your step milady."
Rose once again attempted a smile, but was quite unsuccessful and Jack frowned. "What's the matter?" he asked.
"I...I don't know," Rose told, her bottom lip trembling.
Jack walked around to the other side of the car and opened the door. He sat down and grinned. "PMS again?" he asked playfully. Instead of Rose rolling her eyes and smiling like he had hoped she would, all he got was a glare. "I was just kidding," he assured her.
Rose sighed and looked down at her feet. "I know. It's just...I can't help but feel a little sorry for Cal," she said quietly.
"He brought this on himself, my dear."
"I know...It's just... I feel like something bad is going to happen to him. And because of me," Rose tried to explain.
"Yeah, he's going to be locked up in jail for fifteen years." But when Jack saw Rose's resentfulness he sighed. "Look. He hurt you really badly. You had to wobble around on those damn crutches for four weeks, and even now you're just in a walking cast. No one made him do that." But Rose still didn't look convinced. "You've seen those five little scars around each of your shoulders. Those are from his fingers digging into your flesh. And he broke your freaking foot for god's sake! Not to mention him ripping your clothes off and forced himself on you!" Jack sighed, and spoke the next words a little quieter, "He's a bastard, Rose. And bastards like him deserve to go to jail."
Rose let out a heart-wrenching sob and Jack sighed. "Come here," he said pulling into his lap. All else had failed and this was the only thing he could do. It looked like he wasn't going to start the car anytime soon. Jack frowned while he rocked back and forth. How was he going to make this girl smile again? Perhaps he should comfort her and at the same time try to make her laugh? That might work.
"Tell Auntie Jack all about it," he said in a Jamaican accent. Rose let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. ...That was something.
Rose
pulled away from Jack's chest trying to get a hold on herself. She sniffed rather dramatically and rubbed
the tears from her eyes on the back of her hand. "This whole thing is all my fault."
Jack looked her in the eye and tried to explain it to her once again, "It is
his fault he's going to jail. You were
just the reason."
Rose raised her eyebrows, and Jack frowned. "Wait a minute...I..." Jack began exasperatedly, feeling very annoyed at Rose's 'knowing grin'. "You know what I mean!"
Jack's faltering seemed to be just what Rose needed and she climbed out of his lap and onto the passenger seat. "I'm being silly. Of course it's his fault he's going to jail." She then bit her lip. "But I can't help but feel like something else is going to happen to him..." she began, but then pushed all thoughts of Cal out of her head. "Take me home!" she ordered with a dramatic wave of her hand.
*~*~*~*~*~
Jack and Rose traveled most of the way chatting and smiling; just having a good time. But as soon as Rose turned on the radio wanting to here a lively song to suit her happy mood, she was quite befuddled. The song that happened to be playing was one that held some meaning in it, it her father's favorite song. She remembered the day when she was barely eight years old and she and her father were going through the attic, despite her mother's objections that the maid should be the one cleaning. Rose had been sorting through some things in an old oak trunk and had come across a Bill Withers 8-track. Subsequently, her father found his old 8-track player a few moments earlier. So they put the 8-track in the 8-track player and when the song titled 'Lean On Me' started playing, Rose took an immediate liking to it. Rose had never heard it before, for her mother was not one to have the radio blaring, and her father never seemed to be home long enough to turn on the radio. He was always on 'business trips' and such. She was fifteen-years-old when he father died of a heart attack, and she would learn that the 'business trips' he had told her mother and her about were actually trips to Los Vegas where he was quite the gambler. That was where he died actually, in Los Vegas right outside a casino. Apparently he had bet nearly everything they had, and had lost. Rose, and her mother and father had lived in a top floor of a very ritzy apartment building in New York City. But of course when they heard about her father's death and the lost money they were forced to sell they're expensive furniture and move out of the apartment that Rose had grown up in. Rose's new home was quite a different atmosphere. To put it nicely, the apartment was disgusting. She remembered her mother spraying everything in their apartment with Lysol. It was grotesque, but it was the only fully furnished apartment they could afford. One of the only things Rose had kept was her father's 8-track player, and the Bill Withers 8-track. The day of her father's funeral Rose had locked herself up in the bedroom that she and her mother shared and didn't come out for days. She remembered her mother banging on the bedroom door, begging her to come out, but Rose had drowned out her mother's voice by playing 'Lean On Me'. So her mother had left for the funeral without her. Looking back, that was one of the things Rose regretted, not going to her father's funeral and never being able to say goodbye.
Rose mindlessly started singing along with the song. She knew each word by heart despite that she hadn't heard it the song in over five years. She had never heard the song again after her mother had found both the 8-track and the 8-track player and sold them, selling the only link she had to her deceased husband. A poignant smile spread across her face and tears filled her eyes.
Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow
Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on
Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you don't let show
Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on
If there is a load you have to bear
That you can't carry
I'm right up the road
I'll share your load
If you just call me
So just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you'd understand
We all need somebody to lean on
Lean on me when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
Till I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on
Lean on me…
Jack was puzzled by Rose's sudden silence after the song was finished, but the few glances he shot her lead him to believe that she wasn't worrying about the case. She was thinking about else, something very emotional that she would tell him about in time. Jack knew better than to question her now, so they rode the rest of the way in silence.
*~*~*~*~*~
When they arrived at Rose's house and they stepped out of the car Jack was very
confused about Rose. The expression on
her face appeared as if she felt like she was in a dream or something. Rose told Jack that he could do whatever he
liked before she excused herself and went upstairs. Jack was sitting on the couch watching the news for over an hour
as Rose was upstairs taking a bath Jack guessed. When she finally came downstairs she was no longer wearing that
blank expression on her face. She stood
in the doorway, self-consciously adjusting her plaid flannel pajama pants and
fixing the straps on her white tank top.
"So, we're watching a movie?" Rose asked, a bit too enthusiastically.
Jack nodded his head slightly, "Sure."
Rose clasped her hands together. "All right then. I'll go make some popcorn," she told him before exiting into the kitchen.
Jack turned his attention back to the television screen and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "Rose come here quick!" he shouted.
"I'll be there in a minute," Rose told him, rather annoyed at him as she fumbled with opening the popcorn bag and burning herself on the steam.
"Come
now! I think you'd want to see this!"
Rose sighed and made her way back to the television set, still holding the bag
of popcorn between her thumb and index finger.
"What is it Jack?" she snapped.
Rose then glanced at the television set and gasped. The bag of popcorn fell to the ground, and
the popcorn kernels scattered over the hardwood floor, unnoticed.
Caledon Hockley had committed suicide.
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Author's Note: Reviews are greatly appreciated!