Get ready for another POV change: Jenna this time...
Enjoy reading and please don't forget that a review would make me so happy! :)
Chapter 7:
Jenna's body was humming and vibrating steadily. She wasn't quite aware of herself yet, just that the vibration hurt her head. It enhanced the sharp headache she already had.
Why? She wasn't really sure.
She began to get a feeling for her body. She was sitting, leaning against something. And there was the humming. Her eyes were heavy and she decided that, despite the discomfort, she would sleep a while longer.
Alec wouldn't mind. He was always the first one up anyway. He would wake her when it was time to go to work.
She smiled, thinking of Alec...
And then she suddenly remembered.
She saw Alec in her mind, darkness around him, clutching Daisy in his arms. His brown eyes so full of pain as she was led away.
By Jack.
Jenna remembered fighting him, trying to escape when he wanted to force her into a grey car. She gave everything. She was brave and she didn't want to be scared of him ever again. But she had forgotten how strong he was. He pushed her around like a rag doll. Cursing her, threatening her. Finally, she remembered getting thrown against the side of the car, her head banging against the metal…
And then nothing.
Jenna's eyes shot open, gasping, as early morning light hit her retinas. Involuntarily, she lifted her hands to shield them, but realizing her wrists were bound together.
"Easy now, love." A terribly familiar voice said. Jenna hissed in pain as she touched the side of her head, feeling the stickiness of blood. "See, that's what you get for being so difficult."
Jenna turned abruptly, realizing her surroundings for the first time. She was in a car; Jack was driving and her hands were wrapped together with gaffer tape. No other restrictions, though. Immediately, she went for door opener, pulling it frantically despite them driving at full speed.
"Don't bother. It's locked, of course." said Jack. "You can relax. This is the easy part."
She was staring at him in disbelief, not ready to accept that this was real. That she was in his control again.
"You know, my head gets all funny when you're around." Jack grinned without a concern in the world. "I was determined to let you go, but somehow I always knew that you were with him while I was rotting in prison. Not a nice place, prison." he told her conversationally. "And to think you and him put me there. Now, I couldn't let you get away with that. I thought I'd destroy you both, but you're something special, Jenna, baby. You'll always be mine…" Now he slowly turned towards her and his eyes had that unhinged, dangerous look that made her blood freeze. "Whether you want to or not."
Jenna felt her heart pound, but she tried not to show how much fear his gaze put into her. How could he fool everyone at prison and the mental health unit so that they didn't believe him to be dangerous anymore? Wasn't it obvious!?
Biting the inside of her lip to control her breathing, Jenna shifted as far away from him as possible, looking around, looking for a way out. Her hands moved frantically along the door and the passenger window.
"I'm warning you, don't try to draw any attention towards us or things could get ugly, baby."
She ignored him. The road was narrow, the landscape rural and green. Still, they must pass some other cars sooner or later, right? Yes, there was one in the distance. Jenna's heart jumped in relief… and then, suddenly, there was something uncomfortably poking her stomach.
She looked down and saw that damn knife Jack always seemed to carry with him.
"I said stop it!" he growled. The knife was in his left hand, the angry, gleaming blade pressed into the soft flesh of her side. So hard, Jenna feared it could cut her if she was breathing too deeply.
"You may be special, Jenna, but I won't risk losing you again." Jack continued to hiss. He kept his eyes to the front, waiting until the approaching car has passed them. A quick look in the rear mirror, then he relaxed. But not the knife. "I rather have you dead than with someone else, believe me." He pressed the knife deeper to emphasize his point. "Behave, and you'll live, baby. Anger me and you won't see what nice plans I have for us."
Jenna stared back at him, clenching her jaw. She won't give in to tears, she won't even speak to him, she vowed to herself. So, when Jack asked if she understood, Jenna merely nodded her head and he put the knife down.
She watched it rest against his thigh, ready to strike if necessary. Her mind was spinning; because of the blow to her head, but also because she wasn't going to just abandon her escape plans. There had to be a way out. Jack foolishly put her in the front seat, for crying out loud! Whether he did that to look less conspicuous or because of a twisted sense of sympathy he still felt for her, she must be able to use that to her advantage.
Jenna scanned the streets for a whole while, but no landmarks stood out to her. Like someone randomly plopped them in the middle of nowhere. Now and then they encountered picturesque English villages she'd never heard of, but other than that there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Nothing that would indicate that she was going to be rescued anytime soon.
The overwhelming peacefulness of the world made her sick. Because in Jenna's confined corner of reality, nothing was peaceful. The car, driving down winding roads in the milky sunshine, was her rolling prison and the warden a psychopathic nutter who could snap any minute. She had no idea where she was and no idea where they were heading and Jenna suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe.
She was scared.
As panic threatened to overcome her, Jenna firmly squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out the dizziness and the feeling of having to throw up. Instead, she focused on her island of safety and comfort.
She focused on Alec.
Because no matter if it looked like it or not, she knew that he was out there, doing everything in his power to find her. He did so once before and he would do it again. Jenna could trust that he would safe her.
Of course, that didn't mean that she would idly wait until the cavalry arrived. She needed to do something! Not fall asleep for example, she warned herself when her eyelids grew really heavy.
Her throbbing headache protested when she snapped her eyes open, but she fought against the drowsiness. She needed to stay awake and alert if she wanted to help Alec find her. It was just a matter of time, she figured. And as long as they were staying on the road someone was bound to recognize them, right?
In front of Jenna's swimming vision appeared a road sign; the kind which not only informed of the next little village, but also indicated bigger cities that lay further ahead. Finally, thought Jenna, some sense of direction.
She tried to focus on the letters, willing them to stay in line so they would make some sort of sense. Stupid head pains!
Poole. She was heading for Poole. Jenna tried not to make it too obvious how much that confused her. Somehow she'd had the notion that she would be much further away. But her senses were jumbled so what did she know?
What could Jack want with her in Poole? There was nowhere to go from there… except, of course, across the Channel! And from there… practically anywhere!
Jenna sat up straighter. Her head cleared all at once. Finding her in the whole of Britain would be difficult enough, finding her if she went to other countries altogether would be downright impossible! Would Alec even take that possibility into account?
"W-Where are you taking me?" Jenna questioned warily, her again rising fear making her vow of silence obsolete.
"Ah, she talks." Jack only grunted.
"Where are you taking me?" she repeated firmer.
"That's none of your concern, baby." said Jack. "We'll be undisturbed, that's the main point."
Jenna started to tremble. She was tempted to ask how he imagined getting over the border, but she suddenly found that she didn't care. Something in his calmness assured her that he was prepared and if that really was his plan and he would manage to smuggle her out of the country…
Her heart lurched as horrible thoughts rose within her and a future so bleak, dark and painful unfolded in her mind that she wanted to scream.
What if this was the end of it? What if Alec wouldn't find her? She wasn't going to be Jack's play thing, his captive, until the rest of her days! Or at least until he would finally get bored with her. No, she couldn't! She wasn't strong enough to go through that hell again. She wouldn't endure not seeing Alec again. Daisy, Ellie and all her wonderful friends she had made.
No, she would rather die right here and now before this future could become reality.
And exactly as her mind was reaching that final, irrevocable point of reason, Jenna eyed the steering wheel for the very first time.
Jack didn't notice. He was aware of her panicking, but he didn't seem to care. He was that sure of himself. Narcissistic, Alec had once described him correctly. Jenna took a fleeting glance at the knife that was still resting dangerously in Jack's hand… and then at the steering wheel again. To reach it meant to put herself directly in harm's way, that much was certain.
But what was her alternative?
In her head she saw herself in a cellar, somewhere dark and dirty, chained to a bed with cuts and bruises all over herself and with no chance of ever escaping.
No, her mind screamed. Never!
She reacted without really thinking further. "I'll never be yours!" Jenna muttered and then she threw herself forward.
The car immediately swerved as her bound hands took hold of the steering wheel with all her power and pulled it around. Jack cursed startled, countering her pull.
"You stupid-"
Jenna didn't hear what he called her; she held on. She winced when her side suddenly exploded in burning pain and she wanted to scream and crumble in on herself, but she didn't let go.
More curses. She got almost thrown off when the car unexpectedly made a sharp curve and something clattered to the ground. Something so important to Jack that he was actually trying to reach it again while simultaneously holding the car steady.
Jenna saw the approaching curve.
Jack didn't.
The blare of crunching metal and breaking glass was deafening. Jenna's world was swirling and tumbling. She'd let go of the steering wheel and pressed herself into her seat as best as she could, but she couldn't prevent getting knocked around as the car flew off the road.
She distinctly remembered the pain that ripped through her stomach and her head as something abruptly ended the fall and then nothing.
It was weirdly silent. Jenna was awake. Barely. Her eyes unfocused, her head in new indescribeable pain. Something gurgled and sloshed around her and she had the feeling that she was sitting in wee. Only it was cold.
Her head suddenly jerked upright and her eyes opened. In front of her a spiderweb of splintered glass. The windscreen laid half in darkness, the edge wobbling… and rising.
Water.
Alarm bells rang out inside Jenna's hurting head. Finally, she jolted into motion as she realized that she was already sitting from the waist down in cold, green water. And it rose quickly.
Frightened, she risked a glance to her right. Jack's head was hanging down. A smudge of blood smeared the inside of his window. Now he got to find out how it was to be knocked out cold.
Jenna spared him no further thought. She undid the seat belt and immediately wailed in anger and frustration as she noticed that she couldn't manage to untangle from it with her hands secured together. She tried to rip the tape apart by force, but it wasn't moving at all.
The knife. Where was the knife?
The water was reaching over the middle of her chest now. She wasn't going to find that bloody knife in time. Whirling around, Jenna realized that her window was smashed. Sharp edges sinking rapidly into the water.
She lifted her arms over one jagged shard, tearing and cutting and fighting with the gaffer tape while being forced to watch how her window of air was getting smaller by the second. Jenna's heart hammered with adrenaline. She lifted her head as high as she could to take the last blessed gasps of air, then the water mercilessly closed around her.
She continued to rip at her bonds. More frantic than ever. If she was hurting herself further, she didn't notice it at the time.
And then she was finally free.
The seat belt made a dull sound as it snapped back and Jenna floated towards the opening of her prison. She climbed out of the car and paddled towards the light, breaking the surface with a desperate gasp.
Her whole body was hurting and trembling. Her hands felt for the roof of the car and she was clasping it tightly, heaving her body onto it.
On her knees she was able to rest and breathe. Her head was swimming, her limbs shaking and she wanted to lay down. But couldn't. The lake she found herself in wasn't that big, but in her condition, it seemed positively vast. Still, she knew she had to get away before the car sank completely.
Jenna clenched her jaw in determination. She crawled towards the edge of her little island, gathered all strength she had left and pushed herself away from the car. Her right side was hurting as she swam, but she ignored it. She ignored all the pain and tiredness and she swam. Away from the car. Away from danger.
She didn't really remember reaching the shore. Suddenly, she was just lying there on the ground. Soft, wet grass beneath her. Her head was spinning and it hurt to breathe.
She wanted to lie there forever and sleep her pain away, but there was an urgent thought within her soul. Something telling her to run away. That it wasn't safe by the water. Danger was lurking within.
Jenna couldn't remember what she was running from. She just acted upon instinct. Pulling herself up to stand on wobbly legs, she held an arm over her side, which was dripping blood for some reason. And Jenna turned her back upon the road that she didn't even remember anymore and, slowly, she stumbled away.
It was a bit of a deja-vu.
Alec was sitting in the opened back door of an ambulance car, leaning against its side. He was dripping wet, clutching a rescue blanket and another woollen blanket around himself and focused all his energy on not shivering.
Ellie was sitting next to him with one arm around his back, drawing circles. In front of him stood a young paramedic with a bottle of water in his hands. Alec had needed it to wash the pills down that helped the chest pain to subside and relieve the strain on his pacemaker.
They were both pleading with him.
"Hardy, for god's sake, don't be daft." Ellie rebuked. They have been sitting there for a while now and she was finally reaching the end of her angelic patience. The kid gloves were coming off.
"Even if you're not feeling any pain now anymore," the paramedic added, "You only narrowly avoided another heart attack. You should come to the hospital with us and let us make sure the strain hasn't further damaged your heart or the pacemaker."
"I feel fine." Alec repeated. Not for the first time.
"You're not listening to me—" said the paramedic and Ellie interjected.
"Damn right, he's not listening. He's not listening to bloody anybody!"
"I have to find Jenna first. Please," he looked into Ellie's angry, dark eyes. "I have to look for her." Normally, he would've fought his way past anyone standing in his way, but what he refused to admit was that he simply wasn't strong enough to do so and every time he tried to stand up, someone was pushing him back down again.
"They are looking for her!" stressed Ellie. "The local police has been looking for her even before we arrived. What good are you to them in your state; you can barely walk three steps without swaying."
Alec clenched his jaw and braced himself to stand, just to prove her wrong. The paramedic took a step forward while Ellie, gently but determined, tried to hold him back. Alec shrugged her off with a growl. His patience was running thin, too. "Let go, Miller!"
"You'll kill yourself!" snapped Ellie. "Just like last time! Haven't you learnt anything?"
Alec dropped the blankets to the ground. There was hardly any wind, but in his wet clothes, every breeze felt like spears of ice working their way to the core of his body. He clenched his fists – still not shivering – and took his first stubborn steps away from the ambulance car.
Ellie followed. "You're unbelievable!" she hissed. "Bloody hell, just stop and think for a moment, will you? This is the worst idea you've ever had! Think about Jenna… think about your daughter, for Christ's sake! If we find Jenna and we get you all home, do you really want Daisy to lose you instead because you were too damn stubborn to let yourself get treated properly?"
That finally made him pause. Alec had started an obstinate, single-minded trudge towards the edge of the field where a large forest grew and to where the policemen have all spread out. The mention of Daisy made him waver, however.
Ellie's voice softened. "Be reasonable, Alec. Don't make it worse."
He wasn't answering, but he wasn't walking on, either. It felt wrong to return now, as if he was failing Jenna. But he couldn't fail Daisy, either. Not again. She had to go through this before. At the time her mother kept the almost-drowning incident and his subsequent first heart attack as far away from her as possible, but still Daisy always knew that he was sick. And that it was his own fault that it had gotten so bad.
His guilty conscience finally just managed to convince him to give in, but then Alec got distracted as he saw one of the police officers that had lingered around, talking into his radio and seemingly in charge of the search, walking over to him.
Ellie saw him, too. "Oh, no. Don't you encourage him! He needs to come with me." she said when the policeman was close.
"I agree," assured the officer. "DS Kerr, I'm on site to coordinate the search until my superiors get here. Our team was following a small trail of blood that led away from the lake, but now we've crossed the forest and we're at a dead end. There is another road, but no blood and no sign of your woman. Before you leave for the hospital, sir, it would be helpful if we had a picture of her. We might have to widen our search."
Alec listened tensely. He tried not to focus too much on the word 'blood', but, of course, that was all his cruel mind decided to think of. "Yah. Sure." he said readily, patting his damp coat for his phone… and then pausing. His phone was most certainly damaged by the water. No pictures. He couldn't even call Daisy; he realized this only now.
His wallet. He fished it from his back pocket. The leather was dark and wet, too, but the little family pictures inside were still usable. There was one of Daisy as a young teenager. Before she dyed her hair blonde and when she still had her braces. He needed a more recent photo of her, he suddenly decided.
Alec picked the other picture. That of him and Jenna.
She took it only a few months ago, earlier this summer. They had spent a day at the beach and Jenna had finally convinced him to walk barefoot in the surf. He actually had fun that day. In the picture Jenna looked awfully pleased with herself. She'd printed it and gave it to him.
A remembrance that he wasn't afraid anymore.
"Sir?" The DS prompted.
Alec shook himself from his memories. "Sorry. Here." he said and handed the picture over.
"Thanks. You will get it back, of course. Now we can ask around if someone has seen her." the sergeant said, continuing with his task.
Alec's gaze followed him as he went, but then he let his eyes linger on the spectacle by the lake where the crane had finally managed to lift the car out of the water. It hung mid-air, water cascading down. He could see Mason's body from afar. The police and forensics would deal with him now. Jack Mason was no longer his concern.
At last, a shiver overcame Alec.
It was over.
He felt how Ellie linked her arm with his, carefully steering him back towards the ambulance. "You did all you can." she said quietly. "Now rest and let them find her."
He nodded weakly and they turned around. But, in fact, excitement wasn't over for him quite yet. The paramedic already met them halfway, looking rather amazed.
"What happened?" questioned Alec fully alert again.
"We just received a call." the young man said. "A woman was brought into the hospital a short while ago. Apparently, she was pretty incoherent, couldn't answer any questions to her person and lost consciousness as soon as she arrived. She was picked up on a street around here, so they called us to see if there's a connection."
Alec felt how life returned into his body; it literally flooded him with new energy and adrenaline. "Jenna?" he asked, still a little dumbfounded.
"I don't know." said the paramedic. "Blonde, wavy hair, roughly five feet tall?"
"Yes!" Alec nodded fiercely.
"Blimey." Ellie muttered in disbelief. Then her brain caught up. "Right, you," she sternly pointed at Alec. "Go with the ambulance and, for god's sake, let them help you! I'll get the car and follow you."
He wouldn't admit it aloud, but Alec wished Ellie would've been with him on the ride to the hospital. The young paramedic was still there, his colleague driving the car speedily, but in the midst of all this excitement and dread and near-death-experience, Alec just felt vulnerable and alone.
He was hooked up to a machine that monitored his heartbeat. Which made him painfully aware of how wound up he still was. Hectic, but thankfully steady, beeps that didn't calm down had the paramedic worried. His glances unnerved Alec and stressed him further.
All he wanted was to arrive and see Jenna. They could do whatever they want with him afterwards. He just needed to see her with his own eyes first.
The ambulance car finally pulled up behind Salisbury Hospital where a nurse was already waiting with…
Bloody hell, Alec cursed inwardly. The nurse was pushing a wheelchair, clearly meant for him.
As soon as he was unhooked from the machines in the ambulance, Alec tried for a quick, evasive escape. He could bloody well walk on his own, thank you! A second nurse appeared, strictly telling him that he was scheduled for an echo cardiogram right about now.
"I need to see Jenna first." Alec held equally stubborn, tensing his muscles and refusing to sit down. "The unidentified woman that was brought in earlier. Where is she?"
"She's getting surgery. You can't see her right now." the nurse decided bluntly.
A new surge of panic made his heart knock strongly against his ribcage. "Why? What is she getting surgery for?" He shook off another attempt of manoeuvring him into the wheelchair. "No. Let me see her. I-I can identify her!"
"Oh, for god's sake, what now? Are you causing trouble again?"
Alec breathed a sigh of relief as he heard Ellie's angry voice coming closer. Now he wouldn't have to fight alone at least. He told her again what he was just trying to explain to the nurses. "You won't get valid test results of anything if I can't see her first." Alec stressed, piercing Ellie with one of his trademark no-nonsense, stubborn glances.
She recognized his determination and ground her jaw in frustration about him. "Just let him check on her." Ellie addressed the nurses. "You need to identify her anyway and that way his fussing won't influence the tests. I swear, I personally make sure he behaves himself afterwards."
The head nurse gave him a look that aimed at making him feel like a wee schoolboy, but Alec held her gaze unblinking. "Fine. But you will get into the wheelchair until we can examine you. We'd like to rule out the risk of you falling over." she said.
Disgruntled, Alec complied. He held himself upright as he was wheeled down busy, sterile corridors, somehow expecting Jenna to be behind every room they were passing. He was on edge, awake and alert. His body was obviously running on resources he didn't know he had. When he got wheeled through the heavy, double doors of the Intensive Care Unit, Alec felt his heart pound, but he didn't feel the pain.
Everything was much quieter here. The hallway was empty; the staff was working behind a row of more heavy doors which sealed the operating rooms. Every door was fitted with a small, round window. Finally, they came to a stop in front of one and Alec struggled to stand on his suddenly very wobbly legs.
"This is the patient that was brought in unconscious, without a phone or ID." said the nurse. "Approximately in her late-thirties, suffering from blunt force trauma, mostly to the head, but her arms show defensive bruises and cuts as well. We noticed that she's got older scars, too. Her injuries suggest that she's been in a car accident, but there's also a wound at the right side of her abdomen that definitely stems from a knife. She has lost a lot of blood, but luckily it seems like no organs were hurt. The main reason for the surgery is a cracked rib that needs fixing."
Alec had only half-listened. He wanted to pay attention, but the nurse's voice dulled to white noise and instead his pin-sharp focus rested on the blonde head he was able to see between a flurry of doctors in green coats. She seemed so small and pale, but the person lying there was definitely familiar.
"It's her. That's Jenna." Alec whispered. He couldn't bring himself to speak louder. His stomach turned and twisted and he felt like he was going to be sick.
"Right. So now that you know, rest assured that we do everything we can for her." said the nurse a little softer. "Let us help you, too."
Alec wanted to keep standing there. He prepared to yell and fight anyone who tried to force him away from that window. Jenna got hurt while she was out of his sight; he wouldn't let that happen again.
But then, suddenly, the overwhelming exhaustion of the last few days came unexpectedly crashing down on him at once. The fear for Daisy, the sleepless nights, the chase to get Jenna back and the horror of learning that she has been in a terrible accident that he didn't know if she survived or not.
Now Alec knew.
There she was. Safe, but not out of trouble yet. And his legs suddenly gave way and, all on his own, he sank back down into the wheelchair. Alec felt battered. Tired and weak. The cold of his clothes that he'd ignored until now, seeped into his bones and he began to shiver.
"Will she be alright?" he mumbled wearily and as he looked up into the stern nurse's eyes, he did feel like a frightened little boy.
"We'll know as soon as the surgery's done. She's in very good hands."
Just one more chapter to go! :)