Wow, thanks everyone for all the nice reviews! I know I risk sounding redundant, but I really do appreciate them. Really.
While writing this chapter, I felt the need to, er, swear a lot. Lol, while some of you may be comfortable in hearing them, others may not like seeing the words. I honestly don't think that I have that many bad words in here, but if you think the rating needs to be changed, I'll go ahead and say that this chapter is a very strong PG-13. :) And I hope that works.
I'm actually the kind of person who rarely cusses, so don't thik that I have nothing better to say. But given the situations, there needed to be some strong wording. lol.
And, to wrap up this A/N, guess what? This fic is almost over. That's right, almost. I'm thinking possibly one more chapter after this, and at most two more.
If this chapter seems far too dramatic or improbable, please let me know. Sometimes I go overboard, and I let my imagination run away with me. If I let it run, I guarentee you that all my fics would include death, divorce, pregnancy, abuse, lying, car crashes, comas, etc. And that's only the good things. lol.
Even though I may think this isn't too dramatic, I'm not sure what the opinion of the general public will be. And since that's who I'm writing this for, the opinions matter. :)
Anyways, please enjoy and leave me a review! I'm pushing 100 for the first time on this fic (having only gotten to 100 on one other fic,Let me let go) and I would really like to get there!
Your opinion matters! lol, Just think: leaving a review is your way to voice your opinion. Am I the only opinionated one here?
lol, Well, seeing as how this ramble goes on and on, I'm sure this won't get many reviews. Please prove me wrong. :)
So many thoughts raced through his head, each more harrowing than the next. For a mere minute, he had stepped inside to purchase a crib. Sixty seconds later, she was gone.
Gone, he thought. As in not present, by his side. It wasn't like she was an infant, incapable of being alone. Ross shook his head in confusion. Was he simply being irrational and possessive? Or was there really something wrong?
Ross sat down on the bench for a moment, trying to think of what to do. A small object poked him in the back, yet he made no attempts to move. Pain was only a feeling, and there were far stronger ones than it.
Shaking slightly, he dug into his pocket and pulled out his cell-phone, frantically whispering words of hope through his gritted teeth. It rang once, twice, three times…
In disbelief, he reached behind him and pulled out the object that had been burdening his back. And it took him less than a minute to figure out where her phone was.
----
"Get off of me!" Rachel shrieked and pushed the man away. The man. The man who had haunted her for a year, his face alone made her wince at what she had never had. The way he snarled through his teeth, yellowed with premature age; the way he laughed, like shards of glass striking the surface of a row of pearls; the way he would hold her so tightly to him. It had all been sweet at first, the closeness, the togetherness.
Yet soon, she found herself wanting to break away, escape from his everlasting stronghold of her life and will.
Dave smiled at her, exposing begrimed teeth. He had been a much handsomer man only a few years ago. What time did to him, Rachel didn't know.
But she did know what he was doing to her time.
"Dave, let go of my arm!" She pulled back, holding onto her purse all the while trying to shove him away.
"Baby," he whined. "Why are you acting like this?"
"Don't call me baby," she grimaced. "You have nothing to do with me, and I'm not a part of your life anymore. You know that."
An insidious grin crawled across his pockmarked skin. "Know what, baby?"
"That I'm not in your fucking life anymore!"
He dropped her arm, startled at her sudden use of vulgarity. "Are you saying I mean nothing to you?"
Defiantly, Rachel faced him, nose to nose. She knew she should run, a part of her felt it. She was only a short distance from Ross, he could probably hear her. Yet this was something she needed to resolve on her own. In a brash voice, she snarled. "You mean nothing to me."
"And I suppose that fuck-face in the store means a lot to you?" He spit on the ground, dangerously close to the toe of her shoe.
"He means everything. And you had better leave me alone or else."
Rachel turned away heavily on her heel, prepared to leave him behind with only her words of malice and warning.
Before she had walked more than five steps, Dave grabbed her arm and pulled her into a nearby alley.
The tips of his fingers clawed into her flesh, opening the scar tissue and releasing the blood of the wounds she had suffered so long ago. With a muffled sigh and a harrowing scream, she realized something she should have known long before: the wounds would never go away.
----
"Rach?" He called out as he paced up and down the streets. Surely, she would be somewhere. "Rachel? Rachel Green?"
Ross raced up and down the street, searching in every eclectic store as he went. His mind could only focus on the last thing she had said. 'Do you swear you won't go anywhere?'
'I wouldn't dream of it.'
Ross hurried up and down the street, still crying out her name. Perhaps he was overreacting. After all, she was a grown woman, perfectly able to take care of herself all alone. But a part of him wanted her to need him, he enjoyed being the comforter, the one she sought solace in when she had no where to go but down. Ross knew it couldn't stay like this forever; Rachel was merely going through difficult times, and he just happened to be there. Ross shook his head at himself.
'Why is everything so complicated? If I were normal, I wouldn't race up and down the crowded streets of Los Angeles, screaming out the name of my girlfriend who 'disappeared.' People don't disappear, they leave. She is just in the bathroom or something. She lost her phone and went back to find it. She went in the store and I didn't see her…Maybe she's looking for me at this very moment. If I were anyone else, and if she were anyone else…this wouldn't be a big deal. We're both adults.'
But he was Ross and she was Rachel; the rules didn't apply.
Ross reasoned with himself and made the conscious decision to turn around. As he pivoted on his heel, he passed a dark alley without even glancing in it. He was being foolish, and he would wait for her by the bench.
He walked the block back to the bench, going against all his instincts told him to.
----
"What do you want from me?" Rachel cried out, touching her stomach. It was then that she realized the severity of the situation; she was pregnant, and anything that endangered her put the baby in harm's way. Tears escaped from her eyes as she thought. 'I am so stupid. So damn stupid for going with him. Everyone knows not to follow people you don't know into a dark place alone.'
'But you know him,' she took a meager stab at reason. Looking up into the eyes of someone she had once trusted so deeply made her realize that any given stranger would be a better accomplice in the alley than Dave.
"I don't want anything from you, baby. I want you."
"What do you mean, you want me? Am I some kind of property that you own, Dave? Just another one of your girls that you can toss around like I'm nothing more than shit? I'm nothing to you, and I never was."
He laughed and pulled her closer, gently stroking her stomach. It was the placidness of his touch that terrified her. "But you were more, baby…you were a damn good fuck."
"You disgust me," she snarled. "Completely and utterly disgust me." She leaned in closer, inhaling for the first time the strong scent of whiskey and rum that invaded his breath. "I don't know what happened to you, and to tell you the truth…I don't even care. All I know is how you hurt me, deceived me, and betrayed me. And I can't forgive you for that. Ever."
"I'm not asking for forgiveness, baby."
"Then what are you asking for?"
"You."
She sighed as if this were a normal conversation, and not the pivotal point in her life. "Well, you can't have me. I'm taken. And you know what? That's just too bad for you."
He tightened his grip, realizing for the first time in his stupor that she was mocking him. Mocking him! Dave was not a man to be played with or mocked. "Are you saying I'm not good enough for you?"
"I'm saying, David, that you are the most repulsive man I've ever met, and if you don't take your hands off me right this second…" Her voice trailed off, not knowing what to say. Soon he would realize that the show of bravery she had acted so well was a façade, just like everything else. She trembled now at his Cheshire-cat looking grin. When she said nothing, it was his turn to mock.
"Or what?"
"Or the minute I get back, I'll make sure that you spend the rest of your life in jail."
"Well, then what can I do? Hmmm…is it so much to ask for a little sympathy here? I see my ex-girlfriend in the street and I'm not even allowed to say hello to her? After she disappeared on me a few years ago, am I not even allowed to ask how she's been, to see how she's doing? To possibly rekindle a bit of love?" Dave smiled and breathed his rancid breath into her mouth. "Don't tell me you didn't miss me."
Protectively, she placed her quivering hand over her stomach. Though it was quite possibly over ninety degrees, she had never felt so cold. In an even voice, she said, "I didn't miss you at all."
He sneered at Rachel and then shoved her roughly against the brick wall. A cry of pain escaped her mouth. "Well, then I guess I'll just have to make someone miss you."
----
In the distance, Ross was sure he heard a scream. No, it was more like a whimper.
He stood up and faced the strip of shops and waited for another cry. She had been gone for more than ten minutes. It only takes a minute to kill someone, Ross remembered. But why did his mind keep going back to the thought that she was in mortal danger? Surely there was some explanation.
When he heard the voice again, he knew one thing for sure.
She was in trouble.
----
Robert Overton stretched out in the strangely understated sunlight. Finally, he was on his lunch hour and wanted nothing more than just to lay down and take a good nap.
It was hard being a cop, and not many people knew this. They expected him to eat doughnuts all day while pretending to ward off wrongdoers.
Robert slowly placed his doughnut back into the Krispy Kreme box while he thought about his life.
Growing up, Robert had been a philanthropist of a child, always trying to help anyone in need. Most of the time he didn't realize that it was he who was in need, and Robert helped anyway.
Sometimes, he didn't like to let himself get too deep in thought. "An idle mind is the devil's playground," he always believed. Yet sometimes, when he would sit and bask in the rays of the sun, his mind would wander…and occasionally he didn't like where it wandered off.
The screams, the cries, the blood of the victims of crime…telling their families the news, going home a different person each night. His work was scarring, and his peaceful nature did not bode well with this.
He was suddenly jolted out of his reverie when a hurried man approached him. His hair was tussled, and he looked positively worried.
"Hey, there. Can I help you?" Robert stood up.
"Yeah, it's my- my girlfriend. I think she's in trouble."
"What seems to be the problem?"
"Well, I was in the baby store…she said she wouldn't leave…she's gone now, though."
Robert smiled, humoring him. It was people like him that didn't let Robert get the job done. "Sir, do you think it's possible that she may have just gotten up for a minute?"
"No, you…you don't understand. She doesn't do that."
"She doesn't leave?"
"No, she's different. She'd stay forever, if she had the chance."
"Listen, she probably got up to go to the bathroom or something. If she doesn't turn up in a little while more, then you let me know." Robert settled back into his chair, not realizing that he epitomized all that he loathed.
"Maybe you'd be interested to know that she's pregnant. Six months. My baby."
"Well, congratulations. Come to think of it, she probably did go to the bathroom."
"And," Ross searched his mind for any information that might convince the policeman to help him. "Her ex-boyfriend used to beat her up, abuse her. Sometimes…sometimes she gets really upset and runs away a lot. But not this time. She promised that she wouldn't leave again."
Not much of what Ross said peaked his interest, yet Robert was interested in one aspect. "This ex-boyfriend…does he live around here?"
"Actually…Oh my God! He does." It was all forming together in Ross's mind.
"Well, do you know what he looks like?"
"No, I don't. But will you just come with me really quick? I heard some noises in the back alley, and I don't want to check them out alone."
"All right."
----
She was on the ground. Chunks of gravel dusted her hair. The fall wasn't hard, but Rachel felt a little sore.
She had been laying there for what seemed like forever, though it was only actually about fifteen minutes.
'Oh my God. What am I going to do?'
Dave's back was facing her now, and he seemed to be resting atop a trash dumpster. From the ground, Rachel could faintly make out the outline of a gun in his jacket pocket. A plan began to form in her mind now, a plan that would aide in her escape.
Carefully, she eased her way up and walked over so she was facing Dave. "Hey," she said coyly, leaning against the wall and trying to act as sexy as possible. "What are you doing?"
"W-what?" Her sudden change in attitude threw him for a loop.
"Oh, you know, I was just thinking. You really knocked some sense into me over there." It took every ounce of willpower she had not to scream.
"I told you, baby."
'Rachel!' she mentally screamed. 'I have a name, you bastard, and it's Rachel!'
"Yeah, I should have believed you."
"What can I say? I've always been right."
She leaned in towards him, concentrating on his pocket. "Yeah, you have been."
His dry lips contaminated her neck. "God, I've missed you, baby. You were the best I ever had."
Rachel lowered her hands by his waist and surreptitiously reached for the gun. "Uh-huh…"
"I'm glad you can see I'm right. I've always been right. Even when you were knocked up with that baby and you were so upset you lost it. Things sure did turn out better, though."
She grabbed the gun and kneed him in the groin, pushing him down to the ground. Tears stained her eyes as she wavered the gun warningly at his head. "Shut the fuck up, Dave."
"Baby, what're you-"
Her voice was straining and shook as it reached octaves beyond her control. "I have a name, you know. It's Rachel!"
"Rachel, calm down, calm down. Give me the gun, bab-Rachel."
"No. You stay right there." She leaned her head out the alley. "Help me! Somebody, please! Help!"
While her head was turned, Dave made his way back to his feet, startling her as she turned around.
"Don't move another muscle. I'll shoot you. I will."
"You won't shoot me," he snarled. "I was your first love, how could you do that to me?"
Tears ran down her face, but Rachel still stayed strong. "My first love? Really? You were my first mistake, my first heartbreak, my first abusive relationship, my first decision that changed the rest of my life."
"Give me the gun, Rachel."
"No."
"Give me the gun." He advanced in on her, bringing his hands closer.
"No."
"Don't make me take it from you."
As he reached in, Ross and Officer Overton approached the scene.
"Oh my God! Rachel!" Ross cried out, running towards her.
"Oh my God. He was right." Robert whispered in wonder as he pulled out his gun and handcuffs. "Hey, stop that!"
Dave raised his hand above Rachel, and it was then that her finger slipped.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
And he was gone.
----
Hehe, wow, I seriously don't know when to stop, do I?
Just a quick question: Is anyone still enjoying this story? Because I was just stuck in the biggest writer's block ever. I thought it was far too dramatic in an almost comical way, and seriously considered quitting it. But I stuck with it, so I hope someone likes it. :)
Let me know if I'm going overboard.
Thanks!
Mel