Chapter Five: Running and Revelations

She ran out the door and straight to Brock's. She didn't know where else to go. But she knew that she wasn't going to take this anymore.

On the way over, she started crying. It finally hit her, what had happened. Reba burst through Brock and Barbra-Jean's back door and found only Barbra-Jean getting something to drink from the fridge. "Reba! What's wrong, you look horrible. Your hair's all…messed up and you don't look too good. What's goin' on?"

Reba was out of breath but spoke the best she could. "Barbra-Jean…I need to…talk to Brock, is he here?"

"Yeah, I'll go get him. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just go get Brock!"

"Ok." Barbra-Jean hurried off to get him.

Reba sat in a chair and tried to control her breathing but it just got worse the more she thought about it. Barbra-Jean returned with Brock a minute later.

"Barbra-Jean, I'd really like to talk to Brock alone right now. Please." Barbra-Jean could see that something was terribly wrong, and knew that something wasn't right with Reba lately, so she gladly let her finally talk to someone about it, and went into the living room and flipped on the TV, trying to calm herself and hoping that she would know what was going on soon.

"Brock, I cain't keep livin' like this!" Reba just started blurting out. Her breathing was a little better.

"Like what?" Brock asked, confused.

"With Carl. Brock, things have been goin' on, that no one knows about. And tonight it got to a point where it had to stop." Brock could tell that Reba was frantic about something, but didn't know exactly what was going on.

"Reba, what's going on? I need to know so I can help you."

"Oh, Brock. Carl's been doin' horrible things. And sayin' horrible things. And I know I shouldn't be tellin' you this, but I have to get all this stopped. But I'm so scared!" Reba started freaking out again and hyperventilating. Brock went over to her and put his arm around her, comforting her the best he could. He hadn't noticed all the marks on her face, or the blouse under her jacket. It was all too hidden and he was just focused on finding out what happened.

"Reba, Reba you gotta calm down, ok? Just calm down and breathe." He finally got her to calm down enough to explain things to him.

After a few minutes, Brock knew the whole story, from when Carl called about Steve, to what had happened tonight. Brock told Barbra-Jean to stay with Reba and he was going over to Reba's house to have a talk with Carl.

When he walked in, he found Carl sitting on the couch watching sports. Brock sat next to him, and started having a normal talk, like they did some afternoons, when there was nothing better to do.

After a few minutes of talking, he finally got brave and mentioned the thing with Reba. Carl went crazy! He got up and started out the door to go get Reba. But Brock stopped him. "Now, Carl, there's no need to bring her into this! This is between us guys!"

"Oh, to hell it is, move outta my way!" He roughly shoved Brock out of his way and headed to where Reba was. He was about halfway down the sidewalk to Brock's house when Brock tackled him from behind. The fight lasted for a while, and then they noticed that a third person was involved in it. They looked up to see that it was Steve. Steve had finally gotten out of Carl's trap, and found out what was going on. And now, he was pointing a gun right at Carl's head.

Reba had been watching the fight from the side window and when she saw Steve, she couldn't help but run out there to him. "Steve!" she called. Steve was distracted and it was enough for Carl to grab his gun, and then Reba. Holding her against him, not facing him, and with the gun at her head. His arm was around her neck and her hands were on his arm, trying her best to pry him off of her.

"Move and she dies! I've worked too hard and too long to lose her now. And I'm definitely not going back to jail!"

"Back to jail!" Reba was shocked. Still finding out things about this man that she never knew.

"Yeah, what are you deaf? I was in jail for 5 years because of your boyfriend here! Turned me in for hurting his sister."

"Well, you shouldn't have done what you did, and that wouldn't have happened!" Steve said in his own defense.

In his anger, Carl jerked Reba, causing her hair to move away from her face, and in the sunlight, both Steve and Brock could see the marks on her face and neck from what this man had done to her. Her jacket had opened a little and they noticed her blouse. And it angered them.

Before they could do anything, they heard the sirens of police cars, coming their way. Barbra-Jean had called the cops when she saw what was going on, and they were quick to the scene when they found out that Carl was there. He was very well known to the cops.

Carl heard the sirens, and was distracted, looking for where they were coming from, so he knew which direction not to run. But when he looked away, Brock went for Reba, and Steve went for the gun. It all happened so fast, but next thing Reba knew, she was in the arms of Brock and Steve had Carl pinned to the ground, waiting for the cops to arrest him. Which they happily did. Reba, Brock and Steve found out that he had indeed spent 5 years in prison, but he was supposed to spend 20. So now he's going back for even longer for escaping, and basically kidnapping Steve and for the abuse towards Reba.

When the three returned to Brock's house, everyone was waiting to hear what was going on. Reba was obviously too frazzled to talk about anything, so Steve took her to her house, while Brock explained everything to the kids and Barbra-Jean. Afterwards, they went to Reba's house and comforted her the best they could. She really just wanted to be alone right now, which was understandable, so she went upstairs to her room and closed the door. They stayed at her house for a while, just to make sure she was gonna be alright.

After about an hour, Reba decided she couldn't stand the silence of her room. She went back out to the living room and found everyone still there. She sat down with them, ready to talk about everything that had happened. Even though they already knew the story, they knew that it was good for Reba to talk about it and get it out.