The only time a goodbye is painful is when you know you'll never say hello again.- Unknown
The two friends sat on the floor in silence as they waited for Rachel to become emotionally ready. Spencer looked at the shattered glass that was around the room and formed a plan.
"Hey Ray," Spencer said gently not to startle Rachel, "When you're ready, you go out to the shop and get some things that we are going to need. Buy things that you will want, don't worry about me, I will eat anything. You're not going to be staying here until you are ready. While you are at the shops, I'll tidy the house."
Rachel looked up at Spencer's face, still red. "Spencer, you don't have to clean up."
"It's fine Ray, I want to help," Spencer said.
They stayed on the floor for about 10 minutes before Rachel was able to move.
"I'm going to go to the shop at the bottom of the road." Rachel said as Spencer helped her up. "You really don't need to tidy up."
"Ray, look at me," Spencer said as he turned Rachel to face him. "I want to do this, and it's obvious that you are not in the right state of mind to do this either. Once you get back from the shop, we'll grab some clothes from your room and anything else that you might need before we go. Okay?" Spencer asked.
Rachel nodded and pulled Spencer in for a hug. "Thank you," she whispered. "The hoover and the dustpan and broom are in the cupboard by the fridge."
Spencer nodded and watched Rachel leave. Looking back at the room, Spencer sighed and the mess. Not because he was upset about the mess, instead he was raging with anger with Chloe.
As he began cleaning, there was a knock on the door. Knowing Rachel had a key to the apartment, Spencer walked towards the door with caution. He looked through the spy hole and saw a woman a few years older than Rachel outside the door. Spencer watched as the women continuously began knocking on the door, the knocking became louder. Finally, Spencer opened the door.
"Hello, how may I help you?" Spencer asked politely.
"Oh! Hi… You're not Rachel?" The woman stated slightly confused.
Spencer looked at this woman slightly confused. "No, I am not. I am a friend."
"Is she in?"
"No, she's not."
"Are you sure? I just saw her coming into the building." The woman asked, going on her tiptoes to look past Spencer.
Spencer frowned and stood tall blocking the woman's view of the inside of Rachel's apartment. "Sorry, who are you?"
The woman rolled her eyes. "I'm Chloe Jenkins and I want to speak to Rachel. Stop hiding the coward. I know she told you to tell me that she wasn't in even though I saw her walk into the building."
Anger raged with Spencer. "Excuse me?"
"Look, I just want to speak to her and then I will be on my way," Chloe said as she tried to step into Rachel's apartment.
"I would advise that you leave, Ms Jenkins," Spencer said in a low voice. "As I said, Rachel is not here and even if she was here, I wouldn't let her see you."
"Why not? You're not her bodyguard. And you can't tell me to leave." Chloe said as she started raising her voice.
"If you don't leave, and keep trying to get into the property, I have no choice but to call the police for trespassing. And I can get you on other charges too if I truly wanted to." Spencer said glaring at Chloe.
"What charges?" Chloe screeched.
"I know what happened, the last time you were here with Rachel. Smashing picture frames, trashing the property and then assaulting Rachel will all lead you to a charge." Spencer said in a calm threatening voice.
"With what evidence?" Chloe yelled.
"Rachel's medical record. The bruises on her body correspond to someone who had been attacked. The mess that was left in the apartment. And I'm sure that there will be CCTV of you arriving here in a temper." Spencer said as he watched Chloe squirm at the information.
"Even then, it will be my word against Rachel's or yours," Chloe said smugly.
"But here's the thing. Who are they going to believe, you or an FBI agent that specialises in profiling criminals? Someone who has 2 degrees, 3 PhDs and has experience in dealing with criminals? Who are they going to believe Ms Jenkins?" Spencer said knowing he had one.
"This is bullshit. Rachel put you up to this, didn't she? Rachel! Rachel! Come out here! Stop being a coward! Come out here and we can talk about the false lies that you've created!" Chloe shouted trying to push past Spencer to go into the apartment.
All of a sudden, a guard from downstairs appeared and pulled Chloe away from Spencer and Rachel's apartment.
"Ms Jenkins, I have already told you that you can not come to the building. You are trespassing." The guard said.
"Rachel! Rachel! They're trying to take me away. Come save your brother's girlfriend." Chloe yelled as the guard guided her toward the front door.
A man and woman came out from the apartment across from Rachel's.
"Are you okay, young man?" The man called out.
"Yes thanks, I'm fine," Spencer said, slightly closing Rachel's door and walking over to the couple.
"We're John and Eliza," Eliza said. "Rachel would sometimes babysit our children for us while we work. Is she okay? She hasn't been here for a while and the woman has come every day without a fail banging on the door yelling and shouting for Rachel. When Rachel doesn't open her door, the woman would then kick the door. Most times, one of our neighbours has to call the guard downstairs. Then the guard would call the police as she wouldn't stop yelling and punching the guard."
"Yeah," John continued. "All of the neighbours have been worried for Rachel. She's nice, polite and always willing to help. And with her brother recently passing away, we were afraid that she had nobody to care for her. There is only so much we neighbours can do to help."
Spencer nodded, taking everything that John and Eliza had said. "Since last week, Rachel's been staying with me. We had come back to get something for Rachel as she will be staying at mine for a bit."
"Thank you for taking care of Rachel. John and I can see that the death of her brother has really taken a toll on her and she really needs someone right now." Eliza said, giving a small smile.
"It's okay, I just want Rachel to be okay," Spencer said. "Can I ask, how long has that woman been coming here and causing a distribution?"
Eliza looked at John for help. "It's been about two and half months. Most times Rachel's not even in because she tends to work the night shift."
Spencer nodded. "Thanks for telling me."
"We never caught your name," John said.
"Oh, sorry. I'm Spencer."
Just then Rachel came back from the shops and saw Spencer talking to her neighbours.
"Oh look, it's Rachel!" Eliza said as Rachel came closer.
"Hi, Eliza and John. You've been okay?" Rachel asked as Spencer took the bags from Rachel.
"Yeah, we've been fine. Scarlett is asking when you can babysit her again." Eliza laughed. "How have you been? We haven't seen you recently?"
"I've been okay. I've been staying at Spencer that's probably why." Rachel said.
"Well, we are happy that you're okay," John said as he wrapped an arm around his wife. "We'll let you go as you seem to be busy right now."
Rachel nodded. "Tell Scarlett that I said hello. Call me when you want me to babysit her."
The married couple nodded and went into their apartment and Spencer and Rachel went back into Rachel's apartment.
When Rachel entered the apartment she looked slightly confused to see the mess still. Spencer took her hands and pulled her towards him.
"Rachel, I don't want you to panic, but while you were at the shops, Chloe came here," Spencer said as gently as he could. "Hey, hey, deep breaths," He said when he noticed Rachel was beginning to have a panic attack.
"She came here?" Rachel whispered.
"Yeah she came here and what John and Eliza told me, she's been coming here every day since you two fought. They also told me that most weeks, Chloe would come here and demand to see you, but because you take the night shift you never hear when she comes."
Rachel nodded. "Yeah, the guards told her to stop coming. When she didn't come back that day, I thought she stopped coming here."
Spencer gave Rachel a sad smile. "Rachel, you need to report Chloe to the police. You need to tell them about the assault that happened here."
"No! For the sake and memory of Jayden, I can't get Chloe arrested. I get that we never got on in the past, and now she's turned violent, but she doesn't deserve to get arrested. She's grieving just like me, and she's not taking it well." Rachel said.
Spencer went silent for a minute. He didn't like the fact that Rachel was making excuses for someone who had hurt her, but he understood where Rachel was coming from.
"Okay so in memory and respect for Jayden, we won't go to the police and tell them about the assault. However, Rachel, for your safety, can we go to the police and get a restraining order against Chloe. At least that way, she can't come near you and in some ways, you will be safe here." Spencer said praying that Rachel would agree with him.
Rachel nodded slowly. "I'll take a restraining order against Chloe."
Spencer smiled. "Thank you."
"Can you come with me when I go to the police?" Rachel asked in a small voice.
"Sure. If you are up for it, we can go now and get it over and down with." Spencer said.
Rachel nodded. "Yeah, that would be great."