Chapter 11
Jack got up and drew the roller chair closer to the window and the speakers that were picking up the sound from their conversations. He looked at the four. 'No visible injuries or abuse.' He thought, looking around for the "trouble causer", he then realised that she was the one with her back facing him. They were all wearing the same colour clothes. White. They then began to speak.
"Are you okay?" Christie asked Martha, who was now laid down on her beanbag, clearly upset. She shook her head. "Want to talk about it?" She asked. Callum then gently hit Christie on the shoulder.
"She probably doesn't" Callum said, answering Martha's question. Martha than sat up straight, looking at her 3 new friends.
"You know what, I'm going to." They all looked surprised. They'd asked her many times before, but she had refused to tell. "I think that I've tried to avoid this conversation for long enough, and keeping it bottled up inside isn't doing me much good." She explained. Callum, Christie and Ryan sat around her, all eagerly awaiting her next sentence. "As you know, I didn't jump off the cliff, I was pushed." All three nodded in unison. "Well, I was pushed by an evil woman, called Jenny. She's crazy, like... a delusional psychopath! She'd convinced herself that she was together with this guy, and seeing us together drove her insane with jealousy. She abducted me and took me to the cliff, where he arrived shortly after, and tried to help me. I'd just run away from my wedding, from a man who I'd only agreed to marry because of the mixed feelings I'd been feeling at that moment. I know, it was a horrible thing to do, but he wasn't a nice man. He'd beat me regularly, and that only stopped because my old boyfriend, Jack, arrived. Jack was also the one up on the cliff with me, the one that Jenny was madly in love with." Martha sighed, putting her hand to her head. "Sorry about this, thinking about him 24/7 is a lot to handle, but I didn't realise talking about him would be worse." Callum put a comforting arm around her.
"So, why did you say yes to the guys proposal?" Ryan asked.
"His name's Dave, and I did because, I was jealous. Jack hadn't come home after his date with Jenny, and I was very upset and angry. When Dave bent down on one knee, it was like… he was the only person who cared for me. So I accepted, thinking that no one else would ever do this, certainly not Jack, as he was too busy with Jenny." She sighed, fiddling with the frayed edge of her white top. "When I told Dave, the day of our wedding, that I couldn't marry him, he lashed out again. But Jack wasn't there, he wasn't there to protect me, nor was he there to comfort me and to assure me that everything was alright, because of the way I'd treated him." Martha took a deep breath. "When Jenny took me to the cliff, I thought my life was over, but when she said that Jack was coming, half of me was pleased that he would be there, as I knew he could save me, but half of me was worried that he may get hurt. When he got there, he'd forgotten how badly I treated him, and just tried to protect me. Jenny tried to shoot me, but Jack dived in front of me, taking the bullet, and along with it… his life. He then lay there, bleeding to death in my arms as he told me he loved me. I couldn't believe it. How stupid I'd been for not telling him my feelings earlier, we could have spared it all, but no, stubborn Martha said nothing. He then continued to save my life, by shooting Jenny when she attempted to kill me. He hadn't killed her or anything, just made sure that she wasn't going to hurt me, when he wasn't there to protect me." Martha stood up and walked towards the back wall and leant against it. Her eyes started to fill with tears. "I begged him not to go, I told him I loved him and pleaded with him to stay awake, but before I knew it, he was gone." Tears started to stream down her cheeks. "I was furious at Jenny, what she'd done. You couldn't have found a nicer guy than Jack in this whole universe. Funny, smart, caring, a great cop and so many other things. I couldn't wait until she got what she deserved for taking such a perfect man out of the world. I stormed over to her, shouting at her for what she'd done, but she acted upset, as if she'd lost something as dear as I'd lost. Before I knew it, an evil look came on her face, and her legs swung into mine, knocking me off the cliff. I hadn't realised I was so close to the edge… I guess it was because I couldn't stop thinking about Jack… but I had been very close, and was easily knocked off. I then remember just waking up in the house, and then being pushed into here." She explained. "The worst thing isn't coming in here, it's not being able to lock Jenny up for what she did. I can't stop the nightmares of Jack dying in my arms, the look on his face, the pain and the agony. I wanted to make it all go away, but I couldn't. I was forced to watch him die; because of me." She slid down the wall, bursting into tears. "I loved him so much! I never stopped loving him since I met him, and when I finally told him... he had to go." Martha's voice faded away into her sobs. Callum, Christie and Ryan sat in shock for a moment, before running over and comforting her.
Meanwhile, Jack was in the other room, gazing through the window. He was feeling a mixture of feelings, disbelief, joy and bewilderment. How was she alive? He could have danced right there in his seat with happiness! "She's alive!" He shouted. But his happy mood started to fade as he watched the tears run down her cheeks.
"She thinks I'm dead.." He muttered. He was right, she did think he was dead, and she was feeling just as bad as he'd done, before he made his discovery a few minutes ago. He couldn't take his eyes off her, he'd never thought in a million years that he'd see her walking, talking, and breathing again. He kept repeating her sentence in his head. "I loved him so much!" Every time it rang around his brain, a little smile sneaked out onto his face. "She hadn't just said it because of the situation," he said, "she really meant it!"
