September 2, 2004
Angel Grove, CA
After everyone left, the doctor returned and told me that my test results and vitals had all come back good. They put a cast (pink, of course) on my arm and told me I could be home in time for dinner. Tommy stayed behind with me and called Trini to let her know. She ran back to the hospital, bringing me clothes since mine were with the police. I changed after a nurse disconnected me from the IV, feeling better to be wearing something that didn't expose my ass to the world. I had been given a large packet of instructions about everything that was wrong with me that also came with a sheet of appointments I had in the next upcoming few weeks. He also prescribed me some prenatal vitamins and some pain killers I could take that wouldn't cause harm to the baby.
A nurse pushed me down to the front doors and Trini and Tommy helped me climb into her car. Tommy had offered to give me a ride home but we decided that his truck would be too high for me to clamber into. So, he opted to follow behind us as we drove onto the highway away from the hospital. I leaned back in my seat and looked out at the road in front of us.
"Trini, I'm really sorry for what I said to you that day." I said softly, looking over at her. She shook her head.
"Don't be. I know you were trying to protect me. I don't think we knew just what he was capable of at that point. Kim, I've never been so scared in my life. We've faced off against some nasty creatures but I've never seen you so close to death's door before. When Marci called out my name, I thought for sure she was carrying your body when I saw you."
"Well, I sure felt dead if it makes you feel any better." I replied, smirking at her. She let out a laugh, rolling her eyes.
"Not really. And poor Tommy. I've never seen him move so fast. He was white as a ghost. I don't think he left your side for a second while we were in the ER. Even after the security guard tried to drag him out of the room." I gaped at her.
"What?" She nodded.
"They had to give you a sedative because you tried to fight off the nurses. Tommy and I tried to stop them because of the baby. The security guard threatened to taser Tommy if he didn't leave the room. I've never seen him look that angry before. The doctor let him stay though but I'm sure there wouldn't have been much choice in the matter."
I looked over at Trini, my hands clutching each other. I should tell her. I should tell her the truth about the baby. Of anyone, she would know the best thing to do about whether I should tell Tommy he's the father or not. She's always been a voice of reason and someone I knew I could trust with anything. But would she judge me for cheating on my husband? Would she look at Tommy differently for having an affair with me?
"I'm surprised he did that." I said, feeling my mouth go dry. She nodded.
"Jason was telling me that the two of them talked while we waited through your tests. He kept telling Jason that he was glad to have you back so you could work on your friendship. He was scared about losing you when you guys left it off so weird because of Nick. He's ready to make things work with you to be friends, Kim. He's over the whole letter thing and he just wants a clean slate. I think this whole Nick thing really helped him see how different your lives have been since you left and why you had to do it."
"Oh." I said, frowning.
"What? I thought that's what you wanted, isn't it? To be friends with Tommy again." I nodded.
"It is." I replied. "I just wish it didn't take this to make it happen." I gestured to my cast as I turned my attention back out the window. Tommy just wanted to be friends. Friends don't have babies together. We weren't Ross and Rachel. There was no laugh track to our lives and no cliche coffee shop to sip lattes at over muffins as we discussed baby names like it was no big deal. This was real life. I was having Tommy's baby that he's already chalked up to be Nick's kid and he doesn't even want to be with me any more. I blew that chance when I had it because of Nick.
A ringing noise came from Trini's purse by my feet. She nodded for me to answer it and I dug around until I found the cell phone inside of it. I saw that Jason's name was on the screen. I hit the answer and handed it to her.
"Hey, Jase. We're almost to Aisha and Rocky's house." She said, carefully driving with one hand. Her eyes suddenly widened and she swore under her breath. "Are you serious? Is anything missing?"
"What?" I asked, sitting up straight.
"We'll be right there after I drop Kim off." She said before hanging up the phone. She set it in the cup holder.
"What happened?"
"Our house was broken into." She said and I could see tears in her eyes. "Jason's there now waiting for the police to show up."
"Oh, Trini. I'm so sorry." I whispered. I knew at once there was only one person who could have done this. It didn't take a genius to realize it had been Nick.
"It's not your fault." She said, giving me a stern look. "I'm going to drop you off at Aisha's and run over." I shook my head.
"Just go there. I can wait to go."
"You just got out of the hospital." She said.
"It's alright. Maybe I can figure out where he went based on what he took from you guys. I'll be fine." Sighing, she nodded and took the exit off the highway that led to their neighborhood. I noticed Tommy followed behind us as well, probably confused as to what was going on. I listened to Trini sniffle as she drove towards her street. When we pulled up, I saw two cop cars parked out front and Jason's truck in the driveway. The door was wide open and I could see that there were chunks of wood splintered and missing near the doorknob like it had been kicked in. Trini gasped as she parked the car. We undid our seatbelts and climbed out as Tommy parked behind us. He climbed out of his truck and walked towards us.
"Change of plans?" He asked. I shook my head.
"Trini and Jason's house was broken into." I replied. His eyes widened and he followed behind Trini and I as we headed to the front door. I could hear voices as we got closer. Inside, I saw that all of their furniture was tipped over and ripped open. Stuffing and feathers were everywhere. All of their pictures were knocked off the walls and broken along with the figures that had been on the shelves. The television was smashed, the glass littering the carpet in front of it. The curtains were ripped from their rods and spray paint was all over the walls of the living room. I covered my mouth, not believing what I was seeing.
The voices came from further in the house. Carefully, we made it through the mess and headed to the kitchen where we found Jason standing there with two police officers. All three turned to look at us as we entered. Trini ran over and hugged Jason around the neck, sobs coming from her as she saw the condition her kitchen was in. Like the living room, the walls were covered in spray paint. All their china and glassware was smashed into pieces on the floor. One of the stools had been thrown half way out the back door and the other was broken in a heap. Cabinet doors were ripped off and the freezer door was hanging on by a thread. The pots and pan were in a pile near the stove, something white dumped all over them. My guess was paint thinner, coming from the empty can that laid next to it.
"Shh." Jason said, hugging Trini. "It'll be okay."
"Our house." She cried, her whole body shaking. I felt tears slip down my face and Tommy put a hand on the small of my back.
"What happened?" Tommy asked.
"I came by to get some things for the next few days and found it like this. I checked the house to see if that little weasel was still here but the house was empty." Jason replied. "When I catch his sorry ass, I swear to God, he's gonna wish he never moved here."
"We understand there's an ongoing investigation regarding Nick Anderson." One of the police officers said. "Do you believe that he could have done this?" I nodded.
"This was him, alright." I said. I knew it was. There didn't seem to be anything missing from here but it was a cold move on his part to destroy all of Trini's kitchen and her cooking items. He knew how much those items meant to her. He had heard her say how much she cherished them, especially the pieces from her grandmother. And I could see those laying on the top of the pile with the most paint thinner on them, making sure there would be no hope in saving them. Everything Nick does is cold, calculated, and heartless. He made sure to hurt Trini where it counted, hurting Jason as well.
"We'll need you to go through the house and make a list of anything that isn't accounted for. Do your best not to touch anything though so we will be able to dust for prints. We'll need to get prints from all of you to rule them out." The officer said. Jason nodded, rubbing Trini's back.
"We can do that."
Over the course of the next half an hour, we walked through the house. It was heartbreaking to see it like this. It was too much for Trini so Jason took her outside to sit while Tommy and I walked through. Their bathrooms were destroyed, the sinks ripped right out of the walls and water flooding into the hallway. Mirrors were broken, the tubs and toilets smashed. If it was breakable, it was broken. In Trini and Jason's room, their dresser drawers were pulled out and dumped all over, paint spilled on all the clothes. The mattress had been ripped open and springs were sticking from it. The box spring was broken along with the bed frame, the pieces in a pile. I checked all of Trini's jewelry and their safe but saw nothing was missing. Her expensive pieces were still there as well as some money they had been saving and Jason's coin collection he had been given when his grandfather passed away.
"This makes no sense to me." I said, looking over at Tommy who was sorting through Jason's safe. "He didn't take anything worth money. If it were me and I were on the run, I would take anything that could get me some money in my pocket."
"What if this isn't about money?" Tommy asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I think he knew that they weren't going to be home because he's been watching. He probably tried to go back to your place but saw that Jason and the guys were waiting. I think he waited until he knew no one would be home and came here to do this."
"Why? It would put him at risk of being caught." I asked.
"To get back at them for helping you escape." He answered, shrugging his shoulders. "Why else? He wanted to scare them into thinking that they can't get away with helping you leave him. This is all a scare tactic and revenge." I sighed, leaning against the wall.
"This is all my fault." I whispered. "And don't say it isn't cause I know it is. If I had just told you all in the beginning, it wouldn't have escalated this far."
"You were doing what you thought was right. There's nothing no one could have done to prevent this from happening. Nick knew what he was doing from day one and he knew just how to do it too."
"What about the rest of you guys? Is he going to go after them as well?" I asked, burying my face in my hands. "Even after all of this, everyone is still a target. Look at this place!"
"We know to be on our toes now." Tommy said, stepping towards me. "You can't predict what this asshole is going to do."
"What about you, Tommy? You're the one he hates that most. And he has a gun." I turned away from him. "I don't know what I would do if he ever hurt you."
"Hey." He said, grabbing my shoulders. "I've faced off against countless aliens, an evil moon witch and her red blob husband, a purple dude that hatched from an egg, a giant warrior monkey, and countless monsters on top of Mr. Hendrix's calculus homework. A guy with a gun is the least of my worries." He said.
"Yeah, well he's the top of my list. You don't know him like I do, Tommy. He might not be a Zedd or Ivan Ooze but he still has an evil streak that he knows how to use. He's not going to stop until he gets what he wants. That's how he's always been." Sighing, I crossed my arms. "When I was in Florida and we were still together, he kept asking me out. I told him that I had a boyfriend and that we were happy together. Finally, he said that he would be okay being friends. But then he would say or do things that made me feel like he was still trying to be with me. He would just stop by the dorm at all hours of the night or he would send me flowers randomly. One time, I told him I couldn't hang out because we were supposed to talk on the phone. He said that we would be back in time. Well, he just happened to have car trouble that left us stranded on the side of the row for hours. He tried to laugh it off as a cute little thing but I realized later he did it on purpose so I would miss our call. He knows how to manipulate people into getting what he wants."
"Kimberly, sooner or later, you're going to have to forgive yourself for what happened." Tommy said. I shook my head.
"Tommy, I'm not upset about our break up." I replied.
"That's not what I'm talking about." He said. "I meant about how he treated you. I think deep down, you blame yourself for letting him treat you like this and for letting yourself fall in love with someone like that. I don't doubt that he was different when you first met or that you had on some rose covered glasses. That doesn't make you stupid or a bad person for wanting to fix your marriage when you thought you could. I wasn't there but I can understand your actions."
"Doesn't change the fact I still feel like a fool." I muttered, He smiled, nodding.
"True but I think that feeling will fade after some time. I think you need to learn who you are again now that he's out of the picture. It won't be easy but you will see that you aren't this broken person that you think you are. And you'll see what everyone else sees when they look at you. You don't sound like you anymore but I think you will find a way to get that person back. If anyone can do it, it's you."
"Thank you, Tommy." I whispered, looking up at him. "I'm so sorry about the way I tried you. I didn't know what else to do."
"It wouldn't be us if there wasn't so drama involved, right?" He winked at me. "Water under the bridge."
"You're something else, Oliver." I said, heading towards the door.
I walked out of their room and headed up the hallway to where Nick and I had stayed. The door was shut and there was a red X spray painted on it. Turning the knob, I pushed it open. Like their room had been, the dresser was tossed and laid empty on the floor. The bed was destroyed, slashed from corner to corner. Paint was dumped on the carpeting and holes had been kicked into the walls. What caught my attention was words written on the wall above where the bed was.
YOU CAN'T RUN.
