Chapter 2:
Dr. Anna Taggaro looked around the circle of chairs, "So who wants to start today?" She noticed everyone's head bow as her eyes searched theirs, she stopped on the bulky man with dark shaggy hair to her left, "Owen?" Owen shrugged and shook his head, Anna had been one of his therapists for the last six years and in that time he had never spoken to her. In the last few weeks though, she had noticed a change. He had started to acknowledge when people spoke to him. "Okay moving on."
Brooke awoke after a hard night of sleeping. She felt exhausted, she noted that Lucas had never returned to their marital bed. She stood up and grabbed her robe and set out to find her husband, "Luke?" Lucas came out of the spare room holding two suitcases, "Oh my goodness you're leaving me aren't you?"
Lucas dropped the bags, "Do you really think so little of me baby? I mean I will admit I was a little shocked by your admission last night but not enough to divorce you." He yawned, "I had trouble sleeping, I found these in the closet, I decided to move them after I got up, they should be in the garage with the other ones."
Brooke let out a sigh of relief, "So where do we go from here?"
Lucas yawned again, "The only thing that has changed is your name right? I'm not going to find out in the future that you were having sex with your brother or anything."
"No Luke," Brooke said in a disgusted tone, "Everything has been the truth. My mother died of cancer when I was thirteen, my father and my sister were killed. I just wasn't specific on how they died and," Brooke undid her robe and pulled up her nightgown, "This wasn't caused by a fence, or a tree, or a car accident. My older brother stabbed me four times in the abdomen before he slit his own throat."
Lucas furrowed his brow and stepped towards his wife, he put his hand on his abdomen, "How did you survive being stabbed four times?"
"Who knows, I spent two years asking myself that same question," Brooke crumbled into Lucas's arms and sobbed, "I know I shouldn't have lied to you, but before I met you I went on a few dates with this guy and when I told him my story he never spoke to me again. Then I met you and you were so wonderful. I knew I wanted to spend my life with you Lucas and I was afraid if I told you too soon it would scare you away."
Lucas rubbed her head, "It's alright pretty girl, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." Lucas scooped her up in his arms and brought her back to their bedroom and laid her down on their bed. He got into bed next to her and pulled her in close, "I love you Brooke."
"I love you too," Brooke cried into his chest.
"What made your brother decide to kill all of you?" Lucas said, "If you don't want to talk about it, we don't have to but..."
"Now you cannot help but ask." Brooke finished, she noticed his cheeks reddened, "You don't need to be embarrassed, I don't exactly have an answer. Owen started abusing me and my sister Phoebe after our mother died. My dad was working two jobs to pay all of the medical bills he accrued when my mother was sick, so he wasn't really home. Owen took it upon himself to police us when daddy wasn't around. At first Phoebe and I thought he was just being a protective older brother, then he would hit us. The abuse just made Phoebe act out more, I just retreated more into myself. About a year later Phoebe and Owen were going at it and he slapped her face, she reacted by going to the kitchen and returning with a cast iron skillet. She beat the hell out of him, he left her alone after that night. For a few months it felt like we were finally getting back to normal." Brooke rubbed her eyes, "I was in a study group with this boy named Chase Adams, one night we were working on a group project and it was dark out when we left the library. Chase didn't want me walking home alone, so he walked me home. Owen was waiting on the porch when we got there, he jumped over the porch railing and pounced on Chase. I felt completely helpless, a neighbor called 911 and they arrived in the nick of time, Chase spent the next four months in the hospital in a medically induced coma."
"Jesus," Lucas gasped, "Did he recover?"
"Yes," Brooke nodded, "His parents brought charges against Owen, but because it was his first offense he ended up with community service and anger management classes... It didn't help. I was a bit of a social pariah after that."
"Wow," Lucas pulled Brooke into him as close as he could, "What pushed him over the edge?"
"Phoebe's birthday was on Halloween so she always had a costume party. Do you remember the picture that woman showed us yesterday?" Lucas nodded quickly, "We all dressed up as childhood cartoons, I was Rainbow Bright, Phoebe dressed up as a horse from My Little Pony. At the party she was laying it on thick with her new boyfriend, I honestly think it was just to get in Owen's craw. He was some guy who had graduated in Owen's class and he had always had a thing for Phoebe. By the time dad got home and the party was long over they had been fighting for hours. Owen called her a whore and she attacked back, my dad was tired because he had just worked nearly 36 hours straight. I went to grab Phoebe's birthday cake." Brooke closed her eyes, "It was my mother's recipe, vanilla sponge cake with sprinkles, Phoebe's favorite. I heard a scream from the garage, when I got back in the house I found my dad on the kitchen floor. He told me to run and I didn't listen, I had to find Phoebe and Owen. I didn't know Owen was the bad guy I was looking for. I found Owen straddling Phoebe stabbing her over and over again. The medical examiner tried to tell me when I was in the hospital that Phoebe died after the first stab to her throat but I know it isn't true. I heard her," Brooke chocked, "I heard her moaning when I was on the floor."
"Stop now," Lucas said with a stern voice. "I don't need to hear the rest."
The orderly brought Owen into Dr. Taggaro's office, "Thanks Max. I'll call you if I need anything."
"Owen," She said down at her desk, "The other members of the staff and I have noticed a change in you recently. Is there anything you want to talk about?" Owen remained silent, Anna continued to flip through his file, "Let's talk a little bit about your sisters' shall we." Anna looked at Owen's face for any signs of emotion, "Phoebe? You stabbed her 37 times," She noted no change to his expression, "What about Jane Louise?" Owen twitched, Anna went back to the files, "Huh look at that, her birthday is next week, she'll be twenty-five."
Owen's ears peaked at her words, "Jane Louise is dead ma'am. I killed her seven years ago."
Anna was shocked at his voice, this was the first time he had spoken to her since she was assigned his case, "That's what I meant," Anna said trying to recover from the stupid mistake she had just made by telling Owen Morello, one of her most unstable patients, that his sister was in fact alive. "She WOULD have been twenty-five March 4th right?" Anna closed the file and when she looked up Owen was standing beside her, "Owen you know the rules get back in your seat please, or I'll have to call security."
Owen glanced down at the files and relaxed, he picked Anna up by her hair, "My sister is alive isn't she?" He pressed her firmly against the wall, she went to scream so he covered her mouth, "After all these years doc I trusted you. I thought you cared about me, but you're just like the rest of them. I see how you are you're a flirt and I bet you give it up to any guy that looks your way." He let out a deep breath and placed his hands around her throat and squeezed, "You're just a whore like Phoebe." Anna tried desperately to get him to release her, the more she struggled the harder he restrained her, after a few minutes she stopped fighting. Owen dropped her to the floor and snapped her neck, "It's too bad, I thought you liked me." He sat down at the desk and started reading through the files on his family. When he got to the information on Jane Louise he found information for a PO box in Tree Hill, North Carolina. "Janey... Come out, come out where ever you are."
Brooke woke up and heard voices in the living room, "Sorry guys."
"Late night?" Nathan said with a dirty grin.
"Gross man, that's my wife." Lucas said before take a sip of his beer, "I don't do that shit to you."
"I had a rough night, I couldn't get comfortable." Brooke yawned, "When are Jake and Peyton supposed to be here?" Brooke headed to the kitchen, "I didn't take anything out this morning," She opened the refrigerator, "I can mix up a nice spring salad."
Lucas wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her collar bone, "I ordered pizza for game night. I'll help with the salad. And to answer your question, they are on their way now."
"So Brooke," Haley said, "Nathan and I were looking at the calendar and we know you aren't a fan of your birthday, but it is next week and it is a BIG one."
Brooke cut her hand at the mention of her birthday, "Ouch." She went to the sink and ran water over the cut.
"Good, it isn't deep." Lucas responded, "I'll go grab the first aid kit from the bathroom. Be right back pretty girl."
"Twenty-five isn't a big deal tutor girl." Brooke covered her finger with a dish towel and waited for Lucas to return, "I'll make a deal with you, no party for this one but you can throw some huge outrageous party for my 30th birthday."
"No can do Davis." Nathan said before taking a seat at one of the bar stools around the island, "You see this is your first SCOTT birthday. We have to celebrate it, there's no way around it."
Lucas returned with the first aid kit, "Hey none of that, Brooke doesn't like her birthday. We agreed a quiet dinner in, didn't we pretty girl."
Brooke gave Lucas her hand and smiled as he went to work cleaning the small cut and covering it with a princess bandage. "My hero," she leaned down and kissed him gently, "What would I do without you?"
"Order out?" Lucas ventured as he returned the kiss, "How about I take over the chopping?"
"Gladly," Brooke smiled. She heard her phone ringing, "Let me see who that is," Brooke looked down at her phone Shady Springs "Hello."
"I need to speak to Brooke Davis please."
"Speaking," Brooke said.
"Miss Davis I don't know how to tell you this but your brother has escaped. He murdered his therapist and escaped through the window in her private restroom."
Brooke covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming, "Does he know where I am?"
Lucas saw the panicked look on her face and hurried to her side, "What is it pretty girl?" He whispered.
"He has information regarding your PO Box drop in Tree Hill. The one we used for correspondence, we have notified the local police department in your area. An officer should be contacting you shortly."
Brooke thought hard about the PO Box she hardly checked, she had opened it when she first got to Tree Hill. The name on file with the post office was Jane Louise Morello, "When did he escape?"
"Yesterday afternoon. We wanted to notify you sooner, but protocol dictates otherwise."
"I understand." Brooke said, suddenly feeling afraid and sixteen years old again. "Please call me if there is any additional information on Owen." After she hung up the phone she buried her head into Lucas's chest, "He's escaped Lucas. Owen has escaped from Shady Springs and he knows I'm in Tree Hill."
