ELLIE
I walked down the stairs that led to the back of Jay's garage, turned around, and left the building through the front door.
The walk to my, or I should say Jarrett's apartment, seemed to take a lot more time than it should have, seeing as I lived only about twenty feet from the garage. It was probably because I was running the reasons for leaving Toronto in the first place over and over through my head.
"Hey Elle, where are you going?" Marco asked as he saw me get my coat on, ready to face the cold December air. He was a little less desperate for me to spend time with him seeing as he took my advice and got a rabbit; but it was nice to see he still cared about me.
"I'm going to the office; I want to hand in my article before break." I stood at the doorway, holding up my article as proof for what I had just said.
"Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted to come along with Paige and me. We're going to a fashion show. It's going to be the best, there won't only be female models and…."He rattled on and on as excitement filled his eyes.
I was so happy to see Marco going out and about. He had been so distant, and a tad bit depressed, since Dylan left to play hockey overseas. He had taken my advice and gotten himself a rabbit, Hip Hop, that's its name. Extremely creative name choice there Marco.
"Well, I have to get going. Will you be here when I get back?" I decided it was time I got him to stop rambling on.
"Oh," he stopped talking and then answered my question, "Nah probably not, especially if a certain friend of yours is in the office when you get there." He winked at me.
"Ha ha, very funny Marco." I rolled my eyes. "Jesse is in Brampton visiting his family anyway, he told me before he left yesterday." With that I turned to leave.
"See ya later El!" he called out after me.
I walked briskly down the hallway and pushed the door to the newspaper office open. As soon as I looked up from checking over my article and saw the scene before me I stopped dead in my tracks My eye's bugged out of my skull and I stared with nothing but shock and embarrassment at the unexpecting couple. There was an unidentifiable black haired guy; half dressed, sitting on an office chair under Nina They suddenly broke apart and swiveled around in the chair to see who had interrupted them.
All my shock turned to sadness at seeing Jesse's equally shocked expression. Then all the memories of him doing this to me before returned and those feelings turned to rage.
"Ellie I can explain! I-" I cut him off by slamming my article down on my desk and turning on my flats to leave the room.
"I am done! With you and the paper!" I yelled as I left the building.
Tears were streaming down my face as I walked down the street to the apartment. How could he do this to me? I thought he already had a go with Nina. Why her? What is it with me and guys? Am I just not good enough? A million questions were whizzing through my mind and not a single one of them had answers.
I shut the thick oak door behind me, slid down the wall, and hugged myself as I cried. I sat there for who knows how long, in the empty apartment, weeping. The one thing that dragged me out of my sad state was the obnoxious sound of the phone ringing.
I pulled myself together and used the door handle to steady myself as I attempted to stand. I walked over to the old plastic phone and put it to my ear.
"He-hello?" I sniffled into the phone
"Is this Miss Nash?" ,a cold robotic sounding voice questioned.
"Yes, who is calling?" My tears stopped and I scrunched my face up in confusion, why is someone asking about me?
"This is Lieutenant Branson, I am calling about your father. You may have heard about the suicide bombings in Kabul….," He kept talking as I listened for what I knew he was going to say, "I am sorry to report Miss Nash, but your father, General Nash, is dead." I slowly placed the phone back on its receiver and sat on the couch next to the phone. I was too exhausted to begin crying all over again so I just slowly slid into a lying position and stared at the wooden paneled wall across from me.
This was not my day. I already knew that with this news my mom would have pulled her old friends from the cabinet and drowned her sorrows away so there was no need for me to go and comfort her. What did I have left here? My father was dead, I was sure my mother was drunk again, my so-called friends would be better without me and my drama, and I just quit writing; the only thing that had ever truly kept me together.
I suppose leaving is the only option left.
…and then I packed my bags and ended up here. A few tears ran down my face as I recalled those events.
No lights seemed to be on in the house, maybe Jarrett was asleep.
I stepped into the house silently and began searching for a bag or suitcase to put all my belongings into. In the pitch black I stubbed my toe on the edge of the armchair.
"Ow!" I couldn't help but let out a small gasp of pain. What a big mistake.
The light in the bedroom flicked on and I saw Jarrett's evil smirk staring at me from the doorway.
"It's about time. I was getting worried." He said in mock concern and slowly walked over to me.
"You tried to run away didn't you?" he slapped me and before I could even bring my hand up to the burning sensation on face, I was on the ground with the taste of blood in my mouth. After a few more kicks to the back of my head and to my stomach; I could no longer feel a thing.
Suddenly without any warning, I felt the worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life right above my stomach; and it all went black.
JAY
I laid a small sack with all my possession in it against the wall near the door, ready to leave at any moment, and sat on the edge of my bed.
As soon as first light broke I would head over and get Ellie and we would be out of this town.
I had to admit it myself even if I wasn't ready to admit it to her, I loved her. She was stronger than she gave herself credit for, she was beautiful, kind, caring, and always helping those who hurt her most. How could anyone hurt her like they had? A person could to the worst thing imaginable to her, but she would always help them when they were in trouble, not matter what. I can't wait to get out of this town with her.
All the sudden leaving didn't matter so much when I thought our plan over once more. Ellie was heading back to the house that he was in at this very moment. He was there. Oh crap. This is really bad.
Ellie left over an hour ago. She could be dead by now.
I swiftly moved from the bed to the door, ran down the stairs, and out the front door. I needed to get to Ellie's before it was too late.
It took about two minutes before I could see the worn down shack; Jarrett just walked outside and was heading toward his truck.
I came around the corner and pinned him up against his own truck.
"Hey! What the hell! …Oh it's you. What do you want?" He didn't seem one bit intimidated.
"Where is she? What did you do to her?" I yelled at him and shoved him harder against the truck to get my point across.
"Who?" He asked and gritted his teeth from the sudden sharp pain of the door handle in his back, "And let me go!"
"Ellie you bastard! What have you done to her?" A smirk slid onto his face.
"Oh." He said in complete calm now. "She's probably dead by now." I decked him in face and shoved him onto the ground. He smirk never left his face even as he got up and wiped his bloody lip. Sick minded…son of a…. a million names for him soared through my mind.
He was lying, he had to be lying.
I kicked the pathetically weak door open and quickly glanced around the small room until my eyes found what they were looking for. Ellie
I wiped the single tear from my eye as I turned over her unconscious body. I glanced up just in time to see the headlights of the truck drive away.
I gently placed her body down and ran to the phone.
"Hello? I need an ambulance. Now! My gir- My friend was beat up by her boyfriend. She's bleeding a lot and she's unconscious, I ne-"they cut me off by telling me calm down and wait patiently.
I watched, barely there, as the red lights of the ambulance awoke the whole town. They loaded her into the ambulance and I followed. I knelt down by Ellie and held her cold hand the entire ride.
I needed her to be okay; she was the only thing I had left.
We wouldn't be heading back to Toronto today, maybe Toronto could come here.
