Jessica’s Journey

 Sequel to Andrews Dilemma

 By, Cain129

Part 12

Special Thanks to Wren Phoenix for the editing.

Synopsis:   Jessica had been stressed out for the last couple of days, mostly over a project that she needed to do for school called, “Who am I?” In the end, Megan and her teacher talked her into reading her essay aloud. It had been a hard thing for her to do and left her feeling emotionally drained. Surprisingly, it made her feel better, even though she’d kept her previous life as Andrew out of the report and wrote it from Jessica’s point of view.

 

After my life skills class I found myself emotionally exhausted, and the rest of the period went by in a haze.   I was approached by many of the kids in my class that I’d never really had a chance to know.   Britney and Megan could see that I was getting pretty close to breaking down, and they started running interference for me. Mr. Dempsey wrote a note for the three of us, so that we wouldn’t get into any trouble for being late for next class.

“You did really well Jessica, I know that it was hard, but I think you should be proud of yourself. It’s not easy talking to others about yourself, and it’s even harder for someone like yourself, when you’ve spent most of your life holding everything inside.” Mr. Dempsey said with a smile.

“Thanks Mr. Dempsey, I think that I will be alright now.” I said then stood up and the three of us made our way out of the classroom.

As we started walking to our Social Studies class, Britney turned to me. “I never knew that things were that bad Jessica. I just assumed you had always been this way,” she said, frowning.

“I had lots of help once I moved in with the Tanners. The only people that knew the whole truth were my new family, Jennifer and Scotty.  

Most of the friends that I have now are because of Megan and Jennifer. They introduced me, but I still had to do the work.” I said, smiling.

Megan looked over at Britney. “I guess we just assume that people are all the same. I never gave it a second thought about what it would be like for Jessica, and I knew what she had been though more than anyone,” she admitted with sadness.

“It’s alright, Megan. That was then, and this is now. I prefer the life I have now,” I said as the three of us reached our next class. Once inside, I passed Mrs. Jones the note that Mr. Dempsey had written, and the three of us took our seats.

 

  [-][+][-]

 

Time seemed to fly by and classes were done for the day. Britney, Jennifer and I had cheerleading practice together and we made the walk together. Along the way, the three of us kept running into some of our classmates that were in our life skills class. Some of them were kids I’d never really talked to, not because I was stuck up or anything like that.

School was setup into little cliques of people that were considered cool, norms, nerds and finally the outcasts, which was the category that Andrew had best fit. These groups barely bothered with one another unless there was really no choice in the matter.   Because of the group I hung out with I would imagine that some people were scared to get close. The people that I hung out with were good people, but there were others that fell into this category that weren’t. The last thing anyone wants is to become a target, but here I was and these people started crossing the invisible lines to thank me.

 

[-][+][-]

 

Adrian had arrived at the warehouse, and made his way to his Second lieutenant.

“Are we ready?” Adrian asked as he ducked down out of sight.

“Just about, we’re still waiting for Josh Richards to arrive, but everyone is in place.”

“Have you sent anyone over to see if the kids are in the warehouse?” Adrian asked, frowning.

“The kids are there, and I have a team waiting to extract them once they get the signal.”

“Good, I want to make our move as soon as Richards arrives. Just make sure when we take him out that none of the kids are present.” Adrian ordered.

“Don’t worry, I have a sniper waiting. Once Richards is in his sights , he’s a dead man.”

“Make sure the cleaning crew is ready. It has to look like it was done by rivals.” Adrian said firmly.

“Don’t worry Adrian; there will be nothing to lead them back to us.”

“Good. I’ll leave things in your capable hands. Call me once it’s done.” Adrian said, and made his way back to his car.

 

[-][+][-]

 

Half an hour later, a car pulled up in front of the warehouse. A man exits and makes his way to the front of the building, He walks towards the front door and reaches to unlock it. Just as he unlocks the door, a bullet hits him in the back of the head, causing blood to splatter everywhere.  

At that moment the signal is giving and the power to the building is cut, making it almost impossible for those inside to see.

Rocco’s men begin making their way into the building wearing night vision goggles and start taking out everyone that they find inside the building.

At the same time a team is sent inside to free the kids and then moves them to three vans that were waiting outside. Once the kids were safely inside they drove off to the safe house that Rocco had arranged.

 

[-][+][-]

 

A few minutes later Adrian receives a call and hits the answer button, “Hello, how did it go?”

“Everything went as planned. We only had one person injured, and the cleanup crew is already inside doing a sweep for cameras, but so far we’ve found nothing.”

“Alright, I’ll inform Rocco, and good work.” Adrian said, ending the call.

 

[-][+][-]

 

A few minutes later, Rocco was sitting in the office watching the news channel. They had been playing the footage of the dirty Politian most of the day. Nobody had any leads to who had killed Robert Zemeckis.

The police were busy because all the witnesses heard shots coming from different directions. Rocco smiled to himself. Maybe this is going to work, he thought to himself, as his phone started ringing. He reached over and saw that it was Adrian calling, so he hit the answer button.

  “Hello Adrian, how did it go?” Rocco asked.

“Just like we planned. We did have a minor injury, but he’s being patched up as we speak, and the cleanup crew is already at work.” Adrian said.

“What about the kids?” Rocco asked with concern.

“The kids are on their way to the safe house. As to their condition, God knows. They could have been with those perverts for weeks, maybe longer.” Adrian said sadly.

“I need you to do me a favor, Adrian.” Rocco said to his friend.

“Anything for you boss.” Adrian said

“I need you to recruit some doctors to help these kids.” Rocco said.

“Alright Rocco, I’ll see what I can do and get back to you.”

“Adrian, I don’t know how much time we have to get everything done. We’re going to have to start working faster. I need everyone on that list taken care of, and I want it done within the next couple of months.” Rocco said. He sounded worried.

“I’ll see to it personally, Rocco. You should get some rest, when was the last time you had a decent night’s sleep?” Adrian said, sounding concerned for his friend.

“It’s been awhile, but once this is done, I’ll have plenty of time to sleep,” Rocco said. He ended the call, then walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink.

 

[-][+][-]

 

Kelly and John had just arrived at their apartment. Kelly figured that there was no reason for John to still be in character, but he was still staggering around and mumbling obscenities, at least until the two of them were safely inside their apartment and the door was locked behind them. Once safely inside, John started acting normal.

“God, I could use a drink right now,” he said and smiled.

Kelly on the other hand broke down into a fit of giggles,

“I think that you’ve had way too much to drink already John! I still can’t believe the look on the manager’s face when you said he would need an ambulance. I was sure you were going to take a swing at him.”

“I thought about it, though I would have missed, but I didn’t want to risk getting arrested, at least not yet. Once your father has everything in place and we know that our people are there to make the arrest, then it will be time for something like that.” John opened the fridge and grabbed a beer, “Relax Kelly, we’re done for the day.”

“You might be done, but I have a meeting tonight.” Kelly grabbed a coke out of the fridge and plopped down on the couch next to John.

“Alright Kiddo, what’s your plan?” John asked.

“I was just thinking of showing up and maybe talking to a few people,” she said.

“That’ll work, but I think we make it a little more believable.” John said, then took a drink of his beer.

“What do you have in mind?” Kelly asked, almost afraid of the answer

“The women at that meeting are abuse survivors, Kelly. If you’re going to win their trust, you need to look the part. Unfortunately, most of them know all the little tricks to use when hiding abuse. If you really want to get into their heads, then you need to not only look the part, but mentally become the person you are portraying.  

This isn’t going to be easy, Kelly. I can make you look the part, but what you need to do is find whatever is most painful in your life, then find a way to use that pain to your advantage. If you can do that, then you won’t have any problems making people see whatever you want them to believe.” John said sadly.

“You know that both of my parents were murdered John?” Kelly said, as her tears started forming.

“Yes Hon, I know. Your father told me. I know this is going to be hard, but if you can tap into those memories you shouldn’t have a problem. Find someone to model yourself after, just remember the person that you choose should be about the same age.” John said frowning.

“What about School, is everything ready?” Kelly asked, then took a drink of her coke.

“Yeah, all you have to do is show up at the office, and they should have your class load ready.” John said as he put his feet up on the coffee table.

Kelly just shook her head, “I feel sorry for Beth, did you ever warn the poor woman what she was getting into when you married her?”

“Beth is one in a million. How I ended up with a woman like her, I really have no idea.” John said, smiling.

“Maybe the poor woman is just a glutton for punishment.” Kelly said giggling

 

 

It was my first day back, it didn’t take me long to realized that I was completely lost, all the other girls were practicing their different routines and the only thing I was able to do with the others girls was Aerobics and discovered I could actually do it provided I on every move but unlike the others I was a complete amateur. Which made me think why was I even here.   It wasn’t like I was going to be of any use to the team at least this year anyway.

When I agreed to join cheerleading there was at least a chance of me to join my friends on the field but too much time had passed now.

“Mrs. Jennings, can I talk to you for a minute?” Jessica said taking a seat next to her.

“Sure Jessica, what’s on your mind?”

“When I joined the team there was a chance I was going to be able to cheer with my friends, but I think we both know it’s already too late in the year for me to be of any use.” I said sadly.

“I’m not going to lie to you Jessica, you’re right. I really can’t see you spending much time on the field at least not this year.”

“At the moment I think that there are other things that I need to be doing a lot has happened and to be honest, I feel that I should be spending more time working on myself then cheerlead but I would like to try out again next year if would have me though.”

“I understand Jessica and we would love to have you back next year.” Mrs. Jennings said sadly

 

[-][+][-]

 

I could have stayed till the end of practice but didn’t really feel like staying and made my way back to the dressing room and had a quick shower and got dressed, part of me felt like I was letting everyone down but I knew deep down I need more than cheerleading could give me.

As I was walking towards the exit I noticed that the boys and girls club had posted a flyer on the schools bulletin board. They were going to be offering an introductory course in self-defence techniques. I thought to myself, what good is an introduction, when what I needed was the whole freaking course.

I had never been there before but decided that I wasn’t that far a walk and sent Scotty a text message letting him know that he could pick me up there after his practice was over.

It wasn’t a long walk to the boys and girls club, so I just took my time. I finally found the building and made my way inside. I looked around, and there were kids of all ages playing and hanging out. I walked over to the reception desk. There was no one there, but a sign indicated a small bell, and it said to ring for assistance. I thought it was doubtful that anyone could hear it over the all the noise.

After looking around, I found the gym. I looked inside the window, and there was no one there except an older man who looked to be around 50 years old. When I walked through the doors and looked around, he turned and saw me.

“Sorry classes are cancelled for today,   you are the only one who showed up.” He seemed frustrated.

I looked over at him. “That’s all right, I doubt it would have helped anyway.” I   sadly said as I started to turn around and leave.

“Are you alright?” the man asked me, looking concerned.

“Not really, I have every reason in the world that I should be happy, but I’m not. I feel like everything is going to fall apart, and nothing makes any sense.” I said sadly

The man came closer and looked me in the eyes. The older Japanese man looked to be in pretty good shape. He looked closely at my face.

“Who did that to you?” He asked, referring to the light bruising I still had on my face, which I had thought wasn’t all the visible anymore.

I looked at him. “It’s not important anymore, he’s dead now.”

He took a seat on the bleacher. “My name is Lu Chong. What are you hoping to get out of this course?”

“It’s nice to meet you Mr. Shu, I’m Jessica. To be honest, sir, I’m not sure. I guess that I just wanted to feel better.” I said.

“I don’t think this will help you, child. You’re full of anger, and have the look of a caged animal. All the training in the world isn’t going to help you feel better about yourself, until you find a way to deal with the anger that you carry inside of you.”

“You’re right. I’m angry, but I’m trying to work through all the abuse. I don’t know, I guess I’m tired of being afraid all the time, and needing other people to protect me.”   I was very frustrated. I barely understood it myself, but I did my best to explain it to him.

He looked at me, “If I took you on as a student, Jessica, will you do as you’re told without questioning my methods?”

“Yes Mr. Lu Chong, I promise.”

“I will warn you now, it won’t be easy, and there will be times you’ll feel like walking away.”

“How much will this cost me?” I asked him.

“This is not about money, child. You can pay me by helping out at the dojo. I will expect you there every day after school; if you can’t make it, you will call and let me know.” He said firmly.

“There will be some days that I will be unable to make it, I am still under a doctor’s care and can’t miss those sessions, but I will let you know when I am unable to make it.”

 

[-][+][-]

 

Mr. Lu Chong and I talked for another 10 minutes, and after getting his address and phone number, the two of us went our separate ways. I was going to be having my first class with him on Wednesday. I really wasn’t sure what the training would involve, but I had a good feeling about it, and I knew that I would know soon enough.

I spent the next half hour exploring all the services the club offered, and noticed that they even had a weekly jam session for anyone that was interest in just getting together and playing music, it was held on Thursday nights at 7 pm. I thought it might be fun to check out, maybe it would be something Scotty would be interested in too.

I headed outside to wait for Scotty. As I waited, I started getting a bunch of text message from Britney, Natasha, Jennifer and Megan. All of them wanted to know why I left and where I was. I just sent a group reply explaining what Mrs. Jennings and I discussed and that I decided that there were other things that were more important to me at the moment.

I felt bad for leaving but sometimes you have to follow your heart and mine was telling me that I needed more than cheerleading could provide. I would miss the trips together and all, but something told me I now had other things to occupy my time.

I waited for about 15 minutes before Scotty arrived. “Why did you leave?” He asked. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I’m alright now. I had to read my essay in life skills today, and it kind of opened a few doors that I wasn’t ready to deal with.” I explained to him.

“Is that why you quit cheerleading?” Scotty asked, concerned.

“That’s part of the reason, but the truth is, there really isn’t a place for me on the team right now. There will be next year, but there’s really no reason for me to be there at the moment, and I don’t feel like sitting on the sidelines for the rest of the year. I can see you play just as well from the bleachers.”

“You should have stayed Jessica, you didn’t even give it a chance.” Scotty said sadly.

“Scotty it’s not what I want. I know that you’re disappointed, but I have to follow my heart.”

“It’s just, all the things we could have done together, Jessica. The team is getting ready to go to the finals, and I was counting on you being there.” Scotty said sadly

“I’m sorry Scotty. I love you, but I have to think about myself right now. If you can’t respect that, then maybe the two of us should take a break.”

“Jessica I don’t understand, why are you acting like this? Did I do something to hurt you?”

“Scotty, this has nothing to do with you. It’s me, and the person that I want to become. I need to stand on my own two feet, and until now I’ve had everyone protecting me.”

“I have stood by you through everything, and you say we should take a break? We’re not taking a break. I have to get to work, but the two of us are not done talking about this, Jessica.” Scotty said angrily.

“I love you, Scotty. I know you’ve been there for me, but right now we’re both moving in different directions, and I can’t be that person anymore.   All of my life I’ve done what everyone expected of me, my birth parents, the Tanner’s and my friends. “

“In all that time, I put everyone else’s needs ahead of my own,   because that was the only way I knew to make people love me. The only real thing that I ever did for my own needs was trying to take my own life and that was because I couldn’t keep living like that anymore. “

“Believe me,   I don’t want to lose you, but if that’s what it takes for me to move forward, then so be it.” I said, and I climbed out of his car and started walking away.

“Jessica come back, don’t leave like this.” Scotty said as I ran off, crying.

 

 

End of part 12

To be continued in part 13