Synopsis:

As the pressure continues to increase, will Jake choose to stay and face the music or cut and run?

Story:

Karma part 11
By Amanda D.

I woke up early that morning. I tried to slip out without waking Pat up but she heard me anyway. “Where are ya goin’?” she asked sleepily.

“I gotta get home.” I answered. “I never even called my mother to tell her I wasn’t coming home last night. So I’m sure she’s worked herself into a tizzy by now.”

She sat up and said “Let me get dressed and I’ll drive you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I already called a cab. It should be here soon.” I told her.

I leaned over and gave her a kiss and then finished putting on my shoe. No sooner was that accomplished I heard a horn beeping out side. I went over to the window and saw the cab waiting at the curb in front of Pat’s building. I leaned over and kissed her again.

“I’ll call you later tonight.” I said as I headed for the door.

As soon as I walked in the door of Rita’s house I knew I was in big trouble. It was only 7am and Anita and Rita were already sitting at the kitchen table waiting for me. I stepped in and immediately Rita attacked.

“Where the hell have you been all night? Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? We were ready to call the police and report you missing again. We’ve been up all night worrying about you. What do you have to say for yourself?” she demanded.

“I’m sorry Ma. I didn’t mean to make you worry. I was just hanging out with Kim and Pat and I got tired and fell asleep on Pat’s couch. I didn’t even wake up until about an hour ago and I knew you’d be worried so I grabbed a taxi came right home.” I babbled.

“You fell asleep on her couch? Somehow I doubt that.” Rita said sourly. “You more likely got drunk and wound up in Pat’s bed, half passed out and having sex with her again.”

Trying to hold my temper in check I replied “I didn’t even drink last night. We went to see Kim at work and then we went to a movie.”

“Oh you went a movie, huh? What did you see?” she asked sarcastically.

I told her the name of the picture.

“Oh Jack and I saw that one.” Anita added. “How did you like the scene in the airplane?” she asked.

I knew this was some kind of trap she was laying for me but I still blundered into it stupidly by saying “It was alright.”

“There was no airplane in that movie.” Anita said smugly.

‘This was not going well.’

Instead of walking away and giving us all time to settle down I piped up with “Well aren’t you just the tricky one?”

She glared at me and I returned her stare until she finally looked away. Emboldened by winning the stare down I continued. “For your information I did see the movie, but since I was with Pat and we spent the whole time we were there feeling each other up I didn’t really catch every minute of what was happening on the screen.”

“Amanda!” Rita hollered. “How dare you talk like that in my house? Have you no shame? It’s not bad enough that you’ve been having sex with another woman, now you have to rub our noses in it?”

I looked over at her and said “Ma I’m not trying to rub anyone’s nose in anything. I tried to just say that we went to a movie. I wasn’t going to give any details or anything until Anita started with her shit. And as for me being ashamed, I don’t think I have anything to be ashamed of. I’m a grown woman and I can have sex with whom ever I choose. It’s not like I planned to have sex with her or anything. It just kinda happened. But now I have to admit I like it. And since I enjoy it and it’s my body I’m pretty sure that I’m gonna continue to see her. So if that’s a problem then it’s yours not mine.”

‘I can’t tell you how tired I am of having this conversation.’

I could almost hear their jaws hitting the floor when I finished my little speech. “Don’t you talk to Ma that way!” Anita growled.

“Anita, I love you I really do but if you don’t shut the fuck up I’m gonna kick you ass. Understand?” I said calmly.

“Amanda!” Rita screamed. “That’s enough. I can’t take it anymore. Go…just get out of here! Go to your room or go to your girl friends or where ever. But get away from me for a while.”

Now it was my jaw that hit the floor. “Ma.” I said quietly. “I was just trying to explain to you why I didn’t call last night. But Anita has to keep sticking her nose into our conversation. Christ, I was only defending myself from her accusations.”

Rita gave me a stern glare. “I don’t want to hear it! Get out of my face or get out of my house! The choice is yours.” She growled angrily.

I turned and walked upstairs to my room. The situation with the two of them was quickly becoming untenable. I need their help if my plan was going to work but as things stood now, I wasn’t sure how they would react when I presented it to them. I needed to find a way to patch things up with Anita at least. And I needed to do it soon!

For the next couple of days I just kinda laid low. I went out of my way to help Rita when I could. She seemed to appreciate my attempt to get back in her good graces. Things were really starting to smooth out around the house until the phone rang Wednesday afternoon.

I was in the living room when I heard Rita yell “Amanda! Phil’s on the phone for you.”

I picked up the extension and said hello.

“Amanda? It’s Phil.”

“ Hi Phil, what’s up?”

“We may have a problem. The judge in your case seems to think that you’ve violated your bail agreement by leaving the state.”

‘Uh Oh’

“He called me just a few minutes ago. He told me that he had just been informed that someone bearing your name had been arrested in New Mexico about three weeks ago. You haven’t been to New Mexico recently, have you?”

“As far as I know I’ve never been there.” I heard myself reply.

“Good. I didn’t think you had. I told the judge that it must be some kind of mistake, but he still wants to see me at 2pm tomorrow. Now I don’t want to cause you any undue concern, but there is a chance that he may issue a bench warrant for your arrest if I can’t convince him that it is some kind of mistake.”

“Why would he do that?” I asked trying not to let him hear the edge of panic in my voice.

“He’d do that because he’s really pissed off about this. I promised him that you would abide by the rules he set down when he released you to my custody. He told me flat out that he would look like a fool for letting you go if turns out to be true.”

My mouth was so dry I could hardly speak. “So how are you gonna convince him that it wasn’t me?”

“I’m not sure right at this moment. ‘Not sure? What the fuck do you mean, not sure?’ He’s having the arrest report faxed over to his office and he said we’d go over it tomorrow. So we’ll have to wait until then. But I wouldn’t worry too much if I were you. Since you weren’t there, it can’t possibly be you. So there’s no way this is going to turn out badly.”

I didn’t know what else to say, so I said “Okay. Well thanks for calling and letting me know what’s going on.”

“That’s not a problem.” He replied. “I’ll call you tomorrow morning after we’re done and let you know the result.”

“Okay I’ll talk to you then.” I said hanging up.

I sat there on the couch trembling for a long time. This was most definitely not good news. There was no way I was going to be able to handle woman’s prison.

From listening to what he had told me, didn’t exactly lead me to believe that there was any way I was going to be able to avoid it. It was all I could do to keep from crying. This was a whole new level of being screwed. My whole plan would be toast if I landed in jail.

I spent most of the night in a mild state of panic. My usual nightmares didn’t visit me however. Nope that night I was treated to all kind of lovely visions involving butch women and broom handles in places that nature never intended.

At about 4am I finally gave up on trying to sleep. I quietly went down to the kitchen and made some coffee. I was sitting there brooding when Rita snuck up behind me and touched my shoulder. I jumped so high I thought she was going to have to peel me off the ceiling.

“Oh Amanda, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” she said as I tried to restart my heart. “What are you doing up this early?”

“I dunno. I guess I just couldn’t sleep.” My voice trembled slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Rita asked.

“Nothing. I’m just a little stressed out, I guess.”

“About Phil’s meeting with the judge today?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Why? It’s not like it could really be you that go arrested out there. There’s no way it could have been. I was with you that entire day. So it has to be some kid of mistake.” she stated earnestly.

Despite her reassurance I started to cry a bit. I couldn’t help it I was tired and I was convinced that I would be wearing prison strips before the day was through.

Rita pulled me close and tried to comfort me. I quickly went from slight crying to a full on emotional break down. She held me tight until the emotional storm began to abate. After it was over I felt some what better and suddenly very tired.

“Thanks Ma.” I said and yawned deeply.

“You look tired” she said.

“I am, all of a sudden I feel like I could sleep for a month.”

“Well then, why don’t you go back up stairs and I’ll take care of cleaning up the coffee.”

As I headed out of the room I leaned over and kissed her on the top of the head. “Thanks Ma.”

“For what?”

“Just for being here.” I said and went up the stairs.

I shook my head in wonder as I climbed into bed. If I had known that a good cry would get me to sleep I would have done it hours ago. As if to prove my point I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Sometime later I was awoken by the ringing of the phone. I groggily picked up the handset and grumbled “Hello?”

“Well someone sounds like their sleeping in this morning.” the voice on the other end said. I knew it sounded familiar but I just couldn’t place it.

So I asked “Who is this?”

“Why Amanda, I hurt you don’t recognize my voice by now.” was the reply.

I thought for a second before it hit me.

“What do you want?” I asked gruffly.

“Ahhh, now see there’s the spirit I’ve come to admire.”

“Ms. Blue, my lawyer has instructed me that I shouldn’t be talking to you. So if you have something to discuss with me, might I suggest that you contact him and make an appointment.” I said trying to sound smug, because I knew it would piss her off.

“Well if that’s how you want to play it…I wonder though, how long it would take him to call poor Rita and tell who you really are, once he learns the truth. That is unless you’re willing to discuss what we would like you to do for us. You only have a few days left you know.” she said in an irritated tone.

I smiled, knowing that I had gotten under her skin just made me feel good. “Mia, Mia, Mia, thinly veiled threats are so beneath you.” I said sarcastically. “But seeing that you’ve got me over a barrel here, why don’t you tell me what it is you want.”

I could almost hear her smile as she cleared her throat. “I know your time is short so why don’t you come to my office in an hour and we’ll discuss our proposal then.”

Trying to sound as irritated as I could, I said “Fine! I’ll be there in a hour.” and slammed the phone down. I know I should be worried and I am, but I just can’t stand her and needling her gives me such pleasure. Besides I had a plan. I just hope it works!

I arrived at Ms. Blue’s downtown Boston office about half an hour late on purpose. To say she was annoyed with me would be the understatement of the year. After a brief scolding she led in into a conference room. Paul was waiting inside, sitting at a large oval shaped table.

“Jake my boy. How nice of you to come.” he said in a tone that suggested he had rehearsed the line several times before hand.

The way he called me Jake unnerved me a bit but I tried not to show him. “Dad.” I said in cool acknowledgment of his presence as I took a seat.

“You don’t need to pretend here my boy. You can be yourself.” He said smugly.

“I am being myself. So I assume there’s a reason the two of you dragged me all the way here for this. So why don’t we get down to business.”

They exchanged unsettled glances. If I had to guess I’d say they were expecting me to be more docile and compliant. But I was having none of it. My plan hinged on upsetting them and for the moment it seemed to be working.

Mia cleared her throat. “What we want is for you to admit in front of the Assistant District Attorney that you were to drunk to clearly remember what the night you father allegedly attacked you mother.”

“Oh is that all? You just want me to screw my mother…”

“She’s not your mother!” Paul interrupted with a stern growl. “You have no right to refer to her as such!”

Ignoring him I asked “So what’s in it for me?”

“Always looking out for number one. You may look my daughter but you’re still the same scumbag you always were, Jake.” he said disgustedly.

I looked over at him and smirked. “What makes you think I’m Jake?”

Mia jumped in “Simple deduction really. Mandy, the real one, said that she ran because she thought she had killed you by throwing you off of her balcony and onto the street. But you were the one that was found there. So you must be him. Changed somehow into an Amanda look a like but Jake none the less.”

This was not good. As much as I wanted to I couldn’t find any holes in her argument. Mostly because she was right.

I tried to look like that was the answer that I was expecting, even though it had thrown me a bit.

“Interesting theory.” I said nonchalantly. “Anyhow, I’ll ask again. If I do as you want what’s in it for me?”

“First you do as instructed. After that we’ll drop all charges against you then you disappear. Mr. David is prepared to give you enough money to get yourself set up well somewhere. Also we’ll give you a new identity and all the credentials to match it. Since we can’t have you pretending to be his daughter anymore.”

“How much money are we talking about?”

“Enough.” Paul answered gruffly.

Putting her hand on his to calm him Mia said “Mr. David is prepared to be very generous in his compensation to you. You’ll have plenty of money to get yourself a new life with.”

“And what about Mandy? How will you bring her back after all this is done?”

“That’s not your concern.” Paul said angrily.

I could see he was have a very hard time controlling his temper.

I decided to see if I could bring him to a boil. “I think I’m going to make it my business. If you want me to play ball then I want an answer. I mean it’s not like Rita will take her back if I betray her.”

Paul looked like he was going to pop a blood vessel. Seeing that Mia quickly said “She’ll have to face the charges against her in New Mexico.”

I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. I looked Paul directly in the eye and said “You would do that? To your own daughter? What the hell is wrong with you? She loved you. Thought the world of you. And you would leave her to rot in prison…” I was so upset I couldn’t go on. I was just totally flustered.

“Why do you care?” he shouted and started to get up out of his chair.

“You beat her. You stole from her. You made her feel like dirt. You killed her unborn child… My grandchild!” he screamed as he pulled me out of the chair I was in. “How dare you judge what I do?”

He held the front of my blouse in one hand and punched me in the side of the head with the other. I struggled to pull away but he was too strong. He landed a second blow and everything started to get fuzzy around the edges.

“How does it feel?” he screamed in my face and hit me again.

“Is this what you used to do to my daughter, big man?” he yelled again as yet another punch landed.

“Paul! Stop! You’re going to kill her!” I vaguely heard Mia yelling.

My ears were ringing and the only thing holding me up was his hand. I weakly tried to pull away from him again. He punched me one last time and let me crumple to the floor.

I lay there dazed and bleeding. I tried to will myself up but my body wouldn’t respond. I heard Mia screaming at Paul but my head was buzzing so badly I couldn’t make out what she was saying. I doubled over as I felt a hard kick to the stomach, then I was roughly pulled up into a chair.

I must have blacked out for a short time because the next thing I smelled was the scent of ammonia under my nose. I wanted to sleep but the stench made me move my head to get away from it and that made the pain come back. Slowly my eyes started to regain some focus. I saw Mia crouched down in front of me. She looked pissed, but not at me.

“Take her out of here and bring her downstairs in the service elevator and put her in a cab.” I heard her say to someone I couldn’t see.

“Make sure no one in the office sees you.” she commanded. To me she said “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll tell everyone that you were mugged. Understand?”

I was in no position to argue so I nodded as best as I could.

“Good.” she said and walked away.

My escorts threw me in a cab, gave the driver some money and gave him my address. After we pulled away the drive looked at me through the rearview mirror and asked if I needed to go to the hospital instead. “No. Just take me home.” I sobbed.

I stumbled out of the cab and into the house. Rita was in the living room. She took one look at me and shrieked “Amanda, are you all right? What happened to you?”

She came over and took a closer look at me. “My god what happened?” she cried.

“Got mugged.” I replied automatically.

“Are you okay? Do you want me to call the police? Do you need to go to the hospital? Where did this happen?” she rambled.

“Ma, I know you want to help, but I can’t deal with this right now. I’m going to be alright. I just got beat up. I don’t need the police, I need to go clean up.” I said warily.

“But…” I heard her say but I ignored the rest.

When I got to my room I checked myself out in the mirror. I was a mess. I had dried blood under my nose and my bottom lip was split. My right eye was swollen almost shut and my left was decidedly bloodshot. No wonder Rita was so horrified. I was lucky to be in one piece after being hit that many times. I had wanted to provoke Paul just not to this extreme.

I took my coat off and laid it on the bed. I reached under my blouse and pulled the mini tape recorder out from under it. I could see it was broken as soon as I looked at it.

“Shit! There goes that idea.” I thought disgustedly.

My whole plan had gone up in smoke with his last kick to my ribs. I sat down and began to cry.

I wallowed in self pity for a short time and then got up to take a shower. When I took my blouse off I got to see how bad my ribs were. I had a large bruise about the size of a softball on my right side.One touch told me not to do it again. I stepped into the shower. When I leaned my head back the hot water hit my cuts and abrasions. It hurt like the dickens. I stood there under the pulsating stream for a long time using the pain to help me focus on what I was going to do next. Unfortunately it didn’t work.

I heard Rita knocking on the door. “Amanda?”

“I’ll be right out.” I hollered back. I stepped out and gingerly wipe the water off of me. I wrapped the towel around me and went out to see what Rita wanted.

She was waiting in my room. I walked in and said “What’s up?”

“Oh Amanda, I don’t know how to tell you this…Phil just called…The judge in your case…He ruled that you’ve violated your bail agreement…He…He issued a warrant for your arrest. Phil says you need to turn yourself in this afternoon.” she said with lip trembling.

My heart sank. Jail? I di…I didn’t know what to think. I wanted to cry. It had been a long day already and it was barely three in the after noon. Rita came over and put an arm around me. I wanted to be comforted but I pushed her arm anyway. She looked hurt.

“I’m sorry Ma, I…I just can’t…”

With tears running down her cheeks she nodded in understanding and left the room.

The dark skies and rain outside my window mirrored my gloomy disposition. I picked up the phone and then put it right back down again. I paced the room. I went back to the phone but left it on the cradle. I paced some more. While I knew things had been on a downward slide lately, they had now officially bottomed out. I couldn’t go to jail. Not in this body. No way! Wasn’t going to happen.

I picked up the phone and dialed the number. On the third ring it was answered. “Hello.” the voice on the other end said.

“Pat? It’s Mandy.” I said on the verge of panic.

“Hey girl. What’s wrong?”

“I need to know something.”

“K shoot.”

“When I asked you if you would leave with me if I had to go were you serious?” I asked hoping the answer would be yes.

“Of course I was. Why what’s happened.” She said nervously.

“Great. I…I need to go… like as soon as we can, if you’re willing to go today that is.”

“Amanda I love you I’ll go anywhere with you, but you gotta tell me what’s going on! You’re scarring the shit outta me here.” She demanded.

I quickly relayed the day’s events to her. To say she was appalled at what Paul did to me would be something of an understatement.

“I can’t believe that he did that to you.” she said in a shocked voice.

“I’ll show ya all the bruises when ya get here. That is, if you still want to go.”

“I’ll go. I got no reason to stay or anything. But where are we going?”

That one stumped me. “I don’t know! I just need to get out of here! Will you help me? Please?” I know she already agreed but I was seriously close to panicking here.

“Okay, Okay I’ll come get you. Don’t have a cow! Jeesh!” she said.

“I…I’m sorry. I’m just scared.”

“I’ll be there in an hour. Okay?”

“Thank you.” I said quietly on the verge of tears.

I hung up and went top my closet grabbed some cloths to wear and started to pack a bag. On the top shelf was a cigar box with some money I had put away, I emptied it and stuffed the contents into my pants pockets. It wasn’t much but it was enough to get away anyhow. I finished packing and sat on my bed to wait for Pat. My mind was racing so badly that I didn’t hear Rita yelling for me until she knocked on my door.

“Amanda, Phil’s on the phone. He wants to talk to you.” she hollered through the door.

“Okay Ma, I’ll be right there.”

I went down stairs and picked up the living room extension. “Amanda, judge Gardener wants to know what time you’re going to get down here.” he said without preamble.

“I…I’m not sure.”

“Don’t mess with him on this, get yourself down here and turn yourself in. I’ll tell him you’ll be here in an hour.”

“But I wasn’t in New Mexico.”

“It doesn’t matter right now. He thinks you were. If you don’t turn yourself in he’s going to send a police officer to your house to get you.” he said with obvious irritation.

“Okay. Fine I’ll be there.” I told him.

“One hour.” he repeated as he hung up.

‘Come on Pat, get there.’ I thought as I placed the phone back on the hook.

“What did Phil say?” Rita asked from behind me.

“He said I have to be at the court house in an hour or the police will come here to get me.” I said flatly.

“I’ll get my coat and drive you down there.”

“Pat’s coming to take me.” She looked hurt. “Don’t look like that ma. Please. It’s not that I don’t want you to take me, I just…I don’t want you to see them taking me…” I couldn’t finish.

“I…I understand.” She said sadly. We hugged tightly as we both cried. Not long afterward Pat arrived.

“Oh my god Amanda! He beat the shit out of you.” she exclaimed.

I smiled at her weakly and whispered, “Is everything all set?”

“Yep. I even stopped by the ATM to get more cash.” She replied.

“Good. I got some too. My bag’s upstairs. Let me go get it.”

I grabbed my stuff and quickly threw it into Pat’s car. When I came back in Rita was talking to Pat. My heart sank.

“All set?” I asked hopefully.

“Yeah.” She replied distractedly.

“Okay then, let’s get going.” I said as I hurried her out the door.

“Amanda! Wait.” Rita said as she came over and hugged me tightly. Crying she said “tell Phil to call me after you get to the court house.”

“I will.” I replied, trying to hold back the tears and walked out the door.

Once we were in the car Pat asked “Why does she think we’re going to the court house?”

“Let’s get going and I’ll explain while you drive.” I replied trying to be evasive.

We got about two blocks from Rita’s house when Pat again asked “So talk. Why does she think we’re going to the court house?”

I sank down in the seat and quietly said “Because I’m supposed to be turning myself in to the police there.”

“You’re supposed to do what?” she hollered.

I didn’t say anything.

“Amanda! Why didn’t you tell me before this? What kinda shit are ya trying to pull? I could get in big trouble if I don’t take you there.” She yelled as she began to look for a place to turn around.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m turning around so I can take you where you need to go.” She replied.

“No!” I yelled and stupidly grabbed the steering wheel.

“Amanda! What are…” The sound of a horn cut her off

. We looked up and saw an eighteen wheeler bearing down on us. Pat tried to cut the wheel but the wet road defeated her. I watched in horror as the trucks light filled the entire universe.

Bright light!
Loud crash!
Darkness!

Light.

I looked up and saw the unmistakable flaming red hair of Alexander. I looked down and saw I was myself again.

“My, my, my I seen some people screw up their second chances before, but Jake my boy you take the cake.” Alexander cackled.

I looked at him and asked “Is Pat?”

“Dead?” Yep. One more thing to add to the list.” He replied unsympathetically.

I was so numb I didn’t know what else to say so I asked “So now what happens?”

“Game over! You loose. Now you go to your eternal punishment.” He replied.

“I want another chance.” I pleaded.

“Why should we do that?” Alexander asked.

“I need to set things right.” I said.

“You do? And how do you propose to do that?” he asked mockingly.

“I…I don’t know. But I’ve got to try.” I said earnestly.

He smiled at me. “I like your attitude. You got spunk. And maybe, just maybe there might be hope for you. So I’ll tell ya what, we’ll give you one last chance. But be warned this is your last chance. Screw this one up and you’ll be roasting for eternity.”

“I…understand.” I replied.

**********************

I awoke to the feeling of rain pelting me. Above me there were red, blue and yellow flashing lights everywhere. 'Where am I?' I hazily thought to myself as I lifted my head and looked around. I was in a muddy ditch. I moved my left arm and almost passed out again from the pain.

I carefully got myself up and started towards the strobes. When I reached the top of the small hill that separated me from the lights, I saw an accident scene. There were police and firemen gathered all around a destroyed car. The truck, with little damage done to it, was pulled over up the road a bit, with driver looking stunned as he smoked his cigarette.

A couple of rescue workers stepped back from the vehicle for a moment, allowing me just enough of a look to see it was Pat’s BMW. They were pulling something out of the wreckage. It had to be Pat.

“Oh please don’t be dead.” I thought to myself even though I knew deep inside she was.

As if to confirm what I already knew they placed her body on a stretcher and pulled a cover over her. The horrible truth started to sink in, I had killed her. I needed to cry but the tears wouldn’t come. Numbly, I watched them put her into a waiting ambulance. It drove away several moments later without putting the lights or siren on.

I walked over to the nearest police officer. He saw me coming towards him and stepped in front of me, putting his hand on my shoulder. “Maam, you can’t be here.”

“I…was in there.” I told him pointing at the wreck. “I just woke up down in that ditch over there.”

“You must have been thrown clear.” He surmised. “Can you tell me what happened?” He pulled a small notebook out of his back pocket.

“Was that Pat?” I croaked pointing towards the receding ambulance.

“That was the driver.” He replied.

“Then she’s…” I choked.

“I’m sorry, but yes she’s…”

“Not going to make it.” I cut in.

“Can you tell me your name?” he requested.

Momentarily lost in my own grief, it took me a minute to realize he was still talking to me. “I…I’m sorry can you repeat yourself?” I asked distractedly. I couldn’t stop looking at the car. I was transfixed. He gently turned me away from the wreckage.

“I asked for you to give me your name.” he repeated.

“I’m sorry. It’s Amanda. Amanda David.” I said numbly.

“Amanda, can you tell me how this happened?”

“We were driving along and suddenly we were sliding onto the other side of the road. And then…” I told him gesturing towards the destroyed car.

He nodded in understanding. “Are you alright? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“I don’t know. My arm hurts like hell.” I replied. He took a look at my arm, touched it, the pain nearly buckled my knees, and waved someone over.

“I think you should go get it checked out.” To the ambulance attendant he said “She was in the car. Her arm looks broken, I want you to take her to get it looked at.”

The attendant gave it a quick once over and nodded his head in agreement. “Maam, if you would come with me?” He requested as he led me to the waiting ambulance.

************************

Rita and Phil came into the emergency together. Rita all but threw herself at me.

“OWW! Ma! Be careful!” I said holding my now plaster incased arm.

“I’m sorry.” She said in a chastised tone.

WE we’re silent for several moment until I looked up at her and said bleakly, “Pat’s dead”

“We know. We saw her mother on the way in. She said she’s glad you weren’t hurt.” Rita said in a whisper.

“Her mother’s here? Where?” I asked trying to get up.

“No. She was on her way out when we came in.” Rita said.

“Amanda, I know this isn’t your biggest concern at the moment.” Phil began. “But I managed to get a hold of Judge Gardener and told him about the accident. He said that would hold off on the warrant for now. So at least that gives us some time to sort this whole mess out.”

“Thank you. I appreciate all that you’ve done for me.” I replied warily. Once again the uncomfortable silence descended.

“Well the doctor said you’re all set to get out of here. So if you’re ready?” Rita said.

On the way back to the house I came clean about meeting with Paul and Mia and about Paul kicking the shit out of me. Rita and Phil were both pissed at me and horrified at Paul’s behavior.'No I didn’t tell the part about Mandy.'

“I wish you had said something about him attacking you before the accident. If you had we might have been able to do something about it. But now, they’ll just say that your injuries were caused by the crash.” Phil advised.

“I know. I’m sorry, I just…I was scared.” I stuttered.

“And the tape you made, it was destroyed?” Phil asked.

“The player was and I assumed the tape was too. But I never confirmed it.” I whispered.

‘Why are you asking me about tapes!!? Don’t you understand…Pat’s dead!’ I wanted to scream, but kept it to myself.

My mind must have wondered because when I tuned back in he was saying, “Amanda? Do you still have it?”

“I’m sorry, what was that again?” I asked him.

“He wanted to know if you still had the tape, honey.” Rita jumped in.

“I…Yeah…Ah…I’m not sure. Look can we talk about this later? I…I just can’t do this now.” I whispered as I began to cry again.

“Sure, we’ll deal with this later when you’re up to it.” Phil said apologetically.

By the time we got home my mood had swung from tired and depressed to highly agitated. I was exhausted but there was no way I was going to be able to sleep for a long while. I paced the house incessantly. I just couldn’t sit still and my arm was killing me. Still I refused to take even aspirin for it. I just kept seeing the rescue people loading Pat’s body into the ambulance. I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

I decided to try to sleep after Rita found me sitting on the stairs muttering to myself and crying. She put her hand on me. I looked up at her, with no idea how long she had been there. She sat down next to me and comforted me until the storm passed, never saying a word just holding me. That seemed to be the one I needed to get out of my system as it wore me out completely.

With one last hug and a whispered goodnight, I shuffled up the stairs and into the bathroom. I showered and climbed into bed and went out shortly after my head hit the pillow.

Notes:

Readers, Please Remember to Leave a Comment