Jake goes for help Chapter 4

Jake went inside the section that he worked in, and went to see his supervisor. The job they were currently doing was tedious, as they were taking the old documents and transferring them to computers. At the same time, they had to take current documents as they were created and do the same thing, and that meant he would have to read hundreds of cases, all of them serious, and many of them involving rape.

And the last time he had been here, reading one of those cases had sent him into a flashback that left him sitting on the floor crying.

His boss had found him, and got enough of the story out of him to realize that Jake was in no shape to work, and sent him home.

So now he had to convince the man he could handle the job, or maybe lose his source of income ...

Jake took another breath, and went to his boss’ s office, and knocked.

“Come in.”

Jake opened the door, and his boss smiled, and said, “Come in, Jake.”

Ralph McDonald was a large man, with greying hair, but despite his size he had shown a gentle side when Jake had had his “episode” last time he was here. It was then that Jake had learned that Ralph volunteered with the Rape Crisis center, and so recognized the signs of post-rape trauma right away.

“How you holding up, Jake?” Ralph said.

“Much better, I think. I’ve started counseling, its helping. “

“All right. You sure you’re up to this? You’ll let me know if it gets too much?”

“I promise.”

“Fine. I’m sure you remember where your desk is.”

Jake indeed knew where his desk was, and he went to it, and found himself hesitating to sit down in the chair.

Finally, after a deep breath, he sat down and went to work.

The first case was a relatively easy one - a car theft ring from the early 50’s that ended up going to the provincial Supreme Court. Jake carefully went through the documents and transferred them to the modern database, which took some time as the microfiche it had been stored on was starting to degrade.

It took some time, but eventually he was finished, and ready for the next case. He had another straightforward case, and then decided to have a short lunch.

Once back from lunch, he got back to work, and it was another fairly easy case - just a bank robbery from the 30’s. He had heard about the American cases like Bonnie and Clyde, but he had not realized there had been comparable cases in Canada.

Once he was done with it, he looked at the clock, and figured he had time for one last case before it was quitting time, and a few moments later he had taken a file out of the storage and got ready to transcribe the case.

And then he looked at the actual case, and started to shake.

It was a child abuse case from the early 70’s and reading the trauma suffered by the young men reminded him of his own situation, even if he had been an adult when his attack had happened,

He shook and shook, trying desperately to use the grounding techniques he had learned to keep himself in the present, but found it almost impossible to avoid the flashbacks...

Just then his boss came in, and saw his distress.

He turned of Jake’s computer , and then gently put a hand on Jake’s shoulder.

“Think you’re done for the day. Come on, I have an idea for something that might help.”

Jake followed him numbly.