Chapter Ten
My Calling

“Let’s go,” Matt said.
I followed him to his car and placed my hand on my chest at the pain under my left collarbone before signaling to head towards my house and he revved his engine. I needed him to come with me to Blackwater Falls but his old Camaro couldn’t make the trek. He had no chains on his tires and we were going into some crazy weather and it wasn’t likely to make it up the obscure dirt road to Jesse’s parents’ cabin.

I needed to get to my truck, not just for the truck though, for several baseball bats setting underneath my seat as well.

The car ride to my house felt like an eternity. We were understandably quiet. The fact that I couldn’t speak more than one or two words together wasn’t helping much either. I could also tell Matt didn’t want to cause me any unnecessary pain or maybe he was taking my ‘no questions asked’ demand a bit too literally. It was probably the fact that he already knew where we were going and was debating on whether or not it was worth our friendship to take me back to the hospital and spare both our lives or even Jesse’s.

Jesse. Jesse, the most deranged person I’ve ever known of in my entire life and whom I had no idea had it in him to be so. Jesse, someone I don’t even think Marisa or even Taylor knew was capable of such monstrosity.

When Matt killed the engine, he sat in the driver’s seat while I removed my seat belt and began to exit the car. He didn’t so much as blink and I hesitated at the door’s handle, sat back again only to nod in realization that Matt had no intention of coming with me. I didn’t blame him. He did the most he was willing to do and I could tell he was struggling with the words to say. I grabbed his shoulder, squeezed, and smiled the best crooked smile I could through the pain to let him know it was okay and bolted into the winter’s night.

I struggled through the falling snow to my truck and put it in neutral to push back onto the road without waking my mom or sister. The next thing I knew Matt was beside me helping me push her onto the road. I hopped into the cab, waved my thank you, and watched Matt hug his arms through my rear view. Poor Matt. I could only imagine what he was thinking but there was one thing I knew for certain. His eyes were the most worried I’d ever seen them. It instantly aged him.

The four and a half hour drive to Blackwater Falls left room for me to imagine the worst scenarios possible. I made a mental checklist of all the things I was going to need if I was forced to go out into the woods to find Jules. I prayed that he was keeping her at the cabin but feared that since the police had already been there I would find the same thing they did, nothing.

The pang of hurt settled inside my chest at the thought of what Jesse might have done to Jules while I was out and I found my foot laying harder on the gas. I absently placed my hand over the place on my chest I knew Julia was hurting the worst.

The roads were barely visible through the thick fog of snow tossing and turning around me. It wasn’t sticking and that was very good news to me. I hadn’t even needed to wait long for my windshield to defrost. My heart, on the other hand was another story, frozen solid knowing Jules was so close yet so very far away from me.

Four hours passed sluggishly before I found myself at the obscure turn off that was the Thomas’ private drive to their small vacation home but in Jesse’s case it was more his own private hideaway from the law.

I was lucky to find it at all, not only because of the weather, but also because I’d only been there twice before. I turned onto the drive and slowly snaked the truck through two miles of blizzard. The truck slipped and skidded a few times in a dangerous ice dance but when I finally reached the cabin my earlier prediction struck home. It was dark, not a single light on.

I hid the truck in an alcove of trees I was confident wouldn’t hinder a hasty retreat and slipped out. I circled the cabin with my bat in hand looking for any signs of their whereabouts. I found Jesse’s car parked in the back next to the firewood. I was hoping since the police had come and left at that point that Jesse would feel comfortable coming back to the cabin but it was a false hope, just one I was so wishing was true.

I walked through his screened porch and shook the snow from my boots and body. I pressed my ear against the door and heard nothing. I checked the handle and it was unlocked. I hesitated, thinking it was a trap, but saw no smoke coming from the chimney and was fairly sure he wouldn’t have been inside without one, the cold was that bitter.

I stepped inside and the cabin felt as icy cold as it was outside. If they had been there it had to have been hours before because the fireplace was completely void of any warmth. I could tell there had been a recent fire though, no more than a day old, probably less gauging the time frame he was working under.

My jaw throbbed as the pain medication wore off but I did notice my strength was returning with more potency as the pain grew worse. It was worth the trade off. I needed all the strength I could assemble. God only knew how long it was going to take for me to find Jules and then I was probably going to have to fight Jesse once I came upon them.

I circled the entire living room searching, begging for a clue of any kind that could lead me to my Jules but it was too dark. I wasn’t about to turn on a light near any windows just in case he was nearby and watching for me.

My back against the wall, I scaled the one nearest the master bedroom and opened the door to the room but didn’t step in, waiting for the possibility that he could be hiding with Jules in the room. I glanced around the room, I threw open the closet doors, peered underneath the bed but no one was there.

I turned to leave the room and noticed I hadn’t checked the bathroom, no windows in there. I approached this door as I had the master’s and waited before entering. When I stepped inside, I flipped on the light, nearly vomiting from the scene before me. It was covered in blood, lots and lots of sickeningly rusted blood. It was clotted and had been there for hours.

Obviously, the police hadn’t had a warrant to enter the Thomas home or they’d have corded off the room as evidence, or maybe Jesse came after they had.

The shower was enclosed in glass and the bleeder had taken a quick shower, rinsing off the blood from their body but not bothering to rinse it from the tile floor. I noticed two hand prints belonging to the same person imprinted on the glass door. I could tell by their size that they belonged to Jesse and I almost burst into tears. My knees began to buckle and I had to support myself against the door to keep from bathing in the blood pooled on the floor. Julia.

    I staggered from the room and fell onto my knees at the foot of the Thomas’ bed. I pulled myself up against the mattress and headed back to the living room. I lost control and could barely keep myself up. I leaned against the fireplace and used the bat I brought to balance myself.

Watery eyes scanned the room, desperately seeking something, anything that would help me find Jules but I found nothing but more blood pooled in random areas of the living area. No matter, I wasn’t giving up. Until she was in my hands, I was never giving up. Never.

    All at once it came to me. I knew where Jesse was. I was so disgusted with myself that I hadn’t thought of it earlier, it could have spared Jules any torture she had most probably already received. She wasn’t dead because the soreness at my chest still pulsed, a perversely good sign.

When Jesse was younger, after he had brought me to the cabin the two times he had invited me, he told me he discovered a place he could be alone and by alone he meant a place he could take girls when his parents were around.

He said it was a small cave underneath a small group of falls near his cabin. He told me it was perfect because the water made it impossible for anyone to find him there. I practically sprinted to my truck and with my bat in hand, I stuffed a couple of plastic cuffs I stole from my Uncle Danny into my coat pocket along with a flashlight and began my trudge through the snow, three feet thick in some spots, to the river.

I followed the river until I met the first fall of water and steadily worked my way to its base. I edged myself down, trying to see if it was possible to hold a cave but it was too small and I could see the rock through running water when I held my flashlight to it.

Trying very hard not to get wet, knowing it would kill me within a few minutes in this cold, I patiently edged myself back to the trees lining the river and continued to follow it. I walked for at least a quarter of a mile without seeing any kind of waterfall. I contemplated turning around and following the river in the opposite direction of the Thomas cabin. I began to turn but instinctively decided to go just a few more yards in the direction I had been traveling.

I could see, around a bend, several yards ahead a break in the river and a set of waterfalls slightly larger than the first one I had found. I had a gut wrenching feeling those were it and intuitively turned off my flashlight. I used the trees as a physical guide and avoided any place I could see the reflection of stars to avoid getting wet. My toes and fingers felt like they would fall completely off at any moment but it was a pathetic sting in comparison to the ache I felt for needing to find Jules.

Please, I prayed. Please let her be alright! My head pounded at the possibility that she could just be on the other side of the wall of that water. It was everything in my power not to dive into the water and snatch her way. I found restraining myself when I felt the excruciating need to find her drained me of precious energy so I shifted my focus to preserving all I had to fight.

Every crunch of snow beneath my boot grated my nerves. I was certain the rushing water drowned out any noise on both sides but I still hated that Jesse could have any warning whatsoever. I wanted the crack of my bat against his back to be the only way for him to be aware of my presence.

The waterfall was tall, probably sixty feet high, and the surrounding edges of the erupting water was frozen, seemingly instantaneously, a swollen cloud of powdered water in perfect stillness. In between the frame of solid water, rushed liquid, racing as fast as it could to avoid the fate of its brother frigid in time.

I edged myself down the embankment heading toward the end of the fall before realizing too late that there was no way to avoid getting wet. The water seeped into my clothing at an alarming rate. I knew that if they weren’t at this fall that I’d have to find a dry place soon to avoid hypothermia.

A few feet before the edge, I heard voices, someone talking, but it seemed too long and drawn out to be a conversation. My heart jumped into my throat before I realized that it wasn’t someone talking, it was someone’s yelling dulled by the raging water. Jules.

I wanted to shout out but the wire holding my jaw tight prohibited it. I threw myself through the water, rolled over my shoulder onto a damp poorly lit cave, and sat up against my heels to witness the most horrific sight my eyes have ever taken in.

 

Jules.

 

My beautiful Jules, her hair darkly saturated and matted down from what could only be a lot of blood, her blood. She sat with her legs crossed on the floor and her hands tied behind her back. Her mouth was bound with a piece of cloth that tied behind her head. I could tell it was way too tight because her cheeks bulged around it and her skin looked chafed. The cloth, at one time, was of a light color but its original hue was lost in the soaked red that ringed her beautiful head.

The tragic sight sent a shivering pulse of rage through my entire body. My hands gripped my bat with blistering mania. He was going to be stopped, by me, and at that very moment. I stood. Jules could barely register an audible scream. She begged me to stop, feverishly trying to warn me, but I couldn’t hear her over the ferocious wrath pulsing in my ears, eyes, face, and body. I swung the bat above my head focusing my aim at the top of his skull but stopped myself right before giving the deadly blow he deserved.

I hadn’t noticed before, because his body was turned in such a way that it blocked my view, but in his left hand was a gun and it was aimed at Jules’ head.

    “Stop!” I mumbled.
    “Put your bat down,” he said calmly.
    I placed the bat slowly on the ground and rose with my hands where he could see them. He signaled for me to kick the bat to the opposite corner of the cave and I complied. I noticed he had two cuts across his arms, one looked particularly deep, and that he had bound it with strips of a cloth but it did little to stop the heavy bleeding. I realized then that the blood in his parents’ bathroom wasn’t Jules’. It was his. I was very proud of Jules. She must have caught him off guard enough to do some damage but I felt a twist of agony for the price she had paid for it. It was evident in her eyes but even more apparent in the ‘E’ he had carved on the left part of her chest just below the collar bone.

I fingered my chest where I felt the same pounding burn. It was deep enough to have soaked a thick trail of blood down her shirt and into her jeans. I’m so sorry, I mouthed. She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting tears and shook her head slightly.
    “Good,” he said, never breaking his frightening gaze on Jules.

Her eyes stayed with mine. She silently pleaded with me to cooperate. She had a few hours practice with Jesse and somehow knew this was it for her soon.

“I’ve waited for a long time for you to find us here,” he said, his eyes briefly darting to mine before refocusing them on Jules’. “You know Julia? You aren’t the only girl I’ve brought down here.”
My eyes widened in fear, anticipating what he’d say next.   

“She’s not exactly the best I’ve had down here Elliott but she had her moments. I do think I could have enjoyed it more if you had been here to watch but I relish the fact I can recount it to you in front of her.” He closed his eyes. “Her scream, when I can get her to, I must say Elliott, is phenomenal; involuntarily gravelly I’m happy to say.”

Jules’ eyes began to water and she shook her head violently, trying to keep me from doing something stupid and getting us both killed. My knuckles tightened in fury, the whites of them brightened with a hungry need to hit him.

“Oh calm down, Elliott,” he threatened. “Don’t act so surprised. I told you that I wanted her.” He smiled at some private thought before continuing on, “It’s your fault, you know. If you had just stepped aside as I had told you, it wouldn’t have to be so painful for her.” He raised his red eyes my direction and emphatically insisted with the gun, “You did that to her!”

Jules broke down into sobs as she shook her head from side to side, telling me it wasn’t true. I made a move toward her to comfort her. I didn’t care what he did to me. I needed only to touch her and both our fears, our anxieties, our pain, would dissipate into nothing.

Surprisingly, he made no move to stop me, only stepped further back putting the fire he made between himself and us but kept the gun aimed at Jules.

I touched Jules and it was as if nothing else mattered. Our shared current emanated through our bodies and we were one. I had never felt it pulse so powerfully through us and in that moment I understood that it had been our heightened sense of longing that caused it.

The desperation for the other was never as frantic as it was in that second. Our bodies somehow knew it was the last time our touch would be a reality and were instinctively getting their fill before they extinguished forever. The sensation was more powerful than before, although no less pleasurable. It calmed me yet simultaneously frightened me. It was a sign. A sign that our gift anticipated this was to be the end of our time together.

The tears overwhelmed us Jules and we forgot about Jesse completely. I sat on the back of my legs to remove the gag, inhaling her into the deepest kiss, the softest kiss possible. It glorified all that was good in us, all that was buried in our hearts. I lifted my hand for her face but when it came up a scorching, excruciating pain pierced my left shoulder.

Jules yelled my name as I tumbled onto the stone floor behind me. She lunged herself on top of me and pleaded my name, tears flooding down her face. I hated when she cried, worse than a million gunshot wounds to the shoulder. My chest ached for her.

    “Elliott!” She cried over and over.

Jesse lifted her from my torso and threw her against the rock wall purposely slamming her head against the stone and pulled her gag back into place.

    “Calm down Julia! It’s only his shoulder. That’s not the shot that’s going to kill him. Trust me,” he said with a cruel smile.
    I sprang to my feet but made no attempt to go for the bat at the other end of the stone alcove. I wouldn’t have had time. I had no idea what I was going to do. In my hesitation, Jesse aimed the gun at my other shoulder.
    “Please,” I begged.
    “What?” He mockingly cupped his hand over his ear. “I’m sorry Elliott, did you say something?”  He laughed maniacally. “Nothing to say for Julia? I really expected more of a protest than this at least Elliott. You’ve hardly said two words. Come now! What kind of boyfriend are you that you can’t even spit out two words to plead for her? Does her life mean nothing to you? Tsk, tsk, tsk.” He turned to Jules. “Look at this loser? He can’t even fight for you. How can you be with somebody so pathetic?”
    “You broke his jaw!” She yelled through her gag.
    Jesse ignored her, “Should I describe the intimate things we’ve shared tonight Julia? Do you think that might goad some sort of response from him? Why don’t you tell him Julia?” She pleaded with me through her eyes. “No?” He turned his gaze back to me. “That’s alright. I’ll start then.........Hmmmm.” He tapped his gun against his chin, “Well, first off, she’s an amazing kisser Elliott. I’m shocked you never spoke of her lips before.

“I particularly enjoyed her tongue, very warm. I accidentally bit her though. Poor girl. I was too eager.” He turned toward Jules, “I’m really sorry about that by the way,” before returning his eyes to mine. “It was messy as hell, with all the blood and everything, but it didn’t stop me now did it Julia? And those orthodontics? They really paid off I think. I let my tongue feel its way around her mouth and I couldn’t find even one out of place. You’ve been quite a good girl, I can tell. Diligent in wearing your retainers.” He sighed, “I like good girls. You know what I like more? Making good girls dirty. Isn’t that right Elliott? You’ve lent your ear my way to hear a tale or two.

“Wouldn’t you agree I’m quite good at that?” He paused, waiting for an answer that wouldn’t come. “Well, I think I am. You’ll actually be able to judge for yourself here Elliott in just a few minutes. Anyway,” he said waving the gun absently, “her hair is quite soft. I’ve never smelled anything so appetizing before. It was a shame it got so bloody and filthy, I had plans to run my knife through it. A souvenir would have been nice. Oh well,” he sighed in disappointment. “Let’s see, what happened next?”

Jules closed hard at the memory of it all and tears poured slowly down her cheeks. He stared at her reaction and it must have reminded him of what he had done next.

    “Oh yeah!” He laughed, “Her legs. I must admit Elliott, out of all the legs I’ve slid my hands up, hers were the most enjoyable. She kept trying to squeeze them back together and I was forced to lay my knees against them.

“That took care of that, didn’t it Julia? She may have a few bruises but after that it was no trouble at all to feel what I wanted to feel. Of course, mind you, it was over her jeans, a problem I plan on remedying soon, now that you’re here.

“It was a good thing you came when you did too, because I was really starting to become impatient. I am so enthralled with her. She seems so, what’s the word, uptight. I can’t wait to lay my hands on her.

“That’s something you’ll never get to do, is it Elliott? Rightfully so. I never really understood the hype around you. Technically you were no better at sports than I, but that didn’t matter, it was the position people coveted and they just worshipped you for it, didn’t they?     

“Academically? If I was being honest with myself, I’d have to admit you have me there but I just don’t care.

“The only thing I didn’t want you to have was the university life you held in such esteem. You rattled on and on about it, constantly wafting it in front of my face.

“It’s not fair that you got a full ride when you barely earned it. I saw how little you studied for your exams this year, tediously preoccupied with the girl and all, while I worked myself to the bone trying to earn a friggin’ D and yet, as always, you ended up with your perfect scores.

“Then, you had the gall to accuse me of slacking off. Granted,” he laughed, “I was preoccupied myself with most of the girls volleyball team this semester but how dare you accuse me of slacking off when you barely spent a few minutes with me at all! What kind of friend does that make you?

“You’ve completely ignored me since your experience with her that first day and I gotta’ tell you, it really rubbed me the wrong way. You knew I wanted her, you even threw the fact that you were on to me in my face. That ticked me off but I thought, ‘it’s Elliott. Get a hold of yourself. He’ll come back around, you’ll see’ but I was wrong wasn’t I? You never did. You grabbed hold of the nonsense that she was your Julia and ran with it, leaving me to cough and choke on the remnants of your dust.”

   I knew the guy had a selective memory but to be so insane as to make stuff up and convince yourself of the validity?
    “You pretended like Julia was so special. Like she was more than a good roll in the hay but I know what she really is. She’s nothing but dirt underneath my fingernails, o nly good for one thing.”
    I was struggling with the extreme anger surging through my muscles. I drew my bottom lip through my teeth, despite the excruciating pain, to keep from charging him and getting myself killed before I could save Jules. I needed to get my bat, badly.

I regretted hesitating earlier and should have grabbed it before he could regain control of his gun. He continued with the retelling of his cruelty but was totally unaware of the building wrath that I would descend upon him with every single word he spoke. I wore a mask of calm and let the storm erupt within me waiting for the perfect moment to unleash it.

    “Let’s see.........Oh! And her stomach! Smooth and flat. Not one ounce of fat, yet still as soft as I’ve ever felt. I must say, I didn’t anticipate liking her body so much.

“You know, I claimed earlier that she wasn’t as good as some I’ve brought in here but I only said that because she struggled so mightily and I could barely control her.

“I’d like to retract that statement,” he said, pinching his lower lip between his thumb and forefinger. “No, in fact, I think she’s the best. I think I enjoyed it all the more because of the fight. It’s too bad you’ll never get to have her. I’m sure you would have found her as incredible as I will.” He sighed, apparently approaching the end of his speech and shrugged his shoulders.

“I had so much more I wanted to say to you Elliott but I just can’t remember now. I just can’t seem to get Julia out of my head, sort of anti-climactic.”

He snorted.

“You know when you’ve been looking forward to something for a long time and then when the time comes you sort of lose interest? No matter, Julia will more than make up for it. Won’t you Julia?”

He kept the gun pointed at my shoulder and carefully walked over to Jules, then with his free hand wrapped her hair around his fist. He yanked her head backward and she squealed in pain. He aggressively pulled down her gag. I reigned in the rage once more. Soon, I promised myself. He pulled her up to him and she stood, trembling. He pushed her head to his and kissed her.

“Gotta’ get the taste of him out of your mouth. You will never taste him again, you hear me?”

She watched him.

“Acknowledge me!” He yelled.

Her body tightened in response before she nodded.

He kissed her again, harder. It was painful to her because she began to groan but that only served to spur him on and he kissed her even more harshly. When he pulled his face away from hers, their mouths were covered in her blood. Jules wailed and spit the blood toward the stone to keep from choking.

Not now, Elliott.

    “Get undressed,” he said, cutting the ties at her hands in one swift swipe of his blade, “but replace your gag. I can’t have you biting me. Your screams might be muffled but I think we’ll still be able to ruffle Elliott’s feathers.”
It sickened me to hear his thoughts, like the object of his torment wasn’t human, wasn’t Jules.
    “No,” I said.
    “Get undressed Julia or Elliott gets another bullet,” he threatened somberly.
She immediately bent to remove her boots.
    Before she could move onto her coat he ordered her to remove her socks as well, “I didn’t say everything but your socks darlin’. It’s important to me that your feet are as cold as the rest of your body. Consider this punishment for earlier.”

She nodded and removed her socks. Even her socks were soaked in blood but I couldn’t locate the source, ultimately deciding she must have stepped in a bloody pool back at the cabin. She removed her coat and stood frozen, her eyes focused rigidly at the stone beneath my feet, afraid to remove her sweater or pants.

    “Do you want an additional punishment other than the one that’s already coming your way Julia? I can make it worse for you, if you wish.”

The tears stained a clear path through the blood on her face. She raised her gaze into my eyes. She was afraid, not for herself, but for me. I could see the terror in them and feel it in her heart. I was hoping she wouldn’t have noticed the pool of blood growing at my feet. The blood swam down my arm and gathered at my fingertips. My entire sleeve was soaked red and my hand was slippery with the wet of it. I was losing so much I was swaying from the loss. I could barely keep my eyes focused, the room spun around me. I knew I didn’t have much time.

While she had been removing her boots, I slowly began to inch toward the bat without him noticing, too engrossed with his prey. I tried to take advantage of that but he only signaled with the barrel of the gun for me to move back to my original spot. I obeyed him. My eyes darted about the cave looking for anything that might aid me in stopping him but there was nothing. I had run out of options and time. I rallied the courage to attack when I felt he was sufficiently distracted. Jules removed her sweater and began to lift her camisole. Jesse’s eyes became and I knew that tiny lapse in concentration was going to be my only chance.

I lunged for him, darting slightly left anticipating the deafening shot that came from the gun the second I moved. Jules ducked, covering her ears, eyes wide with fear. The bullet missed me by mere inches and he re-aimed the gun to shoot again but it was too late. I was already on him and had pulled him back toward the waterfall’s edge.

We struggled over control of the gun and I watched Jules run for the bat. She couldn’t get a good angle on Jesse so instead knocked the gun from his hands and into the water. It was a fairer fight, at least, and despite my hurt shoulder the adrenaline pumping through me was able to give me the strength I needed to push my palm underneath his chin with tremendous force.

Part of his tongue had been resting on his bottom row of teeth and the force of my blow severed the tip, blood burst from between his lips. Jules attempted to pull his hair back to get him on the ground but he kicked backwards with enough force it knocked the wind from her small frame and she toppled onto the stone gasping for air.

I immediately left Jesse to help her and he used the opportunity to grab the bat I had brought. I cursed myself for bringing the ‘knife to the gun fight’ and darted at him to avoid Jules from being caught underneath the blow. As he brought the bat down I felt for the sidewall of the cave and used it to propel myself on top of him.

I felt helpless in the struggle, distracted by the labored breathing coming from Jules. By the way she struggled to breathe, I was certain he had broken a rib and that brought the rage to a new boiling point. I used the nitrous effect of it to, ironically, crack his jaw. He staggered at the pain of it and I used the time to reposition myself for an uppercut to the gut. This floored him and I dragged him toward the water.

I forced his head and shoulders through the waterfall but he grabbed my coat before I could release my grip and he took me over the edge with him. I heard Jules yell my name as we toppled over the steep edge into the chilling pitch black water, neither of us interested in the fight once we landed in its arctic temperature.

We were caught underneath the churning, tumbling water. It was too dark to know which way was up or which way was down. I only knew to fight against the current dragging and pulling me around like a rag doll in a washing machine. My lungs squeezed tightly in my chest, desperate for air. I felt myself losing consciousness and frantically fought against its determined attempts to pull me down.

Dark hands circled my ankles, dragging me down with all their might. I fought with everything in me, kicking my invisible assailant, picturing Julia at the surface of the water.

Eventually my head broke the surface and I screamed out in pain from the bullet wound in my arm before swallowing my first breath of air. I struggled to keep my head above water, being twisted and coiled through the numbing cold.

The temperature was paralyzing, my arms felt detached from my body. I couldn’t control them. I hit a calmer part of the rapids and began looking for Jesse but he was nowhere to be found. I tried as hard as I could, throwing my shot shoulder ahead of me and using all the strength I could to get to the shore before he fled and I was too late.

    When I reached the embankment, there was no way in knowing where he had fled the water, if he had. My eyes scanned both sides of the riverbank but it was too dark. The water was so cold and I knew that the break in the rapids was the only feasible point to come out of. No one in their right mind would have been able to float further on their own accord, I thought before eerily reminding myself just how not right in the head he truly was.

I studied the shore further down the river and waited patiently in the debilitating cold. The snow was falling so thickly it would have immediately covered his tracks so I looked for movement only. I waited and waited but there was not a single sound, not a single movement other than the falling snowflakes floating to the earth.

My adrenaline began to dissipate, naturally reacting to the feeling that there was no immediate danger, from him at least. I fell to my knees in exhaustion.

The loss of blood, the cold, the water, it was all adding up to be more than I thought I could fight through. I needed to get to Jules. I needed to know she was okay. I could barely lift myself from the ground at that point, my body heavy with exhaustion. The deep snow wasn’t helping any. I felt like I was trying to catch my already unsteady footing on top of a cloud, my feet sinking further than I imagined possible. I stumbled repeatedly, my blood staining the pristine white snow and recording my pathetic progress.

About halfway to the waterfall, I spotted Jules looking for me. I called out to her and she hobbled to my side. She urged me up and helped me back to the fire inside the cave.

We both tumbled to the ground in fatigue of body and mind but mostly from relief. Relief that he was gone, probably drowned, relief from the heat of the fire, relief that we were both alive, somewhat alright and together. I removed my wet glove but instead of taking the shaking hand I offered her, Jules sat up and began to remove all my wet clothes.

    “We have to get you out of these or you’ll get hypothermia,” she said through chattering teeth. “How’s your shoulder?”
    “Fine,” I lied.
I pointed to her rib.
    “I’m perfectly fine,” she lied. “I know your arm hurts but I think the cold is helping the bleeding.”

She removed all my wet clothes except for my boxers and laid them flat on the stone next to the fire so they could dry enough to get us out of there. She removed her jacket and laid it across my torso, yanked up her sweater and tore massive strips of her camisole off before lowering it back down.

    “This is going to be painful my love,” she whispered. “Put your hand on my exposed skin and hopefully our current will dull the pain.”

I smiled crookedly at her and did as she asked. She began to wrap my bleeding wound. She was right, touching her helped tremendously or maybe it was that I was just so glad we were alive and together.

    “I. Will. Never. Let. You. Out. Of. My. Sight. Again.” I managed to fight out through wires and a throbbing, shivering jaw.
    “Don’t worry,” she said while working, “I won’t ever let you out of my sight again either. You’re not allowed more than a few feet from me at all times, you understand?” She asked, teary eyed.
She worked quietly.

After half an hour, when she felt my clothes were dry enough to walk through the snow, she carefully helped me dress. She had been uncomfortably quiet through that time, periodically checking on my wound. I gave her some space to let her grieve over the awful things that must have happened to her while I laid in that ridiculous hospital bed.

    “I love you so much Elliott and when you were shot.......I..........,” she couldn’t finish.

I squeezed her arm with my good hand and gave her a reassuring smile. I reached for her face and delicately brushed my hand underneath her jaw. I started to bring her mouth to mine but she refused.
    “Just a second,” she said. “I have to wash Jesse out of my mouth.”

I began to protest but she didn’t care. I knew if she could handle what she must have gone through with Jesse, the temperature of the water would be no challenge at all, so I let her do it.

She cupped her hands underneath a trickling stream of water leaking from a crack in the rock above, washed out her mouth and cleaned off her face. She leaned back over my body and I began where I left off.

    I had never kissed Jules this way before. It was a kiss with a multitude of layers. Through that simple kiss I told her everything I wasn’t able to voice. I told her how much I loved her, how thankful I was for her, how thankful I was to her, and what she truly meant to me. I let her know the need I had for her, that my life was meaningless without her, the future that we were destined to have together and the overwhelming requisite to make her my wife.....as soon as possible.

She sat up in surprise.“Of course Elliott,” she smiled through watery eyes.

I smiled and waited for her to explain.
    “Of course we’ll marry after graduation.”
My eyes began to match hers and I kissed her softly once more.
    “But before we do that, we need to get out of here,” she winked.

She helped me put my coat back on and tied my boots for me and we edged our way up the embankment and followed the same line of trees up to Jesse’s parents’ cabin.

When it came into view Jules was too terrified to continue. I assured her they would find Jesse’s body soon. I guided her toward my truck and kissed her cheek in reassurance. She sighed in relief when she saw it. We brushed at least two feet of snow from the windshield and scraped the little amount of ice there was.

She wouldn’t let me drive, afraid I’d pass out from the loss of blood. She buckled me in and then herself and started the engine. I was glad she insisted on driving as I was already blacking in and out of consciousness. When it purred to life she sighed in relief and threw it in reverse, desperate to get as far away as possible as quickly as possible from anything remotely related to Jesse Thomas.

As we sped down the highway, Jules looked for the nearest hospital. She said she saw a sign on the way up here not too far away for a Davis Memorial Hospital. She said she took note of it, wanting to prepare herself for all possibilities.

We pulled into the snow blanketed parking lot and parked at the covered ambulance entrance to the emergency room before the truck’s heater even had a chance to kick in. The sun was just starting to rise behind us in the brightest red and orange colors.

“I refuse to leave your side,” she said.

I nodded and smirked as if to say I wasn’t going to let her even if she tried.

When the officer, sitting at the small security desk next to a sign that read ‘ER Admittance’, eyes bulged from his head I knew we must have looked something frightful. I couldn’t imagine what we looked like to him, both of us smothered in a sheet of dried blood.

“What happened to you two!” He screamed. His eyes went to my arm. “Hyacinth! Hyacinth! Get a gurney in here! We’ve got a gunshot wound! Smithy get me a wheelchair too!”

A nurse ran to us and asked if there was anything else wrong that we weren’t able to see and I shook my head.

    “Yesterday he had his jaw broken by the guy who did this to us and can barely speak,” she said through tears.
    “Oh my God,” the nurse said, crossing himself.

Hyacinth helped me onto a gurney and the nurse I assume was named Smithy helped Jules into the wheelchair.

    “I can’t leave his side,” she said looking up at Smithy.
    “I’m sorry sweetheart but he needs to be examined quickly and will probably be heading to surgery soon. You can’t go with him.”

She stood and firmly, but calmly repeated what she had said, “I told you, I can’t leave his side. You don’t know what we’ve been through,” her voice cracked.

He looked down at us and didn’t argue with her. Jules grabbed my hand and I felt our current’s relief. It made me feel sleepy it was so soothing and thrummed through my muscles and bones. The loss of blood just exacerbated the sensation.

As they examined my wound, I saw two doctors look at Jules’ head. They suspected a mild concussion but nothing major. They asked her to stand but she said she didn’t think she’d be able to. When they asked her why, she said that he had sliced the bottom of her feet so she couldn’t run and I almost lost my cool wishing I had gone ahead and hit him with the bat and cracked open his skull.

I felt awful. I noticed her limping in the snow on the way to my truck but I thought it was in attempt to help me. It made me feel like I was the worst person in the world. I had nothing but a small bullet wound in some muscle. I didn’t have to walk on my wounds. I almost got sick imagining the pain she must have felt with every step she took and my heavy body leaning against hers.

The doctor pulled Jules’ shirt back slightly to look at the ‘E’ carved into her chest and murmured to the nurse beside him that he’d need to put several stitches there as well. When the nurse named Hyacinth, saw the ‘E’ she forced a gasp back into her throat. I saw the doctor’s eyes widen at the extent of cruelty once he left the room, probably to regain the composure that was leaking from his expression while examining her.

Paying attention to Jules was infuriating the doctor examining me and he threatened to separate us. I settled down but never kept my eyes from Jules’. My poor Jules.

    Eventually, they insisted we had to separate, so Jules could get a CT scan and have her head bandaged and her feet and chest could be stitched.

I was being prepared for surgery and got the distinct impression I’d wake, from my second surgery in two days, to the hysterical faces of my family lingering above me but what I really wanted when I woke, was Jules in my arms. I didn’t want her to be away from my touch ever again. She was mine to protect and admittedly I hadn’t done a very good job thus far, but that was all going to end. I promised myself.

   

I woke to the sound of beeps and soft murmurs.

I barely had to lift my lids before Jules said, “He’s awake!”

She leaned towards me, barely reaching my face since she was in a wheelchair.
    She brushed hair from my face, tears in her eyes, “Hello my love.”
    “Hello.Jules.,” I said, kissing her hand.
We were at a loss for words, just stared at each other in total awe of the other.

My mom broke the silence, “Elliott, honey....,” but she couldn’t finish.

“Mom.it’s.okay.”

“No, it’s not okay sweetheart but it will be. We love you baby. We are all so happy to see the two of you alive.”

I scanned the room and piled high to the rafters were our families. I could hear talking in the hall and recognized more family members.

    “It’s not allowed but we didn’t care and they didn’t really put up much of a fight considering.....” my dad said.

He stood at the foot of the bed and squeezed my leg. We understood each other so well, no words were necessary. I nodded at him.

    Jules’ mom and dad were sitting in the corner, red eyed, looking more tired than even Jules and I did.
    Gerry and Ann Jacobs stood and walked to the side of my bed.
    “Thank you,” Gerry told me. “Thank you.”
I signaled for a pad and pen.
    I confidently wrote, Of course Mr. Jacobs. It’s my destiny to protect Julia, my calling.
    “We can see that,” Ann said softly. “We can see that,” a single tear reaching the hand she held so tightly in her own.