No one would believe me

    Her bottom lip shook violently, as her aunt continued to yell at her out of nowhere a hand swept across Katie's face. Her chest heaved up and down as the tears rolled down her face. Before she could get hit again, she jumped up and ran out of the house crying.

"Get your little ungrateful ass back here!" her yelled at her as she ran down the street.

    Hearing the rage in her aunts' voice made her run faster and further from the place where she never really felt wanted. The oncoming ache in her legs made her stop running and take a look at where she was. It took a minute for her to take in her surroundings, once she calmed down she realized she was standing in front of Ashtons' house. Ashton had been her best friend since grade school, he knew everything about her, including how her aunt had been abusive to her ever since her mother had passed away. Katie went over to the side gate, opened it up and made her way to the side door. Opening up the screen she tapped on the main door and waited for someone to answer. Two minutes had passed before Ashton appeared in the doorway.

    "She hit you again didn't she?" he asked, noticing Katies' freshly bruised lip.

"Yeah, do you mind if I stay here tonight?"

    "You know you're always welcome here, come on in." Ashton replied moving out of the doorway so Katie could enter.

    Katie walked up the couple of stairs that led to the kitchen, she took a quick glance around and her shoulders relaxed from the sense of security that she felt in this house.

    "Are you thirsty?" Do you need anything?" Ashton asked as he grabbed himself a pop out of the fridge.

    "No, I think I'm just going to go to sleep."

    "Alright, you take my bed and I'll take the couch."

    "Alright, see you in morning Ash." Katie said making her way up the stairs.

    On her way to Ashtons' bedroom Katie stopped in the bathroom to take a look at her face. There was a small bruise forming under her left eye and she had a busted lip.

    "I'm never going back there again," she mumbled to herself.

    She walked into Ashtons' bedroom and climbed into his bed to try to get some sleep. Moments later Ashton walked into his room wearing a pair of basketball shorts and a wife beater.

    "Hey, what happened to your couch." Katie asked Ashton as he sat down on the bed.

    "Shit, I got rid of it because i got a better one on the way."

    "Well you take that side and I'll take this side." Katie said scooting over on the bed to make room for Ashton.

    Climbing into the bed Ashton looked over at her and sighed "You know you have to tell someone about this right?" This has to stop, what if she really hurts you the next time?

    "But then where would I live? Who would even believe a word that I say. It would be her word against mine."

    "You can live here if you want, I'll take the couch for a while."

    "Nah, I'll take the couch there is no telling you've had in this bed. I'm going to need a long shower in the morning just to wash off whatever could be in here."

    "I always changed my sheets after ever girl, so shut up."

    "I hope so, anyway goodnight." Katie said tuning on her side.

    "Yeah, goodnight." Ashton said turning in the opposite direction.

    In the middle of the night Katie started to scream at the top of her lungs. Ashton jumped up and lightly shook her shoulder to get her to wake up.

    "Katie! Wake up! You're fine look!" Ashton kept repeating over and over trying to get her wake up.

    After about ten minutes of shaking her shoulder, Katie finally opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings trying to clear the fog from her head.

    "Sorry, another bad dream." Katie said a little embarrassed.

    "Don't worry about it, just try to get some sleep." Ashton replied wiping his eyes.

    Katie laid back down and went to sleep once more. Ashton looked at her for a while and then turned over and went back to sleep. Sunrays came through the curtains and directly into Katie's face.

    "Ugh, the sun, it burns!" Katie said groaning being in direct contact of the sun."

    Before getting up out of the bed she stretched her arms and legs, stopping once she heard the popping of her bones. Ashtons' side of the bed was empty. She sat up and looked around the room, Ashton was no where in sight. Knowing how much of an early bird he was Katie just assumed he had taken his shower and already getting on with his day. It took a couple of extra minutes but Katie finally gathered the strength to get out of the bed and slowly made her way over to Ashtons' dresser where she kept some of her belongings. There was still some pain in her legs and thighs from all the running she had did last night. Grabbing herself a towel and washcloth from the hallway closet Katie made her way to the bathroom to take a much needed shower. A little over an hour passed before she was ready to exit the shower, the hot water did her aching muscles some good. After drying off and getting dressed, she decided to apply a little make up to cover up her small bruises. Katie emerged from the bathroom looking and feeling like a whole new person. As Ashton walked into his room he had to do a double take just to make sure that the person he was looking at was indeed Katie.

    "What's wrong?" Katie asked taking in Ashtons blank expression.

    "Nothing, you just look different today that's all" he replied still staring at her.

    "Good different or bad different?"

    "Good different, like more energetic or something."

    "Well I don't feel more energetic but thanks for the compliment." Katie replied giving him a small smile.

    After leaving her aunts' house last night she had turned her phone completely off so no one would bother her. Grabbing her phone off the dresser she powered it back on so she could check her messages. To her surprise she only had one message and it was from her boyfriend Calvin. She read the over the message, sent a reply and placed the phone in her pocket.

    "Are you going to tell Calvin about your aunt and what happened?" Ashton asked plopping down on his bed.

    " I'll tell him after we come back from breakfast."

    "Does he know that you aren't at home right now?"

'Yeah, I sent him a text and told him to come pick me up from here."

    "Do you want me to go to your aunts' house and bring back some more of your clothes?"

    "Only if you have the time otherwise don't worry about it. I'll deal with it later."

    Katie took a peek out of the bedroom window and noticed Calvin's blue hummer coming up the street.

    "Be back later to pick you up for practice." Katie yelled as she made her way down the stairs and out the side door.

    When she got to the hummer Calvin was standing on the passengers' side with the door already open for her. She climbed up into the seat and buckled herself in while Calvin closed her door and made his way back around to the drivers side.

    "Hey, babe where do you want to go eat at this fine morning?" Calvin said kissing her on the lips.

    "How about some IHOP?" Katie suggested looking out the window.

    "I'm cool with IHOP, their pancakes be on point."

    IHOP was about a forty five minutes drive from Ashton's house on a good day. Katie turned the radio on and 112's Dance With Me started blasting out of the speakers. She started singing and bopping along to the beat.

    "I see you looking at me and I can tell by your eyes that you're feeling me and I really want you to get close to me so won't you dance with me, dance with me." Katie sang out like she was an original member of the group.

    The engine stopped on the hummer, cutting the song off prematurely. Looking over a Katie with a grin Calvin said "We're here superstar, are you done with your concert?"

    "I'm sure my fans will be fine with me taking a brief intermission to stuff my face." Katie replied giving Calvin a wink and taking her seatbelt off.

    Calvin and Katie walked into the IHOP hand in hand smiling and laughing. As they made their way to the line to be seated they talked about random stuff that was going on in their school. Five minutes passed before they made it to the front of the line.

    "Table for two please." Calvin said smiling at the hostess at the stand.

    "Right this way," she replied grabbing two menu's and smiling back at them.

    They were led to a table for two in the middle of the restaurant and their menu's were placed on the table top for them to look over. They sat down across from each and quickly glanced at their menu's even though they wouldn't need them. A waitress approached their table with a pen, pad and a huge smile on her face.

    "Good Morning, can I take your orders or do you still need time to look over the menu's?" the waitress asked glancing between the two of them.

    "We are ready now, can we have one order of strawberry banana french toast and one order of strawberry banana pancakes and two cups of orange juice? Calvin recited their usual order to the waitress.

    "I'll go give your order to the cook and be right back out with your drinks." the waitress replied and then left.

    "Calvin I have something to tell you and its not really easy for me to say, but before I tell you I wanted you to know that I'll be moving in with Ashton temporarily." Katie stated as she played with her fingers.

    "Why? What wrong with living with your Aunt Karen?"

    "Remember all those times I was bruised up and limping around?"

    "Yeah, I remember I kept asking what happened but you would never say."

    "Well they came from Aunt Karen and last night she slapped the fuck out of me."

    "What the hell is wrong with her? Why is she putting her hands on you?!"

   

 

A Long Time Coming

  “The connection that we had is no longer there.” Becka said to Tim.

“That connection has been gone, I was just using you.” Tim replied. 

Becka stared at him for a moment and then walked out. What was the point of being where she obviously wasn't wanted? Once again she was alone, she had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. She was hurt, but she kept it all together because all she had was her appearance from here on out. It was time for a change and a makeover. She took a deep breath and then went back inside.

A strong front is what she needed, emotions were no longer in the picture. She walked into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. She looked around the room, and began to put things into bags. Once she was done, she placed all the bags at the front door. She grabbed her car keys and left the house.

“Becka do you even know where you are going?” She asked herself.

She drove aimlessly around until her gaslight came on. She drove to the gas station, filled her tank back up and continued to drive around. With nowhere to go she pulled into a parking lot and went to sleep. A tap on the driver's window woke her up.

“You can’t sleep here ma’am,” a security guard said to her.

“Sorry sir, I’ll leave now.” She said starting her car up.

Becka pulled out of the parking lot and drove the long route to work. Upon entering the building, she noticed the place was unusually quiet. She took a quick glance around the main floor and then proceeded to her office on the third floor.

“Becka, we’re having a meeting in the conference room, come on.” Andrew, her coworker said.

“Be right there,” she replied, putting her things on her desk.

Becka and Andrew walked into the conference room and took a seat.

“Okay everyone, I’m going to make this meeting short and to the point, we are currently under some financial problems. Therefore we have to let some people go. If anyone would like to voluntarily quit that would be great, otherwise the company will choose who stays and who goes.” John the Vice President said.

Everyone sat quietly and stared at each other.

“Do we have to make a decision now?” Andrew asked.

“No, but one has to be made within the next two days.” Replied John.

“For now just go back to work like it’s a regular day.” John stated.

Becka got up and went back to her desk. She toyed around with the thought of voluntarily quitting but then decided against it. She already had so much on her plate to deal with, why add anything extra? Her phone rang nonstop with complaining customers. For some reason everyone’s cable service wasn't working. All day she walked the customers through the steps it took to reboot the cable boxes. After work she drove back home, into the garage she parked the car and went into the house. She looked around for Tim, but could not find him or any of his things.

“Good riddance,” she mumbled under her breath.

“Time to do some cleaning, hopefully his ass is gone for good.” She thought to herself.

“Becka turned on her radio, grabbed all of her cleaning necessities and began to sweep the hardwood floors. The smell of bleach and several other cleaning solutions were so strong to the nose that she had to open up some windows. She scrubbed everything within her reach from top to bottom. A knock at the door startled her for a moment. She peeked out the front window and saw two police officers on her porch. Becka walked over to the door and cracked it open.

“Hello ma’am, are you Rebecka Steward?” One of the officers asked.

“Yes, I am. Can I assist you with something?” Becka replied.

“We received a call about a missing person by the name of Timothy Brown.” The officer responded.

“Missing person? I didn't file a missing person's report.”

“It was filed by his mother this morning.” The second officer stated.

“I haven't seen Tim since we broke up.”

“Can you tell us when that was exactly?” The first officer asked.

“It was yesterday afternoon, when I left the house he was still here.”

“I see, do you mind if we come in and have a look around?”

“Not at all officers, come right in.”

Becka replied, opening the door all of the way.

Both officers walked through the door and Becka closed it behind them.

“Becka, I’m Officer Kane and this is my partner Officer Lauren.”

“What makes Tim’s mother think he’s missing?” Becka asked.

“He never showed up at her house last night.” Officer Kane replied.

Becka paced the floor for a second and then looked up at the police officers. She grabbed a pen and piece of paper and started to write down something. Once she was done she turned to Officer Kane and handed him the paper.

“Here is a list of all the places he likes to hang out and there is also a list of people he hangs with.”

“Thank you ma’am, if he shows back up or you hear from him please give us a call.” Officer Kane said, handing Becka a card with his cell number on it.

“I sure will thank you, Officer.”

The officers turned and walked out of the house, she looked out the window and watched the police cruiser disappear up the street. She turned on the porch light, poured herself a drink and then sat down on the couch to contemplate her next move. As she sat on the couch one drink turned into several, she woke up the next morning to the sound of the front door knob jiggling. She hopped up and looked out of the window, there wasn't anyone at the door. As she walked away from the window the door knob turned all the way and the door began to open up. Becka stood in the middle of the floor with a bewildered look on her face and waited to see who was on the other side of the door.

Seconds later Tim’s mother appeared in the doorway with a set of keys in her hand. She stared at his mother for a second and then took a step closer to her. 

“How did you get Tim’s keys?” Becka asked Mrs. Brown. 

“He gave me an extra set when you guys first moved in here,” she replied.

“When is the last time you heard from him,” 

“I talked to him the day the two of you broke up and you moved out.”

“That was the last time I talked to him too.” Becka replied.

“So he hasn't come back home then?” 

“No, not even a phone call but I'm pretty sure we aren't on talking terms right now.” 

“Oh Becka everything will work itself out. You two are meant to be together. You just need time apart to realize how much you mean to one another.” Mrs. Brown said as she hugged Becka tightly.

“I used to believe that but not so much anymore. I just hope that Tim is somewhere safe and not in any trouble.”

“Me too honey, me too.” Mrs. Brown said as she sat down on the couch.

A knock at the door stopped Becka from continuing her next statement. She walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. No one was even outside, she cracked the door open to get a better look and noticed a box on her doorstep. At first she was just going to leave it out there but against her better judgment she brought it in to see what it was anyway. She picked it up, closed the door and placed the package on the living room table. There was no return address on it, the only thing the label said was “To whom it may concern”. 

Becka slowly opened the box and looked inside. The first thing she noticed was a piece of paper with some words on it, under the paper she found a camcorder. She pulled the note out and read it aloud “If you ever want to see your loved one again, we suggest you do as we say. Talk to you soon. Yours Truly.” Becka dropped the piece of paper on the table and picked up the camcorder. She walked over to the tv; hooked up the camcorder and pressed play.

Tim’s bruised and bloody face popped up on the 55 inch tv, making both Becka and Mrs. Brown let out a gasp. Suddenly a masked man appeared into the view of the camera and demanded $50,000 in small unmarked bills. He then stated that he would contact them later for a drop off location and time, moments later the tv screen went blank. They both sat in silence for several minutes. 

“Where are we going to find that kind of money?” Becka asked Mrs. Brown.

“I have a savings account, but it's nowhere near that amount.” stated Mrs. Brown.

“We put all of our money into this house.” Becka replied. 

 “We have to think of something, they could kill him if we don't give them what they want.” Mrs. Brown disclosed to Becka.

“How much do you have in your savings account?

I only have a little over $19,000 saved up.”

“It's not a lot but it's a start, I might be able to get some of the money but getting the rest is going to be hard.” Becka said.

    The couple of moments that they allowed to pass without speaking were filled with nothing but an awkward silence. Mrs. Brown was in deep thought on ways to save her sons' life, meanwhile Becka was debating on whether or not she wanted to help save Tim.

    "I mean he did just say he's been using me from the beginning, so why do I care if he doesn't make it back in one piece?"