1. Chapter 1 by Cassy
He wasn't worthy of her then and he still isn't worthy of her. I do have to admit that the first year they were together, I had never seen her happier. She was smiling every time I saw her and she even had that special glow about her...that glow telling anyone who looked at her that she was in love...and she was happy. But it all ended the day she caught him cheating. She left him and came to me. Knocking on my front door crying her eyes out. What had she done wrong? She kept asking, but all I could tell her was nothing, you did nothing wrong. Because she hadn't. Some men were just not worthy of her love and affection, and Brett Taggert was one of those men.
I'm not blind to his imperfections. The time she caught him in bed with that woman was merely one of the many times he has cheated on her. I wish she wasn't so blind to him. I wish she could open her eyes and see the pain and torture he is putting her through and that it's not worth it. But she still claimed she loved him....that he loved her. He doesn't know what love is if he's willing to hurt her for a quick fuck. I don't know personally, but I can almost guarantee there is nobody better in this world, as a lover and a woman, than her. She is the greatest person I have ever known. I was so happy to have her stay with me, that she came running to me because she loves me. But I know that is an entirely platonic love, whereas I wish it were more, and I wish she would come to me not because Brett had hurt her, but because she wanted to see me. It seemed these days that is the only way she will come to me.
But two days later, he came crawling back. I remember I was making dinner for us when the doorbell rang and Jesse went to answer it for me.
It was him.
Kneeling on the porch, tears in his eyes and pain etched in his face. I have to give him credit...he's a great actor. He was begging and pleading for her to come home, insisting that he loved her and he would never hurt her again if she would just be willing to give it a second chance.
I'll never understand this...
I'll never understand her...
I will most definitely never understand why she continues to hang around. Am I the only one who sees what's going on?
Hey girl you know you drive me crazy
One look puts the rhythm in my hand
Still I'll never understand why you hang around
I see what's going down
She called me about ten minutes ago, asking if I could come over. She sounded so upset I didn't even have to ask why or what was going on or even if she was alright...I knew she wasn't.
So here I am at her front door. I don't even bother knocking anymore. I know Brett is at work and she never minded me just walking in. We've known one another for a long time, its second nature to us. As I look around the apartment I begin to wonder where she is. She's not in the kitchen...she's not in the living room and she's not in the spare bedroom. Quickening in my pace I take the stairs two at a time and go down the hallway. I enter their bedroom and fight the queasy feeling I get when I see the messy bed, trying not to think about what takes place there. I hear a noise in the bathroom and figure she's in there.
As I stand in the doorway my heart all but completely stops beating at the sight before me. Jesse is standing in front of the mirror, tears rolling down her cheeks taking the make-up with them quicker than she can apply it.
She finally sees me and I must have a horrified look on my face for her actions of trying to hide her cover-up. But the damage is already done. I have already seen the large black eye she has and the make up she has been trying to cover it up with.
I try to speak but I know my voice is going to quaver with emotion. How could I let this happen? I knew it would eventually come down to this.
I can feel my fingernails digging into my palms but I don't care...I need to control myself. It would scare her too much if she saw me punch anything. As much as I'd like to, I have to hold it in.
I need to save my anger and rage for Brett.
"Where is he?"
"Lance, please. It's nothing."
"Nothing? Jesse, he hit you."
"You don't know that! You're making assumptions."
"You're not denying it." She knows I'm right. She didn't deny it. Even if she tried she knew I would see right through her lies. Brett hit her and nothing could stop me from putting him through the same torture he was now putting my best friend through. She didn't deserve this. Not from her husband...not from anyone. She was too good of a person, nobody could dislike her. She got along with everyone, so why was this happening? Is it my fault? Is it because he gets so jealous of my close relationship with her that he is trying to make her choose between her husband and the man who has been there her entire life? Undoubtedly that is it. She tried to tell him she wouldn't choose and Brett didn't like the answer. "Jesse, where is Brett?"
"He's at work, Lance. But you better not go start anything. It was an accident. That's all."
"Then why are you in here crying, trying to hide it from me?"
"Because I knew this is how you'd react. Lance, Brett is a great man. I wouldn't have married him if there was any doubt in my mind about that. He just got a little angry. I shouldn't have egged him on the way I did."
Going over to her, I put my hands on her cheeks and wipe away the stray tears that remained there. "Jesse, even if you two were fighting that is no reason to hit you. Accident or not. I could never lay even a finger on you, you know that." She nodded her head and pulled me to her for a tight embrace. She felt so fragile and weak in my arms and I never wanted to let her go. But I have to.
Pulling away from me, I heard her laugh a little. "This is ridiculous. I know you have that important meeting today with your company. I shouldn't have called you over for this. I just..." She stopped mid-sentence and shook her head.
"What, Jesse? What'd you want?"
Looking up at me, it broke my heart even more to see the pain and confusion hidden there. She was so beautiful inside and out, why was she being punished? "I just wanted to see you. I wanted to feel safe in your arms like I always use to." I could feel myself smiling at her words as I wrapped my arms protectively around her once again. She could call me to come over anytime, day or night and it wouldn't matter. I would be there in a heartbeat. She was my world.
I would even cancel this meeting if she asked me to stay with her until Brett came home. I would do anything for her. And I guess that is my weakness.
"Unfortunately I have to go. I promise I won't stop at Brett's work, but I'll be damned if I don't do something if this happens again."
"It's not going to happen again, Lance. He loves me. It was just an accident."
"I hope so." But I know it wasn't.
Cover up with make up in the mirror
Tell yourself it's never gonna happen again
You cry alone and then he swears he loves you
Do you feel like a man when you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end
As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found
I feel like I'm on a merry-go-round. I just got a phone call. I was half tempted to not take it considering I was having dinner with my mom, but I had this gnawing feeling at my gut telling me it was Jesse. That something was terribly wrong.
I hate when I'm right.
It wasn't Jesse, but it was about Jesse. She had been taken to the hospital from her and Brett's home. A neighbor had heard her screaming in her apartment and called the police who had called the paramedics. I couldn't get anyone to talk to me about my best friend's condition, so here I sit. In the waiting room, probably looking like all sorts of hell. But I could care less. The woman I care most about is in one of these rooms being cared for. I wish I knew what happened. No doubt it has something to do with Brett.
Why won't anyone talk to me? This is driving me insane. I need to know if she's alright, if she is going to be alright. She has to be. I would never forgive myself if...
"Mr. Bass?"
"Yes?" I jump out of the uncomfortable waiting room chair and practically run towards the doctor who had just called my name. Finally someone is going to tell my something. Just please let it be good! Please let her be alright.
"Ms. Franklin is alright. She has suffered a lot of cuts and bruising and she has a slight concussion. I'm going to keep her overnight just to make sure everything is fine." As I finally being breathing once again, I notice the doctor look slightly agitated...is it me? I didn't do anything. "I'm trying to figure out what sort of a fall would cause all of this damage to her body. Surely not just a clumsy girl falling down the stairs as she has claimed." I can only stare at him, my mouth agape. She told him she fell down stairs? Good lord, where? The stairs on the Yangtze River in China?
Shaking my head I tell the doctor, "I might be grasping at straws here, but I can almost guarantee she didn't fall anywhere. I think her husband, who is currently MIA, had something to do with this. Can I see her?" Nodding, he led me back to her room and left us alone.
It took everything in my power to not break down at the sight of her bruised and broken body lying in the middle of the hospital bed. She looks so scared and sad and lonely as she stared off into space. She hadn't even realized I was there.
I walk over to her and try not to startle her by brushing my hand over hers. She doesn't even flinch, she doesn't do anything.
"I'm so sorry, Jesse."
"Why are you sorry? I'm the one who keeps going back to him. I asked for this to happen." I can hear her trying to choke back the sobs that were threatening to rake through her and it kills me. It kills me to see her going through this pain and it kills me that Brett was still out there somewhere doing god knows what with god knows who.
I go? to the other side of the bed so she is looking right at me. I sit down once again so I am level with her eyes and fight the tears threatening to fall as I stare into her cold eyes. "You listen to me Jessica. You did not ask for this. All you did was love your husband and bed for him to love you in return. And who knows? Maybe he did and might still claim to. But you didn't ask for this punishment to be evoked upon you. You deserve so much better than this." Strength be damned, I had to cry along with her. She had to know how badly it was killing me to watch her go through this. "You deserve a man who will tell you how beautiful you are every day, a man who will let you dress yourself. A man who will show you love and affection even in public and in front of his friends. You deserve a man..."
"Like you?" Her weak voice said to me as her soft hand caressed my cheek.
"Like me." I nodded. Did she finally see? "I love you so much, Jesse. I always have. And I can't take seeing you like this anymore. I told you last time that if he so much as laid a hand on you he would have to answer to me."
"I'm so lucky to have you in my life, Lance." She cried as she leaned forward and pulled my lips down to her own in the softest kiss I had ever had. "I love you too. But I need to tell you something I've been keeping from you these past two weeks."
I felt my heart pound in my chest and was so afraid of what she had to tell me. Is it good? Is it bad? I have no way of telling so I just nod at her and pray that this won't hurt her anymore. Our hearts wouldn't be able to withstand much more of this.
A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect
Every action in this world will bear a consequence
If you wade around forever you will surely drown
I see what's going down
I see the way you go and say you're right again
Say you're right again
Heed my lecture
Do you feel like a man when you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end
As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found
There he is...right there about 20 feet in front of me. He's leaving work and he doesn't even know I'm here. If he did, I'm sure he wouldn't be making out with that little blond slut right now. It takes every ounce of willpower in me to not jump out of the car and beat the life out of him like he has done to Jesse so many times. Like he has done to his unborn child...
Just one punch...that's all I need and I would feel better.
No, that's a lie.
There is no way I'd be able to stop at one. I would need to keep going until he is begging for his life to be spared. But I'm not so sure I would be so compassionate...he hadn't stopped to think about the repercussions beating the living hell out of his wife would have on his child. Does this man even have a soul? I want more than anything to get out of this car and pumble the son of a bitch right now, but I cannot. He would press charges and quite honestly I'm not in the mood to let that happen.
Stick to the plan. That's all I have to keep telling myself.
Stick with the plan and you will get justice.
But they say vengeance never helped anything?
It will help me a lot right now. So that's what I'm going to do. Stick with the plan, only because it's so important to Jesse. And she is more important to me than anything else in this world.
So stick with the plan. The time to act is now as Brett finally gets away from the girl and makes his way to his car. It's a good thing it is well past midnight, the chances of someone seeing him are slim to none at his nearly deserted work office. I get out of the car and bound towards the sorry excuse of a man and yell a hey to him before he gets the chance to unlock his car door and get away from me.
"What do you want?" He sounds highly annoyed and that can be a good thing.
"To talk." I shrug and commend myself greatly for not allowing my anger to come through even a little.
"I really don't have time for this. I have to get home to Jessica. You know, MY wife." I nod and try my hardest to remain calm.
"Yeah, she is your wife. For now."
"You planning on taking her from me? That would never happen."
"You should never be so sure of anything, it could lead back to bite you in the ass." And it has. I suddenly grab him by the throat and thrust him up against his black BMW. "Brett, Brett, Brett. You never learn. An ego like yours will only hurt nobody but you in the end. If you so much as even think about hurting her again, I'm gonna hurt you. I can see in your eyes right now that you're getting angry, that's good. But I swear if you take it out on your wife and unborn child again, I guarantee you will not live to see your twenty-seventh birthday. She sticks up for you still. Claims to love you and that you love her. But I want to know something. If you love her, why the fuck do beat the shit out of her every night after you get out of work when you are the one who's cheating? When you are the one who should be thrown from a cliff? Huh?" I can feel the rage inside of me and I will myself to stop before I do something regretful, but it feels too damn good as I keep slamming him into his own car. He tries to choke out some response about how I'm going to pay if I don't let him go right now and that only fuels the rage more and I slam him once again. "You just don't learn, do you Brett? Tell me one more thing; do you feel like a man when you push her around? Does it make you feel that much better about yourself as you watch her fall to the ground because of your fist? I'm telling you, one day she is going to tell you that she has had enough. And that day isn't too far off. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow because for some ungodly reason, she does love you, but it will happen. You world is going end as you watch your own lies and deceit crumble down in front of you. She's going to find a new life and raise her baby...without you."
I let go of him and he chokes to breathe. "Now go home to your loving wife. She's made you your favorite dinner."
Face down in the dirt she says
This doesn't hurt she says
I finally had enough
One day she will tell you that she has had enough
Its coming round again
He opens the door, ready to beat the hell out of her once again. Maybe she really hasn't learned through everything yet. HE was the one in control. HE was the one calling the shots. How dare she think she can take control of the situation and sick her dog after him? He trudges into the kitchen, but sees her standing there looking sexily at him, even through the bruises and the cuts he had inflicted on her. She stood there in a black dress that cut down through the middle of her breasts and revealed a bit of cleavage...something he knew was meant for him alone. He dress flowed down to just above her knees and angled to the left. She had on those sexy stiletto heels he loved so much. This was the woman he married, not the woman who had gone into her shell so long ago after the beatings had started. And he could only think of one thing...getting her into bed so he could have his way with her. He knew she did love him, that she would never leave him. And it gave him even more confidence that he could do whatever he wanted with her and she would be more than willing to oblige to his every command.
"What's the occasion?"
"You." She says, still standing there. Watching him. "I made your favorite for dinner, fresh. I knew tonight was your late night so I waited. Why don't you go take a quick shower? It will be ready in about ten minutes." I smile at her and go to kiss her. But I feel something there. Resistance? No, must be his imagination. She would never resist him, she knew better by now.
After he goes up to take his shower, she turns to the pot of boiling noodles and allows a tear to streak down her cheek. How was she going to get through this? It was her plan, and she intended fully to get away from him, it was the only way she and her child would survive. But after he woke up, what would he do then? She knew that he would not rest until he found her and most likely killed her. Her plan of running away with Lance and raising her baby with him would fall and everything would have been in vain. She knew that Brett would win in the end. So she knew what she had to do. It was the only way she'd ever be free of him.
As Brett came down the stairs he could smell the linguini and his stomach rumbled with hunger and his mouth watered with anticipation of the meal. One thing he had to give Jessica credit for was her ability to cook. There wasn't a meal she made that he could ever turn down. She was standing by the dining room table just waiting for him. She couldn't have been waiting long for she was just pouring the wine and the pasta was still steaming profusely from its heat.
He took his seat at the head of the table and smiled at his wife. "Everything looks and smells absolutely wonderful Jess."
"Thank you." She smiles back at him and sits down at the opposite end of the table. He picked up his glass to make a toast.
"To a beautiful wife carrying my beautiful child. I'm happy to say it seems as though you have finally found your place." He took a long swig of his wine she no longer felt guilty for doing this. It is what he deserves.
I watch from the window and I hear that toast Brett has just made and it makes me want to run in there and knock him out myself before the drugs take effect. But I can't. Because then he'll know what is going on and try to do something before they kick in. So I must stand here and wait. It seems as though a lifetime goes by before I see him rub at his throat and try to clear it. But it doesn't work. He mentions how it suddenly got hot in there and he wipes his brow free of sweat droplets and I know its working. There is only one problem. This isn't the reaction he should be having to gamma hydroxybutyric acid, a commonly known date rape drug to make people black out for well up until two hours. He should be getting dizzy until he finally passes out. I look from the sweating, wheezing Brett to the calm and collected Jesse and I know, this is no mix up of drugs. Jesse knows what she is doing. She is killing her husband.
I watch helplessly from the window in a panic. What are we going to do? How are we going to get away with this? He stands up in a sure panic and starts to wobble toward Jesse. She stands up, seemingly frightened and slowly backs away from him. Brett begins to cough and falls to the ground. I've had enough. I have to go in.
I run around the house and bolt into the front door and to the dining room where Jesse is watching her husband die. "What have you done, Jesse?" I whisper to her. She looks at me with tears rolling down her cheeks and she looks so scared.
"I've had enough, Lance. You know he wouldn't have let us get away and raise this baby. He would have found us and killed us. I had to end it. It's the only way I could be truly free of him. And you know that."
And I do know that. And I would stick by her now more than ever. Because I love her, because I am finally getting my chance at happiness. Yes, Jesse has just killed her husband, but the police and doctors have seen the cuts and bruises on her body.
This was purely an act of self defense.
Face down in the dirt she says
This doesn't hurt she says
I finally had enough
*Song lyrics: Face Down by The Red Jumpsuit Apperatus