Jackie stayed home and in bed for a week, her mother was always hovering close by and if she wasn’t Kyle was.
“So,” he sat on the side of her bed one day. “Tell me how it happened.”
“How what happened?” her arms slipped further beneath the covers and her hair just so happened to cover her scar at that moment.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
She sighed; there was no point in concealing it. If she didn’t tell him he would just ask her mom and the chance that her mom would tell him was 100 per cent.
“Well, it all started about twenty years ago...”
“But you’re only sixteen?”
“Sssh don’t interrupt me I’m telling a story,” he looked apologetically at her and she continued. “So it all started twenty years ago, before my parents got married. My dad was a BIG fan of the money, like so many before him and he started gambling and, like so many before him once more, he probably had the worst luck in the world so it was not surprising that he owed a lot of people A LOT of money. With my Moms help he managed to pay off half his debts but there was one huge debt that he could not pay off immediately so he asked for an 18 year allowance to collect the cash to pay back. Unfortunately my father chose the worse people to make this deal with; you see they are part of the mafia. “
His eyes widened and his expression slightly darkened, but this was all unnoticed by Jackie who was trying to recollect the story in her mind.
“So my excellent Father being the artist he was forgot about it and never collected the money he needed. So 18 years passed and they started looking for him, but now you see we had moved so many times that it was already hard to track us down but not impossible. After a year they found us, they also found out my dad worked in the police force so they couldn’t directly attack him, so they attacked me. It was a cold morning in the History class when I got a text from my dad saying he was gonna take me out for a cup of coffee so I left and when I was half-way to the coffee shop they attacked me. They pulled me into the bushes, dialled my dad’s number on my phone and slowly they started sketching on my arm. Finally my dad came but before he could help me they shot him, I tried to help you know but they just grabbed me again and cut this elaborate scar on my face. They figured I would die from lose of blood or something but they forgot my phone with me so I called my mom or someone and they came and picked me up seconds before I passed out.”
He just looked at her, tears streaming down her face and her body shaking with violent repulsion at crying. He collected her in his arms and gently he shook her, planting the slightest kiss on top of her head.
*
He went upstairs but she wasn’t there. He ran down she wasn’t there either.
“Hi, ma’am. Where’s Jackie?”
“She’s in her room Kyle,” her mother laughed.
“Um, no, I’m sorry, she’s not.”
Her face blanched. Where was Jackie?
“Oh Damn.” He grabbed his coat and started running. Where was she? What was her most beloved place in the world? He stopped, pressing his brain to think. The two men had just been spotted yesterday. She couldn’t do this. Where was she? He groaned. Suddenly he remembered. The beach! He remembered her eyes lighting up at the sound of it, her whole person changing at the mention of it. He sprinted now. She had to be on the beach.
Coming upon the sandy shores he saw her immediately. She was shaking. He slowed his step and pulled off his jacket, it was quite cold but not that cold. As he walked closer he realized it wasn’t from the biting wind she was shaking but he could hear the visible sobs escaping her. Rounding the corner he saw them, the two mafia men. He ran closer but stopped when he realised she was speaking to them; his legs, frozen by fear.
“Please,” she cried, “just get it over with. I don’t want to hurt more people and I don’t want you to hurt more people. I give up; I’m yours for the taking.”
No, no this was all wrong she couldn’t give up. She had to live. She just HAD to. He felt for his phone, finding it in his back pocket, he called 911.
It was superb, they were there in seconds. The men were loading their guns and pointing it to her, ready to shoot when blue lights lit the beach like Christmas Eve and armed cops jumped out and managed to capture the Mafia Men. Jackie collapsed. Kyle ran over to her feeling heroic and collected her in his arms like a prince Charming.
“It’s ok Jackie, they’re gone. Forever.”
But she still cried; then he noticed the smile through the tears.
“Not Jackie, that’s my Witness Protection Programme name. It’s Mary.”
“That suits you,” he smiled back.