True
Chapter Four
The man jumped back in shock at the power of Chloe's
earth-shattering screams. She
noticed that she had stopped him and continued.
"BRAAAAAAAADY! HELP ME!!"
She saw the anger flash in his eyes as he moved
towards her again, but Chloe felt a surge of adrenaline and drove her knee
up between his legs. He
staggered backwards in pain for a moment, and before he could get his
bearings back, Chloe balled her hand up into a fist and put all her strength
behind it. She hit him
powerfully in his jaw and he stumbled backwards and fell to the ground
hitting his head on the toilet bowl and knocking himself unconscious in the
process.
Chloe stepped back, almost amazed at what she had
done. She leaned against the
wall close to the door and slid down to the floor.
She wrapped her arms around herself and began to sob.
***
Brady had grabbed Chloe's requested items and was
looking at the rack of magazines. Most
of them were magazines about cars, or half-naked women... or half-naked
women sitting on cars. Brady
wasn't really interested, he was just trying to kill time until Chloe got
back from the restroom.
He paused for a moment and turned towards toward the
back of the store because he thought he heard a woman's voice crying out
from behind the wall. He moved
closer to the wall and this time he knew that he heard Chloe screaming his
name. He instantly dropped his
bag and ran out of the store and to the bathrooms.
He saw no sign of Chloe and tried to open the door to the ladies room
but it was locked.
He banged on the door as hard as he could and yelled
loudly. "CHLOE!
ARE YOU IN THERE? LET ME IN!"
Chloe reached her hand up and turned the doorknob to
let him in. Brady walked in and
saw a man passed out near the toilet, and Chloe was crouched in the corner
by the door sobbing deeply. He
immediately bent down and took her in his arms.
"Chloe... I heard you screaming.
What the hell is going on?"
She stopped sobbing and took a deep breath, pausing
so she could get the words out. "He followed me in here... he wanted
money... I told him I didn't have any.
Oh God, Brady... he was going to rape me."
Brady began stroking her hair softly and held her
closer. "Oh Chloe... I am
so sorry that bastard tried to hurt you.
How did you stop him?"
Chloe moved her head away from his shoulder and
looked up at him. Having his
arms wrapped around her and being able to look into his warm blue eyes made
her feel instantly safer. "When
he moved away to..." she paused at the memory of it, "take his
belt off... I screamed. I
surprised him, I think. Then I
fought back... he hit his head
on the toilet on the way down."
Brady wiped the tears off of her face gently.
"Chloe... you are so brave."
Chloe rested her head on his shoulder again and Brady
kissed the top of her head. He
heard the man start to stir behind him and gently let Chloe go.
Brady stepped over to where the man was just regaining consciousness
and pulled him down until he was laying flat on his back on the floor.
Brady put his knee in the middle of the man's chest and slapped him
across the face. "Wake up,
asshole..."
The man groaned in pain and his eyes fluttered open
and he looked up at Brady in confusion.
Brady pressed his knee onto his chest harder. "Good morning. You've
made a very huge mistake today. You've
hurt the person I care about most in the world and I'm going to make you pay
for it. Now, just what should I
do to take care of you?"
"Brady... we can't call the police..."
Brady turned to look at Chloe who was now standing
near the door. "What?
Chloe... this man almost raped you, and you don't want to call the
cops?"
"No, Brady.
I want to, but we can't. If
the cops show up and I have to press charges or give a statement, they are
going to find out I'm a minor. They'll
send me home and put you in jail for taking a minor over state lines."
"But, we can't just let him go free and clear...
he's just going to do this to someone else."
"I know, Brady... we'll just have to think of
another way."
"Well... I'll think about it in a minute."
Brady took his knee out of the man's chest, grabbed
on to his shirt and yanked him to his feet.
He pushed him roughly against the wall and spat in his face.
Brady yanked him back and slammed him into the wall again for good
measure. He balled his right
hand into a fist and threw a tremendous right hook into the guy's jaw.
The man coughed a little bit and Brady punched him again.
This time he spat a little blood out and one of his teeth came with
it.
Brady looked at him with fake sympathy.
"Awww... did you lose a tooth?
Too bad." Brady set up again and nailed another punch into the middle
of the man's face, one that most likely broke his nose. Brady could feel cartilage crunching under his fist and the
man slumped to the floor underneath him.
Brady let go of him, took a few steps back and breathed deeply.
A fearful Chloe whispered from behind him.
"Brady... you didn't kill him did you?"
Brady shook his head. "No, of course not.
But, he's unconscious again. That
will give us a chance to think of something."
Brady kneeled on the floor next to the unconscious
man and pulled his wallet out of the pocket of his jacket.
Brady opened it up and found about 8 dollars and a few various pieces
of I.D.
"Hmm. Guy's
name is Mitchell Jensen. Looks
like a real savory character too..."
Brady dug further in the jacket pocket and pulled out
a plastic baggie filled with what looked like hand-rolled cigarettes, a
whole load of them. Brady
pulled one out and sniffed it slightly.
He grinned slightly and stuffed it back into the man's pocket.
"Well, Mitch... Looks like it's your lucky day
and ours. We don't have to
think of an alternate plan now. The
cops may not be able to get you on assault this time, but you'll most
certainly get arrested for possession of marijuana."
Brady stood up and grabbed Chloe's hand.
"Come on, Chloe... we're gonna go call the police."
Chloe followed him out the door but left her eyes on the man as she
walked out.
Brady went to the payphone and dialed the police.
He fed them a line about a man behind the Quik-Stop who had tried to
sell him and his girlfriend drugs. When
the man got belligerent, Brady told the police that he knocked him
unconscious and left him in the bathroom.
Brady hung up the phone and he and Chloe went to sit
in the van together. They
decided that they would sit there and watch the door in case Mitch woke up,
and leave as soon as the police arrived.
Chloe sighed deeply and sunk in her seat slightly.
Brady grabbed his hand with hers and softly stroked her palm with his
thumb.
"Chloe... how you holding up?"
Chloe shrugged.
"I don't know... I'm still in shock, Brady.
But, I feel violated. I
don't want to think about what would have happened if he had gone any
further. It makes me sick to my
stomach."
"Don't think about it... it didn't happen.
You were so brave, Chloe. You've got powerful lungs and a powerful
right hook to go with it. I'm
so proud of what you did."
Chloe rolled her head to face him and smiled weakly.
"Thank you... God... I was so afraid, but I knew that I had to
fight back. I had no other choice."
"Well, you're safe now... I'm not going to let
you out of my sight again."
Chloe smiled again.
"I know. And, as
soon as you got to me, I felt perfectly safe again.
Just having you there made me feel better."
Brady sighed softly. "Chloe... are you going to be okay?
If you want to go home, we will.
We don't have to keep going."
Chloe shook her head vehemently.
"No, we have to keep going.
We didn't come this far and go through all of this just to give up
now."
Brady put one hand on her cheek and smiled at her.
"You are so strong, Chloe."
"I have to be.
Always." She smiled
at him, and looked out of the corner of her eye at something. "Hey... the police are here. Let's go."
Brady started the van, backed out of his parking
space and headed back towards the highway.
"So, what now?"
Chloe sat up in her seat and looked at her disheveled
clothes. "I'm thinking...
place to sleep, and more importantly a place to take a long long long
shower. Preferably far away
from the Quik-Stop."
Brady steered the van onto the ramp and used a free
hand to brush Chloe's hand. "You
got it."
Chloe turned her head and stared out her window at the sky that was now almost dark. She prayed that this day wasn't a bad omen of what was to come. < Dear God... please let this just be another obstacle. I know I can get through this, but don't give me more than I can handle. >