“The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.”
― ,
Now…
Jesse Montgomery
I HAVE TRIED everything to get out of this room. If this room is any indication of the rest of the house, I have a long night ahead of me, one I don’t think I have. Bane could be back any minuet. He may be playing this kinder act, but I don’t buy it. The end game is still the same. I am dead. Either by Bane’s hands or someone else’s. He said that he works for a company that makes people disappear. Someone hired him, meaning I am not in company of my only threat. Mother wouldn’t want me dead, if I die she loses everything, the money would get put on hold, and she wouldn’t see a dime of it even if she peals back all the layers the lawyers concocted.
I have been working on this window for over an hour. I am low enough that I can jump without damage, but one wrong move and I could break a leg. I must be stealthy, something I haven’t been very good at.
“Ugh” I growl, jerking the window in frustration, I hear a snap, I jerk again, and feel something loosen. The window slides up with a screech as freedom wisps through my hair. But the thought of what is out there scares the shit out of me. Someone wants me dead. Where will I go? I can’t go to Travis, he should stay out of this. Plus, I am not at hundred percent, I am still weak and my body aches all over.
I slip one leg over the open window, knowing I must try. I can’t stay here and die, knowing it won’t fix anything, I can’t die for nothing, and until I stop mother, everything would be in vain. The crisp air tickles my arm, and I breathe in the aroma of freedom. There is a roof below that I can land on to get to the ground without breaking any limbs. Out further there is a small pond and what looks like a forest of some kind. Somewhere there must be a road, it’s like finding a needle in haystack, but my odds are more in my favor then hanging around to be tortured some more.
For a moment, I replay Bane’s and my turmoil of a relationship. Its poetic that we ended this way. We both lied, we both hurt each other, and now we just might kill each other. But it’s painful to know, how beautiful we once were. I never wanted to hurt him, but now he isn’t him anymore. I changed him, he is a monster, and now he sees me for the monster I am as well. Together we killed each other’s heart, and in a perfect world together we would mend the broken pieces.
I shake my head knowing I need to hurry. Stop focusing what could have been, it’s done, broken, nothing will bring us back together. I pull myself over the window sill and brace myself to land on my feet on the roof below. I’m hanging by my fingertips, a jump away from landing on the roof. When I hear the rumbling of his truck pulling into the driveway. I know he can’t see me, but the more I procrastinate the more trouble I will be in. I take the leap, and land like a cat, I look down to see my next feat is only twelve feet below. I brace myself for the jump, praying I don’t injure myself, I jump off the roof landing on my ankle wrong and rolling it.
Sharp pain shoots up my leg and my ankle is already swelling. Another thing to add to the list of pain my body is going through. Fuck, I can’t take anymore, I am maxed out on the level of pain I can handle.
“JESSE!!!!” I hear Banes loud roar, he pokes his head out the window, and I stand to start running.
“Stop, you don’t know what you’re doing” he warns, obviously I am not listening.
He disappears from the window and I know he is giving chase. I limp-run towards the trees, when I hear an engine growing louder in the distance. I see him come over the hill on a four-wheeler, anger and concern in his eyes.
Right now, I don’t want to admit I should give up. I am limping, every move hurts worse, he is on four wheels and I have two barefoot feet. The odds are against me, but I keep trying. He slows down to a crawl, knowing I can’t go much further.
“Jesse, just stop” he begs, desperation in his voice. Why? I keep walking, but slowing down the further I go, my body fighting every step I take to the freedom I will never have.
“You know you can’t take one more step. You’re not well.”
I turn around, anger masking every other feeling in my body.
“YOU DID THIS TO ME!!!” I yell, my chest heaving from the extreme emotions coursing through me, “I get it you wanted revenge, Bane, I’ll gladly give it to you, but not yet, okay.”
I hear the engine kick off, and my feet stop moving at the same time. I hear footsteps coming closer, and my body becoming lighter. He still can make me feel all over, even after everything. His hands come up to my shoulders, and the moment his hands touch me, I slump in his arms, all strength leaving me. He cradles my fall, and lowers us to the ground. We stay salient for what feels like an eternity. My body cradled in the bulk of his. It almost as if the last few years never happened and we were together and free. But that can never be us again.
I start to pull away when he brings me in closer, tightening his hold on me.
“Not yet” he mumbles in my ear; the sound of his husky voice penetrates my heart and I lean into his embrace.
“If what you said is true, that you had no choice, tell me what happened. Tell me why I spent three years in prison for a crime you committed. A sentence I would have served blindly had you asked me too”
I stiffen at the sincerity in his voice, and it breaks down my defenses. He needs to know something, anything, maybe just maybe, if I tell him what I can, he will let me go. The further away from him I can get, the safer he is, if that means I must die so be it, but he needs to know the truth before I go.
“I’ll tell you everything, just get me back….” I look behind me, “there”.
✽ ✽ ✽
Then…
Since we didn’t eat our food and left in such a hurry, Bane went back inside to get us some food. A payphone to the rights gets my attention. I need to speak to mother. I need to know what she wants from me. Maybe I can’t change her mind. I never thought mother was evil, she can still be saved.
I run to the phone and slid seventy-five cents in the outdated slots. It rings twice before the sound of her scratchy voice echoes through the phone.
“Come to your senses” she bellows.
“I can’t do it, mother. This is wrong. You know what father did to me, to us. I can’t do this to Bane”
“You will, Jesse. Because I will keep to my promise, either way, Bane is out of the picture, and you and your money are coming with me. Let’s make this swift dear, I figured you were going to have issues with my request. So, I thought I would help move things along. Bane is taking you to Colorado to a cabin in Rye.”
“How do you know this”
“Don’t interrupt,” she scolds me, “like I was saying, some very nice agents will be by to pick up our little convict, and Jesse before you think to warn him, remember the outcome if he doesn’t go to prison, and even then, I will still own you”
“Mother, please, stop this,” but before I have a chance to beg her the dial tone blares in my ears like a horn in back to back traffic. This is happening and there is nothing I can do to stop it.
I jump when I feel hands on my shoulders.
“Woah, calm down, it’s me” Bane eyes me suspiciously, “who were you talking to”
“I called Danny’s voicemail, I needed to hear his v-voice” I stutter at the end of the lie.
He cups my jaw in his hands, and leans down and presses a small kiss to my lips. So gentle I almost didn’t feel it, if it weren’t for the warmth that spread to my core I would have never known he touched my lips at all.
“I miss him too, darlin” he says as he pulls away, “come on, lets hit the road.”
I smile a forced smirk, and pray he doesn’t see through my façade. I grab his outstretched hand, and follow him to the truck. He gives me a reassuring squeeze before he opens the door and I climb into the vehicle.
Whatever happens next will change everything. There is a train coming, and there is nothing I can do to stop it from colliding with us as its target. Tonight, I may send him to prison, but I’m also serving a life sentence as well.