time frame - March 19, 2018 & November 2013
location - New Jersey & Sea Crest Cove
Tw: death tw: violence
It had taken the line longer than normal to get her coffee. All she wanted was her daily dose of caffeine and snackage. Unfortunately her checkup with the doctor had brought her to a different coffee store than her normal one with Myrtle and Mary. One or the other were always there to serve her; as soon as they saw her in line they knew what to get her. Nat was a regular and a friendly one at that. Bringing her to the other side of town meant that she knew nothing about who worked there. She sighed once more as she ended up moving very slowly forward. Those who took their time to decide on coffee were not someone she appreciated.
By the time she was walking out the shop with her coffee Nat was ready to flop onto the ground and give up. They didn’t even have the sticky buns she liked. Resolved to just enjoy her coffee on the walk home she barely processed that she had been bumped into. Her shoulder stung slightly from the impact and she made a noise as she turned to look at whomever had collided with her. The face that graced her presence was one that she had thought she’d never see again. His hair was shorter than she last saw him and he no longer looked so lanky. Dressed in jeans and a beaten up t-shirt; though one could never really tell anymore if it bought that way or if life had happened to the fabric. It was California after all.
They both stopped in the middle of the sidewalk with others walking around them-some with grimaces on their faces. “Tash?” His green eyes settled onto her frame and she felt a flash of red appear from her mind.
“What are you doing? We need to call the police!”
“Nick.” She didn’t want to speak to him. She wanted to cower away or punch him or both. He seemed excited to see her and as his arms wrapped around her she made no motion to return the hug.
“I can’t believe this is happening! Who would have thought we’d have ended up in the same place? All the way across the country!” His smile wasn’t returned but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Nat couldn’t respond as her hands formed fists. At some point she had dropped her coffee and the cardboard cup had rolled into the street. Her eyes ran over the spill of brown liquid against the pavement, the sun already causing it to dry up. Over a few short seconds the brown started to form into a red; dark and murky. No, she thought, There’s no light in that memory.
“Nick! We need to call someone!” She pushed against his arm. When he had called her over, she had no idea what to expect. She just accepted that he needed her and as a friend she wouldn’t ever let him down. Arriving at his house in the middle of the night, Nat didn’t know what to expect. They’d known each other for a few months and even when she moved to a different foster home a few towns away, they stayed close. He was the first male she’d trusted in a long time. In fact, she had hoped he’d see her as more than just a friend with benefits. Their connection was quick but deep.
When she arrived, he dragged her indoors and she found it completely strange he was being so noisy. His father was most likely home and didn’t allow visitors ever. However the lights were on and he was dragging her into a room she had never been in before. His father’s bedroom. The light from the hallway and a small light on the nightstand provided the only lighting that helped her see just what it was that had made him so frantic. There on the hardwood floor laid his father. She immediately noticed the smell, though she couldn’t tell if it was in her head or the blood that surrounded the man and was splattered on Nick’s clothes. A broken bottle caught her attention next and the alcohol filled up her senses as well. The smells and sights around her caused her to want to puke. However, she didn’t.
Instead she gripped his arm,“What did you do?”
His head shot to hers and the expression there was one that was filled with terror. “I didn’t-I don’t. Tash, what do I do?” She had no answer and he moved around the room and told her to wait there. The glass of the window a few feet away shattered and she jumped. Running over to it, she saw that Nat was the cause of it.
“What are you doing? We need to call the police!” He glared at her before coming back into the house.
“It needs to look like a robbery. Like someone broke in.” He approached her as she backed into the wall. His hands gripped her shoulders tight but all she could see was the blood spattered onto his clothing.
“I need to get out of here. You’re going to help me. No one will believe me if I go to the cops, they all knew my dad. I have to leave.” He shook her slightly as he spoke but relaxed slightly after.
“What are you talking about?”
At some point, Nick had a knife in his hand and it was when he smashed the point of it into the wall just by her shoulder. As he gripped it tighter, the blade slipped down against her skin. It wouldn’t be until later that she noticed the cut he’d given her.
“Can you help me? I didn’t mean to. He just-he came at me and I just couldn’t take it anymore.” Nat glanced up at him and for the first time felt like she saw more emotion in him than ever before. “He talked about you Tash. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
She placed her hands on his arms softly. She’d already seen too much and Nat knew that the police in the area did shit to help the teens that they deemed reckless or trouble. Nodding, she smiled as he placed a kiss on her lips. She almost let herself pretend none of it was happening but as he pulled away Nat sighed. “What do we do?”
“I need to get out of here. I can find my way onto the trains well enough. My dad keeps his money in a jar in his closet. I can grab that and go somewhere. Anywhere that isn’t here.” She nodded, wrapping her arms around herself as he moved around the room. He stopped midway as he counted the dollars in his hands and stared at her.
She flinched backwards and shook her head, “I can’t. You know that.” He looked like he wanted to argue with her, yet, he didn’t. “Take the jar with you.” He looked confused at the jar lying empty on the bed. “It’ll have your prints on it.” He smiled guiltily at her but nodded.
“Are you alright?” The clean shaven Nick that stood in front of her looked concerned and attempted to comfort her by putting his hand on her shoulder. She flinched backwards.
It was three days later that they found his father’s body and everyone had looked to her to know what had happened. Of course the police had brought her in and she snapped at them every time they tried to call Nick her boyfriend. As they sat in the interrogation room, her foster parents beside her, Nat tapped her finger against the table impatiently. Knowing she could leave at any point she was only doing it as a courtesy to her foster parents, plus she didn’t want to deal with their anger and drunken shouting later. The day was already long enough. A detective came into the room and silently placed a piece of paper within a clear bag onto the table and pushed it towards her. “Is this your marriage proposal? If so I only accept them if the male in question has offered up three goats and a cow to my dear and darling father. Well-foster father.” Her deadpan tone matched her expression perfectly and the detective didn’t bother to look offended.
“Alright, pretty boy, but just know there are no negotiations.” Her foster parents wanted to chastise her but the detective held up his hand to wave it off. Her eyebrow rose as she pulled the paper in a bag closer and read it. The contents of the letter written in familiar writing had her eyes widening and a mixture of rage and pain filling her entire body.
Hours later she was sitting in the park in silence. No one ever came to the park when it was dark out, knowing the dangers of being mugged. She had no money to give up and she held the demeanor of someone who would put up a fight regardless. With her hood up, she stared at the ground and kicked at the dirt. The letter was a scrap of paper that the police had found within Nick’s things. He was their first suspect naturally since he had disappeared. Even Nat had no idea where he was. A line kept showing constantly through her mind: Soon that bastard will get what he deserves and I have the perfect plan.
Since that night, Nat had sworn to never let someone take advantage of her. Taking another step back, she barely twitched as she knocked into another person attempting to walk around them. “Tash?”
“Get away from me.” She turned away and stormed off. After weeks of the police searching for him, the case had gone cold and only a few people knew the real truth.
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