At two am, her phone started buzzing. She was reaching for it when she saw who it was. She answered it quickly. “Mom?”
“Bree, I need help.” The woman said in a panicked voice.
“What?” Bree asked as she blinked her eyes some more.
“I need you to come to get me in Franville.” Her mother said. “I’m on the highway at a bar.”
“Great, mom,” Bree said.
“Just come and get me.” Her mom said, “I think he is going to kill me.”
“Who?” Bree asked.
“No time.” The older woman said. “Just get here. You can’t miss it. The name of it is the shamrock.”
“Mom?” Bree said, but the phone was already dead. “Wonderful.”
Bree got up and then redressed from school, and she grabbed her purse and keys. She walked out of the apartment and turned to lock it. She walked down to the parking lot and saw the light from his apartment on. The blinds moved, and she walked faster. He was watching from his apartment. The door opened, and he came outside.
“Bree.” He called out.
“Sorry, Mr. Danner, I got to go,” Bree said as she neared her car as he was already across the parking lot.
“It is two in the morning. Where the hell are you going?” He demanded.
“To get my mom.” She said, “At a bar.”
“Oh.” He said. “I wanted to talk to you about earlier.”
“No,” Bree said. “Sorry, my mom said it was an emergency, and I had to get there as quick as possible. Your girlfriend is your problem.”
“She was out of line.” He said.
“I don’t care about your problems.” She said as she unlocked her car, “I have enough of my own.”
Bree got into her car and started it up. He was still next to it. She rolled down the window, “Could you please move. I don’t want to run you over.”
“Drive safe, okay? The bars are letting out.” He said as he moved slightly.
“Don’t worry about me,” Bree said. “I am always fine.”
When she was on the open road, she knew that it would take a few minutes to get to the town over from where she was. She started driving as if she was headed to the gates of hell to collect her due. When she was nearing the area, her mother had told her to look for the bar, she saw it in the distance. When she got by the parking lot, she slowed down a bit to see if she could see her mother waiting somewhere when her mother came running like a bat of out the hell she had been picturing a few minutes before.
Her mother opened the door to the car and threw herself in the passenger seat, and looked at her daughter, “Floor it.”
“Mom,” Bree said.
“Go! NOW!” her mother yelled, and Bree took off. “Whatever, you don’t head toward the house.”
“Where am I supposed to go then?” Bree said.
“Just keep driving.” Her mother said, and soon enough, they were on the highway. They were driving around the rural areas of the neighboring towns when a truck came right up on her bumper. “Damnit, they did see you.”
“Mom, what is going on?” Bree asked as she tried to speed up, but the truck was right there, still riding on her bumper. She was trying to think of anywhere she could use to get away from the large truck that was so close she was afraid to slow down.
“No time.” Her mother said as she reached over and pulled on the steering wheel to jerk the car.
“Stop, Mom,” Bree yelled.
“Bree, just stop the car.” Her mother said, but the truck hit the back end of the car right then. Bree felt the jerk of the tapping the truck was doing to the back end of the car. “Stop the car.”
“I can’t. They will cream the car.” Bree said as she tried to get away again, but the truck was still riding on her bumper. “What the hell is going on?”
“Your father sent them.” Her mother said.
“What?” Bree asked as she looked at her mother for a split second. She knew her father didn’t care for her mother or her, but this was too much for her to believe. Bree knew her father wouldn’t do this. Her mother had gotten in trouble with the wrong people or something. Now Bree was involved as well. She just sighed and knew she had to stay focused on the road to try and get away from the truck somehow.
“Just stop the car. I will deal with it.” Her mother said with a sigh.
“Mom, no,” Bree said, but the sound was lost in the crunching of fiberglass and metal. She felt the pain of hitting the steering wheel and then saw a large flash of light in her eyes right before her head hit the glass of her front window.
“What the hell did this girl go through?” Bree heard as she tried to struggle against the straps that were holding her down.
“Sad, really.” She heard a woman’s voice said. The light was too bright. She couldn’t open her eyes. “Her mother was at the crash as well. She didn’t make it, but the ones that they found who did it said the older woman had a debt to be paid, and they took it out on the girl after the accident. That had been the mother’s plan all along. For them to scare and then use the girl.”
“They raped her as well?” The man’s voice said.
“At the first exam, when she arrived, it was plain to see.” The woman said softly. “Poor thing. She hasn’t woken up yet.”
“Well, then let's get her up to surgery and prepped.” The man said as his tone changed. “Hopefully, we can fix some of this and get her right again.”
“Hopefully, she will find some peace either way.” The woman said.
Bree felt the bed move, and then she realized they had been talking about her. She had been in a car accident, but they were saying that she had been raped as well. Her mother didn’t make it. What the hell happened? She couldn’t move. Nothing made any sense, and then she couldn’t feel anything again.
She woke up three days later. The nurses that were there were surprised that she had woke up. Bree looked down at herself in the hospital bed and was confused. She could barely remember anything. “How are you feeling?” One of the nurses asked as she looked around the room and saw the flowers that lined the walls.“What happened?” Bree managed to get out from her very dry throat. The nurse poured a cup of water and then tried to hand it to Bree. She took it in her hand and took a sip of the cool water, and it burned on her throat.“There was an accident, sweetheart.” The nurse said, “I am so sorry to inform you that your mother didn’t make it out of the crash.”“What happened to me?” Bree asked.“You had some internal bleeding from the crash and a few other things. I will let the doctor explain it to you. I am going to go and call him and le
Bree woke up again and was alone in the room. She began thinking of the man who had come in before when the doctor was there. She thought he was so new to this teaching thing that he was going to burn himself out by caring too much. He somehow blamed himself for the accident. She had to let him know that it wasn’t his fault at all. It was her mother’s.Somehow that didn’t surprise her that she was a part of this. Her mother had shown very little interest in her since she was born. The woman only cared about her freedom and what she could get out of life. The other person who should have cared was nowhere to be found. Though she didn’t have all that much, she needed to figure out a way to get it out of the apartment now there was no way to pay for it. The time was going to come quick, and the doctor seemed like she was going to be there for a while.She had no doubt her f
Gabe sat there looking at the small girl asleep in the bed. Though she was clear-headed at the moment, he knew she was in a lot of pain still. The doctors were telling her that a few more surgeries would be necessary to help her in the long run. She nodded her head and didn’t seem to care that they were basically telling her she was going to be bound to the hospital for at least the next month. He needed to clear his own mind. He got up and left his jacket on the seat and went to the door and looked out. Two of the nurses were staring at him. He hated that even though he could see that he often did it himself to a pretty woman.He looked back at Bree, and then he started to the elevator so he could get a quick breath of fresh air. He was only gone for a few minutes when he went back up to the room and saw an older man there looking at the girl. He turned and looked at Gabe, “Who the hell are you?” the older man asked.&ldqu
The new morning Gabe woke up and sent a text off to the phone he had given Bree the night before. It was a simple good morning and a quick question of if she wanted anything when he dropped by after school. He wasn’t surprised when he received an answer that he didn’t have to come by at all.He knew that he shouldn’t have taken such a personal interest in this. He just felt responsible. That was what he kept telling himself anyway though the voice in his head was telling him the truth that he didn’t want to hear. He couldn’t listen to it. It just seemed so wrong to him, though. If he stopped fighting with himself, he knew it was true. He had fallen for the girl the first day he met her when he took over the class at the beginning of the school year.Though she had hid in the back of the classroom in her band tee and jeans that were too big, he could see her completely. She was stunningly beautif
Gabe had to wait all day for any news on Bree. He raced over to the hospital when he was finally done for the day. Unfortunately, he had been in teacher meetings for all of his free periods. With everything else that was going on at the school and him having to do this new pilot program that the people all thought would be a great idea, he had to explain what was going on a few times, and that was a few times too many. When he got there, he saw Bree in the bed as the nurses were watching her as it seemed like she was waking up from the surgery.She was looking around and saw the people in the room. She couldn’t speak and then she looked at him. He was relieved that she seemed to focus on him. He walked around the bed to the chair he had spent most of the last few days in and just looked at her. He waited until she could focus even more before asking her anything. It seemed like a few hours though it was probably only a half hour. He just sat there.
The silence went was drowning out all the other noise in the hallways from the people that were passing by. Neither of them was thinking about the other people. Gabe had just sat there and looked at the wall waiting for her to speak again.“You know I spent the majority of my life so far thinking of ways that I would be better than my mom.” Bree said as she turned her head to look at him, “I was good. I could be left alone. I never had a boyfriend. I did my work in school. I got a job as soon as I could. I was the freaking responsible one out of everyone in my life, and she somehow hated me so much that she took all of that away from me and left me the same as her.”“But you aren’t like her,” Gabe said as he squeezed her hand. “I mean, you can do something about it. No one has to know.”“But I would know,” Bree said softly. “I can’t do that.”&l
Gabe stayed with Bree until she was near asleep, and then he took her keys and went back to the apartments. He knew which one was hers, and she had told him the things to take from the apartment first. He had stopped off at a store first and got some baskets and bags so he could move her stuff quicker.When he reached the parking lot, he scanned the area for any cars he knew as he didn’t want to bring attention to the fact he was moving the girl's stuff into his apartment. He knew this was the beginning of toeing the line for the next few weeks until the girl was done with his class. Though the way the doctors were talking, she would be in the hospital even after she graduated and also when she turned eighteen.He was okay with the things he was doing right now. He knew that being proactive with helping here right now would be a good help to help ease her and maybe help her recovery. He looked at the building across from his after he had scanned the
He sat down on the couch and ate his frozen pizza that was still burning hot from the oven. He looked around and wondered if she could make as much in his apartment as she had done in her own one. It wasn't that he couldn’t do what he wanted in the place. It was more that he didn’t know how to. Ann had thrown ideas out at him, but he had vetoed all of them because they would cost thousands of dollars, and he hoped in the next few years he would be out of the apartment and in his own house.That was his plan anyway. He thought of Bree in the hospital and didn’t like the idea she was there by herself. It bothered him for some reason. He had spent the day worrying about her, and then he was mentally slammed against the wall with her when the doctor had given her the news. He had not wanted to think about the rape that had happened. She didn’t either, but now it seemed that wasn't all that possible.She h
Five years later…“My wife and kids will be here soon,” Gabe said as he laughed as he looked around the middle schoolroom that he taught in for the past five years. It was the open house for the middle school, and this time he wanted Bree to be there like she had been every time to make sure things ran smoothly. The two of them had changed people’s perspectives when they saw the couple together. The act of getting married had done that, and Bree had to laugh when people said that was when they saw Gabe as not a child predator. She knew the truth, and so did he.“Sorry, we’re late,” Bree said as she walked in the room, knowing that they still had about an hour before parents would start to show up for the meetings with each teacher.“It’s okay,” Gabe said with a smile as he leaned down to kiss his wife and lift up his four-year-old daughter, and kissed her cheek.&l
Bree woke up in the middle of the night because of Gabe’s wandering hands on her bareback. She looked up to him from her perch on his chest. He was smiling. “Feel better?” She asked.“In so many ways.” He replied as he moved her to be eye level with him. “Sex was never at the top of the list. I wanted you to be comfortable. When I heard you thought I didn’t want you that way earlier, I nearly exploded internally. Bree, I wanted you that way when you were my student if we are honest completely with each other. Only you could get through to me, though.”“Why?” she asked as she snuggled closer to him, and he kissed her nose that was right there in front of him.“Because I love you.” He said, and he looked at her and waited. He knew she had never heard those words before, probably even from the people, she should have.“I don’t know what love is.
The dinner was subdued. The place was one of those places that you wouldn’t think that it could be considered romantic, but he knew that she would see the small things more than a fancy restaurant. It was one of the few places he could remember his father taking his mother, too, without the horde of children. It was just for that reason, as well.She sat back after eating a small amount though he knew she had enjoyed her meal by the way she had attacked it. She looked at him and was quietly taking the place in. “Why here?” She asked.“My mother is a foreigner here.” He said with a laugh, “This always reminded her of home. It was one of those places that we didn’t come as a family very often, but my dad used to take her here when she would get homesick. I think the food is good, but the privacy that it has without making it feel private is why I wanted to come here. I just wanted a good night out t
Gabe looked around as he waited for her to come back out. He was still stunned at her last statement. He had been in pain for the past two months with her around. He wanted her more every day. He didn’t give a damn about any scars unless they were causing her pain. He knew those were the lines that doctors had made to save her life. Those were there because she was still there. They did hold some value to him, but they weren’t repulsive. They were victories.He knew it was time. It was time for them to stop just being roommates. He had to let her know how he felt. He needed to show her everything.Dinner was the first step. He changed his plans in his head. This night had to be different. He had just wanted to give her a break. Now he was on a mission. He smiled when the idea came to him, and he knew that was the way he needed to go in. He saw her come out in her new clothes and he smiled at her.“Come on, let&rsq
“What is it?” Bree asked.“It feels like we aren’t alone,” Gabe said with a sigh. “I guess staying in didn’t help either. I should probably call the cops, but honestly, at this point, I just want to go and have our night.”“Gabe,” Bree said as she lowered her head again. He knew she was having the beginning of one of her meltdowns. Normally this woman in front of him was one of the most stubborn and headstrong women he had ever met. However, since they had truly confirmed the pregnancy, he had seen her go through a series of emotions in a matter of a few minutes. He knew it was bothering her as well. As well as the fact he wanted her to stay at home and just help with the small things.“Bree. Honey, it is okay.” He said as he closed the car door. Hoping he could stop the roller coaster of her emotions before they got to the store, he wanted to hurry up. All he wanted was a night out with her
Days turned into weeks. Though the summer was dragging on as the two stayed mostly in the house. The summer nights were cool instead of hot in most places. The apartment was cool as well. Gabe looked at her as he surprised her this day, “Get dressed.” He said as he looked at her.“What, why?” She asked.“Because I am taking you out for dinner.” He said as he tilted his head to look at her. He knew that they had moved past the mostly awkward part of a relationship, but there were sometimes she still surprised him. He watched her as she moved to the room they shared, and she was trying to find some clothes to wear. She came out, and she was wearing something he wouldn’t think she would wear to a nice night out. “Bree, what are you wearing?”“Gabe, there is a slight problem.” She said as she looked at him.“What is it?” he asked.“I can&r
“My ex-girlfriend has been having people call my parents, and they have been following me when I leave the apartment,” Gabe said.“The name of this person?” The officer asked.“Ann Knnorr,” Gabe stated, and the officer looked at him and chuckled.“I see.” The man said. “We have had a few issues with her and that family in the past.”“What issues?” Gabe asked.“We are not at liberty to discuss those.” The man said, “But you aren’t the first to say this.”“The problem is that we can never prove anything.” The second officer spoke up.“Would a recording of her threatening me help?” Gabe asked, and all three people looked at him. he went into the area he had made to be his school area and got the recording. He played for the officers, and both of them nodded.“That will help a lot.”
The next few days were spent inside, just relaxing mostly inside the apartment. With the new distance learning that the schools had, he didn’t have to leave the apartment to do his classes, and she was mostly lying on the couch during the day. Her getting up was a rare thing because she was still finding that her body didn’t like moving that much after the month in the hospital. She had slept later in the morning as she could hear him talking to his class. She let herself drift in and out of sleep longer than she normally did in the mornings.He had two classes, and both of them were in the morning. When she woke up again, she didn’t hear his voice or anything in the apartment. Until she heard the knocking on the door. Everything had seemed peaceful up until that moment.“Are you Gabriel Danner?” She heard a male’s voice ask as Gabe had opened the door.“I am,” Gabe said.&ldqu
She laid down on the bed wrapped up in the blanket he had placed there for her right out of the shower. She was so tired still that standing was a weird thing to do. Moving around for more than a few minutes was also hard. She knew she would have to get used to life soon enough. He walked in and chuckled a bit as he looked at her wrapped up like a burrito in the blankets.He flicked the light on for a minute, and then it was off again. Bree heard the water running in the distance, and she fell asleep before he returned. Though she knew when he was there next to her. The mattress dipped under his weight for a minute, and then he settled into a spot. She didn’t know how close he was, but there seemed to be enough room to move for her though she didn’t want to.“Good night Bree.” He said softly. She mumbled something to the same effect, and he again chuckled softly. That was the last she thought of until the light of