Born to Fight

Chapter 3

Jamie

From the moment that I had been awoken by the ringing of my cell phone and had heard Celeste's panicked voice on the other end of the phone, I had been running on pure adrenaline. I kept telling myself that I just needed to see for myself that Celeste was okay. I knew that right now she would be terrified by what had just taken place in her home, the one place that she should be able to feel safe. I remembered her telling me that it had just been her and her mother since her grandfather had passed away. I just wanted to be there for her, so that she knew she wasn’t alone. I knew that with the death of her mother, she had no other family left now. She was all alone. An orphan. I knew that right now, Celeste must be feeling more alone than ever.

Driving to Celeste’s house, me and Josh were breaking every speed limit and road rule we could get away with. At this hour of the morning, it was highly unlikely that we would cross paths with any cops. Well, at least until we got closer to Celeste’s house that is. Looking again at the GPS I put my foot down increasing our speed.

Celeste

I was feeling numb, my tears had stopped falling a little while ago. Now I was just sitting at the kitchen table silently watching as the police did the rounds of surveying the crime scene in my living room. With the amount of hustling and bustling taking place. It almost seemed to me like I was on some never-ending carnival ride.

Every few minutes a group of officers would walk into the living room and look around the room before going on to inspect my mother's body and move on out the door, only to have another group come in and start the same routine all over again. So far no one had spoken to me to ask me for a recount of what had taken place in my home. To me, that also seemed odd. Shouldn't the police have taken my statement while the details were still fresh in my mind?

The police had been here for hours. The sun would soon be rising. And to top it all off, their presence here inside the house was making Loki go ballistic in the backyard all over again.

I was suddenly dragged out of my thoughts by a commotion that had suddenly broken out outside the house. Curious as to what was happening, I got up and walked towards the front door. When I looked outside the front door, I saw two soldiers standing on the front lawn speaking with a couple of police officers. When I noticed that one of the soldiers had a German Shepherd with him, I suddenly realized who I was looking at. Shaken out of my numb stupor, I reacted to get his attention.

“Jamie!” I called out.

Jamie looked over to where I was standing. Once he saw me, he handed the leash to the soldier who was standing beside him. He said something to the police officers before he walked around the officers and made his way towards me. I ran to meet him and when I reached him, Jamie threw his arms around me and we stood there holding on to each other. Standing there in his arms, I felt so safe. The knowledge that I could feel safe in the embrace of someone I had only just met in person shocked me.

“Miss Avery?” a voice called from inside the house.

I lifted my head off of Jamie’s shoulder. “Yes?” I asked, turning and looking back towards the house.

A policeman walked out the front door and made his way over to where we were standing, “I have some questions for you Miss Avery, could you come with me please?” he asked.

I reached out and grabbed Jamie’s hand. “I want him with me,” I said, looking at the policeman.

The police officer merely shrugged before turning away from us and making his way back into the house, with me and Jamie on his heels. The three of us sat down at the kitchen table, and I clung to Jamie’s hand for support, as I gave the horrific recount of everything that had happened from the time I had woken up. I accounted for every second, from the sound of the glass breaking and my dog's consistent barking, through until the moment I had called Jamie to tell him what had happened.

Throughout the recount, as I had spoken about what had happened to my mother, Jamie had given my hand a gentle squeeze each time I became overcome by emotion. Whenever I felt like I was going to break down, Jamie seeming to pick up on it, and had given my shoulder a comforting squeeze. When I was finished speaking, no one said anything. I didn't know how long we had sat there in silence, but suddenly the police officer who had been silent throughout my recount of the evenings' events had decided it was time to start asking questions. Once he started asking questions, he didn't hold back.

He was asking things like had I seen the men before? Did I know who this Billy guy they were looking for was? Who was Jamie to me? Why had I rung him?

And I had answered every one of those questions. No, I hadn’t seen those men before. No, I did not know anyone named Billy. Jamie was my friend, and I had rung him because I hadn’t known what else to do. The police officer seeming satisfied with my answers for now suddenly got up and left the table without another word. I thought that the officer's behavior was odd. But I didn't say anything about it. I just wanted this nightmare I seemed to be trapped in, to be over.

After some time of being lost in my own thoughts once more, I suddenly became aware of movement next to the table. I looked up and saw the young man who was standing there, and I recognized him as the soldier who had arrived with Jamie. He was standing there watching us, and suddenly he went pale, almost like he had seen a ghost.

“Josh, what’s wrong?” Jamie asked, picking up on his friend suddenly going pale. But Josh didn’t say anything. He just looked at Jamie for a brief moment, then he looked back at me and bolted out the front door like his a*s was on fire.