Helpless
729 Words
Jacob’s Point of View
I couldn’t watch the phone while I ran, but I was sure as s**t listening as my wife cried and screamed, muffled pleas for people to stop. She even said my name, asking for me, only to remember immediately that I wasn't there. As far as she knew, I didn't care, and had never cared. Nothing could be further from the truth. But how could she know that?
A quick glance at the screen revealed that a man was on top of her and she was being held down, her clothes being taken off as the man danced a knife across her pale skin. She must have been terrified.
Gods damn it! It was all my fault. I knew she didn’t want me to go, but she was trying so hard to be supportive. She’d had those bad feelings. I should have listened. She was a f*****g priestess, after all. Her intuition should have meant more to me than it had, and now, here we were.
To my elation, someone barged in, telling the men to get off of her and calling the police. Then, she started throwing things, destroying everything in sight as she cursed my name. I wanted to yell and tell her that it wasn’t me. I tried; gods help me, I tried. Her volume must have been set to silent, so I listened and watched helplessly as she asked another man to take her home, a crying mess.
On one hand, I was grateful. She needed someone to take care of her right now. But I didn’t know this guy, didn’t trust this guy. I couldn’t stand the thought of her going home with this man. Surely she wouldn’t invite him in. Right?
To my elation, she didn’t. She was still mine. I could fix this.
Then, a thought slipped into my mind. Valentia owns this phone. Which meant she could track the phone. I threw it into the trees beside me and took off running again, hopelessly lost, until finally, I saw the water. The ocean.
I jumped in, knowing that they couldn’t find me there. They wouldn’t have been able to find me there, right?
About a mile out, I felt arms around my neck, dragging me to the surface. Three women with vacant eyes stared at me, hauling me onto a boat, where Valentia stood.
At least Cherry would get my messages. Surely, she would come looking for me, would find me. I would make it up to her, a million times over, and she would understand it wasn't my fault. We would heal from this together, no matter how long it took to get to that place. We had to.
The smoke came from her hands, entering my nose, and everything went dark again.
That night, I dreamed of a mysterious, sharp woman with hair like flames that curled around her face. She was saying my name, over and over again, a black netted veil covering her face. Blue eyes haunted me from behind the material as my name rang from her mouth. She was trying to tell me something. What was she trying to tell me?
Two children stood by her side, their hands in hers. They all stared at me, the children calling me Papa. I wanted to tell them they must be mistaken. The only child I had was the one with Valentia. But the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth, especially when I looked into the redhead’s eyes.
“Papa, why did you leave us?” The little girl asked.
“Papa, we miss you, please come home!” The little boy cried, his eyes filling with tears.
“Jacob…” The woman said, her voice echoing through my mind over and over again.
Waking, I reached for her, only to find Valentia there. I smiled. It had only been a dream, a nightmare.
“Good morning, honey,” I whispered, kissing her ear as I ran my hand across our growing child inside of her. “How did you sleep?”
“I slept wonderfully, honey, but it didn’t seem like you did. More bad dreams?”
I nodded.
“Let me guess - the redhead again?”
I nodded. “How did you know?”
She stared at me for a moment, biting her lip. “You always seem to dream about her, even though you’ve never seen her before. Must have seen her on the television or something.”
I nodded. It was the only thing that made sense. “Yeah, you’re right. So, what do you want for breakfast, sweetie?”
- Writer
