Chapter 11: Duck And Run

            Chance moped around the house that weekend as if she were a zombie. She couldn’t believe how Darren had betrayed her. ‘And to think, he’s living with me. How could I be so stupid and let him stay after what he did to me?’ Chance thought. She couldn’t stand to think of him. ‘You’re evil!’ her heart screamed every time she saw him walk into a room.

            Darren could feel the coldness of her stare and would immediately leave the room. He was afraid that even one word out of his mouth would lead to trouble. The entire weekend he kept his distance not wanting to hurt her anymore than he had. ‘I didn’t know this was going to happen. I didn’t mean to hurt you,’ his mind would say every time he caught a glimpse of her entering or leaving a room. This was something his conscience would never let go of.

            ‘You fucking idiot,’ a voice in his head would scream. ‘You blew your best friend’s chances of finding her soul mate. You’re so selfish. All you were thinking about was yourself. How could you be such a jackass? You should be ashamed of yourself.’

            At that moment, Darren saw Chance pick up her jacket and walk out of the house. He wondered where she was going, but was to caught up in trying to resolved the ongoing battle in his head to say anything. He sat down on the couch in the parlor and looked out the extensive bay window to see her begin running down the long driveway and disappearing behind the brick fence.

            Chance ran down the sidewalk until her legs hurt, and even then she kept pushing herself to go faster. She wanted to be as far away as she possibly could from the house. There was nowhere to go, so she ran to the center of town where she could get something to eat. During her long and slow lunch, she would look out the window for minutes at a time. She watched as the people walked down the street carrying on with their lives.

            ‘I wish my life could be as simple as theirs,’ Chance thought to herself and looked down at her half eaten sandwich. She wasn’t able to eat anymore. She paid and left the little restaurant. She began to run down the street again.

            Chance had to stop at the light for it to change. As she waited on the curb, Brad’s black Mercedes pulled up beside to her.

            “Hey bitch!” he yelled to her.

            Chance looked at him for a second and began to run in the other direction. ‘As if my day could get any worse,’ she thought, pushing herself to run far away from the situation.

            Brad watched her run from him. He looked over at the rest of his crew and said, “It’s time. This bitch is going down today.” He turned in the direction that Chance ran and followed her path down the street. He passed her and sped down the road behind a tall row of bushes.

            Brad, Paul, Rick, and Scott all got out and into position. Brad turned to Scott and handed him a wrapped object. “You have the honor of pulling the knife,” he said as Scott unwrapped the bundle and held the large blade in his hand.

            “Why me?” Scott asked.

            “Because you’re second in command, remember? You’re my guy,” Brad told him.

            Scott looked at the knife and gulped. ‘I can’t do this,’ he thought, rolling it over and over in his hands.

            “You all know what you’re supposed to do, right?” Brad asked the others.

            “Could you repeat this once more?” Scott replied.

            “You come out from behind the bush and grab her, then the rest of us are gonna beat the shit out of her. It’s that easy,” Brad said then turned his attention to the task at hand.

            Scott heard a crack of thunder in the distance and knew it was going to start to rain soon. He was scared beyond doubt about all this. After all, it had only been two days after the horrible fight he had with Chance, and doing this to her seemed like good revenge, but he wasn’t this kind of person. This was going completely against what he believed. He hated violence, and this was going to be the first time he had ever done anything against his morals.

            “Here she comes,” Brad whispered.

            On the other side of the bushes, Chance ran down the sidewalk in anger. She was pushing herself to the limit and trying to stay in control. As she passed the opening in the bushes, she could feel someone grab her arm and pull her. She was restrained and a knife blade was held to her neck. A hand went over her mouth so she wouldn’t scream.

            Chance struggled to get out, but she was quickly losing the strength to fight. The cold blade of the knife was so close to her neck that when she moved slightly, she could feel it pierce her skin. Blood trickled down to her shirt, but there was nothing she could do about it.

            Chance was terrified. She tried to loosen the guy’s grip, but her strength was no match for his. All too suddenly, Brad, Rick, and Paul jumped out from behind the bushes. She immediately knew that Scott was the one holding her hostage. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about what was going to happen.

            “I got you now, bitch,” Brad said. He had a smaller pocketknife in his hand and was standing a few inches from her face. “You thought you could humiliate me in front of everyone. Well, guess what? No one pisses Brad Jackson off and gets away with it.”

            Scott held the knife closer to her neck as he whispered, “I’m going to loosen my grip. Pretend that you have somehow gotten free and hit me as hard as you can then run for your life. Don’t look back.” He let out the tension of his muscles and Chance quickly pulled his arms over her head. She kicked him with her left leg and shot off running like a rocket.

            “What the fuck!” Brad yelled. He began to run after her in an angry rage.

            Chance pushed her legs to move her as far away from Brad and the others as they could possibly go. She wanted to look back so badly, but knew it would only slow her down and that Brad would end up catching her.

            “Get back here you bitch!” Brad yelled from behind her.

            A burst of lightning exploded over Chance’s head making her run even faster. The rain began to fall in buckets over her head. She ran down the street and turned the corner to find that she had reached her street.

            Brad ran down the slippery road watching Chance as she ran through her gate. She slammed the metal bars with a bang and he knew there was nothing left to do but turn back and tell the guys that there was nothing left to do but wait for another shot.

            Chance ran down her driveway and behind the house until she reached the back porch. She could see Brutus through the glass door. He began barking at the sight of her. She staggered up the steps and slowly opened the door.

            Darren sat at the kitchen table reading the latest Anne Rice novel when he heard the back door creak open. He knew it was Chance, back from her midday run. As he looked up, he saw that she was drenched from head to toe and there was a large cut on her neck that was bleeding.

            “Chance!” Darren shrieked. He ran to her side and grabbed her just before her legs gave way. She burst into tears and wrapped her arms around his neck. Darren carried her to the kitchen table and laid her on top of it. “Oh, my God. What happened?” he asked.

            “Brad… Was going to… Kill me… Scott… Saved my… Life,” Chance panted. She was slowly beginning to calm down from the shock and horror of the entire experience. Her eyes welled up with tears when she realized what had happened. “Scott saved my life,” she cried, putting her hands over her face.

            Darren ran upstairs and grabbed a blanket to wrap Chance in. As he came back down, she was sitting up on the table watching him come in. The cold gleam in her deep brown eyes had been replaced with the pain and anguish of her recent experience.

            “Scott still loves me,” Chance said as Darren wrapped the blanket around her cold wet shoulders. “He wouldn’t have risked this if he didn’t.”

            “I know. I know,” Darren replied as he wrapped his arms around her.

            “I hope he’s okay,” she added.

            “He probably is. Don’t worry about him. He’ll be fine.” Darren got up and went to the cabinet where the first aid kit was stored. He returned to Chance and began to examine the cut on her neck. “How did you get this?” he asked.

            “Scott accidentally cut me with the knife he was holding,” Chance answered.

            “It’s bleeding really bad. I think you might need stitches,” Darren said as he began to clean the wound with peroxide and a cotton ball. Chance winced in pain. She grabbed the edge of the table to keep herself from screaming. “I guess it’s my turn to say ‘It’s okay, I’m almost done,’” he added.

            Chance laughed a little. She was glad Darren always found a way to ease the tension in the room. He bandaged up the cut and she slid back to the floor on wobbly feet.

            “Thank you,” Chance said as she hugged Darren. He helped her walk to the couch in the parlor where she lay down and fell asleep. Darren stroked her wet hair as he watched her sleep. He stood up and left the room soon after to go back to the kitchen and finish his book. She needed the time alone, and he knew that.

~~~~~~~~~~

            Chance suddenly woke when she heard the doorbell ring. She shot up and went to answer it. Darren also stood up from the kitchen table and ran for the door. Chance pulled the door open to see that Scott was standing there covered in blood. His eye was black and he was ready to fall over.

            Chance screamed and yelled, “Darren! Come quick.” She turned to Scott and put her arm around him. “Oh, God!” she cried.

            Darren ran into the room to see what all the commotion was about. That’s when he saw Chance leading a very beaten and battered Scott into the parlor towards the couch. He quickly ran back to the kitchen to retrieve the first aid kit.

            “Darren, where the hell are you?” Chance yelled before he came into the room.

            “I’m coming,” he retorted. Darren walked over to her and handed her the kit.

            “Thank you so much,” she praised. “You knew exactly what I was gonna ask you for.”

            “If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen,” Darren said as he walked out to leave the two alone.

            Chance turned back to Scott. He had bruises all over his arms, a bloody lip, and a black right eye. Just looking at him so helpless made her want to cry. She gathered all the strength she could muster and began to clean him up.

            Scott groaned when Chance touched his lip with a piece of cloth. “Shhh,” she gently whispered and stroked his forehead. He turned to stare at her as she worked.

            “They tried to kill me,” Scott mumbled. “They were pissed that I let you get away.”

            “Oh, baby. It’s okay. You’re safe here. Don’t worry,” Chance comforted. She bent down and lightly kissed the side of his lips. Scott winced. She quickly pulled away and apologized. “I’m sorry.”

            After about half an hour of slowly cleaning Scott up, Chance was finally finished. By that time, he was sleeping like a baby. She stood up and went to the kitchen. Darren was still there reading his book.

            “So, how is he?” Darren asked without looking up from his book.

            “I think he’s going to be just fine,” Chance answered confidently. She smiled and sat down across from him at the table.

            Darren put down his book. “I wanted to say I was sorry about what I did to you a few days ago,” he said.

            “You have a long way to go before I can forgive you,” she responded. “But you’re making progress with that.”

            “When do you think you’ll ever be able to accept my apology?” Darren asked.

            “Not any time soon, that’s for sure.”

            “At least you’re talking to me now and not giving me the evil eye.”

            “Well, you deserved the evil eye. You’re the one who almost cost me the love of my life.”

            “Almost?” Darren inquired. “What do you mean almost? I thought you and Scott were no more.”

            “Not after today,” Chance said with a smile on her face.

            Darren raised his eyebrows. “Oh!”

            “There’s a really big possibility that we’re getting back together once he wakes up,” she squealed.

            “I’m so happy for you!” Darren replied as he stood up to hug Chance. “Then will you forgive me?