Chapter 10
Alison slammed into her room, and slammed on her radio, hoping the noise would drown out her thoughts. Nope, no such luck. She grabbed a pillow and threw it at the wall with a groan. Then she fell onto her bed and cried, her wet clothes still sticking to her. The music continued to play in the music, offering Alison little condolence. Was she being selfish, she asked herself, was she? She was so terrified of confronting Tom, and she knew she wanted Jason behind her when she did, even if he was across the country. She cried harder, wanting Jason to be there, to wrap his arms around her, and make her feel safe and protected again. She wanted him to hold her and stroke her hair, whisper in her ear, she cried harder as she longed for Jason to be with her. Alison was brought back by a knock on the door. Jason? She thought. She prayed it was Jason, coming to apologize, to hold her in his arms, to tell her he still loved her.
“Jay,” she whispered before opening the door, then gasped as she opened the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jason made his way down the hall to Alison’s room, feeling awful for what he had said. He knew he was the one being selfish, he was just so scared of losing her… she meant so much to him. It took him a few minutes to gain his composure at the beach, but he knew he had to go see Alison. Even if he was going to lose her, he knew he had to make sure she knew he loved her.
Jason turned the corner to go to her room, and took a deep breath. As he neared her room, he swore he heard yelling, as he got closer he was positive it was coming from Alison’s room. “Alison?” he called through the door as he tried to open it, realizing it was locked he pounded the door with his fist, “Aly? Alison!” he yelled, his fist pounding the door to the room, “Alison!” He had never felt so scared in his life, or so helpless. He was sure one voice was Alison’s, the other voice was male, and Jason was sure he never heard the voice before. “Alison!” he screamed, still pounding his fist to the door. Jason stopped when he heard the room go silent, the doorknob turned and the door swung open. A brown haired guy in his early 20’s breezed carelessly past Jason. Jason debated with himself whether to go after the guy or check on Alison, he made up his mind quick, and knew his main concern was Alison.
“Aly?” he called softly as he walked into her room, all he heard was the radio playing. “Aly?” he called again, this time he heard a little whimper that sounded like it was coming from the bathroom. He opened the door to the bathroom and almost cried at what he saw. Alison was scrunched into a ball in the corner of the bathroom crying. Her face was bleeding and bruised.
“Alison!” he exclaimed running over and knelt down, taking her face in his hands, “Oh my god Alison!”
“Jay!” she cried as she dove into his arms almost knocking him over, she wept into his shoulder, “Tom, he found me, he… he…” her voice was taken over by crying.”
“We’ve got to go to the police,” Jay said as he tried to help Alison up.
“No!” Alison cried, holding on to Jason’s arm, “you can’t, Jay, you can’t!” her eyes pleaded.
He picked her up and carried her to her bed where he held her and rocked her back and forth. “It’s ok baby,” he said softly running his hand through her hair, “it’s ok…”
“Jay?” she whispered, “I’m so sorry…”
“Shhhh,” he said gently, “I know, I know.”
“I love you,” she said as he rocked her back and forth, her shoulders still shaking. A tear slid down Jay’s cheek as she said those words. Alison stopped crying a few minutes later, and fell asleep. Jay cleaned her cuts and noticed even more bruises on her arms. Jay vowed that this guy would be dead for what he had done.
Jay sat next to the sleeping Alison, and stroked her hair. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, “I didn’t mean what I said on the beach, I love you Aly, I’m scared of losing you…” his voice trailed off as more tears came to his eyes. The radio was on and he listened to the lyrics of the song that were on. Jay felt moved by the powerful song, and whispered the chorus into Alison’s ears, “Whatever tomorrow brings, I’ll be there with open arms and open eyes. Whatever tomorrow brings I’ll be there, I’ll be there.”
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Jay tried to get a hold of Adam on his cell phone, but it just rang, which meant he didn’t have it on him. The last thing Jay wanted to do was leave Alison alone, but he had to tell Adam that he couldn’t make their plans of hanging out at a local bar. Looking at his watch, Jason knew Adam would already be there. Jason quickly scribbled a note to Alison in case she woke up, that he’d be back in a few minutes, kissed her on the forehead and quickly left the room.
Chapter 11
Chapter 9