Revenge

Chapter 11

Connie had been sat on the bottom step, waiting for her daughter to come home. While she'd been sat there, she had had time to think over everything that had happened that day. The fact that her little car accident wasn't anywhere close to being as serious as her last one didn't change the fact that it had caused all the memories of their near death experience to come creeping back.

The painful memories wripped her apart inside. They made her feel physically sick. She ran a hand over her forehead, tracing where her faded scares were once clearly visible. As she did, her finger trailed over an escaped tear that had been rolling down her cheek.

She looked down at her hands that were once covered in bruises and scratches. The only visible sign of any trauma on them now was their continious shaking.

She lifted a hand to cover her mouth as a sob escaped her as she thought back to the moment the car exploded in front of her. She thought back to the feeling of death she had felt in the pit of her stomach when she had thought she hadn't been quick enough to save her daughter.

She could still feel the heat from the scolding flames that had engulfed her car. Everything, every single detail of the most horrendous day of her life had come back to haunt her.

She could no longer control her tears that were now freely trickling down her face, and she began sobbing into her hand.

Just then, the sound of laughter brought her back into the real world. She quickly stood up and wiped away her fallen tears. She just had a moment to compose herself again and regain her posture before Jacob and Grace opened the door.

"Mum, you're back," Grace said as she stepped into the hallway. Before she could say anything else, Connie had rushed over and knelt down to wrap her arms around her baby. More tears threatened to fall as she hugged her daughter tighter without saying a word.

Feeling completely crushed by her mother's arms, Grace couldn't understand what had gotten into her.

"We only went for burritos," she said innocently, wondering why her mum was making such a big deal of it.

"I came to pick up my things and Grace was-" Jacob immediately stopped talking when Connie looked up at him, her eyes full of anger, clearly warning him to stop.

She pulled away from Grace and cupped her cheeks with her hands. "Promise me you won't do that again," she said.

Grace looked back at her, confused. "Why should I m-make promises i-if you can't even kee-p them?"

Jacob raised his eyebrows and looked down at a stupefied Connie. The girl had a point.

Before Connie could even begin to explain, Grace pulled away from her and turned to thank Jacob before leaving the room, the sound of her crutches clicking against the floor getting weaker and weaker as she walked away.

"Connie-"

"Outside," she said sternly, pointing to the door.

Jacob stepped outside, closely followed by Connie. She made sure she closed the door behind her to prevent Grace from hearing anything.

Before Jacob could even open his mouth to explain, Connie had already cut him off.

"How dare you just come here and take my daughter without my permission!" She barked. "Have you any idea how worried I was when I got home and she wasn't here?!"

"Maybe if you'd have got back when you said you would, we wouldn't be having this conversation," he threw back. He immediately regretted his words but deep down he knew that she had to hear it.

She clenched her jaw and shook her head. "How dare you," she said. "How dare you." Raising her voice again, she didn't hold back. "What gives you the impression that you can just come to my house - my house - and tell me that I'm a bad mother?"

She took a step closer and pointed her finger at him. "You have no idea what I do for her," she paused. "And not that it's any of your business but I did leave work on time," she told him.

What did she mean? Jacob thought to himself. How could she have left work on time and got home so late?

"I had an accident on the way home, if you must know," she blurted out, recieving a concerned look from him. "Now if that's everything-"

"An accident? What kind of accident?" he asked, his protective instinct quickly taking over. "Are you hurt?" he asked, placing a hand on her forearm only to have it brushed away by Connie.

"I'm fine," she said bluntly. "Just go."

Jacob couldn't help but worry now. He could tell something wasn't right. He had noticed the tears in her eyes when he had walked in with Grace. He had known then but he hadn't wanted to cause an argument... It was a little too late for that now, he thought.

"You're not though, are you?" he said, much to Connie's frustration. "Look, Connie, I know things have been awkward between the two of us lately," he paused taking a step closer to her, "but you can talk to me. I'm still here for you... as a friend," he clarified.

Connie simply sneered and looked away.

"I know about the letter," he said, getting her attention. She turned to look at him when he pulled it out of his back pocket, unfolding it in front of her.

"Where did you get that?!" she sharled, snatching it from his hands.

He explained that he had picked it up when he had been collecting his things from her room. He told her it must have fallen out of her pocket.

After waiting for a reaction from her and not getting one, he told her that she should take it to the police.

"The police?" she asked in a mocking voice, "why?" In her mind it was probably just a letter from a patient she had treated or a relative. It was most likely from a family member of a patient she hadn't been able to save. After all, it wouldn't be the first time she had been threatened by one of them.

She worked in a hospital, and despite her best effort, she couldn't always save everyone. There were bound to be upset family members. That's just the way it was.

She wasn't worried about it in the same way Jacob was, and she could tell. She knew that something was bothering him, that he knew something she didn't. But what?

Jacob looked at her and sighed. He could tell she was cold and thought it best they head back inside so that he could bring her up to speed with everything that he knew. It was time he told her. After all, she needed to be aware of the fact that she might not be safe on her own anymore.

"Can we go inside?" he asked. "There's something you need to know."

Connie couldn't wait to get back inside to the heat and warmth of her house, it was freezing outside and she wasn't wearing a coat. Of course, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of going back inside so she decided they'd stay outside.

"What ever you have to say to me, you can say it out here," she told him stubbornly.

Jacob sighed and looked up at her before beginning to tell her everything he knew.

So that's all for this chapter. Again, it's longer than most of my other chapters and I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for your reviews/votes/views. Please feel free to leave more reviews and let me know what you think.