A Jar of Hearts (24 page)

Her phone buzzed on the coffee table and she put her needle aside to answer it. “James?”

“Honey, I’m caught in town. The car battery just died out and I’ll try and change it if I can. Otherwise, I’ll have to find someone to help me jump it.”

“Be careful. And take your time. I don’t want you racing up the mountain because of me. I get worried when you do that.”

“It’s gonna get dark soon. You’re not scared, are you?”

“Darling, it’s always dark in my corner of the world.” She rolled her eyes. “Just take care, okay? I don’t want you stranded mid-way up either in the dark.”

“I will. I’ll try not being too long. Make sure you’ve locked all the doors and windows.”

She shook her head as she tossed back the phone on the table. They were living in the dang middle of the forest. It was unlikely that someone was just going to stumble onto them in the dark. An old grandfather clock standing beside the bookcase chimed seven times, its echoes ringing through the silence in the house.

It’s dark
. She threw her head back, hesitant to leave the comfort of the lounge and turn the lights on. It didn’t make any difference to her, but she knew it would warm the house up by the time James returned.

Just a little while longer
, she promised herself. She was missing Boots. She wouldn’t have felt so lonely if she had him at least and the way he would purr about the house. But the time she had spent with Julia and Ashley had spoilt her too. She missed their long conversations; Ashley’s jabber and even the playful Harley who never ceased to draw a smile from her whenever she was around him.

She had tried as much to avoid calling them, realizing she would miss them more if she heard their voices. James had informed her that they had moved in with Mark. She couldn’t help squealing at the news now that Julia had at last fallen in love with a man who would always love her and Ashley back as much too, and who would also protect them.
Damn you, Julia. You took so long but you did it.

The corners of her mouth lifted up as she imagined them as a family. She envied them slightly, knowing they were enjoying the freedom of being one. James and she were still struggling on the other hand, trying to live happily and normally without the need to look over their shoulders occasionally.

She had called Lucy though. Her father’s mistress and once her aide had always been protective of her. Anne had known Lucy would work herself into a state of anxiety as soon as the woman learned that she had ridden into the sunset with a man neither she nor her father knew about.

“What about Nicholas?!” Lucy had cried.

“He’s a friend,” Anne had said, rubbing her temples. “Nicholas knows that.”

“This is
so
not fair to him. He had waited hand and foot for you. Taken care of you when you needed him most.”

“And I shall always be grateful for that, Lucy. But I
do not
love him.”

It was then her father had snatched Lucy’s phone from her and barked at her to return to Boston. “Immediately!”

The next quarter of an hour had then been dedicated to arguments, reasoning and back to debates on why she couldn’t make her own adult decision to do as she pleased.

“Dad, I am not coming back. And there is no law in this land that can force me to return if I don’t want to! I am an adult and it’s time you faced that fact!” She had slammed the phone down before he could retort and she had stood seething in the centre of her living room until James had gathered her in his strong arms to comfort her.

She sat quietly now, fingering the little bead she had sewn onto a cushion cover, reflecting on that argument. No matter how angry she would get with her father for being stifling protective, he was still her dad and he loved her. She sighed. She hoped he would never find her like he had threatened he would. She never told him where she was, she assured herself. But she knew there were other ways and she prayed for James’ sake he wouldn’t try to.

She made her way towards the door to re-check if it was locked and then moved through the house doing the same with the rest of the doors and windows.

“The lights… damn, the lights. I must remember to turn them on,” she grumbled to herself.

Her ears picked on some mutterings and she froze. It was only for a second and would have gone unnoticed but she could have sworn she hadn’t been mistaken.

“James?” she called out. “James, is that you?”

The floor upstairs creaked and cold crept up her spine, shivering her.

“James, if that is you, it’s not funny.”

The house grew quiet again, but she was too scared to move, listening instead for any further noise. Maybe, it was just her imagination, but she wanted to try one more thing before she could conclude it was nothing but that.

“Juan?”

“How did she know?” someone said.

She gasped, a chill racing up her nerves as she turned on her heels to head towards the door.

“José, get her before she runs out!”

“She can’t go too far. She’s fucking blind, man!” José scoffed as he scrambled down the stairs.

She changed directions and hid behind a wall in the kitchen. They were too close for her to fiddle with the locks.
Why the heck did I need to bolt it down this minute?

She clutched her hands to her heart, feeling it thumping behind her chest walls.
James, please… come home.

“Where the fuck is she? Fuck, she’s fast for a blind bitch.”

“You lost her?”

“Nah, she can’t be lost. It’s such a small house after all. Turn the lights on, Snipes.”

The lights… no, not the lights!
She’d have no chance if they found the switches.

She pulled in a deep breath of air, trying her best to calm herself and then fled via the dining room and out through the door, counting her paces all along.
Pay attention… I can’t stumble against anything… not now… please, not now.

She tip-toed along the verandah, running her hand against the wall of the house until she found the electric meter base. Her years of independence served her well as she pulled open the lid of the meter base and switched off the main switches before ripping out the fuse.

“The switch isn’t working!” José shouted.

“The bitch has got to the meter base!” the other exclaimed as he sped out the door.

Anne stumbled down the stairs of the verandah and almost headed towards the forest when she remembered her phone.
I have to tell James… I must!

She swiveled around the house, listening anxiously for them. The man called Snipes was behind her, but she had no clue as to the other’s location. She’d have to take her chance.

She stepped in gingerly through the kitchen door and moved as softly as she could towards the living room. Where was he?

She didn’t care, diving towards the lounge for her phone. Her knee slammed against the leg of the coffee table and she pinched her lips together to muzzle the pain from escaping through her mouth.

She curled herself at the bottom of the lounge and dialed James’ number.

“She’s here!” José chortled. “The dumb cunt doesn’t realize the light from her phone’s brightening up the whole goddamned room.”

She panicked, scrambling up to her feet immediately. José was here but she had finally got James. He had answered the phone.

“Anne?” he said.

“James, Juan’s men are here at the house…”

José snatched the phone from her and threw it against the wall angrily. “Juan said not a bruise. But you caused us a great deal of trouble.” He slapped her across the face and she staggered on her feet, her head dizzying from the pain. “I thought one would be enough,” he continued. “But let’s have another to even the other cheek.”

He moved to slap her again, but Anne moved faster.

Think… this is my test. Just like Sifu Tsang taught me.

She blocked his arm with her own and then produced fast jabs on his chest and ribs with a strong final push with her fists against the mid-line of his torso.

He stumbled backwards, his sides hitting solidly against the coffee table. He let out a cry of pain and she grabbed the little window, escaping out into the yard.

“José!” Snipes called out as he fiddled his way back into the house in the dark. “You okay, man?”

“She broke one of my fucking ribs. The bitch has got one heck of a punch,” he groaned.

“Juan told us she knows how to fight back. I thought this was going to be a piece of cake, but she’s making us work too goddamned hard. Can you walk?”

“She’s gone out. Go after her! She’s gonna regret knocking my ribs out,” José gritted through his teeth.

“Fifty steps to the left,” Anne counted as she recollected the drills she had been doing with James. “Twenty to the right. Woodshed. Thirty-five straight. Steps, steps…” She fell to the ground, rolling down the flight of steps and to lower ground. She groaned, holding down her sides. She wanted to cry, her lips trembling from the pain piercing through her, but now wasn’t the time. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, echo locating her position.

She heard one of the men making his way awkwardly in her direction.

“Do you see her, Snipes?” José called out to him.

“I think she came this way. But the fucking place is so dark; I can’t see much around me.”

“It’s a fucking forest! Why else would Jamie choose to come here?”

Anne didn’t wait to hear Snipes retort to that last question. She had to survive this. “Thirty-five steps, track, hundred straight.”

She was breathing hard, doing her best to focus on her escape route. But with each breath she took in, a sharp pain speared through her chest walls. She tried ignoring it, her arms stretched out before her, looking for that little cave over-laden with forest vines.

She found it and curled herself into the little opening, remembering to replace the vines at the entrance.

“She’s gone!” Snipes reported.

“She can’t have gone too far. She’s fucking blind! How the fuck did we lose a blind bitch?!”

“I don’t know man, but she was too damned slippery.”

“Get into the bush and look there!”

“I’m not going off into the forest,” Snipes growled. “Who knows what shit is lurking out there? All we can do is wait till we get some light. This darkness is doing us no good either.”

“Fine,” José grumbled. “She’s blind. She can’t go too far anyway. Let’s go back to the house. We’ll wait for Jamie. You hear that bitch? We’re getting your boyfriend. So if you don’t want us dicing him into small fucking pieces, you better come back to us like the spoilt little whore you are!” He let out a cackle of laughter before yelping out in pain. “Fuck… my ribs.”

She heard them mumble away into the distance, crackling forest leaves as they walked back towards the house. She pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly. She buried her head against her knees, letting out her sobs in little short snorts as she tried to muffle them with her palms as much as she could.

James, be careful… please, be careful…
, she prayed silently, her tears running down her dirt stained cheeks.