Read Parallel: The Secret Life of Jordan McKay Online
Authors: Abra Ebner
I let out a sharp breath and looked back toward the room, thinking about Max and now looking for Amy. I wasn’t being fair to him. I should just bite the bullet and break it off so that the feeling of guilt would no longer trap me. Max was an old crutch that I needed to get rid of; I wanted to feel free again. I sighed. I felt as though I had been trying to justify our relationship, our coming breakup, and our failures all day, and it was beginning to get obsessively repetitive. I needed to stop. It was then that I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I jumped, looking up as my eyes met Jack’s.
“Here you are, Heather.” He pressed a red keg cup toward me, and I took it as he offered me his hand.
I placed my palm in his and he pulled me up out of the chair. “I’m impressed you remembered my name.” I was leaning close to his ear, the music blaring.
“Of course.” He placed his hand on my lower back and led me back into the crowd, where we danced some more, my drink sloshing onto the floor.
Looking around I began to get concerned about where Amy was. I was a worrier, and I couldn’t help it. She was someone to worry about. A guilty feeling washed over me then, and I couldn’t help but feel something was wrong. I took a deep breath as my heart began to race, ignoring the fact that Jack’s hand was now on my ass. I took a sip of my beer to cool off, the bubbles scratching their way down my dry throat.
Jack began kissing my neck, and for a moment I forgot what I was worried about, my skin tingling as I shut my eyes. He trailed his hand up my back, and I shivered, feeling the way his touch seemed to make my whole body go numb. I tilted my head against his shoulder and opened my eyes again, looking across the room toward the entryway where stairs led up to the second floor. Jack ran his hand through my hair and I giggled and blinked, feeling rather woozy.
I watched the people enter and leave the room, my thoughts of Amy and the strange man trailing away from me on a river of thoughts, all the while feeling the music become a part of my movements as it lulled me into a trance. Jack whispered in my ear, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying so I just nodded, leaning against him for support. I took another sip of my beer, spilling it some more, and I cursed my clumsy grip.
“Whoops,” I laughed, stepping back and brushing the beer from my jeans. When I looked up, I looked back to the hall where the strange man had returned, walking up the stairs in a manner that looked frantic. I shook my head as Jack put his hands on my shoulders to steady me, a sly look on his face as my stomach dropped, and I realized what was happening.
“Are you alright?” he drawled.
I looked down at my beer and rolled my eyes. How stupid of me! I dropped the cup on the ground as it sloshed all over the floor, not caring about the consequences it caused. I looked back at Jack, now wishing I had the strength to deck him, furious that he would have the gall to spike my beer. I looked back at the stairs as I stumbled, and Jack caught me. Despite the danger I was in, the insatiable need to follow the strange man was pulling me like a magnet, and I knew that Jack’s strength could help.
“I’m fine,” I lied, grabbing Jack’s hand and pulling him toward the entry. I heard him laugh behind me, his thoughts obviously changing from that of the gentleman to that of an arrogant pig.
“Where are we going?” he asked, grabbing my ass and smiling.
I rolled my eyes, finding it hard to walk as I encouraged Jack to brace me. For whatever reason, I was not worried about me but rather whatever the man in the hall was doing, and where he was going. Somehow, I felt as though my problem wasn’t the biggest issue at hand, and an undeniable feeling of fear and anxiety washed over me as I reached the steps. I was climbing with difficulty but Jack helped, though I knew his intentions were anything but chivalrous, as the groping became rude. At the top of the stairs, I looked down the hall as my legs threatened to buckle, my clouded gaze meeting those of the man in the green coat, his eyes blue like a stormy ocean.
He quickly looked away as though disgusted by my actions, but too involved in his own task to do anything about it. Jack grabbed my waist and leaned me against the wall, his mouth attacking mine as he gave me a sloppy kiss. I tightened my jaw in frustration, my eyes still trying to watch the man but finding my efforts now thwarted. I tried to push Jack away from me, stealing another glance at the man. He was staring at a shut door in the hall with a pensive look on his face. It seemed as though he was on a mission somehow, as though he knew me but was too distracted to entertain a friendly gesture.
Jack pushed against me, almost hurting me now and shoving his tongue down my throat. With an annoyed grumble, I mustered all the strength I could manage and channeled it to my arms so I could finally push him off me, throwing him into the wall on the other side of the hall with a strength I had learned serving in the cheerleader army. I stumbled then, and Jack laughed, trying to belittle me into submission, but I was smarter than that.
“Heather,” he said with a voice that now had turned almost evil.
I was staring at Jack, but I could see the man in the green coat now turn his attention on us from the corner of his eye. I began to wonder why he wasn’t helping me as he shook the knob on a door halfway down the hall, finding it locked. I could swear he had fear in his eye now, sweat coating his brow. It was as though I could feel his heart beating in my own chest, and it was then that I knew there was something going on behind that door that I needed to see.
A group of guys were standing in the hall. “Feisty one you got there,” they teased.
“Heather, it’s okay,” Jack hoisted his large body off the floor and walked back toward me. He grabbed my arms to steady me away from the wall before leading me down the hall toward the man, just the direction I needed to go.
My lids were heavy and I found it hard to stay awake, but I kept my eyes fixed, hoping it could sober me. It was hard to know exactly what was happening, but I remained focused. I needed to remember this.
The man became frantic over the lock as he saw us approach, as though he was running out of time. Just as we were about to walk behind him, the man lunged back and finally kicked open the locked door, clearly tired of playing games.
“Hey, man, what’s your problem?” Jack’s voice echoed in my right ear as I slumped against his shoulder.
I saw the man look at Jack with hate in his eyes. Without a second thought he then pulled his arm back and punched my captor on the broad side of his cheek as his other arm caught me. Jack fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, no longer conscious.
“Hold on, Kenzie,” I heard the man say into my ear.
I looked at him with surprise, but his determined gaze was fixed on the room he had just opened. Breathing deep, I found his scent familiar, like something I had smelled before, but I still couldn’t put my finger on it. I looked up at him and followed his gaze as my chest gripped with anxiety, recognizing the red fabric of Amy’s dress on the floor. I then saw her limp body on the bed as a tall athletic man loomed over her with nothing but his boxers on and a look of hunger in his eyes. I craned my blurred vision as I recognized the pattern on the boxers, the same pattern I had bought for Max on his birthday.
“Max?” my voice was slurred as I tried to say his name.
The man on the bed looked at me with horrified eyes, and then looked at the man that had saved me from Jack. A sudden fury replaced the fear in Max’s eyes. “What did you do to her, jerk? Leave Kenzie alone!” He stood as I felt the man’s hand tighten around my arm, his feet bracing us. It was then that Max rose from the bed and lunged at us. My savior was quick to turn me away, his free arm swinging from behind him and punching Max square in the jaw.
Max fell to the ground with a grunt, as the man holding me shook the pain from his hand before diving in and grabbing Amy. My mind was racing as I tried to stay conscious, tried to understand what Max had been doing and why he was here. The man holding me had known my name before Max had said it, and I wondered what it meant. Amy was unconscious in her underwear and I finally understood exactly what was going on. Feeling sick, I leaned over and threw up, as the man holding me released his grip and rubbed my back before lifting me again, and taking us back out into the hall where I felt him work to carry us both from the house. I fell in and out of consciousness as we left, unsure of what was happening around me or if we had made it out safe. When I finally felt the cool air on my hot skin, I let myself fall asleep, knowing that, for whatever reason, I was safe enough to let go.
Statement from Dr. Ashcroft,
Vincent Memorial Hospital, Boston
August 4, 2009
02:37 p.m.
Dr. Ashcroft:
That feeling was so strange, as though he were my best friend. For all I knew, he could have been another bad guy, taking us both away to God knows where, but something inside me knew that wasn’t the case. I realize now what his scent reminded me of. When I was young, my friends and I would sneak down to the green house at the end of the lane and break in. It was abandoned and no more than a stupid dare, but that was the smell, like lilac and dust, a smell that had been layered on my memory by fear and adrenaline. I could never forget it, even now.
Agent Donnery:
I see. So your senses knew before you did.
Dr. Ashcroft:
Yes. I don’t know why it took me so long to put it all together. It seems so obvious now.
Agent Donnery:
(pause) Moving back to the incident, though. So you found out Amy had been drugged and was about to be raped, but he had saved both of you?
Dr. Ashcroft:
(laughter) Don’t look so solemn, Agent Donnery. It was my boyfriend that was about to rape her. I was happy to find out then, and not later. That’s one Shift I was glad he made.
Agent Donnery:
And it was Jordan that saved you both?
Dr. Ashcroft:
Yes, it was his way of saving me from the life that could have followed, but as you can tell, this was his first major screw up. After this, there was no hiding. He had to let me know him.
Agent Donnery:
But, don’t you suppose he tried to go back and change it?
Dr. Ashcroft:
He did, but the incident kept happening as though God was determined to make a point. One way or another, I was going to be raped, so he had to make a change not just for me, but for himself.
Agent Donnery:
How did he stop it?
Dr. Ashcroft:
The only way to stop it was what I remembered, for him to stop hiding from me. This is why I had such an overwhelming reaction to him downstairs at the party. He had tried to erase the incident from my mind so many times that his image was seared into my memories and the fear in me was triggered far before the incident happened, as though I knew beyond a doubt that something was going to happen.
Agent Donnery:
So this here is his side of the story?
Dr. Ashcroft:
(pause) Yes.
Stories from the journals
of Patient #32185
September 31, 2005
8:32 a.m.
I landed on the grass outside of the Rugby house for the last time, coughing violently as I buckled over. The pain in my side was unbearable, and I felt my insides twist as I threw up. I fell to my knees as my hands cupped my stomach. I lay on the ground and rolled onto my back, lifting my shirt. Half my side was bruised a deep purple, my stomach pulsing with a sharp twang. Another cough escaped my lips, laced with a bit of blood, and I wiped it away, staining the sleeve of my jacket. I rested my head on the grass as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to force my body to calm down.
I looked up over the hill toward the house as I heard a group of people approach. Seeing Max and his other Boston College football buddies walking up to the door made my blood boil, cooking me from the inside out with both hate and sickness. My breath came fast as I tried to calm down. Why wasn’t this working? Why couldn’t I change this?
As I tried to stand I felt every one of my joints seize. This was my last chance; I could not go back and risk doing this to my body again. By now I knew what I had to do, and besides, what other choice did I have? I always knew that eventually this day would come, like anyone with an addiction. I just wish it were under better circumstances, but it was finally my turn to have something not work to my advantage.
I lifted myself off the grass and braced my body against a tree as I saw Amy’s car pull up to the spot on the street. I could hear them bicker through the thin aluminum, her brake lights flickering as Amy tried to parallel park. I focused on my breathing then, stuffing the pain away. Blinking back the tears that blurred my vision, I watched them park, the hum of the engine ceasing. Both doors clicked open, and they slowly got out, my heart breaking as I saw Kenzie, beautiful and innocent.
Kenzie looked around with a concerned look on her face, and I ducked back, waiting for them to pass and make their way to the front door. I heard a single knock on the mahogany and the familiar sounds of the party as they entered, followed by a click as the noise was hushed by the shut door. I let out a long, focused breath, pushing myself away from the tree and ascending the hill toward the side of the house, where there was a separate entrance.
In my other failed attempts, I had already tried making it in the front door, but considering my overall appearance, they never allowed me, so I’d resorted to finding another way inside. Jocks weren’t all that smart, after all; there was always a way in. I found the path that led toward the backyard, pushing through the thick groves of ivy and finding the door, giving it a heavy tug, wincing as I felt the blood in my side swell.