The People I'd Die For (part 7)

In another emergency room, Kat's mother was getting ready to leave. A doctor walked in and said, "Are you ready to leave Ms.Schier?" 1

"Yeah." Julia replied irritatedly. Her head was pounding and she wanted to go home. 2

"Good." the doctor replied. He waved two policemen in and they told Julia to stand up. She did so and one of the policemen handcuffed her.3

Taken by surprise, Julia shouted "What the hell is this?" 4

"You killed a man." one policeman said. "You're under arrest for the manslaughter of Jacob Riley." As one policeman read Julia her rights, the other took her and led her out of the room. 5

As Julia walked in the hallway next to the waiting room and one of the policemen said "You have the right to an attorney" , Kat looked over and saw her mother.6

"Mom!" Kat called out. One policeman looked over at the other and agreed to let Kat see her mother before they took her.7

"Hey, hun." Julia said. "Listen, I need you to get my checkbook and bail me out." 8

Kat's bottom lip started to quiver and tears ran down her cheeks. "There's no bailing you out now." Kat said. Julia opened her mouth to say something but Kat beat her to it. "You killed him..." Kat said quietly looking at her feet. She looked back up at Julia, fury in her eyes. "You BITCH!" Kat lunged at her mother and knocked her down to the floor. She clawed her mother in the face with her long nails and four bloody scratch marks appeared on Julia's cheek. Brian pulled Kat back and held her by her arms. 9

One of the policemen helped Julia back up and yelled "That's enough!" He and the other policeman quickly walked off with Julia in custody. Julia yelled back to Kat "I'm your mother, damn it! If you love mommy you'll bail her out!"  10

Kat sank to her knees, her head in her hands. She was shaking and sobbing where she knelt. Brian and Amy were on either side of her, holding her.11

Amy sniffled and said gently  "We have to get out of here soon. It's almost one o'clock in the morning." Brian nodded and so did Kat, her eyes puffy and red. 12

"I have no place to go." Kat said weakly. "My mom's in jail." 13

"Come to my house." Amy said. "My parents areout again for the weekend. It'll be...quiet." Amy looked over at Brian and said "And you too, Brian." 14

Kat stood up and so did Brian and Amy. "Yeah, I guess that'd be the best idea." Kat said.15

"I'll come too." Brian said. "My dad's already expecting me to be out the whole night." 16

As Amy, Brian, and Kat all got into Brian's car, Kat couldn't help but remember. The last time they were all in a car together, except for the limo ride to the dance, was the day they went to the farm...The day she and Jake said that she loved each other. A tear ran silently down Kat's cheek. Since she was in the backseat with Kat, Amy leaned over and hugged her. "Let's go home." Brian said as he pulled out of the parking spot and headed towards Amy's house.17

Once at Amy's house, Amy, Kat, and Brian all fell asleep in the attic. Kat was on Amy's bed, Amy was on her chair, and Brian was on the couch. Nobody talked, they were all wrapped up in their own thoughts. Around 2:30 they all fell asleep and by 4:00, Brian was awake again. 18

Brian sat up on the couch and pushed the blanket off of him, now just in his undershirt and boxers since he didn't particularly feel like sleeping in a tuxito. He looked around the attic and noticed that Kat was still sleeping soundly in the bed. He looked over at the blue chair and saw that Amy was no longer sleeping on it. Brian crept silently across the attic, careful not to wake Kat up, and went down the two flights of stairs and into the living room. While he was still on the stairs, he looked into the living roon and saw Amy in front of the lit woodstove, a blanket around her shoulders eating a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. Brian sat down next to her and said, "Hey."19

Amy did a double take when she saw Brian. She swallowed and put her spoon down in the bowl. "Hey." she replied. "I thought you were asleep."20

"I was." Brian said. "But then I woke up and noticed you weren't in the attic anymore."21

Amy looked down at her bowl and started playing with her spoon. "Sorry 'bout that. I slept for about an hour but then I woke up. I...I had a nightmare."22

"What about?" Brian asked curiously.23

"Heh, what do you think?" Amy replied.24

"Jake." Brian said looking at the wooden floor. He smelled something and he sniffed the air. It smelled like pine. "What's that smell?" he asked.25

"Incense." Amy replied pointing to an empty box on the floor. "Sometimes I burn it to calm my nerves."26

"Oh." Brian said leaning back on the couch. "It smells nice."27

"Yeah." Amy replied as she pulled the strap of her white tank top back onto her shoulder. She sighed and moved back to lean on the couch next to Brian. "This makes all my problems seem so...little."28

Remembering the incedent, Brian said "Hold out your arm." Amy did so and Brian carefully removed the bandage around it. He ran his fingers over her wound. 29

"Ow!" Amy said with a little jump.30

"Sorry." Brian apologized. he didn't want the cut to open again so he re-wrapped the bandage. "It, um, it looks like it's getting better."31

"It feels better." she said with a nod. She crossed her arms and said, "I've never felt like this... I don't know how to explain it. It feels like this is all a dream."32

"C'mere." Brian said as he opened his left arm to her. Amy let Brian put his arm around her and put her head on his chest. "I know how you feel." Brian said. "It seems like any minute he's going to come through the kitchen door stuffing marshmallows into his mouth."33

Amy smiled at the thought of Jake doing that like he had done before but then frowned, remembering that she would never get to see him do that again.34

"Hey, I got you to smile." Brian said. 35

"Yeah, for a second maybe." Amy replied.36

"I really like it when you smile." Brian said looking down at Amy.37

Amy looked up at Brian and asked "Really?"38

"Yeah." Brian answered. "Especially when I know that it was me that put that smile there..."39

Amy put her head on Brian's chest again and Brian leaned down and kissed Amy's head. With Brian's arms around her, Amy said, "You're a freak, you know?"40

"A freak?" Brian said with a laugh.41

"Yes, absolutely."42

"How so?" 43

"Well," Amy said, "With all these terrible things happening and... everthing else...I've never felt safer than when I'm with you. Nobody else can do that so you are a freak." Amy looked up at Brian with a smile. Brian was smiling back at Amy. 44

"In that case I like being a freak." Brian leaned his head back against the couch cushions and closed his eyes. Amy once again put her head down on Brian's chest and closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of the fire surrounding her. Just as she was about to fall asleep, she heard Kat screaming upstairs. Brian heard it too. They both jumped up as quickly as they could and ran upstairs to see what was wrong.45