Author: Priscilla
Chapter 11: Fight to Survive
The rain was coming down suddenly. "Move!" His brain said when water pooling inside the boat drifted into his mouth. The word slapped Gerard into consciousness, he looked around the boat. Jane was gone, that psycho Jeremy took her. Gritting his teeth against the pain he tried to right himself up, confused because he couldn't seem to move his arms or legs.
Pain shot through his head in bursts as he rolled onto his back partly and took the rain full in the face. His hands were tied behind his back and so were his feet. Gerry tested the tightness of his ankle's bindings and found they were loose enough to maybe get his sneakers off. It worked. The movement sapped his strength but he still managed roll over onto his knees, head spinning in the process. But he couldn't stop; he had to get to Jane.
Jane knew that fighting with him would be futile but she would not go to her grave without a fight. The instant Jeremy's had touched her arm Jane bolted towards the still wide open door. Jeremy caught a handful of wet dark hair and pulled back hard enough to make her teeth chatter. Jane cried out in anger and in pain, twisted her body towards his and lashed out with both feet. She kicked him in the knees, shins, every place her legs could reach until his right hand exploded against the side of her face. The room began to spin as she staggered sideways and fell.
Jane scrambled to her knees and struggled to the door. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, willing her to stand up and run, driving her forward even when Jeremy caught her bound wrists and pulled back, nearly separating her shoulders from their sockets. Jane's struggles died instantly as a knife gleamed before in her in the dim light.
"I would prefer if you cooperated Jane. I don't want to ruin that beautiful face, not now anyway. " Jeremy said stepping up close behind her and grabbing her face as the knife came nearer and nearer. His voice was still in its usual calm demeanor, but now it was laced with masked rage.
Jane swallowed hard as he brought the tip of the blade to the tip of her nose. She forgot how to breathe as the blade traced her lips and went down her chin to the hollow at the base of her throat and stayed there. Jane fought the hysteria threatening to take over and took hold of her sanity.
"Go to hell you sick fuck." She said between clenched teeth.
"I don't believe in hell, don't believe in the whole idea of afterlife, but if there is such a thing, you're in here with me." He sounded amused. Jeremy threw her on the bed and began the process of tying her to the bed's posts. He stepped back and surveyed his handy work, rubbing at his knees absently.
"I hadn't counted on you hitting me, I don't like surprises."
Just then the shack's door exploded inward. Gerry's momentum carried him forward, right into Jeremy's side before he even had time to turn around. The two men crashed to the floor with a loud thud.
"Gerry!" Jane screamed, struggling to sit up and see. Scuffing noises and grunts assaulted her heightened ears as the men continued to struggle against each other. Gerry was fighting literally with both hands tied behind his back and was barely conscious. Jane could do nothing but hear.......unless she could manage to get her hands loose. She struggled to move backwards on the bed, if she could move into a position that would give her some slack, silk was slippery and her hands were small and delicately boned, she could do it if she concentrated.
Gerry struggled to keep Jeremy pinned beneath his weight but his strength came in sperattic bursts and it was hard to tell which way was up. Jeremy writhed beneath him trying to reach the knife that had skittered across the floor. Gerard jammed his shoulder into him sending them crashing against the table. Candles rolled all over the place. The flames licked their way across the floors and caught hungrily at the yellow wallpaper that had peeled on floor.
The men rolled away from the fire. Jeremy jammed his fist against the side of Gerry's head viciously. Gerard's head snapped to the side. Using all his strength, he dove for Jeremy's stomach his shoulder slamming into solid frame as the knife slashed into his back. He felt what had to be a rib break as he fell heavily to the floor, all his strength sapped from him as the blackness took over.
Jane yelled Gerry’s name but only silence met her ears. Gerard was dead. She had seen Jeremy’s hand slash down. She was now alone and it wouldn’t matter if she had managed to get her right hand free, she wouldn’t have time to untie the other. Jeremy was already on his feet and coming towards her.
Gerard moved his head a fraction of an inch on the floor, with all he had left he brought both legs up and pushed into the back of Jeremy’s knees, sending him headlong into the waiting flames. The screams were inhuman, deafening. When he was engulfed in flames, Jeremy tried to stand, to run but it was too late for him and he knew it.
Jane was chocking on the black smoke, her eyes were stinging but she finally managed to get her other hand free. She flung herself up from the bed and dropped to her knees next to Gerard’s sprawled form. She grabbed large handfuls of his black sweater and pulled him towards the door. If they didn’t move quickly, they would end up like Jeremy. The rain was still falling down hard, but it was no match for the old wood of the shack. The fire lit up the darkness like a giant torch. When they were farther away from the consumed stump of wood, Jane dropped to her knees next to Gerard. Clasping her hands together she slammed down on his chest, above where his heart was.
“Don’t you die on me now you bastard! Not now!” Jane cursed his unmoving form. His lashes fluttered open at her fifth attempt to revive his heart and he looked at her. He gave her a weak smile as the darkness swept over him like a velvet blanket once again.
Title: Across the Tracks
Author: Priscilla
Chapter 12: Stumbling Towards Ecstacy
He almost barely remembered his time in the hospital. He remembered bits and pieces. There was a boat in the fragments of his memory and rain. Rain and tears. Jane crying over him while he'd felt his spiritual self floating free, the powerful temptation to sever the tie to his physical self and float away. Cool hands touching his arm and cheek. Soft lips and low whispers of love.
Gerry tuned out the voices in his head as he watched the cab drive away and went inside his house. His lonely, empty house. He had somehow expected to feel at home once he made it to his bedroom. Gerard shoved the thought away in an effort that had him squinting against the pain. He heard a rustling sound near the door and blinked his eyes open, instantly falling on that face that had plagued his dreams for weeks on end.
He looked so pale beneath his tan, Jane realized, and there were lines of strain etched deep beside his clear eyes combined with the shadow of his beard to make him look tough and dangerous. Reminded her of the time he played Attila the Hun. He smiled a pirate's grin, but there was too much pain in his eyes to quite pull it off.
"What are you doing here? You should still be in the hospital. And don't even try to tell me that Dr. Stevenson released you." She said walking further into the room. He winced at the volume of her voice but his smile remained in tact.
"I sort of escaped."
"Why does that not surprise me?" She asked incredulously.
"It's no big deal. All I have is a migraine and a busted rib." Gerry said trying to act as if it was no big deal that he'd almost died during surgery. Twice. Jane's eyes bugged out at his nonchalance.
"Your lung collapsed! You almost bled to death and died twi-"
"Oh my God!" Gerry said in mock surprise, bringing his hand up to his heart. "Maybe I better sit down."
"You weren't even conscious the last time I saw you." Jane insisted.
He dismissed it with a wave of his hand, "I'll live. What about you? How are you doing?"
"I went to that Wallace woman's funeral today. Paid my respects." She said sitting next to him on the edge of the bed. Gerry slipped an arm around her shoulders and sighed. "I wish I could have been there for you." He offered. Jane smiled.
"You don't do funerals remember?" She asked.
"Yeah, well it doesn't stop me from losing friends and people that I care about." Jane's eyes snapped up to his haunted face, anger and hurt starting to bubble up inside her chest.
"Is that what we are Gerard? Friends?" She asked bitterly, standing up abruptly. He remained in his sitting position, looking at his shoes.
"You saved my life." He offered.
"And you saved mine. So now what? We're even?" Jane was almost ready to hit him. Gerry stood up then and looked down at her.
"What do you want it to make us?" He asked, hearing the edge in his voice and hating himself for it. Jane's eyes seemed to soften suddenly, welling up with something he couldn't read yet.
"I want more. I can't take the easy way out Gerry." She said, her voice chocking with emotions she could barely contain. Holding her breath. Gerry just stood there, staring past her. His chin quivering slightly as he pressed his lips into a thin line. He blinked to clear his vision and then looked back at her expectant face.
"Haven't we paid enough??" She asked, searching his clear eyes for the answer.
"I don't know. You want a husband and babies?" Gerry asked.
"I want a future. I want to go beyond the past and I want you to go with me."
A life beyond the past. A life he had told himself he could have only in his wildest dreams. He stepped back from her, running a hand back through his unruly mane. Jane watched him, heart racing. Gerry looked at her face again, seeing all her hope, her fear and her pure sweet beauty.
"I told myself if I had a drop of honor in me I'd walk away from you," Gerry said softly, lips twisting into a crooked ironic smile. "I guess it is a very good thing I never had much to begin with." Jane went into his arms, her heart overflowing, cheek pressed against his chest.
"You've got more than you know."
"I've got all I need in you." He said pressing a kiss to the top of her head, then lowering his mouth to hers in a kiss that was full of promise and fulfillment....and love.
Epilogue
The black Mitsubishi Eclipse glides down the street. In the distance, the sun is setting. A brilliant arrangement of yellow, orange, and pink lights the sky. All around the city is dim and mildly hushed. When the green light turns to red I stop the car. I look to my right at the woman in the passenger's seat. She smiles at me as if I own the world. The courage of a panther. The gentleness of a dove. My wife. I am nothing without her. When the light returns to green, I push on the gas and the car moves forward towards home and I know contentment for the first time in my life.
The End
(c)Copyright, Priscilla "Across the Tracks" Chapters 1-12. 2002.