Chapter Seven

This is How I Win

 

Danny was taken aback by what he saw. He stood up quickly with a gasp and nearly fell over his chair trying to distance himself from what was in the box. I was frozen, my hands trembled where I stood and I couldn’t willingly move a muscle. I peered at the horrifying message he was sending with dead eyes, a feature I wanted him to share with me soon.

A million thoughts streamed through my head. At first, I wanted to run, to grab Jules and run with her, somewhere far away, somewhere only we know, somewhere he could never find us.

In that instant, she became my only dream, my only wish for the future. I cared about nothing else and no one could stop us, not when every fiber of my flesh wanted nothing else but to be with her. My immediate reaction was flight until I realized he would never stop looking. Jesse was no longer the friend I remembered him to be. He hadn’t been for awhile. If we had vanished, I knew he would try to find us and I was so scared to imagine him still out there waiting for his opportunity again, striking when we least expected, when he thought we were comfortable.

He would wait until our thoughts of him were a distant memory for us. I cringed. He had to be stopped, now. That flaming box, came back into focus. I wanted to scream out, to tear what I saw into a billion pieces. I suddenly wished I’d never told Danny. I wish I had opened it on my own so the motive for the murder I was going to commit because of it wouldn’t become so apparent.

    “I have to kill him,” I accidentally said aloud.
    “No!” Danny screamed, grabbing my shoulders. Breathing deeply to steady his calm, he said, “I know you don’t mean that son! Elliott, I’m gonna’ get who did this.”

I gained control of my neck and turned my head toward him, “You’re going to arrest Jesse immediately?”

    “Elliott! We haven’t found reason for him to want to do something like this. This is too advanced for him.”
    “No,” I scoffed, “it’s not. You don’t know what he’s capable of. Growing up I always knew he had a little bit of an evil streak, I just underestimated it. He’s a lunatic Danny. You’re wrong.

“Look, it obviously took two people to do it Danny. How do you explain that? Huh? Taylor must have taken the picture for him.” I pointed to the picture hanging off the edge of the table. It showed the frame of Jules’ bedroom window.
    “Maybe he used a tripod Elliott, I don’t know for sure but for the sake of argument, say I am starting to believe your theory. I have no evidence that he’s done anything.”
    I stared hard at the two photographs in front of me. It was him, I could tell, in the shape of his body, in the way his fingers grasped at the blade he held at my sleeping Jules’ throat, in the way his eyes bore into mine through his dark ski mask. I knew it was him and if Danny couldn’t prove it, bad things were going to happen to him. He pushed through a really dark line with me and was begging for a reaction. I’m guessing he wouldn’t like what it was and I also guessed how much he underestimated me.

The second photograph was Jules’ hanging painting. The letters Y.O.U. dripping in red paint. I couldn’t bring myself to pick up the photographs. I stared into the small harmless cardboard box that contained them and noticed that the filling inside was torn canvas.

    “Danny!” I yelled.
    “What?!”
    “The, the.......painting! It’s shredded in the box!”

I was starting to feel nauseated. I knew what the painting represented to Jesse. It was Jules. He was going to kill Jules and soon.

    “Okay Elliott. Listen,” he said, trying to calm me down, “we need to get back to your grandma’s. We’ve wasted enough time here. Just let me lock all of this in the evidence room and I’ll call Julia’s parents and..”

I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to downplay it, like it was something that could happen to just about anyone, but I knew. I knew that this was probably one of the sickest things he’d seen in Bramwell.

    “No!” I interrupted. “Jules’ parents can’t know. They’ll leave Bramwell if they hear of this.”
Danny looked on me with pity.

“I can’t Elliott. They need to know. Think of the danger that Julia is in? Is it worth her life? This has spun so out of control. It’s too serious to take the risk.”

    On our way back to my grandma’s and granddad’s I could barely keep two thoughts in my head. I was reeling in physical pain. My entire world was about to crumble on top of me and there was nothing I could do about it. I walked into the house and everyone was cheery and happy and full of life.
    “Mom,” was all I could mumble off my tongue.

She could tell something was wrong. She ran up to me and hugged me and I hugged her back. I felt like I was seven again, and I’d skinned my knee and ran to my mom for her to make everything better, to make the wound disappear but this hug couldn’t make it all better. It was just a reminder that nothing could fix the pain but a locked away or a dead Jesse. I didn’t really want Jesse dead I just wanted the monster that was doing this to die inside him and for him to be at least somewhat normal again.

    “Let’s go into mom’s room Shelby. I need to talk to you,” Danny said.
Everyone watched with solemn eyes as I nearly toppled over trying to get to my grandparent’s room.
    “It’s okay everyone! Granddad? Can you put on some music?” My dad said before closing the door to the bedroom behind him.
    I plopped at the edge of my grandparent’s bed and examined the fibers of the shag carpet beneath my feet. I listened as Danny revealed the details to my parents but I felt as if I were in a fog. The words were barely audible. They all buzzed around me in slow motion. I snapped back into reality when Danny mouthed the words ‘Julia’s parents’.
    “Wait,” I said.   
    “Elliott, I already told you, I have to contact them.”
    “I know, but please, let me tell them? In person?”
I looked at my parents and they kindly agreed it would be the best plan.
    “Danny?” My mom asked. “Can you take him?”
That was my mom’s way of making sure I was safe and that I wouldn’t take a much wanted detour to the Thomas house.
    “Sure Shelby, of course I will,” he said.

We got to Jules’ house and I willed my heavy body up her mountainous front porch steps. I knocked on her door with a deafening thud.

    The door opened and an exuberant Jules jumped in my arms. “Elliott?” She asked in slow motion.
    “Jules,” I said peeling her off of me, “I need to tell you something.”

The terror that was in her eyes was enough for me to die inside a million times over. Her smile faded into sheer terror. Her lips were shaking as she’d ask questions. I stood to support Jules while she relayed everything to her including everything that had happened before then.

Jules’ mother had to be supported and taken to her couch. All their lovely family from Pennsylvania stood motionless, aghast at what they’d heard.

    “We’ll have to send her to Mauch Chunk with you Isabel,” Jules’ dad finally said.
His words panicked my heart. It began to beat irregularly. I felt empty and she hadn’t even left yet.
    “No,” Jules said calmly.
    “It’s not permanent Julia,” her mom said. “It’s just until we resolve whatever it is that’s going on here.” The tears began to fall softly down her cheeks.

Jules held my hand and the weight of our predicament began to melt off. This immediate medicine was going to be leaving me when I probably needed it most, but this was the price I would pay to keep her safe and I wanted nothing more than her safety.

    “It’s only a matter of time,” I whispered. “I’ll get you back here before you know it love.”
    “If you think this is best,” she said to the room. “I’ll pack tonight.”

I’ll pack tonight. Three words. Three daggers into my thumping chest. I could go with her, I told myself, I could go with Jules. I’m sure Isabel wouldn’t mind.......but your Jesse’s target, I reminded myself. Could he follow me? Would he do that? Yes. He would. I would have to wait until I could expose him for what he was and that would clear the path for Jules to come home. The sooner, the better.

    “Danny?” I asked my uncle under my breath.
Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their own skin as they buzzed about the house getting themselves ready to leave earlier than they’d planned.
    “Hmm?” He asked.
    “What do you have in the way of video surveillance?” I asked not expecting much.
    “We’re one hundred and nineteen people in this tiny town Elliott. I hadn’t even had to dust for prints in over five years. We have nothing,” he said, confirming my suspicions.
    “I’m gonna’ go to Charleston then,” I said.
    “Wouldn’t hurt to try,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. He didn’t look hopeful.
    “Mr. Jacobs?” Danny said and began a private conversation.

I snuck into Jules’ room to visit while she packed. When I walked into the room she was alone, it was against the rules, but under the circumstances no one would care. She stood fearlessly at her window. The very one Jesse uses to invade her home and stared darkly through the hundred year old glass. I rested my shoulder against the jamb of the door and gazed upon her.

She was no longer a girl anymore. She had thinned out so much lately and although Jesse was definitely to blame I couldn’t help but think she was also shedding her youth a little bit. In contrast though, her hips were a bit rounder, her neck and face no longer, her bones had matured.

She was a young woman and that made me wonder if I had matured alongside her, unaware, as she most likely was, of the invisible progression. I hoped I looked every bit the man I felt like right then because I knew, just by looking at her, that we would be married and shortly after graduation. I felt it in my rapidly matured bones.

    “My dad said they’re leaving the day after tomorrow, early,” she said, having seen my reflection in the glass.

She turned her face toward mine and I could see the tears sink into her blouse.
    “Oh Jules,” I said and with two strides I had her in my arms. “It’s not forever Jules.” Though it will feel like it to me, I thought.
    “It will feel like it to me,” she said, speaking my thoughts aloud.
I sighed. I couldn’t argue with her but I could at least try to make her feel better.
    “It just feels like it might,” I lied, “because there’s not a definite time frame.”
    “Maybe,” she said, trying to appease me.
It was pathetic trying to keep up appearances with a person who knew your every thought.
    “This is stupid,” I laughed. “It’s gonna’ suck, big time, but it’s beyond us right now Jules and it’s something we have to do.”

I stopped because I knew I’d just end up begging her to stay if I continued. I couldn’t help but be selfish sometimes. I changed the subject to save myself.
    “Let’s spend the day tomorrow, just you and me and get our absolute fill of each other.”
We knew that was impossible but we could try.
    “Of course babe. I need a lot of you to tide me over. You know? It’s funny but the more I touch, and kiss, and just be with you the greater my need for you is. We’re a catch twenty two. I’m damned if I do indulge myself in you and damned if I don’t. You’re the very worst kind of addiction, the most dangerous,” she said.
    “Would you go back? Change it? If you could?”
    “Not for anything,” she smiled up at me.
I squeezed Jules’ hand and asked her to call me in the morning, knowing I would barely sleep a wink.
   
    The next morning, I felt like I was waking from a dream. I shuffled into the kitchen glancing at the mess that was my hair in the hallway mirror.
    “Hey mom,” I said.
    “Hi honey. Hungry?”
    “Nope.”
    “I understand,” she said and sat beside me. “What are the Jacobs going to do Elliott?”
    “They’re sending Jules to Mauch Chunk, like I thought they would.”
    “When can she come back?” She asked. “When they figure out who is doing this?”
    “I know who’s doing it ma’. I just have to prove it now.”

This time she didn’t argue with me, whether it was because she started to believe it was possible that Jesse was responsible or that she didn’t want to ruffle my feathers, I’m not sure. The phone rang then and it was Jules.

    “Come over,” she barely said, “let’s go to the rock bridge.”
That was all I needed to hear and I was as good as out the door.
    I picked Jules up from her house and her eyes looked so tired, her skin was beginning to hollow on her even more now but her smile was still as warm as ever.
    “I’ve missed you terribly,” she said softly.
    “So have I dear. It feels like ages.”

We slowly walked our invisible path to our marble slab and were in absolutely no hurry. I was so grateful that Jules hadn’t seen the package. I tried to leave out as much detail as possible for her sake. It would have done nothing but worry her more and she was looking so frail these days.

I was dreading her departure but was hopeful that Jules would let the worry stop taking its toll on her. I jumped onto the face and turned to pull her up with me. I had a sickening feeling that this was our goodbye, albeit temporary, but a goodbye nonetheless and made the decision to savor every last second.

For hours, we sat side by side intertwined, talking. From little things like Maddy’s reactions to all the gifts to things like her concern that I not do anything drastic. In the end, I promised that no one would get hurt, at least not by my hands. Eventually we fell asleep. Neither of us had slept well these past few days, weeks really, and as we laid skin to skin we drifted off until the moon woke me.

    “Jules,” I whispered.
    “Hmm?” She said, not opening her eyes.
    “It’s ten o’clock babe,” I said, sliding my pocket watch back into my pocket.
    “What?” Her eyes popped open.
    “Yeah,” I laughed, “ten, at night.”
    “Oops.”
    “Yeah, I think we should get you back home so they don’t worry.”
    “Grrrr.”   
    “We have to. I don’t want them to call Danny or anything.”
    “Okaaaay.”
We hurriedly walked to my truck, tripping over roots and whipping ourselves in the head with leaves.
    “Why didn’t I bring a flashlight? We need to just keep one in our bags. They’re kind of useful, especially since we do stupid things like this. I’ve decided, from now on, I will have not one but two flashlights on me at all times.”
    “You’re cranky when you first wake.”
    “I know,” I laughed.

It was a solemn ride to Jules’ house. I didn’t even know when Jules was leaving because I didn’t ask. It hurt too much to think about.

    “I’m leaving tomorrow morning,” she said, riding my wavelength.
I wasn’t expecting that.
    “What? Tomorrow?” I asked in disbelief.
    “Yeah, my mom isn’t comfortable with me being here any longer and it’s affecting her. My Aunt Isabel is taking me home with Rocky and the rest will follow after New Year’s.”
    “I don’t think that’s wise Jules, so many will be on the road tomorrow. It wouldn’t be safe.” She wasn’t buying it. “Besides, you can’t leave before New Year’s, it’s the only time you’ll let me kiss you in front of your family and I get a secret thrill from it.”
    “Shut up,” she laughed.
    “No, but seriously Jules, you can’t leave before New Year’s.”
    “I don’t have a choice Elliott,” she choked.

The remainder of the trip was agonizing because I knew this would be the last time I would see her for days, weeks, maybe even months.

The uncertainty was as painful as the separation itself. I wanted to kick myself for falling asleep. I should have kissed her until my lips were bleeding to get my fill of her. I should have drunk in the greens of her eyes, re-memorized the lines of her face over and over and burned them into my memory even deeper than they already were. I wasted so much time. I could have been with her, instead we were unconscious and I felt a bubbling fear rise in my throat.

When I opened my door, instead of letting her wait for me to get hers I slid her over my seat and brought her out of my door. I shut the door and pinned her against it.

    “You can’t go,” I pleaded. “If you want, I’ll get on my knees.”
    “Elliott, all my family is in there,” she peeked over the hood.
    “Oh who cares! They can’t hear us anyway they’re all having fun in there, you can tell by the rumbling. They know you’re safe with me, wherever they think you are. Please don’t do this. You know this is what they want right? They want us separating. The best thing we can do is to have you stay but stay at my house, with me.”
    “Yeah, like my parents would go for that.”
    “Okay, then stay at my Uncle Danny’s and Aunt Becky’s. They have a spare room. You’d love it there.”
    “Elliott, be reasonable babe.”
I pressed my forehead against hers and gazed into her eyes.
    “I can’t be reasonable. Prudence left my intentions for us the day I met you, even when we were kids we were out of control but when time slipped away from us I had intended to be an acquaintance of yours, seeing you at reunions and joking about fishing with you as a kid then saying goodbye.

“I had no idea the knockdown, drag out astonishing hold you’d put on me Jules. It’s your fault I can’t live without you and it would be cruel for you to leave me now, no matter how long you’re gone.”

I was thoroughly aware of the guilt trip I was laying on her. If I’m going to do it, I might as well really do it.

I took one deep breath. “You know, I’ve held back with you out of respect but I want so badly for you to just agree to marry me already Jules! The minute we walk across that stage I want us to walk into the nearest courthouse because I love you Julia Jacobs! And!” I took two more deep breaths. “The hell with it!”

I attacked her. I pinned her to the driver’s side door and thoroughly pressed my lips into hers. I abandoned all control and did what I wanted. I breathed her in and could hear the air fill my lungs. It was the deepest I’ve ever breathed my entire life and I felt the strangest confidence in that freedom.

She groaned and tried to push me off of her but eventually surrendered, despite the fear that her family was just inside, a few walls away, as I kissed harder and deeper.

I pressed my body into hers, thread my fingers through her thick hair and held the back of her head against the window, with my free hand I put my thumb through the belt loop next to her left hip and pinched the bone between my fingers.

    “Alright,” she whispered breathless.
    “Alright, you’ll marry me?” I asked, a huge grin on my face.
    “No,” she laughed, “alright, I’ll compromise. I’ll stay. I don’t think I would have been able to do it anyway, not with my insatiable need to be touched by you, especially after you’ve touched me like this.”
    “Sorry,” I said, dropping my hold on her, “I literally couldn’t help myself. The thought of your leaving was enough to make me lose my cool.”
    “Well, gain control,” she scolded playfully, “because I’m staying.”
    “You know I need you to do more than just stay Jules,” I said resting my lips against the hollow beneath her ear. She paused for a long time, contemplating my offer. Pausing was good.
    “Eventually, we’ll marry Elliott.”
    “Eventually, I’ll run out of ways to convince you.”
    “No need to convince the already persuaded. We only differ on the time frame.”
    “We’ll marry sooner than later,” I jested.
    “Or, not,” she said.

I kissed her neck again and this made her eyes roll to the back of her head. I laughed. I knew my own powers of persuasion.

I didn’t get enough of her to satisfy the greed but it was late and I caught a glimmer of light from the house where someone peeked through a closed curtain.

    “They know you’re here,” I said.
    “Oh,” she complained.
    “It’s okay,” I said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “Tomorrow.”

I woke late and hurriedly showered and dressed. I needed to see Jules and arrange for her to be safe somewhere else, just closer than Mauch Chunk.

    “Bye mom!” I yelled while swinging my coat over my shoulders.
    “Where are you going son?” She asked me, confused.
    “I’m going to Jules’ house. She changed her mind. She’s staying and we’ve got to figure out a place for her to stay. I was thinking Danny’s...........”
    “But she already left this morning,” my mom interrupted.
    “What?” I said, only one arm in my coat.
    “Yeah, she came by but you were asleep. She thought it best not to wake you and left this letter for you.”
I sunk into the soft arm chair in defeat, not bothering to even remove the jacket from my one arm.
    “She was here and didn’t wake me?”
    “Her dad was honking his horn honey. I was surprised you didn’t wake from that. Does it make you feel better that she was bitterly sad to be leaving?” She joked.
    “No, it doesn’t. It makes me feel worse.”
    “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, but what’s the big deal? She’ll be back before you know it sugar.”
    “Yeah,” I sighed in consolation, “her dad must have forced her to go. I probably would have done the same thing if I had a daughter going through that.”
    “You’re a good boy.”
She handed me the letter and I retreated to my room, my coat still half on.

Elliott,

So you got my note. Yikes, right? Our plan for my staying didn’t sit well with my family, especially my dad. They’re so worried and I don’t want to be the one who causes anyone pain, least of all you, but they feel it’s the safest thing. I know you and Danny will catch Jesse and Taylor soon and it will only be a matter of time before I’m gathered in your arms........oh.........and try to do it before school starts back up, ha ha, because my dad is threatening to enroll me up here. That only gives you a week, but no pressure or anything. Don’t feel hurried at all. I’ll only be nine hours away for the duration of the investigation but by all means take your time......just kidding. Or am I?.........Yes, I am. Honestly, I really hope it’s resolved quickly but I absolutely dread the danger it’s putting you in. So you HAVE to promise me you’ll be exceedingly careful. I hate your being in Bramwell without me. It makes me queasy at the thought of it. I have to know you’re safe, always. I need four times daily updates, MINIMUM. I need love letters, t-shirts that have swum in your cologne, all that pathetic mushy stuff. I promise in return to write ‘Mrs. Elliott Gray, after earning our bachelor’s’ *wink, wink* on all of my notebooks and wear your letter jacket to all the dances. “I’m taken,” I’ll say when the boys ask for a dance and raise my palm.

You’ve probably had enough of 4 a.m. Jules’ humor, so with that, I’ll say.......

Until I can kiss you again. I love you Elliott Gray.

Your Jules

Her dad was threatening to enroll her in a Mauch Chunk high school? She may have been joking about catching them in the act before Christmas break ended but I was serious as a heart attack about confronting them as soon as possible, now, actually, but not before I went to Charleston. I was looking forward to the after Christmas sales just not the same way most others did.

I hopped in my truck not even bothering to see if I matched at all. The ride to Charleston was deafeningly quiet and allowed so many sad thoughts to seep into my mind.

I thought about every single kiss I’d ever given Jules. I knew them by heart because that’s exactly what they were, tiny slivers of my heart given to her.

I was starting to feel overwhelmingly sad when I noticed something white on my floorboard. It was Jules’ handkerchief, neatly folded and pressed, her tiny embroidered initials in light green. She ironed her handkerchiefs like a little old lady, which made me laugh and almost cry at the same time. I picked it up and held it in my hand. Her perfume wafted into my nose. It smelled just like Jules. It must have fallen out of her pocket last night or maybe she did it on purpose. She is clever like that. I could just imagine her own thought process, if she had done it on purpose. I’d have to tease her about it when I called her later. I laughed out loud to no one. If there had been anyone else on the highway they would have pegged me a lunatic, laughing uncontrollably as I was with a handkerchief plastered to my nose.    

I needed to focus on the task at hand but it was becoming increasingly hard for me to think straight. I was starting to feel like a drunk, stumbling around. Jules had replaced my center of gravity with herself. I even tripped on a rock I’d known had been next to my driveway since I was a baby. I felt like I was no longer symmetrical, completely off balance.

I walked into the massive electronic store in Charleston and thoughtfully walked the aisles looking for anything I’d think would help me catch them.

Something caught my eye but it was over a thousand dollars and that just wasn’t feasible, it’s not that I wouldn’t have spent it, it’s just I didn’t have it and that felt horrible. I settled for three night cameras, two I planned on positioning in the trees outside Jules’ window, one pointing outside the shrubbery they seemed to always come out from, I was hoping to catch them putting on their masks in side those bushes and the other pointing directly at the window they favored. Another I planned on actually hiding inside her room.

The cameras were of an ingenious nature. I could hook all three to one hub and digitally record the video through the software that came with the cameras on to the laptop I planned on keeping hidden in their living room. Nobody knew Jules had left town. As far as her neighbors were concerned the only people seen leaving Jules’ home the past few days were her visiting relatives. It worked out really well that way since I was hoping Jesse and Taylor would continue with their nightly visits.

“Lunatics”, I shuddered.

Through clever questioning while ‘shooting the breeze’ with Mr. Williams, Taylor’s dad, Danny found out that Taylor had a hidden GPS tracking device in her car so he could keep track of his out of control daughter.

That was a lucky break. Danny said that he hoped they used Taylor’s car for everything so they could subpoena the information to use as evidence. Danny was starting to warm up to the idea that it was Jesse and Taylor who might be responsible though he wasn’t singling them out and still considering all other possibilities. It was only a matter of time until he saw exactly what I did.

With my purchases in hand, I began my drive straight for Jules’ house. I didn’t want to waste any time. Before I arrived though, came the lonely hour and a half car ride home and again the sense of sadness overwhelmed me. I was determined to get this separation over with. It had only been a couple of hours that I’d been separated from Jules but it was already taking a serious toll on me. I felt weak, drained. I didn’t want to find out what several days of an untouchable Jules meant. I’d be the walking dead.

Jules’ house was empty but her dad told me he left a key at the neighbor’s house. That was awkward. Mrs. Stevenson looked at me strangely and I didn’t really feel like offering an explanation as she held the key a bit too long, obviously waiting for me to explain myself. I took the key, said thank you and walked over to the Jacobs’ house. I went to my truck and got the bags of my snooping loot.

Using Mr. Jacobs’ ladder, I scaled the trees and directed the cameras toward the most ideal spots. I stapled the cords to the part of the tree that would be invisible at the angle Jesse and Taylor intrude from and ran them along the hidden parts of the grass through Jules’ back door.

I hoped for two things just then. I wished that it would snow soon and cover up all of my tracks and the cameras’ cords and I also wished that Mrs. Stevenson would keep her mouth closed to everyone about what I was doing because I could see her nosey ass peeking through the window at me.

It would be the most massive waste of time if she even told one person in Bramwell because that would mean it’d eventually be front page news and Jesse would shy away like a mouse in the walls. Well, I hoped for three things really. The third, bringing Jules home, tonight if possible. I’d go get her myself.

I strung the cords to the cameras through the living room and sprawled them onto the wood floor. I grabbed the third camera and walked into Jules’ room. The look of it knocked me breathless. Everything about it screamed Jules to me. Her bed was a patchwork of dark, rich fabrics, velvets, silks and satins, even a bit of antiqued lace. The bed frame was an antique as well, the headboard and the end board were a dark teal tufted silk framed with light green curved wood. Her wing back was in her reading corner. I remembered helping her recover the old fabric it was in with a loud colorful one. I told her it looked ridiculous but she said, “Trust me Elliott,” and when we set it in her corner she was right. She was always right.

She had this really interesting wool crewel rug of a giant crustacean between the bed and her bookcase next to the chair in her reading corner. Above the chair she hung the horn of an old gramophone she had turned into a lamp herself and along the windows she hung floor to ceiling paneled cream curtains with teal embroidery she said she got online from a store in Morocco. I called them her own personal taste of the ‘Marrakesh Express’.  

The wall opposite the window held her dark red vanity table. This was where I wanted to set the camera. I could hide it easily behind the large heavy mirror. It would be easy to miss it because Jules’ room was wallpapered in a busy damask and the entire wall with the vanity and the door was peppered with gilded frames and monochromatic art. It also faced the window.

I ran the cord along her baseboard and out into the hallway continuing to the living room. I had begun downloading the software that came with the cameras an hour before and it was done.

I hooked up the cords to the hub that had a usb attached and started the program. I pressed record and it instantly began to take in the images. I could see all three cameras simultaneously. I adjusted two of the cameras as needed and when I felt satisfied with everything I left their home knowing I had done everything I could have done, for their house that is. I should have felt happy about it all but I didn’t. In fact, I felt ill. I couldn’t believe all this was happening to us.

When most teenagers were out goofing around on their Christmas Break, going to the mall, or driving to friends’ houses I was setting up my own private surveillance system to catch my psychotic ex-best friend and Taylor the pathetic stalker in the act of harassing my girlfriend, to get to me.

That was the hardest part to swallow. I knew why these things were happening. Me. What killed me the most is that I had no idea how to make it stop. It seemed as if there was no stopping it, I couldn’t even offer up myself. Jesse was the cruelest kind of monster. He didn’t want me to die, leave, perish. He wanted me to suffer. He wanted to take away everything that was dear to me and I knew that if I didn’t catch him soon that he wouldn’t stop at Jules. He would move on to my family as well. He had doled out every kind of punishment the insane could hand out and up until now I had pretty much taken it lying down. I would no longer do this. I decided that he needed a taste of his own medicine and from what I heard Judge Henderson liked to double the dosage.

That evening I called Jules and we chatted it up for close to two hours. At dinner my mom stared at me in disbelief.

“What could you possibly talk about for two hours? You guys spend every waking minute together. What’s left to say?”

“Mom, we entertain each other. It’s the most peculiar thing. She’s so much fun to laugh with.”

“I find that mighty sweet son but two hours is too long, I’m sorry. What if your grandma or Danny had called? We don’t have call waiting darlin’.”

“Okay, mom. I’ll shorten it up, promise.”

“Good deal baby,” she said ruffling my hair. “Your hair really is getting long.”

“Yeah, I’m thinkin’ about getting it cut soon, maybe before Jules comes home.”

“Why?”

“Because if she were here, she wouldn’t let me cut it.”

Only my mom and I laughed. Maddy and dad were immersed in their own conversation about how to properly construct a homemade kite. Sheesh, they were such nerds.

    “You might want to keep it as long as possible since you’ll need it short when you’re in the fields for hygienic purposes. You know, sort of live it up.”
    “You’re too practical mom,” I said, shaking my head. “No, I really want it cut, it makes me feel younger than what I really am. I’ve felt I’ve aged so much these past few weeks what with Jules being harassed and all.”
    “Oh Elliott, my poor boy. You’ve been given challenges no one should carry, but I’ve noticed you do carry on and well, as if you were made of stuff greater than all other men. Yours is the most resilient soul I’ve ever met.”
    “Oh no, mom. I am barely hanging on by a thread, the slightest wind and my thread might break.”
    “You may feel as much but I assure you that thread might as well be a steel cable for all the strength that is in your heart. No, you are much stronger than you think.”
    “Thanks mom,” I said standing up. I smiled at her and she took my hand in hers and squeezed it, reassuring me of all the things she felt.

I couldn’t wait to go to sleep, for several reasons. First, because I was tired of the ache in my stomach, chest and heart from missing Jules so intensely and second, because I was more than anxious to wake early and check the video for signs of the idiots. I was surprised at how well Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs kept their cool during this entire thing. If it were my kid, well, let’s just say I’d feel sorry for the maniac. I suppose I couldn’t blame them, they were doing everything possible to catch Jesse and keep Jules safe.

I climbed into bed, my muscles felt sore and used like I’d just run flat out for miles, but I knew it was only the yearning I felt for Jules. My tired body drifted off to sleep easily thinking of her and just as easily I shifted to dreaming about her, about the happiest times on our rock bridge.

The rock bridge, especially during the winter, was one of the most beautiful pieces of nature I’d ever laid eyes on. Even if I traveled God’s entire earth I would never see a hundred pieces together as beautiful as our marble slab, because it was our piece of earth, our own heavenly fixed mark. It was a place of firsts and I wanted it to be the place where Jules would first agree to marry me with no stipulations and I hoped it would be the place where we said I do.

The next morning, I woke with my feet hanging from the edge of my bed. Being six foot four had its drawbacks sometimes. I slumped onto my back, feet touching the cold wood floor and stared at my ceiling. December twenty-eighth, I said to myself. I needed to get a move on if I wanted to get Jules back by New Year’s Eve. I jumped up and hopped into the shower. I let the hot water cascade down my back and held myself up by placing both of my hands on the tiled wall in front of me below the shower head. I almost drifted back to sleep when my mom woke me by knocking on the door.

“Jules is on the phone. Do you want me to tell her you’ll call her back,” she screamed.

“No!” I shouted. I quickly turned off the water and wrapped a towel around my waist. I ran to the phone dripping water all the way. I was freezing cold, the farmhouse never got warm enough.

“Hello?” I panted.

“Elliott? How are you babe?”

“Uh, wet,” I laughed.

“What?” I could just see the furrowing of her eyebrows. “Why?”

“Because I was in the middle of my shower.”

She laughed uncontrollably.
    “Why didn’t you just call me back later?” She asked, as if it should have been obvious to me.
    “No way. I’m feeling sick without you and I wanted to hear your voice,” I said standing in a massive puddle of water, my wet hair dripping down my neck and shoulders.
    “Finish your shower sweets. Call me when you’re done.”
    “Okay, I guess this short conversation will tide me over until I’m done.”
    “Bye Elliott.”
    “Bye babe.”

I slipped and slid all over the kitchen floor and ran back to the bathroom to finish my shower. When I was done I sprinted to my room and tried to dress as quickly as possible. I needed to talk to Jules but I also needed to get warm again. I had showered so fast I didn’t have time to get warm from the water. I even put my coat on before picking up the receiver again.

How many times is she gonna’ let it ring? I asked myself. If you haven’t noticed, I’m not a very patient person. Her aunt picked it up. Jules wasn’t there, she said she’d be right back that she just ran to the store with one of her cousins. I told her I’d call her back later that morning.

    “Crap,” I said slamming down the receiver.

I left the house in a hurry and nearly sped the short few miles from my house to Jules’. Don’t want Danny to pull me over.

I thought about what I’d do if I did catch the jerk on the video and we definitely needed to catch him on video as soon as possible because the rumor of Jules’ leaving for Mauch Chunk was bound to get out inevitably.

I pulled into Jules’ driveway and parked the truck. I was a little frightened to go inside. I was afraid of what I might find. I did what I had to and slammed the door behind me. I found the laptop still running and still recording which was a good sign.

All three cameras worked and I could even see my truck in the view of the camera pointed in the direction of Jules’ window.

I stopped the current recording and saved the files permanently. This was a lot easier than I thought it’d be, I thought, until I watched each video. I started with the one pointed toward her window inside her room since it was the least convoluted. I started fast forwarding and stopped at three seventeen a.m. There they were, in all their repulsive glory. I felt like throwing up. The rage was all consuming. I felt compelled to do things no sane person should think of. I wanted to pin him down, torture him, and murder him. I tried to calm myself down but it wasn’t working.

I jumped up and decided to try Jules again, this time she answered.

    “Hello, hello,” she cheerfully said.
    “Jules?” I said inadvertently panicked.
    “What?” She pressed, nervous.
    “I, uh, I checked the surveillance and saw them breaking in.”
    “What did they do?” She asked stoically.
    “I’m not sure, to be perfectly honest. I never finished the video. I couldn’t finish the video actually and I called you so you could stop me from doing something rash.”
I chuckled, but not out of humor. I was close to becoming violent. ‘Goodbye Jules. I’ll see you in twenty to life’ violent.
    She sucked in a harsh breath, “Elliott, listen to me. If you so much as look at Jesse our chances of catching him will be lost. If you hurt him, you won’t be able to protect me.”

That put everything into perspective. She was right. If I did hurt him, I would feel better, but I would also lose the opportunity to protect Jules. I was blinded by hate, but no longer. Jules released that feeling from me.

    “I’m so sorry Jules. You’re right. I’m an idiot.”
    “No, you’re not. You’re just in love with me and want to stop the problem that’s threatening me. It’s only natural, but you’ve got to tame the urge.”
    “Why are you so damn smart?” I asked.
    “I’m not. I’m just........intuitive.”
    “And just as in love with me as I am with you,” I said in complete confidence. “That’s why I’m determined to get you back here by new year’s.”
    “I won’t hold my breath, but,” she paused, “I will hold a kiss.”
    “I’m counting on it.”
    “Alright, Elliott. Call me when you see the entire video.”
    “Okay. Hey, Jules?”
    “Yeah?”
    “I’m so in love with you.”
    “As I am with you.”
    “Bye.”
    “Bye.”

I set the phone on its receiver and walked back over to the laptop with a surprisingly clear mind and calm body thanks to Jules. I took a deep breath and pressed play. I watched a masked Jesse climb through the window and check for Jules under her bed and closet.  He was wondering where she was. I felt the rage again but remembered Jules’ words. He started rummaging through her things. I couldn’t figure out what he was trying to do. This wasn’t his usual routine. I think he was looking for information that could clue him in on why she wasn’t in her bed but what he did next surprised me.

He sat at the edge of the bed and looked toward the window, like he was talking to someone but I couldn’t hear anything and I could have kicked myself for not thinking of microphones. He was signaling toward the living room. He must be telling Taylor to check the living room windows to see if Jules was sleeping on the couch. But she wasn’t there. She was a cool five hundred miles away from their insane asses, probably sleeping in a down comforter. That warmed me on the inside.

Finally, something got to them but I started to realize that they were looking for her for a reason. I was desperate to know why. I knew something for sure though, I knew if they came tonight that they’d know something was up and stop coming altogether and my efforts would have been for not. I needed to sleep here tonight. Jules’ parents would have never agreed to it, neither would mine, or my Uncle Danny, especially not Danny. They knew the potential danger. I’d have to do it on my own. Before I left Jules’ house, I made sure to unlock one of the window’s in the living room so I could get in easily.

    That night I readied myself for battle, so to speak. I ate dinner, casually tried to have a conversation with Jules and then my mom and went to bed late. My mom didn’t suspect a thing. Jules, on the other hand, took some convincing. She told me she could hear something in my voice and I spent the entire conversation reassuring her I wasn’t going to do anything stupid.

I’m an impeccable liar the rare times I have to do it but Jules knew me so well the charms of it escaped her. I hung up the phone not entirely sure she wasn’t going to call Danny. It was still a risk I was willing to take because I knew it was my last chance to catch Jesse and stop this entire thing in its snowy and dangerous tracks.

I laid in my bed, not sleeping. I thought of Jules to pass the time and around one in the morning I slipped out my window just as I had a few nights before. I reached the street and ran as fast as the cold would let me to Jules’ home, pulling my coat tightly into my chest and raising the collar to protect my neck. My wool cap, the one that always kept me warm in the coldest weather, was doing nothing to keep the cold from my ears. It was bitter weather, blizzard like. I could barely see ten feet in front of me. Please, let this be the last time I have to do this, I begged myself. I knew my boots would leave a trail through the snow and needed to find an alternate way around her home and I’d need to enter through the opposite side so my boot prints would not tip Jesse and Taylor off that someone else, me, might be there waiting, so I looped far around the bit of forest by Jules’ home and approached from the back right portion of the house, jumping their neighbor’s fence. I needed to get through the living room window furthest from Jules’ room and was praying that it wouldn’t be too difficult or too loud so as not to wake her parents.    

I took a deep breath before trying, hoping Jules’ dad didn’t check the windows before they went to bed and miraculously it opened. I almost jumped in excitement I was so happy. I clumsily climbed through the window and landed with a thud on the living room floor. Great, I thought, all this effort just to get shot by Mr. Jacobs. But it was quiet. I closed the window and laid there without a peep just in case. When the ice from my boots had melted into small puddles on the floor beneath them I knew it was okay to make a move.

I looked at the laptop and it was recording everything. I’m glad I checked. The last thing I’d want to happen would me be exposing Jesse for what he was and not get it on film. I tiptoed, well tiptoed as much as a guy in boots could, and entered Jules’ room. Mission accomplished, well, sort of. I was in the room at least.

Then came the hard part. I waited. I waited and waited. Then, waited some more. At three forty-five I heard commotion outside.

“Jeez, Jules really does sleep like the living dead. I can hear them coming from a mile away,” I whispered to myself.

When they seemed to be approaching, I hid in Jules’ large armoire. I had taken out all her clothing and shelves and hid them underneath her bed. I knew, there, he’d never suspect a thing.

Eventually, I heard the window slide open. My heart raced into my ears. I felt the thudding pulse of blood in my neck and almost vomited from the sheer anticipation. This was it. This was my opportunity to expose him for who he truly was. I needed to expose his face as soon as possible to the camera. That was the first on my list of priorities. The next? Beat the bloody crap out of him? It sounded like a plan to me.

I left the door of the wardrobe cracked open and watched his every move through Jules’ vanity mirror. The next part took all of five seconds but it seemed like an eternity to me. I could hear Jesse breathing and I could see him squinting as if he were trying to see something that wasn’t there.

Jules’ bed was empty but he didn’t seem surprised, or angry, or anxious, more like he was just searching. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I needed to catch him off guard and immediately so I didn’t waste any time.

In a fraction of a second, I was on his back desperately trying to remove his ski mask. I got just enough of it off to expose the chin and mouth but he shrugged me off of him before I could remove it in its entirety. I had to get the entire thing off if this was going to work.

He yanked the mask back onto his face and turned, his back toward the camera. I’ll admit, it wasn’t going as smoothly as I’d like it to. We were both being extremely quiet, a silent fight. It was a riddle of a clash, urgent, raging and totally soundless. As much as either of us wanted to yell and throw the other into the wall we fought a restrained battle, neither wanting to wake the Jacobs. I, because I wanted to keep the danger from them and he, so he couldn’t get caught. What should have been exaggerated movements became minimal. I hated it, every second of it.

The adrenaline pumping through me would have produced a hit the equivalent of a Mack track going a hundred miles an hour. He should have been dead weight on the floor by now but I just couldn’t risk waking the Jacobs. He held the slightly upper hand only because I let him have it. A woke Gerry and Ann Jacobs could mean a hurt Gerry and Ann Jacobs and that was not worth it. This situation was my fault and I was finally starting to regret the risk of it. I still hadn’t exposed his face and things were quickly spiraling out of my control. He was catching the remnants and gaining the upper hand.

He pinned me to the ground and hit me brutally across the face with something hard within his reach. It was too dark to see what it was but it made me too dizzy to fight back. I watched him stand up, walk to the window and mumble something under his breath. He walked back and my eyes barely reached the six feet to his masked face.

“This is how I win,” he said and that was all I could remember before he stuck me with a four inch needle in the neck.