185Chapter 23- Secrets Revealed
AUTHOR'S NOTES: All the names of my characters are completely random, no similarity to actual persons, living or dead, should be assumed or inferred.
You don't realize how much you miss home-cooked meals until you go eight weeks without one. But by next week, it's back to the lovely grilled college food.
The last chapter before the riveting conclusion awaits you brave readers...
To Shawn, time seemed to freeze. The only sound he heard was Emily's soft crying against his chest. He felt detached, even in the warm May air, hardly feeling the embrace that he now shared with her. He simply allowed her to cry, at a complete loss for words.
He attacked me...
Shawn shook his head, not willing to believe what she had told him, but at the same time, not doubting a word that she said. He knew that this wasn't a bad dream that they could both wake up from. His broken arm and sprained knee reminded him of his hurts, but he knew that Emily's pain was far worse than his.
"Emily," he whispered softly, stroking her hair in an effort to calm her down. "We need to go now."
She ceased her crying and looked up at him quizzically. "Go where?" she asked.
"To the police. You have to let them know about this."
She shuddered and leaned her head against him again. "I...don't know if I can tell them..."
"Why not?" he asked, still trying to let his touch reassure her.
"Because...he'll hurt me again..."
"He can't hurt you once he's in jail."
"But..."
"No Emily," he said forcefully, pushing her slightly away from him. "We need to tell them. Now."
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. He started to walk towards her grandmother's house, but she stopped him with another hug and refused to let go.
He sighed, trying to hide the mounting frustration. He tightly returned her hug and slowly pried her off of him.
He stared her straight in the eyes for a few moments. "I'll come with you," he said. "Don't be afraid."
She slowly found herself nodding in agreement. He was leaning a bit heavily on his right leg and tried unsuccessfully to hide a wince while flexing the injured left knee.
She put his arm around her to steady him as they walked back down the street.
I need him and he needs me, she thought.
They made it back to the Mansons' driveway and Shawn leaned heavily against the big Explorer after Emily released him.
"Stay right here," she said softly. He nodded, and she disappeared back inside the house.
Emily slowly walked into the kitchen, finding that her grandmother was still engrossed in her Solitaire game.
"Grandmother..."
Mrs. Manson turned around. "Yes dear?"
"I, uh...need to head back home for a little bit..."
Her grandmother looked at her inquisitively. "What for?"
"Umm...Shawn is...outside. He, um...walked here and I need to bring him home."
Mrs. Manson knew that she was hiding something, but again chose not to press her. "Ok dearie, but hurry back, I'm going to make brownies later and I can't eat them all by myself."
They both smiled. "I'll try not to be too long," Emily said. She walked briskly back into the front room and grabbed her light sweatshirt jacket out of a closet and took out her car keys. She immediately went back outside and started up the car after helping Shawn into the passenger seat.
She drove slowly back into West Becton, watching Shawn out of the corner of her eye, hoping that he would say something. But something seemed to be bothering him, and she wouldn't press for it.
But after all this time of hiding, only he had the power to make me do this. I owe him so much...
Shawn looked surprised, but said nothing as she turned off Main Street and headed back towards her house.
She saw his quizzical look and sighed.
"There's something I need to get before we report this..." she said slowly.
He simply nodded, but again chose not to say anything.
At this point, it's all a matter of trust, he thought. Even if things can never be the same, we still have to at least trust each other to see this through to the end...
Emily parked the Explorer next to the curb in front of her house and ran towards the front door before Shawn could even say a word. She quickly unlocked the front door and raced upstairs, nearly bowling over her mother in the process.
"Emily?" her mother called after her.
But she didn't respond. After throwing open the door to her room, she headed directly for her closet. Tossing away the small pile of clothes on the floor, she kept digging until she found what she was looking for.
A small cardboard box.
Cautiously, she pulled back the lid and peered inside. She knew what was supposed to be in there, but she felt somewhat nervous all the same.
The small blue shirt was still there. The only physical reminder of what had passed.
Suddenly hearing footsteps coming up the stairs, she slammed the box closed and tucked it under her right arm. After closing the closet door, she jogged back into the hallway and pushed right past her mother again.
"Emily?! Where are you going? And what's in the box?"
"Nothing, mom! I'll be back later!" Emily called back.
"Where are you going?" Mrs. Manson called, immediately walking back to the top of the stairs.
"I have to bring Shawn home!" Emily lied. She was out the door before her mother could think of anything else to say.
She started running once she was back outside. She ripped open the driver's door and threw the box in the backseat as she climbed inside the truck.
"What's that?" Shawn asked after a few moments.
Emily fumbled the keys a bit before starting the car. She sighed as she released the parking brake.
She slowly turned towards him. "Evidence," she said softly, barely above a whisper.
Shawn looked surprised, but nodded and said nothing. Emily slammed her foot on the gas pedal and the Explorer flew down the street back towards the main section of town.
Shawn linked his arm in hers as they walked inside the police station. After a few steps inside the blue and white tiled building, Emily suddenly froze, and started to pull away.
Shawn grabbed her arm, preventing her escape. "Emily?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"I...don't make me do this," she begged.
A short uniformed officer strode down the hall towards them. "Is there something I can help you with?" she asked.
Emily looked to be on the brink of tears again. Shawn sighed and decided to answer for her.
"She has an incident to report," he said firmly.
The officer, who wore a nametag that read "Birkdale" on her lapel, looked at him quizzically, then turned to her.
"Is this true young lady?" Officer Birkdale asked.
Shawn closed his eyes for a split second. Please Emily, find the strength to do this, he silently pleaded.
She sighed, barely avoiding another break into sobs, and stood up as straight as she could.
She nodded once.
"Ok then, follow me," the officer ordered.
Shawn grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Emily forced a smile as they both followed Officer Birkdale past the receptionist's desk and into a back office.
"Sit here, I'll be right back," Officer Birkdale commanded. She closed the door to the small office behind her.
Shawn and Emily each pulled up a chair in front of a large mahogany desk. She nervously played with her hair and smoothed her clothes, trying to figure out exactly what she was going to say.
Shawn placed his hand on top of hers. "Everything will be alright."
She smiled faintly at him and started to lean over towards his shoulder when the door suddenly banged open, startling them both.
A thin, balding man in full police uniform stepped into the room, followed by Officer Birkdale. Shawn recognized him as Bill Johnson, the West Becton Chief of Police.
Chief Johnson sat down behind the desk and folded his hands on top of the shiny wooden surface. He glanced at Emily, but then raised his eyebrows when he saw Shawn.
"Shawn Rogers? The hockey player?" he asked.
Shawn grinned. "Yes, that's me." He shook the Chief's outstretched hand.
He extended the gesture to Emily as well. "Emily Manson," she said, trying not to let her extreme nervousness show.
"Very pleased to meet you both," the Chief said jovially. He refolded his hands and looked at both of them. "Now what's this incident that you have to report?"
Emily shifted uncomfortably as Shawn glanced at her. He squeezed her hand again, and she collected herself after a few moments. Officer Birkdale pulled out a small notepad and began scribbling in it as soon as Emily started talking.
"I...uh...this happened...about a month ago..." she began.
"A month ago?" Chief Johnson asked.
Shawn gave him a sidelong look and he immediately softened. "Sorry Miss, please continue."
"Well, it was a rather...difficult time," she said softly. "I wasn't feeling too well after Shawn got into a car accident and..."
Shawn was looking at the floor, and the two officers were simply staring at her interestedly, waiting for her to continue.
"Well, this guy who I've sort of knew...well, I didn't really know him, but I knew who he was..."
"What was his name?" Chief Johnson interrupted.
"David," she replied. "David..." she paused thoughtfully.
"Ribeck," Shawn finished for her.
Chief Johnson nodded and Officer Birkdale wrote down the name in big letters and underlined it.
"Well I'm not too clear on the details of the conversation we had," she continued. "But eventually he...he..." She couldn't stop a single tear from falling out of her left eye.
"Go on," Chief Johnson pressed gently.
Shawn squeezed her hand hard, and she finally brought herself to speak.
"He raped me..." she whispered.
Both officers looked stunned. "That's a very serious accusation," the Chief said, breaking the small silence that followed.
"But it's true," she said softly but forcefully.
"Do you have proof?"
"Yes I do. In the car..." The tears began again and she could say no more. Shawn stood up and pulled her off the chair into a tight hug.
Officer Birkdale was scribbling furiously on a different page of the pad. "What evidence are we talking about here?" the Chief asked.
Emily forced herself to stop crying for a moment and steadied her voice. "A shirt that I...cleaned myself...with...it's in...a cardboard box, in the backseat..."
She broke down again and Shawn hugged her tighter. He glanced at Chief Johnson, who looked somewhat distracted.
"Will that be enough?" Shawn asked him.
"We'd have to wait and see the results of the lab report before we could make any kind of arrest."
"And how long would that take?"
"Could be a day, if not more. But I could get them to work on this right away."
Shawn shook his head, looking perturbed, but he knew that it couldn't be done faster.
"Let's go give them the box and go home," he whispered in Emily's ear. She shuddered, but nodded and pushed away from him.
Emily clung heavily to Shawn's arm as they led the two cops out into the parking lot.
Shawn handed them the box and Chief Johnson turned the shirt over in his hands.
"We'll get right on this," he promised.
Shawn nodded his assent. "I'm terribly sorry about this," the Chief said to Emily. "We'll get the guy who did this to you."
She looked visibly relieved, and nodded at him.
"Good night," both officers said simultaneously before heading back inside the station, Emily's box in hand.
"Well," Shawn began as he turned towards her. "Was that so hard?" he said airily.
She chuckled faintly. "I couldn't have done it without you with me," she said.
He smiled back. "Let's go home now and forget about all this until tomorrow."
"Ok."
The ride back to Shawn's house was filled mostly with silence. She parked the Explorer in front of his house and he hopped lightly out of the car.
"Emily, listen to me," he said forcefully.
"Yes?"
"I won't fail you a second time."
She smiled at him warmly. "You never failed me once."
He grinned back and closed the car door, not taking a single look back as he walked towards his house.
Shawn sat on his bed and dialed Jason's number. His friend picked up after two rings.
"What?" Jason snapped.
"Easy Jay, it's me."
"Shawn! Dude, are you home? I just stopped by and nobody was there!"
"Emily and I had to take care of something."
"What?" Jason sounded confused.
"We were at the police station."
"What for?"
Shawn told him the whole story, not leaving out a single detail that he knew.
Jason was stunned. Out of all the scenarios that he imagined, he hadn't given this one a second thought.
"You're not serious..." he said slowly.
"I wish I was," Shawn said softly.
"Well..."
"I'm gonna hold off on going to school tomorrow, I'm gonna stay with her instead."
"Really?"
"I already missed a month, what's one more day? Besides, I can blame it on 'extraordinary circumstances'."
"True..."
"Come by tomorrow after school."
"Alright dude, I will."
"Bye Jay."
"Later."
Shawn hung up the phone and stretched out on his bed.
They're coming for you David. You are not getting away with this...
Jason stared miserably at the clock. His Pre-Calc class was getting out of hand, since the substitute teacher was simply sitting at the front desk reading a newspaper instead of keeping any sort of control over the class. Lunch wasn't for another fifteen minutes, and all of Jason's friends had decided to cut class that day.
Why didn't I? Of all days that I actually decided to show up to class...
Alexandra was sitting in the desk next to him, just as bored as he was. She held her head in her hands as she stared down at the notebook on her desk.
Her right hand reached out and slowly opened the book, revealing a small folded note sitting on top of the first page.
She idly flipped the note open, careful not to let anyone else see it. She read it through again and sighed before dropping it back onto the notebook and closing it.
She pushed herself to her feet and walked up the substitute's desk. She grabbed the hall pass and started to say something, but the man did not even look away from the newspaper, simply waving a hand at her.
She scowled, but simply pushed her long hair over her shoulder and headed out towards the bathroom.
Jason raised an eyebrow in suspicion. He had been watching her for the past minute or so, and curiousity was getting the better of him. Taking several glances around him, he thankfully saw that everyone was either doing work or heavily engrossed in conversation.
His right arm snapped across the gap between their desks, opened the notebook, and lifted the note right out of it.
He glanced around again, feeling relieved that nobody had seen him. He slowly unfolded the note and read it through.
And then read it through again.
Shaking off his intense surprise, he pulled a pen out of his pocket and hastily recopied the note's message onto a blank page in his own notebook. Then, after once again looking around furtively, he snuck the note back into Alex's notebook. He tossed his own notebook inside his backpack and got up to leave.
He had an excuse prepared for the substitute, that he would need to leave to go help for an Audio/Visual project, but the sub didn't even seem to notice him.
Alex reentered the room just as Jason was leaving. She pushed past him without a glance and returned to her seat.
Jason gave her a very dark look as she went by him.
Wait until Shawn hears about this...
As soon as the final bell rang, Jason ran out of the school and leaped into his car. He dialed his aunt's number just as he started the engine. He was already pulling out of his parking space by the time she answered.
She had caller ID, and knew that it was him. "Hello Jason! It's been so long! How are you doing?"
"Great, Aunt Marie," Jason replied quickly. "I need you to do me a favor."
"Sure dear, what do you need?"
"The Ribecks, do you know them?"
"Ribeck? That name sounds familiar, I'll ask your Uncle Fred. Hold on." She dropped the phone on the counter. Jason drove faster once he had left the school and impatience was beginning to set in.
Aunt Marie came back on the phone. "Yes, he knows them. He says something is going on down there right now. The police are all over the place."
"You have the address?" Jason said excitedly, almost yelling.
"Well yeah, it's right around the corner from here. Benton Street."
"Wonderful. Thanks so much Aunt Marie, you're the best."
"Glad I could help."
"Bye." Jason clicked off the phone and honked the horn angrily at a car in front of him that was taking a turn rather slowly.
The little Focus practically flew all the way to Milbank. He raced past his aunt's house and nearly skidded around the corner before coming to an almost dead-stop. He shut the car down and watched.
David and his mother were having an animated discussion with four uniformed police officers. One of the cops was holding up a piece of paper, which David nearly ripped out of the man's hands.
A few moments later, David was subdued and handcuffed, despite the screaming protests of his mother. Two of the cops had to forcefully push him into the backseat of one of the squad cars.
Jason grabbed his phone again and dialed Shawn's number. He answered after two rings.
"Hello?"
"Shawn? Great news."
"What's up Jay?"
Jason heard Emily's voice in the background. "Good, saves me the trouble of telling Emily as well."
"Her? What do you mean?" She clambered up next to him to listen in.
The next two words that Jason said seemed to lift a huge weight off of both their hearts once realization set in.
"Mission accomplished."
After a few moments of silence. Shawn finally found the words to speak again.
"Does that mean what I think it means?"
The blaring police siren confirmed everything. "David has just been arrested, guess those lab boys worked overtime last night," Jason said.
"Yes!" Emily shrieked, flopping down completely on Shawn's bed. She laughed for what seemed like the first time in ages.
Shawn smiled widely. "That's the best news I've heard in a long time," he said honestly.
"But wait, there's more."
"There's more?"
"This goes even deeper Shawn. David wasn't acting alone. And I can prove that."
"What do you mean David wasn't acting alone?" Emily's laughter ceased, and she immediately sat up, gripping his shoulders with suddenly tense hands.
"It was Alexandra. She set him up to do it. I stole a small note out of her notebook in math class today. I copied the whole thing. You wouldn't believe what it said."
"Alexandra?" Shawn said, completely stunned.
Emily scowled, but decided to hold her questions until Shawn got off the phone.
"I'll show it to you later," Jason said. "I'm gonna go home now. I'll come around after dinner tonight."
"Alright," Shawn replied. Jason clicked off the phone, and Shawn slowly hung up his own phone, as if in a daze.
"What's wrong?" Emily asked, eyes narrowed.
"Alexandra was behind this," Shawn said slowly. His eyes suddenly blazed. "She's the one to blame..."
Emily showed up at Shawn's house the next morning to pick him up for school. He slowly hopped out of the Explorer after Emily pulled up to her spot at school.
She had watched him briefly during the ride, and he looked nothing short of intense, as if he was thinking heavily about something. And thinking so heavily that he wouldn't even say two words to her during the ride.
He did not even wait up for her after exiting the car. She practically ran after him, her gold chain necklace flopping around her neck. She hadn't worn it once in the entire month since Shawn had nearly died. Now it felt like she was celebrating David's arrest simply by wearing it.
But, Shawn was definitely not himself today. And she couldn't shake a nagging feeling in her stomach as they entered the school almost side by side.
Unfortunately for her, Alexandra chose that moment to walk upstairs from the basement, where she had evidently just come from a Student Trainers meeting.
Shawn's eyes seemed to light on fire. Emily gasped at the sudden change, and grabbed his arm firmly as he stalked off towards his old friend.
He shook her off violently, and as soon as they saw this, Nick, Bobby, and Kristin came running from farther up the hallway.
They seemed to sense that a confrontation was coming.
But instead of a thunderous yell or the slightest bit of physical violence, Shawn simply cornered Alex against a wall and stared her right in the eye.
He asked her one simple question.
"Why?"
She looked absolutely terrified, and even more shocked than all of Shawn's friends were at seeing him so angry.
"W-why w-what?" she stammered.
Shawn held up Jason's copy of the note in his hands and very slowly unfolded it. "Does this look familiar?" he asked ominously.
Her eyes could not have been wider, and she was turning stark white from fear. Her mouth moved, but her mind simply couldn't come up with anything to say.
Shawn calmly refolded the note and asked again. "Why did you do this Alex?"
"Because..."
"WHY?" he roared.
Kristin and Emily flinched heavily and took a big step back. Nick and Bobby overcame their shock and immediately moved to stand right next to him, each grabbing one of his arms to prevent him from physically hurting her.
"Because I wanted you Shawn..." she squeaked. Tears rolled down her face as she continued on. "She had everything that I wanted...and I realized it too late..."
"So you had to hurt her..." he snapped bitterly.
She buried her face in her hands and continued crying, unable to say anything more.
The school disciplinarian, a balding middle-aged ex-Marine, walked up to the little gathering. "What's going on here?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest.
Shawn did not even look around, but wrenched his good arm free from Nick's grip and handed the note to him over his shoulder.
The disciplinarian quickly read the note and whistled. "Alexandra, you could be in some serious trouble for this."
"Make it the worst," Shawn growled.
Alex forced herself to look at him. At the face of a friend that she no longer had.
She tore her gaze away as the disciplinarian took her arm and started to lead her away.
"What could happen to her?" Nick asked darkly.
The disciplinarian sighed, but knew that Alex was going to hear this anyway. "At the very least, probation for conspiracy." He turned to address her. "I highly doubt that you'll be going to this year's Senior Prom young lady."
Alex sobbed again as he led her up the hall towards his office.
"I don't believe it..." Nick muttered.
"Some friend," added Bobby.
Emily scowled, but still could not hide a bit of shock. "How could she do this to me..." she wondered to nobody in particular.
Jason walked up behind them all. "What did I miss?" he asked.
"It's all over," Shawn said. "It's all over..."
FINAL NOTES: I have a whole week of vacation left and only one more chapter to write. Rest assured I will not go back to school until this story is finished. So review and keep begging me to write faster! It might just work!