The Fading Trilogy: Fading, Freeing, Falling: Includes 2 BONUS short stories: Hoping and Finding Forever (11 page)

"Numb," I answer and close my eyes. Maybe I cried out all the emotions I had, because I can't seem to feel much right now. When I open my eyes, Jase is staring at me with concern written all over his face. I really wish he wouldn't look at me like that; it makes me feel weird, like I'm suddenly different now. I know that I am, but can we just pretend that I'm not?

"What time is it?" I ask.

He rolls on his back, reaches over to his nightstand, and swipes his phone. "It's almost three in the afternoon," he says as he rolls back to me.

"Three?"

"Yeah, we didn't even leave the hospital till after five this morning," he says, and then reaches his arms out as a request to hold me. I scoot over and allow the embrace. He kisses the top of my head before asking, "Do you want to talk about it?"

I haven't spoken one word to Jase about what happened last night. I'm not sure I can. But I know that I don't want to. I swallow hard against the lump in my throat and simply shake my head. How am I supposed to talk about it? What do I even say?

The tears start to well in my eyes; the tears I thought I no longer had. It's hard to fight them with the tightness in my throat. Jase must feel my body trembling when he kisses the top of my head and whispers, "I'm sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to push you."

As the tears spill over, I silently curse my unanswered prayer. I try hard not to cry, but it only makes my body jerk as I try and hiccup the sobs back. Jase moves one of his hands up from my back, cups my head, and whispers in my ear, "Please don't hurt yourself like this, Candace. Just let it out. It's just me here."

I shove my head harder and deeper into his chest as a desperate attempt to hide. Hide from the cloud that is suddenly looming over me. He tightens his grip on me, and I let it out. I lie against his chest and just cry. I cry like a baby—helpless. I'm so desperate for someone to save me. To make it all go away.

The heat of Jase's bare chest against my wet, teary face suddenly makes my skin burn. I push back off of him and cup my cheek, unable to stop the free-flowing tears. He removes my hand and looks at the cuts on my face.

"I'll be right back, sweetie," he says as he jumps out of bed. I hear him in the bathroom, and when he returns, he's holding a large square bandage and some ointment. He sits on the bed in front of me and starts tending to the scratches on my face. Once he is done, he adheres the bandage to my cheek, then walks to his closet, and throws on a t-shirt.

"You hungry?" he asks.

"No," I say as I shake my head and lie back down. "I just want to go back to bed."

Walking towards me, he says, "You really should eat. Just try."

I lie there with my eyes closed. "Please, Jase."

He doesn't say another word. He simply crawls back into bed behind me and holds me until I fall asleep.

Drifting in and out, I'm finding it hard to shut my brain off. Every time I close my eyes I picture Jack on top of me. The more I try and fight the thoughts, the more vivid they become. He's right here with me, right here inside my head. I close my eyes again, and I can hear the ripping of my shirt as Jack fists the fabric. I quickly sit up in the bed and grab my breast where he bit me. I can feel the sharp pain shooting through me again.
Why can't he leave me alone?
Why can't I get away from him?
My gut is in knots, and I am shaking. I jump out of bed, run to the bathroom, and empty the contents of my stomach into the toilet. Since I haven't eaten in over a day, there's hardly anything left in me. I begin dry heaving painfully. My whole body is convulsing, and tears are streaming down my face. I close my eyes, and I see Jack's murderous glare as he's ripping off my underwear. I hear frantic screams. My mind is in overdrive, and I can hardly focus, but the screams are piercing. I cover my ears and shuffle back into the corner on my bottom. I have no idea where all the noise is coming from, but it's scaring me.

Suddenly, the bathroom light turns on, and I see Jase run to me. He falls to his knees in front of me and grasps onto my wrists that are against my face. His lips are moving, but I can't hear him over the screaming. I try and focus on his lips to make out what he is saying, and his voice begins filtering through. I can hardly hear him when he says, "It's okay." I continue to focus and the more I do, the more I can hear him and less of the screams. "It's okay, Candace. I'm right here." He pulls me to him and slowly rocks me back and forth. The swaying feels soothing in the madness around me. As he whispers, "Shhh," into my ear, I realize that those screams I heard were coming from me.
How can I be so disoriented?
Terrified by what just happened, I feel myself being lifted off the floor. Jase scoops me up in his arms and carries me to the couch. I bury my head into his neck, fully embarrassed by what has just happened. I can barely comprehend it.

Setting me down, Jase walks into the kitchen and comes back with two bottles of water and a box of crackers. He twists the cap off of one of the bottles and hands it to me.

"Drink," he says.

I lift the bottle to my lips and take a slow sip. The water burns along my scratchy throat as I swallow it down.

I shift uncomfortably on the couch. My whole body is sore, and my back is badly bruised and scabbed over. It makes it nearly impossible to not think about what happened. I wish I could ignore it, but I can't because I hurt...
everywhere
. Sometimes when I move, I can feel the pain from his intrusion, and I want to throw up.

"What just happened?" he asks.

"I don't know. It felt like a nightmare, but I was awake," I say and take another drink.

Jase rests his elbows on his knees and clasps his hands together. Letting out a sigh, he says, "You scared the shit out me. I know you don't want to talk, but maybe..." He trails off as my phone rings.

"You have my phone?" I ask.

Standing up and walking to the kitchen bar, he says, "Yeah, the nurse at the hospital gave me your purse." He picks up my gold wristlet purse and hands it to me. I pull out my phone and swipe the screen to see that I have a few missed texts and a missed call from Kimber.

"Who was it?" Jase asks as he sits back down and starts opening the box of crackers.

"Kimber," I say, fiddling with my phone.

"You should call her, she's probably freaking out and wondering where you are," he says, as he eats a cracker.

"Maybe later." I set the phone down, lay my head back, and stare at the ceiling. I just want to hide here for a while longer. Maybe forever.

"She probably knows you're with me. She sent me a text earlier asking if I knew where you were. I figured you didn't want her to know just yet, so I didn't respond."

I let out a sigh, roll my head to the side, and look at Jase. I don't want Kimber to ask me any questions, but I know there is no way around that. One look at my face and she's going to flip. I can't hide all the cuts and bruises. I look like hell.

Jase holds a cracker up to my mouth and when I open it, he shoves the cracker in and gives me a smirk. Chewing it up, I turn my body and lie on my back with my head in his lap. I stare up at him and say, "I don't want anyone to know."

He looks down at me, starts brushing through my hair with his fingers, and says, "I know, but she's going to know that something happened. She's going to want to know how you got all these bruises."

"I don't know what to say."

"Why can't you tell her? You know she wouldn't say a word to anyone."

"I just can't. Even the way you look at me now is different." I sit up and turn to look at him. "It makes me feel weird. It just reminds me that it happened, when all I want to do is forget." I pull my knees up to my chest and lay my head on the back of the couch again.

Jase puts his hand on my knee and says, "You know you can't do that. It did happen."

The tears roll down my temples. "But why?" My voice is shaky as I speak. "I don't understand what I did that was so wrong."

Wiping away my tears with his thumb, he says, "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Then why did this happen to me?" I turn my head and look into his eyes, desperate for answers I know he doesn't have.

He shakes his head, and his eyes start to rim with tears. "I don't know, sweetie. But I do know that you didn't do shit to deserve this. This isn't your fault."

"But maybe it is. I mean, I really led him on when I had no intentions of..."

Jase cuts me off me off and snaps, "You mean Jack did this?!"

My whole body turns cold.
Oh shit! What is he going to do?
I quickly sit up and turn towards him. "Jase, you can't say anything," I plead in a stern voice.

"Christ, Candace. I thought it was just some random asshole. Why didn't you tell the police? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I can't. Everyone would know. Everyone, including my parents."

Jase rakes his hand through his hair, and I can tell he is pissed, which upsets me. I don't want him to be mad at me.

"Fuck," he spits out. Looking at me, I can see the rage in his eyes, and I start to panic. "I'm gonna kill that fucker."

"Jase!"

"What the hell happened?" he demands.

"Don't."

"Candace, you have to tell me."

"Please, don't." Slowly shaking my head, I begin to cry. I'm scared. Scared to talk. Scared of what Jase might do. Scared that people will find out.

Jase stands up and walks out to the balcony, slamming the door shut behind him. I sit in his living room, alone in the silence. The sun is starting to rise and Jase is leaning on his arms against the railing. I know he is pissed at me, which kills me inside. I can't stand to see him so mad and upset. I get up and make my way to his bedroom, leaving my phone on the couch.

I must have fallen asleep because when I open my eyes the room is bright. I sit up and look down at Jase who is sleeping next to me. I slip out of bed and make my way to the kitchen to get some water. I look at the clock and see that it's almost nine in the morning. I'm not too worried about the classes I missed yesterday or the ones I will most likely miss today. It's only the first week, so I know that classes are no more than discussing expectations for the quarter. But I'm worried about the fact that I missed my studio yesterday. I haven't looked at my face yet, but hopefully the swelling and bruising has gone down enough that I can attempt to cover it with makeup.

I open the fridge and grab a bottle of water. I twist off the cap and down the whole thing in a few large gulps. My head is throbbing slightly, so I begin to make a pot of coffee when I hear Jase come out of the bathroom. Scooping the coffee grounds, I look up at him as he walks into the kitchen. I don't say anything because I am unsure of his mood. I hope he understands where I'm coming from and isn't still mad at me.

He walks straight to me and turns me to face him. Cupping my cheeks with his hands, he says, "I'm sorry."

I can't find any words, so I simply nod my head. I notice his eyes are puffy and bloodshot before he pulls me in to hug me. I wrap my arms tightly around him and squeeze. It hurts to know that he must have been crying when he was out on the balcony earlier this morning. I press my head against his chest, and we just stand there, clinging to each other.

I sit nervously in Jase's car as we drive to my house. After coffee this morning, we decided that I would stay at his place for a few days. I emailed all of my professors and told them that I had gotten sick and wouldn't be attending class for the rest of this week. None of them seemed to mind. Knowing that I have always been dedicated to my classes in the past, no one even questioned me, not even my dance instructors.

I let out a sigh of relief as we pull up to the house and see that Kimber's car is gone. Giving Jase a kiss on the cheek, I thank him before hopping out and walking over to my car. We agreed that he would go in and get my things in case Kimber showed up. As I slide into my car and turn the key, guilt begins to wash over me. I feel like I'm lying to Kimber by avoiding her, but Jase is the only one who knows, and I'd like to keep it that way.

I call Roxy while I drive back to Jase's apartment and tell her the same thing I told my professors. I ask if I could have a few days off, and she doesn't even hesitate. Lying to everyone feels horrible, but I just can't tell them the truth.