The Other Side - Chapter 42

"The Other Side - Chapter 41" 

Becky was dazed. She felt a fire across her face and her eye was throbbing so hard she wasn't sure she could even see out of it. Gary's hand was balled up into a fist as he hovered above her.

Oh my god. He just hit me.

Becky struggled to take in her surroundings. I'm on the ground. I'm on the ground because Gary just hit me. Gary just punched me. On my face. Using the hand she hadn't landed on, she pulled herself up to a standing position.

Gary's eyes were wide. "Oh my god - Becky! Are you okay? I didn't mean to do that, you have to believe me. You just make me so mad. Here, let me get you some ice. If you had just been honest with me from the beginning... Oh sweetie, you'll be fine, it really wasn't that hard. You just weren't prepared. Becky?"

Becky didn't even acknowledge he was talking to her. She simply grabbed her purse and walked out the door. She walked purposefully down the steps, out the front door, and past the pumpkin. She unlocked her car door and got into the driver's seat. It wasn't until she tried to put the key in the ignition that she saw her hand shaking violently. Suddenly she realized that she was completely drenched because it was raining outside. The entire right side of her body was throbbing from where she had landed and, whipping the mirror open from the inside of her visor, the left side of her face had already started to swell.

Desperately, Becky shoved in the key and turned on the car. As the engine turned over, a vicious sob escaped her, and suddenly she couldn't see herself anymore, her tears blinding her. Becky pounded on the steering wheel, not caring that it hurt, not caring that someone might be able to see her.

Her entire body was shaking so hard she wondered if she was moving the car. Her mind was everywhere; she couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened. She and Gary had been fighting. He had come closer. She was on the floor. How had she ended up on the floor? How had Gary actually raised his fist and punched her?

Becky's tears were so hot as they poured out of her that she wondered through her hysteria if they were burning her. She gasped for air, struggling so hard to breathe between her sobs, begging her body to develop a rhythm. She was a victim of abuse. She, Becky Edwards, had just been in an abusive relationship. She had been beaten by her boyfriend. How had that happened? How could she have let that happen?

In the next instant Becky had thrown on her seatbelt. She had to get out of there. She had to get out of that parking lot right that very second. She had to go - where?

Becky's sobs halted for a moment as she realized she didn't have anywhere to go. She couldn't go to Delany; she couldn't face how scared her cousin would look. She didn't want to see Delany's burning anger. She didn't want to hear the death threats. She couldn't stand the pitying but knowing look. Delany had been right, she had been right all along.

"About everything!" Becky cried aloud to herself, shaking her head vigorously. "She always knew. She knew that Gary wasn't right; she knew that something was wrong with him. She knew that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. She knew I wasn't over Jacob, not by a long shot. She knew I was just doing everything I could to get my mind away from everything. She saw me jumping in with both feet because I was so desperate to find a guy who really was nice. So desperate to know that there was someone else out there for me besides Jacob. She saw and she knew, she knew, she knew -" Becky hit the steering wheel again, trying to catch her breath. Her windows were fogging up. Automatically, she turned on the defrost. She turned on the windshield wipers. She needed a vision for her eyes. She needed to be able to see. She needed to drive.

Becky couldn't go to Delany, and she certainly couldn't go to Lynn. How could she confess to her friend that Gary, her cousin, had just punched her in the face? Lynn wouldn't believe it. Well, she would believe it because she would see the pulsating red mark on her face but she wouldn't be able to understand it. She would deny it. She would deny it; she would say it was just a mistake. That he would never do it again...

Becky did her best to control her shaking hands as she searched through the glove compartment for something to wipe her face with. She pulled out a handful of McDonalds napkins and used them to wipe her face and nose. The sobs had stopped. She felt her shock starting to set in.

Frantically, she racked her brain for someone else to go to. Her parents were completely out of the question. They barely even knew about Gary. And the look on her mother's face when she had to confess to her that she had been hit... Becky held back a gasp. She couldn't even imagine it. It hurt even more than the punch had.

Becky's whole body went limp. She had no one around her that could help. No one she could confess it all to. She was completely and utterly trapped and she had no one to turn to. She didn't even know if she had the strength to make the decision on her own. Was she right to walk out on Gary? Of course she was -

A thought flashed through her mind that she habitually tried to push away. But it remained in front of her. Someone else had felt this way just this morning. Someone else had felt this completely trapped and he had turned to her for help, of all people. She had helped Jacob this morning when he had no one else to turn to. Now she needed someone too - and that someone was him.

"You were the best thing that ever happened to me." The words floated through her mind before she could stop them. They had been so real. Just like his words in his rental car all those days, weeks, months ago. He had seemed so real to her.

Suddenly, Becky was no longer confused. Wiping her eyes so she could see, she threw the car in reverse and headed for I-83. That road would start her trip toward New York. Her mind went back to the conversation with Jim before she left, when he had confessed where he was working, hoping she would not be mad at his close relation to Jacob. Becky meant to smile at the irony (the fate?), but instead a tear rolled down her swollen cheek. She could remember the conversation perfectly, including the name of the street and studio number. She could be there in 3 hours.

What am I doing? Becky wondered as she got on the ramp and increased her speed to 80 mph, much higher than it should have been. She wanted to make time though. The rain pounded on her windshield and she turned the wipers on as high as they would go. Since when does getting slapped across the face by one boyfriend make you run back to the other that hurt you so bad?

Somewhere in the hit she accepted the fact that she had been stubborn ever since Africa. She had known from the instant that Jim let Jacob into her room without her permission that Jacob had not been playing her. He was a movie star - and she felt that they could never be together because of it. But the truth was, she was miserable without him. She just needed arms around her. She needed to feel like she did a long time ago on the harbor in Sierra Leone. Becky shook her head and collected herself. She was not going to pull over. She probably should, since she knew she was too distracted but she couldn't. She would be fine.

Becky drove the road to New York by memory, and by following the large, obvious road signs. She had no problem getting to the city, and when she got closer she could give AAA a call to give them more specific directions. She hoped.

Becky leaned her throbbing cheek against the cool window as she sped toward what she had been away from for far too long.

----

Jim swore as his phone vibrated on his side, indicating a call was coming in. He was ridiculously busy - and it was impossible to pull that thing out from under his royal blue spandex.

The ID said the call was coming from home. His frustration increased. Had he not told Delany he was too busy for a phone call today?

"Del, I can't talk, I'm at work -"

"Oh, I know sweetie, but I had to call and see. This'll take just a sec - has Becky tried to contact you?"

Jim's anger faded at Delany's tone. "No... why? What's wrong?"

Delany tried to hide the worry in her voice but Jim knew her far too well to not catch it. "No, well... I don't know. Gary was kind of mad earlier and so Becky went to talk to him... and now he just called here and asked if she was back yet. He sounded really upset but he wouldn't tell me anything. It's weird, Jim, it doesn't feel right... but I don't know anything."

Jim hid behind some filming equipment, attempting to conceal the fact that he was on the phone while at work. "That doesn't sound right. So we have a missing Becky? How long has she not been around?"

"I don't know! Gary wouldn't tell me anything, and... ok, I think I'm just being my usual crackpot self but he sounded really guilty. Or apologetic. Or... something! It's just not good and...well, just be ready for her call maybe, ok? And if she does call, let me know?"

Jim nodded. "Of course I will. I wonder what - but right, we should get off the phone in case she tries to call. And I need to get back to work. But forget what I said about not calling me. If she gets in contact with you, let me know she's all right."

"Definitely. I love you."

Jim sent his love and snapped the phone shut. His heart was racing. Delany didn't tell him much but that worry in her voice was real. Something had gone down with Gary and Becky, and now Becky was missing. The worst case scenarios went through his head, but he quickly pushed them aside. There was work to be done. The director was pointing and shouting at something across the set. Jim quickly ran there, his red cape billowing behind him. He would get his work done as fast as she could, then he needed to talk to Jacob.

----

Becky kept moving her face to different parts of the window, trying to find a cool spot. Vaguely she wondered if she should just pull over and buy some ice, but decided against it. It wasn't that bad... at least; she hoped it wasn't that bad... She couldn't even remember the last time she had needed to ice.

Oh wait, maybe I can. Suddenly, Becky smiled as she remembered Jacob tackling her to the ground. Becky could have sworn her nose was broken. And the way he had been so worried...

Tears filled her eyes again. Ugh, please, I need to stop this. When she cried she needed to use another napkin to wipe her nose and she was running low. Not to mention that they scratched that little part between her nostrils.

During the first hour of her driving she had come to terms with the fact that Gary and her were over. It wasn't hard to do. He had tried to call her a dozen times but she refused to pick up. If someone was going to hit her she wasn't about to give them a second chance. Eventually she just turned off her phone. She thought back to all the warning signs and felt her stomach turn. How could she have been so stupid? How could she not have listened to Delany and gotten out when she had the chance?

Because I wanted so much to be in love again. I wanted to be able to say that I didn't need Jacob Jones' love because I had someone else's...

It was funny how easy those things were to admit when she was driving down the interstate in the rain.

She shook her head as she thought about all the red flags she missed before he hit her. The way he didn't like Jim and her being close. How he got mad if she didn't spend the night. Even how in the very beginning he didn't like it when she had other plans and sometimes he grabbed her kind of rough... Becky sighed. She was done thinking about Gary. He was so far in her past already she could barely even remember what it was like being with him.

"I am so screwed up." She had convinced herself of so many things that were incorrect. That first night she and Gary had spent the whole night together seemed like such a blur to her - and Becky had thought that meant it was all the more better. But she realized now how silly that was. She could remember ever single moment of her night with Jacob - and it was wonderful. But she could barely remember if she even enjoyed the act of being with Gary... she knew she liked feeling loved, being loved, but...

What was more - she couldn't believe the way she had acted with Delany. She had wanted so bad for her and Gary to work she wouldn't listen to anything negative. It could have saved her a lot of trouble. And then how she said she wasn't over Jacob if she was still so bitter... it was all true.

I'll never be over Jacob, but why do I need to be?

She wasn't sure if it was Jacob's call that morning, or maybe Gary had knocked some sense into her, but Becky was sick of the games she didn't even realize she was playing. What good did holding a grudge do? Nothing. Jacob had done nothing wrong in Africa and she knew it. She knew it all along. The press had confirmed that he didn't kiss the girl, and also showed her that he didn't want to leave. Sure, it had been stupid for her to fall in love with a movie star - but how was that his fault? How was it anyone's fault?

"Since when is love supposed to be easy?"

Becky turned on her blinker and switched lanes. She imagined what would have happened if she had never been mad at Jacob. If they had stayed loving each other. She would have been missing him like crazy...she would have been miserable...

"Like that would have been a big change."

...but maybe she would have been in New York already. Maybe he would have already cancelled his contact, maybe everything would be perfect.

Becky bit her lip as she took an exit for New York. She didn't want to consider it, but it was probably too late. She didn't want to think about it but she knew about him and Melissa and how rumors of their engagement were all over the press. She thought about him seeing her, being concerned, but then turning her away. She imagined Jacob apologetically saying that he didn't mean to give her the wrong impression, but he was with Melissa now. He would thank her for stopping by and she would slowly turn and leave...

But as she thought back to the call that occurred just that morning she had hope. The way he had spoken to her... he still cared for her. Oh please, let him still care for me... please don't let me be too late...

----

Jim felt the air whooshing past him as he sprinted through the set. He needed to find Jacob. He wasn't sure why, but he needed to tell him. Jim selfishly needed someone close to him to be worried as well. Not to mention the fact that Jim figured Jacob would slip some kryptonite into his coffee if he withheld some dramatic Becky information.

Suddenly a voice called out his name. "Grab that water from the prop table and bring it over here! Hurry!"

Jim veered to the left, and rushed past the prop table, picking up the jug of water. He nimbly avoided a few bodies and rushed it over to where it had been called. The props manager gave him a smile and winked.

"Thanks, Superman."

Jim had a couple more gopher tasks to do, sending him from one end of the set to the other, before he stopped in the middle of the floor, his chest heaving. He put his hands on his hips as his Superman cape was flung over his shoulder. He could hear the snickers of laughter around him.

If he weren't so dog-gone busy, and worried, he'd probably be laughing at himself too.

Suddenly, Jim spotted Jake as he walked out from behind a camera. He ran over and was about to shout the news when he saw Melissa coming from the opposite direction. Jake tried to turn away as Melissa wrapped her arms around his neck, but Jim watched as he smiled to something she whispered in his ear.

Jim realized that he couldn't do it. He couldn't just walk up and say that Becky was maybe in trouble. Somewhere in his mind he had thought that if he told Jacob... well then, Jacob could help her. But that was just silly, Becky was the one that was going to help herself, he just hoped that whatever happened with Gary hadn't completely broken her.

He looked down at his Superman costume and walked away from the set. As much as he wanted to, he wasn't going to save the world, or even this situation. He was just going to have to sit and wait and see what happened.

"The Other Side - Chapter 43" 

Madame