Everything Has Changed

Promising Young Woman

TW: Mentions of sh, r*pe and suicide

January 25th 2024
Kansas City, Missouri

A promising young woman. That was what they used to call her.

It had all changed now; everything had. Now she was no more, or less than a slut. A serial dater and a man-eater. Taylor always knew that people would have something to say about her love life, but now this was a whole new court. Hell, a whole new ball game. She guessed that she shouldn't have been shocked; people these days went to great lengths to hurt others. But never in her wildest dreams had she expected this. Curled up on the sofa in the house that she and Travis shared, Taylor began to contemplate everything she had seen and been told that morning, and everything that she had ever known.

Downtown, the love of her life was oblivious. Travis had spent most of the past week training at the Chiefs Training Facility for their upcoming game. This game would be the biggest game before the Super Bowl: The AFC Championship game, this time against the infamous Baltimore Ravens. They were the top seed that year and were the fan favourites for the AFC spot in the Super Bowl. And with the Chiefs shocking many that they had made it this far in the playoffs, even making it to the playoffs, Travis and the rest of the team were more than keen to prove the rest of the world wrong. Travis was also keen to show that his high profile relationship with Taylor was not having any sort of effect other than positive on his ability to play. Nothing motivated him more than seeing his girl up them cheering for him; when they won, they not only won for themselves but for their wives, kids and families.

Travis had been hard at work when he felt a hard pat on the back to alert him of somebody's presence behind him.

It was Pat. "Coach has called for you, asked for you to come see him in his office. Sounded kind of urgent Trav!" He quickly dropped his hat and ran off towards the locker rooms to drop the rest of his stuff before making his way up to Andy Reid's office.

"Hey Big Red. What's up?" Travis was confused. His coach rarely interrupted in that kind of way during practise sessions. This was the time they usually spent with the individual coaches for each part of the team: offence, defence, special teams etc. Something big must have been up for him to pull Trav off of the field during a time where every moment of practice was vital.

"There is a phone call for you Travis. A woman called Tree Paine, she has been calling everyone apparently and couldn't get hold of you so she called me. Sounds like something serious has happened!"

Travis' eyes widened like a deer in headlights. Tree calling him meant only one thing: something had happened to Taylor. And something serious. Tree never bothered him about minor things. Normally sending him a quick text or relying on Taylor to tell him anything important. His heart palpated fast against his chest as he heard the monotone phone dial out its tune.

Three long dials and a familiar voice picked up.

"Travis?"

"Tree?" Tree had been Taylor's publicist for over ten years and had been with Taylor through the bad times and the good times. She was known for her 'no bullshit' approach but also for her fixer behind the scenes sort of approach to Public Relations. She rarely ever bothered him or Taylor unless it was for opinions on media headlines or statements and to organise public events such as Red Carpets. It was rare for her to contact him, and this worried him even more.

"I am sorry to bother you at work. I know you are really busy at the moment." He could hear the haste and panic in her voice from down the phone.

"Don't be silly! What has happened, I know something has happened!" Travis said down the phone, his hands shaking as he sunk down into his coach's big red swivel chair behind the desk.