Overture (Jinxx)

chapter 24

Carolyn

I woke up the next morning curled into Jeremy's side. That was when I realized we weren't home. We fell asleep on the blanket in the middle of the mountains. I shot up quickly and tried to shake Jeremy awake.

"Jeremy, wake up. Its morning."

"Hmm?" He slowly opened his eyes, then chuckled. "I guess we did fall asleep out here."

"Yeah." I looked over towards the direction of where the car is. "Can we go? I'm getting kind of hungry."

I was about to stand up, when I was pulled back down onto Jeremy's chest.

"Five more minutes." He mumbled.

He kept a firm grip on my waist so I couldn't get up. He kept his eyes closed and pretended to sleep for a few more minutes.

"Jeremy,"

"Shh." He rested a hand on the back of my head, keeping my head down on his chest.

"But I'm hungry." I whined.

He sighed then picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder. He picked up the blanket and started making his way back to the car as I screamed for him to put me down.

When we get to the car, he put me in the passenger seat and kissed my cheek before placing the blanket on my lap. He ran to the other side of the car and got in. He started the car and we made our way back into the city.

We stopped at a Waffle House- which I haven't had in a long time-and got something to eat. We each had a cup of black coffee and a small stack of waffles, both chocolate chip. We paid and made our way back to the car to drive home.

When we got home I gasped. The entire apartment was destroyed. Photo albums and books were torn apart, picture frames and Jeremy's awards and albums were broken and smashed. The bedrooms were the same. I walked into his home studio and saw the equipment was fried. The computers, amps, microphones, and all the guitars and violins were smashed into a million pieces. I forced myself not to cry at the sights in front of me.

"Oh my god." I whispered as I picked up Jeremy's first violin, given to him by his deceased grandfather.

"Care?" Jeremy came into the room.

I looked at him with tears starting to fall down my face as I held out his violin. "I'm so sorry." I told him.

He took the smashed violin from me and set it down on the desk. He pulled me into a tight hug, like his life depended on it. I hugged him back just as tight as I stood in the middle of destroyed wood and metal and cried into his shoulder.

"It'll be okay." He mumbled into my hair.

"I know." I mumbled back.

That was when I saw an envelope inside the striped B. C. Rich guitar. I got out of his grip and went over to the guitar.

"What is it?" Jeremy asked.

"Its a note." I wiped away the tears before standing up and made my way back to him.

"What does it say?" He peered over my shoulder.

You shouldn't have left. You know who else is upset about you leaving? Your mommy and daddy. You may have left them when you were sixteen, but they still miss you. Six years you left them, and four years since you left me. So I did a little favor for them. You, for your adorable little kitties. And hurry. They're missing their mommy and daddy.

Jen, Marcus, and Carson

I fell to the floor as the tears came back. This was the the reason why I needed to leave New York. All three of those people ruined my life.

"Who's Jen and Marcus?" Jeremy asked.

I wiped away the tears and faced him. "Their my p-parents."

~~~~~~~

I laid in the bed, curled into Jeremy's side. Thanks to me, we lost both our cats, our photos, and all of his equipment.

"Care?" He said. "Can you please tell me? I promise I won't tell the guys."

I took a deep breath and nodded my head.

"Both my parents were retired veterans. They meet in combat and married a week later in the middle of battle. A year later, they both retired after they found out they were having a baby, me. After I was born they were both diagnosed with PTSD from the war. When I turned five, they started abusing me verbally, blaming me for some crazy shit, like traumatic memories from the war. When I turned eight, it became physical. It went on for six years, that was when I met Carson. I was convinced I was in love. A fourteen year old with an eighteen year old. Crazy, I know. Six months later I ran away from home and moved in with Carson. I thought I was finally free from the abuse, but he started abusing me after that. I wasn't aloud out of the house unless I was in school, or with him. I was fifteen when he raped me the first time, and it happened constantly. After six months of him hurting me, I found out I was pregnant. I only had it long enough to know the gender before he killed it."

"What was the baby's gender?" He asked.

"It was a girl." My voice cracked at the end. "I had a name picked out for her and everything. But, something pissed off Carson, and he hurt me. He kept punching and kicking me everywhere, and next thing I knew, I lost her. I knew right then and there, I had to get away, but I knew that I needed to finish high school more than anything. So, I kept telling Carson I was tutoring some kids after school, and worked at that ice cream shop we went to to get enough money to buy a plane ticket to get away. Finally, after graduation, I ran away again and moved into Alice's house until I could move onto the campus for college. On that first day, I met Myra and she took me in, and four years later, I met you."

He pulled me closer to his chest and kissed the top of my head. "I never knew you've been through so much. I promise, I'll protect you, and we'll get our babies back. I promise."

I kept my head rested on his chest before falling to sleep to his heart beat.