Truth Comes Second

More To Know

Author's Note: I have had a really bad case of writer's block lately. Sorry the updates have been slow!

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Jimmy's POV:

Any time I tried to move, the burning pain would flare up my back. It felt as if thousands of tiny pins were stuck in my back and were all being twisted at the same time. The back of my hand ached from all of the tubes inserted to it, and the tube hooked over my ears kept itching my nose.

It was difficult to keep my eyes open, so I only did when I heard someone walk into the room. It was usually one of the nurses. Their hands shook when they got near me and they usually never said more than a few words to me.

Julie came to visit me. I was happy to see that Tommy hadn't hurt her or Hunter like he said he would. The same guy I saw her on the news with rolled her out of my room. I had no idea where he was taking her, but I couldn't find enough strength in time to ask.

I spent my day drifting in and out of consciousness after Julie's visit. I was shocked to hear a knock on the door, and when I peeled open my eyes Julie was in her wheelchair with the man behind her. He rolled her to the side of the bed and pulled out a chair for himself. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a notebook.

Julie reached across the bed and grabbed my hand. I gave it a squeeze and then looked up at her beautiful face. Her eyes were red, and her was paler than it normally was. She had been crying.

"Jimmy, I need you to tell us the address of the house you were living in with Tommy," he asked me.

"I don't know," I muttered giving my head a slight shake. Julie squeezed my hand harder.

"Anything will be helpful," he said. "Was it here in Alcomby?"

I shook my head.

"Do you know the city?"

I shook my head again.

"How did you get down here?"

"I took the highway and went south," I said quietly.

"For how long?"

"A couple hours."

"Is there anything you can tell me about the house? Anything close by? Was there anything in the front yard?"

"There were symbols painted everywhere." I thought back to the red and black symbols sprawled out across the garage.

"What symbols?" the man asked.

"Swastikas."

Julie squeezed my hand even tighter. I looked over at her to see her chewing on her bottom lip. I wanted to reach out and wrap her up in my arms, but I couldn't even move from the mountain of pillows the nurse put underneath me.

"Were other people at the house?" he asked me.

"There were. Steve and Emily," I said. There was another guy, but I couldn't remember his name.

"Steve Cartwright?" he asked. I shook my head, he never mentioned a last name. "Did he have the swastikas tattooed on his body?"

"Yeah."

The man closed his notebook and got up from his chair. He shoved the notebook back into his pocket and pulled out a phone.

"I think I know where to find them," he said to Julie. "If you need anything, ask the security guards outside, Juliet."

"I will," she said. "Thank you."

The man nodded his head and hurried out of the room. Julie looked back over to me and I could see her eyes brimming with tears.

"What's going on?" I asked her.

Julie opened her mouth to speak, but a tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away hastily and then grabbed my hand with her free hand.

"Tommy came to the apartment and killed Carrie," she said, her voice was cracking.

"Did he hurt you?" I asked.

She shook her head and then wiped away even more tears. I reached out with my free hand and ran my fingers through her hair. I was always bad at comforting her when she was upset. I never knew what to do.

"He has Hunter, Jimmy," she said. "He has our baby."

My stomach twisted itself into a knot. If Tommy had Hunter, he was going to kill him. He would find the most brutal way to do it, and he would make sure that Julie and I knew about it. I wanted to get up out of bed and hunt him down, but shifting my weight in bed was unbearable.

"That was Detective Cameron," she told me. "He's going to find Tommy with the other cops."

"It's going to be okay," I told her.

She squeezed her eyes shut. "What if he hurts Hunter?"

"Julie," I said her name softly. I wanted to go and kill Tommy myself, but I couldn't do it. I was letting Julie down. I was supposed to protect my family, but I can't do that. Dad would be so disappointed in me if he saw this.

Julie rested her head against the edge of my mattress. She sobbed and I continued to run my fingers through her long hair. She squeezed my hand, and I ran my thumb over her knuckles. I had to watch her cry and know there was nothing I could do about it.

Tommy's POV:

I finally got Hunter to stop crying. His face was bright red as her screamed and threw his arms and legs out. I bounced him up and down on my lap, as I had watched Julie do before. I was tempted to just snap his neck to keep him quiet, but I wanted Julie there for when I did it. She needed to know that I was in charge, so she'll stop disrespecting me.

I drove for a few hours, not sure how to get back to Steve's house. Hunter was screaming and I couldn't focus, so I pulled off to the side of the road to try and calm him down. Once he stopped crying, I was afraid to move him, and I didn't want to move him. I didn't know what makes him cry, and I didn't want him to start crying again.

Jimmy was dead. He couldn't have survived that stab to the back and if he did, the cops would have killed him by now. Julie would have no choice, but to be with me now. She wouldn't want to go back to the real world after that sheltered life we gave her.