Smile (Kris Bryant)

Chapter Six| Waiting

Kris

"What do you mean you're going to "save Alexandria" from her relationship" Anthony asks a bit skeptical as we walk through the streets of Milwaukee. We were here for the Brewers series and was chilling before the game. The bright side of being on a professional sports team is that you get to travel everywhere and you actually have money to do stuff. There's so much to see and experience, I love it all. But it's hard to enjoy it when you have so much on your mind as I do.

"I mean that I was right about her. She feel like she is stuck in this abusive relationship and she wants out. I can see it, I can feel it, and she told me. And not only does she want to be done with him but she wants me too" I explain.

"Okay. So what is your plan, exactly" he asks.

"I... don't know. There's a lot of ways this could go horribly wrong. He could get upset and take it out on her. He could try to take me out to keep her. I don't know much about him, or her even, that would assure me that any plan wouldn't blow up in my face" I admit.

"Google her. That's tells you a lot about someone. Like that you were saledictorian in high school and a girl in your class really wanted to be so you let her have it... nerd" he smirks and I hit his arm.

"Ha ha very funny. She was a sweet girl and I never said I wanted to be. Now lets go back to the hotel so I can stalk this girl" I say and he laughs.

We get to the hotel room and I pull out my laptop. We had a few hours to kill so I type in her name in the search bar and a bunch of stuff pop up. I was actually surprised. There wasn't anything recent but there was defiantly stuff here. I click on the first link I saw and it was from her high school not too long ago. They did a article on the person of the year, which happened to be her. She was the captain of her softball team and they won state her senior year. Her stats were crazy and she was still crazy fit. She always also a kicker on her football team and did soccer and girls basketball. She was a straight A student all four years of high school and did tons of volunteering. She was Ms. Everything apparently. I'm not sure how she ended up here, she seemed so powerful.

"Damn, that's impressive" Anthony admits looking over my shoulder at the screen.

"Look at this. She had her own club for nutrition and exercise. She was at the top of her class and was prom queen" I lost off the description.

We look through the pictures and I impulsively smile. She still looked just the same... but cuter. Her eyes a bit brighter and her hair actually up for once, she had some great shoulder muscles.

"Damn... okay who was that man child with her" Anthony asks pointing to a extremely large dude with her in a prom picture. I swallow hard because I have a feeling I know who it was, but I was praying it wasn't him.

"Spencer Adams, this was him... senior year it says. He played football on varsity all four years and was captain for three of them. Here he is listed as 6'10 and 270 pounds" I read off the bio next to his picture. My stomach turns as I think of what someone that size could do to Alexandria. Although she's fit she's no match for him. Hell, I'm no match for him.

"That's a big ass dude" he whistles.

"Yeah, that takes out about five of my plans" I admit.

"Okay, lets see what her Facebook profile is like" he says so I go back to the search page and click on it.

It showed that her birthday is August 13th and she was turning 23 this year. She has a older brother and sister and her parents lived in the subs of Chicago. She grew up here and went to high school at Joliet. She had a shit ton of friends on this website and everything seemed so different. But that's because this page hasn't been updated in years. I go to her pictures and find something even more interesting. Nothing from the past four years. Not so much as being tagged in a picture from a friend or family members or post from her.

"She's not very open" Anthony comments.

"Look. The last picture was posted right after they got engaged. There hasn't been anything since. Not a single picture. You really think she's been stuck under him for four years" I ask.

"I mean, I'm scared of the guy and I haven't even met the dude" he says.

"You're not helping" I singsong.

"Sorry. Just keep looking. There's some old videos" he suggests and I click on one.

It was her getting ready for prom and she was so beautiful. She had a light pink gown on and she looked like a princess. Her beautiful auburn hair pinned up, it was so pretty. Her mom and her go back and fourth making jokes and laughing. Her grey eyes bright and full of life. That's how she should feel like all the time, free to be herself and happy. Really really happy.

"She's beautiful" I whisper.

"Ohhhh you got it bad" Anthony chuckles and I hit his chest. "Wait wait wait, click on that" he says pointing to a link and I do. It was the last time she posted on there. The last post on her board read:

"People don't change. They evolve and adapt, react. And reacting to negativity won't change you, but it changes everything."

"What do you think this means" he asks.

"She's asking for help. She's practically begging for it. All the signs are here and no one has done a thing" I say a bit upset.

"You think there's a reason for that? Look. Her friends stoped writing her eventually. People are concerned but you can't help someone who damn nearly doesn't exist to the outside world. No one besides us has seen her outside the gym. You think that maybe he doesn't let her leave the house unless he says it's okay? Maybe he tells her these terrible things to keep her around. He might beat her so bad she's convinced herself that's the only way to live" he says.

"Of course I've thought about it. It's all I think about at times. That's why I feel so bad because with every passing second I know things are getting worse. I know he beats her because she's seeing me and the fact that I haven't done anything sucks. I can tell he says things to hurt her feelings because I've never seen someone so beautiful and strong be so unsure of herself. The fact that there might not be anything I can do... it's even worse" I sigh.

"I know it's hard. And I care about her too. Not in a romantic way, but she's a good friend of mine. But I'm afraid there's nothing we can do right now. She's not connected to anyone anymore so we can't ask them for help, she never leaves the house and she wouldn't tell on him. The police can't do anything unless they have proof" he reminds me.

"I know, I know. I just want to do something so bad but so much can go wrong. Leaving her alone isn't helping but getting involved and making things worse won't make it any better either. I don't know what to do" I admit.

"Wait. I know it sucks, but wait. It's easier to not make a mistake than to make a mistake and have to fix it" he explains.

"You're right. It just sucks" I sigh.

"It does. Just help her as much as you can and once you see your opportunity, take it. Just like she said" he says patting my back. He was right, but I don't know if I'm capable of just waiting.