The Letter

The Letter |Ch. 17

After a short drive, the police car finally pulled into Jake's driveway.

His parents and sister were sitting on the front steps, impatiently waiting for us.

At the sight of the car, they all stood up and Jake's mom ran to her son as he came out of the back seat.

She pulled him into a tight hug, on the verge of tears. "I should've known something was up! I'm so sorry baby, are you ok?"

"Mo-om," he groaned, trying to pull out of her caring hug. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

While Jake's dad also hugged his son, I thanked the policeman. He drove away, telling me we'll need to be interrogated tomorrow at the police station.

"You jackass, never scare me like that again, got it?," Amy said to her brother before jumping into his arms.

Jake smirked. "You were worried about me, weren't you?"

She took a step back and nudged his arm playfully.

Their father rolled his eyes at them. Then, Jake's mom finally took notice of me.

"Katherine, is it?," she said as we shook hands.

"Yes," I replied politely.

"Well, call me Carol. Want a ride home, hun?"

Jake stepped in and answered for me, "She lives with her mom's boyfriend, and he's not home. Can she stay over for a while?"

Carol studied me from head to toe suspiciously, then smiled. "Of course, dinner's ready. You can take the guest room."

On that note, we all went inside and had dinner, which consisted of a delicious beef stew.

I didn't eat much since I was still under the shock of the earlier events. I noticed Jake didn't eat a lot either.

When everyone was done, Jake's mother gathered up the dirty dishes and put them in the sink.

Amy left the table and went up to her room, leaving Jake and I alone with his parents.

"So honey, tell us about what happened. We only got a vague resume from the police," his mom said.

"It's not important. I'm fine now and that's what counts," he replied indifferently.

"Jake, you know we care about you. Why did these people do this? Tell us what happened," his dad stepped in.

"It's enough I have to repeat it to the police! I know you guys are curious, but I really don't want to talk about it!," he abruptly stormed off to his room.

His parents both stared at me, probably thinking I'd provide information for them. But to be honest, I didn't want to talk about it either.

"Uh... I guess I'll go too," I said, leaving the table to go up the stairs to Jake's room.

The door was shut, so I knocked softly.

A few seconds later, he opened the door and let me in, where I took a seat on his desk chair.

Without a word, he sat on the bed, facing me.

I noticed the tears in his eyes and realized how much the kidnapping affected us.

If only I'd listened to him and called the police the first time they beat me.

If only I'd tried to tell on them before it came to the death threat.

If only I'd done something -anything- to prevent this.

But I hadn't. And I still didn't understand why. I guess a part of me never accepted Hailey's actions.