Time To Live

Chapter 19: Broken

As her eyes slowly began to open, they almost immediately shut again to fight back the painfully bright glare as Jenna became fully aware of the words being spoken beside her. "I was just a kid, you know, I was what – maybe fifteen? The band had started to do well for themselves, they had a name and a reputation, especially in town, and Chris was known – kids at school thought he was so awesome for having been one of us." There was a pause and Jenna heard the gentle, familiar voice laugh. "I was being tormented, absolutely tormented by classmates, and I was cutting classes a lot. Chris got wind of it, of course from mom, and he showed up at school one day." Alice's Pennsylvania-thick voice paused and then her story continued. "He walked around the halls telling everyone who would listen how 'cool' his little sister was, and how she toured with the band when school wasn't in session. I think he even told some people that I co-wrote some of the tracks on 'Creatures.' Basically, he made up all of this shit to get the kids to like me."

Jenna forced her eyes to remain open and cautiously inventoried the room. She was lying on a sofa, an expensive but all too familiar sofa, in the living room of Chris' apartment. His adorable little sister Alice was seated on the floor in front of her, her legs crossed beneath her and her head in her hands. "Alice?" the older woman whispered softly, confused. "Why am I on the couch?"

The sound of her voice, so timid, seemed to frighten the younger woman, and she jumped a bit as she met Jenna's brown eyes. "Oh, you're finally awake!" She surveyed the other woman and then sighed. "Thank God you're alright. How do you feel?"

"What happened?" Jenna asked softly, ignoring Alice's question. She didn't try to sit up just yet, but she was frantically searching the room and straining to hear what was going on around here. So far, all she could detect was little Alice, sitting peacefully on the floor in front of her, like a loyal friend.

Alice took in a deep breath and then sighed, and it was laced with a sad laugh. "You blacked out; we actually thought you might be in shock." Realizing quickly how bad that might sound – as though she was suggesting that they simply didn't bother to get Jenna any medical help – Alice quickly tacked on: "The EMT said that you just needed to rest and relax."

"Where is everyone?" Jenna observed as she glanced around the space and heard nothing, saw no one. "What happened to the party?" Then, as Alice's words finally sunk in, she sat bolt upright and her brown eyes went wide. "What EMT? What happened?"

"Oh man," Alice looked somewhat deranged as she began to giggle nervously. "Well, mom is upstairs with Chris and Nick. Uh, Nick and the guys had to pry my brother off of Ryan before he killed him with that baseball bat." She shook her head, her expression grave. "Then your sister-in-law picked up a chair and went after Ryan, which, coincidentally, is around the time that my mom managed to get the neighbors to all go home. I don't think many of them will be allowing their children to hang out here ever again." Her green eyes seemed to fill with sadness at this thought, and she bowed her head. "I'm sorry that things got so out-of-hand today."

Jenna struggled to force her body up further then and, careful not to step on her ex's sister, she set her bare feet onto the wood flooring and continued to anxiously observe her surroundings. "I don't understand, Alice," she pleaded. 

Alice scooted backwards to give her more room and nodded her head slowly. "Jen," she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial level as she pressed her chin down onto her knees. "You blacked out just when the fight started. Do you remember anything at all?"