Shattered But Not Broken

Chapter 20

When I opened my eyes again, I surprisingly felt better. Not one hundred percent, but well enough to get out of bed.

I turned my head and found a glass of water. My throat was still a bit dry, so I drank a lot of it at once.

I looked at my clock and saw that it was two-thirty in the afternoon. I found that my stomach was growling and realized that I got my appetite back. When I stood up, my vision went black for a second as I was getting used to my surroundings again. When it cleared up, I walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I looked like a wreck! My mascara was smudged all around my face and I had dry sweat all over me. I decided to take a quick shower and wash my face before I went downstairs.

The cold water from the fawcett felt good on my hot, sweaty skin.

When I jumped out of the shower, I put on a fresh pair of clothes.i put on a patel blue crop top and a pair of high waisted acid washed jeans. Sometimes, I wondered if the style of clothing would change in the future.

I didn't feel like blow drying or styling my hair, so I just let it be. Besides, it was very warm in the house, so my hair should dry fast.

When I went downstairs, Miss. Adler looked at me with a smile. "I'd thought you'd never come down.Are you feeling better?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah, a little." I looked at the refrigerator. "I'm hungry so I was going to get some food." I walked to the fridge, knowing what I wanted . I wanted some of the leftover pizza from the night before. Miss. Adler made it for us before she went to her book club meeting. She was a great cook! I opened the refrigerator and looked around. "Hey, do you happen to know where the pizza from last night is?" I turned around and saw her shrug.

"Sorry," she sighed. "Richie ate the last pieces."

I opened my eyes wide. "He what?! I was looking forward to having that."

"I could always make another one later this week."

I sighed. "Hopefully he doesn't eat all of that too," I said with a small smirk on my face. "But it's fine. I'll just make myself a salad."

"Okay," she responded. "I'm sorry."

"Don't feel bad, I'll just find a way to get back at him," I giggled. I made my food, ate it, and went back upstairs. I knocked on Richie's bedroom door and let myself in. I was that he was sitting at his desk, working on something on his computer.

"He-llo Jess-i-ca," Ralf said in his robot voice.

I put my hands on my hips and called out to Richie. "Richie, I heard that you ate the last pieces of the pizza your mom made."

He turned around in his chair and shrugged. "Well someone had to eat it."

I rolled my eyes. "Well then, I get to eat most of it when your mom makes it later this week."

"Not unless I get to it first," he teased.

I walked over to him, changing the subject. "So, what are you doing?"

He turned back to his computer. "Well Ralf is running a few programs for Farley and is also doing some research on the person that had drugged you, the man who shot you, and the guy who made you get drunk.

Ralf was the name of Richie's computer system that he programmed himself, and Farley was his friend that works for the L.A. Gazette. Richie helps him to find things wrong and solving 'crimes'... you could say.

"Well, are you having any luck?" I asked.

Actually, I am," he responded. "I think I found the guy who drugged you.I tried calling Farley,but he wasn't in. The lady who answered said that he would be back at any time now and she'd let him know to give me a call back," he sighed. "But as for the other people, Ralf is still scanning, and I don't think that I'll find the man who shot you since I didn't have enough information about him. I also didn't see him that day, so I wouldn't know how to describe him."

"So what was up with the man that you did find? Did he have a record or something?"

He slowly brought up a file document on the computer. "Yeah," he said, pointing to part of the screen. "If you look here, he has a record for killing three people and, uh... molesting five teens."

I almost felt like getting sick and my eyes widened. "That's awful! Those poor people," I exclaimed.

"He also... escaped from prison about five months ago."

"What if you found the right guy? What could Farley do about it?"

He turned to me. "He would notify the court and hopefully close the case."

"Do you know where this guy is living?"

He paused and then spock a moment later. "I looked over a few other documents and it looks like he's staying at the motel down the road."

"Is that good or bad?" I asked.

"Uh, it's a little bit of both. See, it's good because we could easily get to im and bring him to jail. But, it's also bad because he's in an area where there are a lot of kids, who could be potential targets."

That's when the phone rang.

Richie looked beside him where the phone was and picked it up.He put it to hisear. "Hello?" He turned to me. "It's Farley."He looked down. "Yeah... uh-huh... yeah, found out where he's staying... yeah... he's at the Light Inn Motel... okay, I'll put his records and stuff onto a disc and drop it by later today... okay... bye." He set the phone back down on its stand and stood up.

"You know, I really appreciate it," I said, breaking the silence.

Richie turned to me and looked puzzled. "Appreciate what?"

"I appreciate you doing this. For trying to find these people that hurt me when they didn't do anything to you."

He smiled. "Well, I love you right? And I just want to make sure that no one hurts you or anyone else. Those people shouldn't be out there, doing that stuff. They messed with the wrong girl, and now they are going to get what they deserve." He gave me a hug. "You don't deserve anyone to hurt you, Jessica," he said putting some of my hair out of my face and behind my ears.

I smiled at him and the room went silent.

We both leaned in and when our lips touched, it felt like sparks were flying all around.

Everytime we kissed, it felt different, but the same in a way and I loved it. I always felt loved and I felt like I got to know him better, even if there wasn't a conversation going on.

I was so lucky to have him in my life.