Jake

CHAPTER TWO

He huddled in the corner of the white room. Two strong hands gripped his arms and lifted him up. His ass hit the examination table hard as he was put down. Another pair of hands gripped him now. A third. A fourth. He realized now that he was screaming. He was kicking and flailing his arms about. He was being strapped down. It was happening again!

It would hurt. It always hurt. His face was soaked with his own tears. A flash of light. A reflection off of a metal object. The needle! No…No please! He was screaming unintelligible words. Begging. His head pounded. The needle grew. Longer. Thicker. He heard laughter. They were laughing at him! He felt the sharp tip at his temple.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“What the fuck Jake?!” Kyle glanced across the room at his roommate. He was sitting up in bed, breathing hard and fast. The moonlight streaming in through their window made it obvious to Kyle that Jake was soaked in sweat.

“Jake?” Kyle asked unsure.

No answer.

“Jake, man… you okay?”

Jake rubbed his hands on his face and then through his hair. “Um… y-yeah man… s-sorry.”

“What happened?” Kyle asked leaning on his side in bed.

“Nothing. I-uh… I just had a nightmare,” Jake replied, still shaken.

“One hell of a nightmare,” Kyle replied. “Isn’t this… like the tenth one this week?”

“I can’t sleep dude… I haven’t slept for two weeks.”

“Well you should try… it’s only three in the morning.”

Jake nodded and laid back down on his side and hopped to stay away from anymore nightmares this time.

*****

Jake woke up to the feeling of a gentle hand running through his hair. He pried his eyes open to a familiar face. He moaned as he stretched his body in bed and then smiled gently.

“Hi,” he said childishly

“Hi,” was the happy response he received.

She was beautiful. Bright blue eyes, shoulder length blond hair, and the most perfect milky complexion. Her warm smile momentarily turned to concern as she said, “Kyle told me you woke up screaming last night.”

Jake sat up in bed. “Yeah… I had a nightmare.”

Her face was completely serious now. “The lab again?” Jake nodded. “Aw baby,” she said sympathetically. She pulled his head to her bosom and hugged him.

“I’ll be fine, it was just a dream,” Jake replied, gently pulling away from her.

“I know,” she smiled. “I just don’t think its fair that you have to deal with them.”

Jake pushed the blanket to the side. “You’re sweet.” She smiled. “And beautiful.” She blushed.

She leaned forward to kiss jake as the door to the dorm opened. “God, you two… get a room… Jake isn’t the only one who lives here!”

She giggled, “Shut up Kyle, you’re the one who let me in!”
“Only because he would’ve killed me if I hadn’t,” Kyle said playfully, indicating to Jake.

“That’s right,” Jake confirmed as he rose to his feet. “Now excuse us while Sam and I take a shower together,” Jake stated with a huge grin plastered on his face.

“Gross,” Kyle said jokingly.

Samantha and Jake gathered what they needed for their shower and left the room.

After their shower they talked about their plans for the day. Samantha slipped on a T-shirt as she asked, “Can we stop by the bank first? I have to deposit my last paycheck.”

“Sure babe,” Jake replied as he pulled up his jeans.

He swiped his room keys off his dresser on the way out and slipped his hand around Samantha’s as they walked down the hall. They chatted happily as they made their way down the stairwell and into the main lobby of the dorm building and out the front door. Samantha jabbed Jake in his side playfully after he had made a smartass comment. After walking the couple of blocks to the bank, they finally rounded the corner and arrived at the entrance.

They waited in line and waited for the teller to call them up.

“Next,” the teller called out.

Samantha smiled and took a step forward. Suddenly a man dressed in black whipped a gun out from under his jacket and yelled, “Everyone on the floor!” Shocked everyone in the small building stopped and stared, frozen. “NOW!” the man let a bullet fly high into the ceiling. Everyone screamed and threw their bodies to the floor.

Jake pushed Samantha to the ground and laid down on top of her, doing his best to shield her from harm. She was crying squeezing Jakes hand and trembling.

The robber yelled his demands at the tellers and they scrambled to meet his demands. Jake glanced around desperate for a way out. Maybe he wouldn’t need one. The man will get what he wants and then leave… just as long as no one tries to…

Just then a bell rang as the door to the bank opened. The man in black instantly swung around and discharged his weapon into the unknowing middle-aged man coming in to withdraw money for the surprise anniversary dinner he was taking his wife to that evening.
As the man hit the floor the robber shouted, “GODDAMNIT!” He panicked for a split second and then pulled himself back together. He spun back around to the tellers and scolded, “Look at what you did! BITCH! Move FASTER before the NEXT sucker walks in and gets SHOT!”

After the tellers were finished, the man in black paced for a moment, the look of a deranged lunatic painted on his face. He muttered to himself as he paced. Finally he stopped and yelled, “Okay. Everybody line up against the wall!” Everyone scrambled to their feet to the wall. Jake and Samantha were among the last to reach the wall. The robber grabbed Samantha’s arm and pulled her to him. She let out a yelp and shot a desperate look to Jake.

Jake immediately stepped forward and demanded, “Let her go!”

“Shut up punk! Get back in line!” the man screamed as he pointed the gun at Jake.
“I said, LET. HER. GO. What good is she to you?! You got what you wanted, now LEAVE!” Jake said forcefully, stepping forward again.

“Boy, if you don’t step off I’ll shoot you in your fucking face!”

Samantha was sobbing. She was scarred for herself, but even more terrified for her boyfriend.

“Don’t threaten me,” Jake warned. A dark look that Samantha had never seen before crossed Jake’s eyes.

The man in black cocked his gun.

An intense and angry look found itself on Jake’s face. The robber seemed more uneasy than he previously had. He was always unstable, but full of confidence. Now he found himself not so sure as he faced this skinny twenty-one year old, and he didn’t know why. The robber silently challenged Jake and Jake silently accepted.

“Let. Her.”

BOOM!

Jake flinched and squeezed his eyes shut. Everything was still and silent. He hadn’t yet opened his eyes to see if he was dead.

“What the fuck?”

It was the robber’s voice. He sounded confused… maybe a little scared. Jake slowly relaxed his tense body and opened his eyes.

He stared straight at the point of a bullet, suspended two inches from his face. He glanced at Samantha. She stared at him with wide eyes. He looked at the man in black who stared at him stunned, still holding the gun pointing at Jake. He squeezed off tow more shots. The first bullet fell straight to the floor so that bullets 2 and 3 could take its place frozen two inches from Jake’s face.

Jake hadn’t closed his eyes. He hadn’t flinched. The corner of his mouth slowly curved upward. Everyone stared in silent awe.

The sound of the bullets falling straight to the floor echoed through the room. “Let her go,” Jake said calmly yet forcefully.
The man in black let go of Samantha and took two slow steps backwards. Suddenly he turned and bolted out the door. Sirens could be heard approaching from the distance.

Jake exhaled. “Jake?” Samantha said. She had only said his name, but in reality asked him so many questions with that one word.

Jake suddenly teetered and put his hand up to his head, in pain. He moaned and started to fall to the floor, before Samantha flew forward and caught him.

“Jake!”

Everyone still stood motionless in shocked awe. “Sam,” he said softly as she helped him stand. “Let’s go.” The look in his eyes had changed from hard and angry to scared and urgent. Samantha nodded and began to turn slowly. Jake began to move quickly spinning her around the rest of the way. They had run to the door and out before the first witness finally relaxed.

“What the hell just happened?” one man asked. All at once everyone began speaking.

* * * * *
He watched from the corner of the room, amused by the whole situation. Someone had tried to rob the bank and attempted to take a girl hostage. Her friend had apparently objected to this and had stepped forward, got shot at, and somehow stopped three bullets from shattering his face. He smiled and relished the memory for a moment. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed a number he knew better than his mother’s number. The phone rang.

“I found him…” Pause. “In Langley Falls…” Pause. “Three blocks from the college.”