The Long Journey Ahead

"You run away to New York...and buy a shitload of clothes? How do you have money for that?"

Casey eyes darted from me to him. I was glaring at him with as much anger as I could muster. Why did he have find me? I don't want to see him. I don't want to see any of them.

"Are you going to answer me?" he went on.

I shook my head, standing up from the floor. I dusted the back of my pants, picked up my bags, latched onto Casey's hand, and walked away. She followed, keeping quiet. I'll explain it all to her later.

"Jessica, come back here!"

I winced at the use of my full name. Everyone I know or knew always said my nickname. I prefer that to my real name. I don't know why, I just always did.

Grudgingly, I turned back around to look at his face. It was tear-stained and sad. Too bad I didn't care.

"Leave me alone, Vince," I stated.

He shook his head, taking a step towards me. I took a step forward with Casey.

"Can we please talk?" he asked.

Casey tugged on my hand. "Maybe you should. He might leave you alone afterwards."

Her logic made some sense. I motioned for Vince to follow us. Casey led us to a small restaurant that was nearly empty. We found a seat, ordering coffee. Casey walked away to sit at a different table though. I wish she didn't. It'd be easier for me to stay angry with Vince if Casey were next to me.

"Where did you go?" he asked.

I shut my eyes, rubbing my forehead. "I'm living with my friend in Jersey."

"Is that all you'll tell me?"

"Yes."

"I love you."

Fucker, why would you say that?! I growled, crumpling the sugar packet I held in my hand. "Well I don't love you anymore," I said lowly.

Vince reached for my hand, trying to stroke it. I pulled away as though his touch burned me. I wish it did. That would make him even more guilty for coming back into my life.

"You should have come down to my apartment when it happened," he whispered.

I hope Casey is listening in. I want her to hear this so she doesn't get confused and blab to Frank. "You asshole, you were there when my father almost choked me to death! You stood at the door! You watched. You watched like the rest of them. You claimed you loved me then, yet you did nothing. You claim you love me now. What a bunch of lies I believed."

He gasped, hands falling to his sides. Did I beat him? Did the words sink into his stupid brain yet? I hope they did.

He looked at me with glossy eyes. "Jes, I am in love with you. I've been thinking about you ever since you left. Why don't you come home with me? You'll be happy. There's no one back at wherever you're staying to keep you happy."

Oh how wrong he was. I have Frank. I may not know if he has feelings for me or not, but I have feelings for him. That's all I needed to keep me from running.

You may be confused about Vince. You may have thought he's my older brother. He isn't. He rented, still rents in fact, the basement of my old house.

Right now, Vince is 18 years old. He moved in about a year ago. At that time, we moved into that old house that was new to us at the time. Alex wanted to rent the basement to someone since we weren't going to use it. It was also another way to get money. That I didn't mind since it had nothing to do with me.

She interviewed tons of people because she wanted someone "good" to have that apartment and not some druggie or party enthusiast with house parties every weekend. She almost gave up until Vince was at the front door step with the flyer in his hands. At the time, he was only 17, fresh out of high school, and planned to attend the community college close to the house. I don't know how he got her to let him take the place, but she did.

From there, I found myself talking to him more than I should have. We started off as just friends, talking about movies and books and music. The friendship eventually turned into something more. All he did was kiss me! That's all. But boy did that lead to more things. More emotional things.

He started buying me gifts that he knew I would appreciate at random times. I would find them in the living room or even my room! That's what I deserved since my parents trusted him so much.

Now I'm not exactly sure if I was in love with Vince, but I know I loved him. The keyword here is loved. It's true that my mom and sisters did nothing while father almost killed me. However, it happened before they could comprehend what happened. Vince is a different story though. He opened the door to our house when dear father was strangling me. What he did was walk into the house and stand there with his mouth hanging open. If he took a few more steps, he could've prevented father from hurting me even more. Did he? No.

I downed the rest of my coffee, shuddering at the bitter aftertaste. I asked for a strong black coffee before hand. "Listen, leave me alone. I don't love you anymore. You could have stopped him from making me pass out because I couldn't breathe but you didn't. This is a little something called karma. I'm happy with how things are no matter how much I miss my mom and sisters. Get out of my life."

I took out some change from my pocket and threw it on the table. I stood up, signaling Casey to as well. She was by my side in a second. Vince watched us as we walked to the door.

"Hey Jes?" he called. I stopped mid-walk waiting to hear his comment. "You look prettier with red hair and snakebites."

I cringed at his compliment. I wasn't used to them. "Thanks," I muttered.