Babette's Story

The lights were off when we reached the diner. Forrest must've closed it after we left. 'Maggie's car was still out front so she must still be here' I thought to myself. As Angie and I got out of the car, I got this weird feeling that something wasn't right. I could tell that Angie felt it too, watching her eyes shift from side to side. She held four jars of jam tightly in her arms as we walked up the porch steps.

"Maggie?" I called for her. Opening the screen door I stepped in straining my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I stopped in my place when I heard shuffling by the counter. "Forrest, you here?"

"C'mon Baps, we can drop 'em off tomorrow." Angie said nervously. Suddenly we heard low chuckles. They sounded as if they were all around us.

"Oh c'mon girls. We were just about to have some more fun. Your friend Maggie sure had fun." The man's figure appeared in front of us. Slowly stepping closer. I held on to Angie, taking small steps back towards the screen door. Angie yelped when our backs were met with that of another person. My heart racing a mile a minute. I turned to see that it was the man that was causing Maggie trouble not so long ago. Angie sniffled, her grip growing tighter at the sight of the battered man.

My mind scrambled for ways to get away from these men. It wasn't until I felt my grip on one of the jam jars, that I knew I had to do whatever it was and do it quick. The jar was pretty heavy. I pulled it out from under Angie's arm hoping that the darkness would keep it out of sight. I suddenly launched the jar in the face of the man standing by the screen door. The glass jar shattered when it hit his face. He fell back with a loud thud. The other man cursed and screamed obscenities.

"Run Angie!! Go!" I screamed pushing her out the door. Running down the stairs we made a mad dash for the dark woods. We could hear the man's voice shouting at us. I never looked back to see if we were being chased. I just ran. We ran till we reached a huge tree. We hid behind it. We were pretty far from the station but still close enough to see if they leave or stay. I place my finger to my lips trying to get Angie to keep quiet.

"Shhh, we're okay Ang." I whispered. I looked towards the station then back at Angie. "We'll wait for them to leave and then we'll look for Maggie and Forrest." She nodded with tears streaming down her face still clutching one jar of jam. I don't know how much time had passed when the men finally took their leave. I waited until they were completely out of sight to head back towards the station.

I grabbed Angie by the arm. "C'mon lets hurry." I whispered. I held Angie's hand running back towards the station. She suddenly stopped in her tracks with a horrid look on her face. "What is it An-" I couldn't finish my sentence once I'd seen what she caught sight of. The amount of blood puddled around his body made me weak in the knees.

Forrest laid on the snow dusted ground, holding his throat. I ran over to him. "We gotta get him to the hospital!! Bring the car around Ang, please! Please!" I yelled. She stood frozen in shock. "Ang get the damn car!!" I screamed. She jumped at the sound of my voice, rushing towards the car in a panic.

"Forrest? Forrest can you hear me?" I cried. Quickly taking off my sweater I placed it on Forrest' neck applying as much pressure I could to his wound. Looking up at the sky I pleaded. "Please, p-please don't take him. Not again please." Light footsteps startled me. Looking around wildly I caught sight of a red headed woman. I sighed in relief at Maggie's presence. Just then Angie pulled up with the car.

"Oh my god Maggie, are you okay?" Angie asked. She gave a single nod and walked closer to us. She kneeled beside me grabbing hold of Forrest' legs.

"Let's hurry and get him in the car. You hold that sweater there, we can't let him lose anymore blood." Maggie spoke. I nodded my head vigorously. Angie came over to help lift him. It took us several attempts to place him in the car. Angie drove as quickly as she could to the hospital.

Reaching the hospital we rushed out the car to get Forrest. We used as much strength that we could muster to pull, drag or carry him to the hospital door. "We have to leave." Angie said glancing in every direction. I stared at her my eyebrows furrowing.

"What do you mean? We can't just leave him here, Angie." I hissed.

"We have to. I don't want anyone to know what happened to me." Maggie spoke softly with tears in her eyes.

"I can't leave 'em alone like this." I cried.

"If your brothers hear about this we'll be just as good as dead Babette." I couldn't will myself to take one step away from him. I had every intention on staying when Angie banged on the door and grabbed my arm tightly, pulling me back to the car. She took off without thinking twice about it. All I could think of was Forrest the whole ride home. I shouldn't of left him like that. I should go back and be with him. Was he okay? Did he die? I should have stayed with him.

"What are we going to do with all that blood on the backseat?" I asked. "We can't bring the car home like that." I began to panic the closer we got to home.

"Just leave the car with me." Maggie said. "Say that I drove you home because of the snow." We stood silent for a while before saying ok. I looked down at my hands covered in Forrest' blood. I don't know how I'm going to explain this to anyone. Driving up to our house Maggie reminded us not to say a word about anything that happened.

"Let's go through the backdoor." Angie said sighing. Tonight's events would be a nightmare if we were ever to get any sleep. We quietly made our way inside the house. We tiptoed towards the stairs. We were about to pass the kitchen when my poo made his presence known. He stood up immediately once he caught sight of our appearance. Blood on our hands and smeared on our dresses. Our eyes puffy and red from crying.

"Jesus Christ Babette!" His voice filled with panic. "What the hell happened to you girls?!"

I couldn't help but to run into my pop's arms sobbing. I know what must've been going through his head. I never wanted him to have to worry about something like this again. He held me tightly, trying to console his distraught daughter. "Pop I-I'm so s-sorry for staying out so late."

"Are you hurt Babette? What about you-you hurt Angie?" We both shook our heads. He looked me up and down. Taking in my appearance.

"It's not our blood pop." He stared at us wide-eyed waiting for an explanation.

"I want an answer from you girls right now!" He hissed. "I wanna know where you were!" I flinched. Angie whimpered. She gave in.

"We drove up to the station to drop off the jam mama made for Maggie." Angie said in one breath. I stared at her not realizing that I was holding my breath. I waited for what was going to come out of her mouth next. "We found Forrest Bondurant lying on the ground. H-He was hurt bad." She said through sobs. My pop's angered expression was exchanged with a worried one.

"Well where is he now?" He asked.

"Maggie drove 'em to the hospital. Then she dropped us off. We were a bit too shaken up to drive home." My voice cracked in weird places.

"Hey pop, everything alright?" Richie's groggy voice came from down the hall. I looked in to my pop's eyes hoping that he could read my mind. I took a deep shaky breath.

He continued to stare at me as he spoke. "Go on back to bed Richie, everything is fine." He lowered his voice speaking quietly to me and Angie. He nodded towards the stairs. "Head up and get yourselves cleaned. We'll talk in the morning." I walked towards the stairs Angie in front of me. I stopped turning back to my father.

"Pop, I-I....-" I started to say.

He waved me off. "Get to bed Babette." I slowly made my way up the stairs. After entering my room I stripped down to my slip. The images slowly sinking into my brain. Tears falling from my eyes, heaving and silents sobs wracking my body. Forrest could be dead by now and I just left him there alone. I would never forgive myself for leaving him like that. There was no way he could survive an injury like that and I just left him to die alone.

"Baps?" Angie's voice brought me back to the surface from drowning in my own guilt. "Let's get you cleaned up okay?" She spoke softly as if I were a child. She wrapped her arm around me walking me to the bathroom. She helped set everything up. I was in a daze. A state of shock. It didn't feel real to me. This must be a nightmare.

We said nothing to one another as we got settled in our beds. My mind was gone. My body shivered. I silently asked God for help just as I did when Charlie died. Jack and Howard had no idea about their brother. I could not imagine what would go through their heads at the scene they would come home to.

"Please keep him alive.... Please." I whispered as my tears rolled down me cheeks. This man of many myths and legends could possibly become just a small page in this town's history.