Mike was trapped. He could hear the sirens heading towards their direction. His family was definitely going to disown him. This was one mess up that he couldn’t make go away. He handled Jane’s brother very well because it was just that one man. Here stood four people and one of which was very dear to him. He could barely look her in the eye. His eyes searched the room looking for an escape route but he came up empty. The door was blocked by Sally and Jackie. He could see Todd and Ben had a couple of friends cover the other viable routes as well.

“The jig is up, you crazy son of a gun” Ben snickered as he made his way over to secure Mike before he can run or do anything to endanger Sal and Jackie.

The EMTs and police rolled up and only then did Jackie rush up to rescue the crying boy from the bedroom he’d been put in. She came down to meet the paramedics rolling Jane out and the police taking statements from her friends.

“Hello Miss, I’m Officer McClein”

“Hello Officer, I’m Jacqueline Patterson-Brown, a friend of the victim”

They took their statements and the girls left to check on Jane and the boys went with the police to ensure that Michael stayed locked up.

They got to St. Peter’s Memorial Hospital emergency room with Officer McClein to have the boy checked and to find information on Jane’s condition. Jace was being examined when the officer brought them updates on Jane’s condition.

“Miss Nelson-Jones will be fine. She did not sustain any major injuries but she would be admitted for a couple of days to ensure that nothing was missed” he reported

“Thank God,” Sally said

“Right there with you” Jane added

“This young man is perfectly fine. He just needs a bath” the nurse said smiling as she handed him back to Jackie.

“So, is Jane awake? Can we see her?” they asked

“Yes, the nurse said she’s in room 304” the officer replied

“Thank you so much, Officer McClein”

“Just doing my job here,” he said tipping his hat and bidding them goodbye.

They arrived at Jane’s door. Jackie was about to open and let them in when Sally stopped her and said, “What if she hates me?”

Jackie was taken aback by her question and responded with, “Why would she hate you? What did you do?”

“If I’d not messed with him, he’d never have come back into her life”

“True but look at it this way, because of you, he’s leaving her life for good now”

“That really doesn’t make me feel better”

“Whatever happens, you know better now”

“Got that right”

They went in to meet a now conscious Jane being propped up by the nurses. When Jace saw her, he stretched out his chubby arms and cried, “Mommy”

“Oh, my baby” Jane cooed stretching her arms to receive him wincing a bit.

She cradled her baby in hands and raised her head and looked directly into their eyes and said, “Thank you”

“Thank you?” sally questioned

“Yes, thank you. You ended my nightmare. I don’t have to fear the shadows”

They nodded and left the mother-son duo.

As she lay cradling her bundle of joy, her mind took a trip down memory lane.

******************************************************************

It was a hot sunny Saturday afternoon and she was running late to work. Her boss was going to chew her out because this is the third time this week, she’d been late. And to think she volunteered for this shift would even piss her off even more. Jane was exhausted and she knew she didn’t need to take the shift but her tuition and bills wouldn’t pay themselves. Her brother, Jason was helping out but he’s married now and he and April were preparing to be parents. She was so psyched. A couple of weeks ago when they’d invited her over for dinner and announced that a niece or nephew was on the way she could barely contain her excitement. She was really happy for both of them. They’d been through so much. At least her brother had her but April grew up all alone. She had no family until she met her brother. It was love at first sight for those two. April was her best friend. They met when they both started waitressing at a local diner downtown called Pop In when they were just about sixteen years old. They gravitated towards each other because of the similarities they shared with their childhood. She remembers finding out that day from April that she had no place to stay after work because she’d just ran away from the orphanage, she lived in two towns over and so she invited her to live with her and her brother. From that day onwards, they became a close-knit family. She remembers bringing April home and introducing her to Jason and seeing that awestruck expression on his face. April was definitely a beauty and her brother was quite the catch himself who left April speechless as well.

It all seemed like yesterday but it’d been almost six years and her brother and April now owned Pop In and had been married for a little over a year with a bun in the oven. And here she was, almost done with nursing school. Things looked great for them now and nothing could ruin it for them. Or so she thought.

“Oh, dear God, please help me get to work on time” she prayed

It was a really hot day and she needed to get to Star Hotel in Bromwick before the clock struck 3 and she barely had 30 minutes to go and that junky old car of her brothers had finally died on her. The good thing about the breakdown was where the car broke down, it broke down on the highway. She just prayed she could hitch a ride to work. She’d texted her brother but he was too far to get to pick her up but he would handle the car.

She’d been at the road for a good ten minutes and it seemed all the cars had disappeared. Just when she was about to lose faith and call in sick, a black sedan rolled up to her. The driver rolled down his windows and asked her,

“Do you want a ride?” he smiled

“Yes, I would assuming you’re not a serial killer” she joked

“Oh, you got jokes. I’m Michael, Michael Porter” he said opening the door for her to get in

“I’m Jane, Jane Nelson-Jones,” she said sitting down.

P. S: Thanks for reading😊!