A Broken Sunrise ~ Chapter 5

The eulogy was said by Kyla, who I felt bad for because she had been so pestered by the police. It seemed that she was the last person who saw Jayla alive. She told her same story - Jayla came over to study for an Anatomy test. She said that she would just walk home after refusing several times Kyla's offers to drive her home. No, she was in no way acting differently than her usual self.

Beck, Kiana, and I, each said a few words. Kiana could barely even talk and Beck let out a few silent tears afterwards - his speech was extremely moving.

The funeral procession went out of the church and down the block to the cemetery. The whole thing wasn't that long, none of us wanted it to be. None of us could take it that long.

"I think the flowers really help. Those germaniums were absolutely stunning." Kiana acclaimed. "I don't think I would have lasted that long on the podium without those by my side!"

This reminded me about Jet and his roses. I remembered the two he gave me during school. Funny thing was, I wasn't extremely diligent on putting them in freshwater right away, but the first one, the one he gave me over a week ago, still showed completely no signs of wilting or fading or lacking of color. It seemed as bright and fresh and great-smelling as when he first gave it to me. My mother used to grow roses in the backyard and she always brought in a bushel to stand on our table, so I knew a bit about them. They usually lasted about one week, in freshwater. The ones Jet gave me were still radiant.

At school the next day, I had to stay an hour extra afterward to make up two tests I missed the day before when I was at the funeral. I was in the detention room. However, I was halfway through the Chemistry Exam when I heard on the loudspeaker, "Shay Evans. You are excused. Please come to the office."

I was surprised when I heard that! I mean, usually when I was announced on the loudspeaker it sounded like this: "Shay Evans. Come to the principal's office immediately!!" and you could hear the grit and anger in the announcer's voice. Busted.

So I went to the office, and saw Beck there, wiping his greasy and sweaty hands onto his denim shirt. These were his work clothes. He worked at an auto body shop.

"What are you doing here, Beck?" I asked, worried.

"It's Kiana. She's in the hospital."

My stomach clenched with a sickening feeling crawling up my throat.

"Let's get out of here." Beck said, and he took my head and led me to his motorcycle out front. It gave me some satisfaction that it was parked squarely and obnoxiously in the principal's parking space.

Beck sped away like a madman, me barely clinging to him from behind. We reached the hospital. The whole way there I tried to ask what had happened, but he wouldn't tell me anything.

Kiana laid in a hospital cot, one of her arms wrapped up from the thumb to the elbow. She had a black eye, and her face and arms were bruised. What happened to my beautiful sister?
She grabbed my hands. "Shay!"

"Kiana! Oh my god what the fuck happened?"

Just then a man with glasses, a stethoscope, a clipboard, and a white lab coat entered her room. "You're her sister, I presume. You need to know they'll be no exciting Kiana here, she's had enough stress for one day."

"Ya sorry doc I just wanted to know -"

"Can you please give us a moment?" Kiana asked sweetly. The doctor smiled at her and exited. I rolled my eyes. Nerd.

Kiana's face was all solemn now. "Shay. I think you're in danger. I think our family is in danger, but mostly you."

My eyes widened. "Speak to me, Kiana."

"I was attacked walking home from school. I realized I had unlocked my car while it was sitting in the college parking lot. As I was driving and got off the main road, suddenly there was a guy in the car next to me. In my fucking car. He had been laying under the back seats and I hadn't seen him." Kiana looked like she was about to cry.

I squeezed her hands. "It's okay, Kiana. Calm down. You're okay."

She swallowed and said, "He had a gun, and he put it to my head. Like this." she showed me on my head, her index finger the barrel up against my temple. "And he said for me to drive to that deserted drive right before that entrance to Topanga State Park. So I went driving there. I was scared, Shay. Scared out of my mind. I was like thinking about my whole life, everything that's happened to me.

We were about halfway there and he said, 'that's enough pull over now.' So I did and he told me to get out of the car. as soon as I was out he started to beat me up and he kept hitting me over and over again when I was down in the dirt and then he brought out a knife and pinned me down. I was crying and screaming but nobody passed along the road. He carved into my leg three letters." She stopped then, sniffling and grabbing for a tissue. She looked around for any of the nurses, and told me to shut the door. I did and she pulled down the covers. I found her left leg was wrapped in linen. She began unwrapping it and exposed three angry red glistening letters carved into her skin, deep gashes. The linen was stained with blood. She quickly wrapped it up again and pulled the covers up.

She cringed and whispered, "They're you're initials."

I was getting nauseated.

She looked away from me and said, "The whole time he was beating me he kept saying your name over and over again. He was barely listening to me. He was in his own world."

"How did you get away from that monster??" I sobbed.

"I was rescued. There was a guy walking down the road. He saw us and he right away called 911 then dropped his phone and pulled the man off me. I couldn't really see very well, of course my black eye, and my other eye was just seeing red. So, I'm not quite sure who saved me. I think he's here at the hospital... but... Shay... I think I would have been killed just like Jayla if he hadn't been there. I felt so bad, I think the man knifed my rescuer in the cheek!

This final declaration had left me speechless. Just then Beck walked in. He looked from Kiana, to me, to Kiana. "Would you like to meet the hero who saved your life?" Beck said, a weird tone in his voice, expectant.

Beck stood to the side and a guy walked in, a bandage plastered across the side of his face.

"JET??!!?" Kiana and I simultaneously shouted, shocked. Jet Carter was standing there, blood on his shirt, his pants ripped up, but Jet with that grin on his face as always. He was looking right at me, his eyes twinkling. I jumped up and ran into his arms. "You saved my sister!" I sobbed into his chest.

He hugged me back, then said to Kiana, "How are you feeling?"

Kiana smiled, still in shock. Her voice sounded distant. "I'm fine. Thank you! How is your head?"

"Oh that thing?" Jet shrugged. "It's nothing. Don't worry about me. But I gotta tell ya, you look a lot better than you did when I first saw you on the trail."

Beck put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Jet. I didn't think I had the chance to say that to you."

"Of course." Jet said. I felt faint and woozy. All this information from today had been shoved into my brain and I couldn't process everything. But there was just one thing that was looming at the back of my mind, like a darker figure in a shadow. "Kiana. Jet. Do any of you see who the man was? The attacker?"
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Thanks to all of my fans. Keep reading! I'll try to finish Chapter six as soon as you can.