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Vengeance	By : BlissGirl4Life Category: Reality TV > American Idol/Pop Idol Views: 1069 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not know the people I am writing about in this fanfiction. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
Vengeance

Chapter 3: Let's Go, Girls
1
“We love you, Jordin!”

Jordin laughed, and brought the microphone to her mouth. “I love you too!” She was performing at a benefit concert, and there were a whole lot of fans there, cheering her on, even though there were four other artists that were a part of the benefit. It seemed like almost every person there was either wearing a Jordin Sparks’ tee-shirt or holding up a Jordin Sparks sign—some were doing both. There was no doubt that the majority of the fans there were there for her.
Jordin continued her song, grateful that it was the last song in her set. She was exhausted after having done radio show interviews and even a photo shoot that day. She just wanted to go back to her hotel and relax.
When she finished, everyone applauded and cheered, the sound echoing off the walls.
Jordin waved to everyone. “It was so nice being here tonight! I’ll be signing autographs with the rest of the wonderful artists that have come out tonight. Just give us five minutes, all right?”
The fans responded by asking for an encore. One person started up, and soon it seemed everyone there was chanting, “Encore! Encore!”
Jordin really didn’t feel like it, but she smiled anyway. It was because of the fans that she was where she was today. At twenty-eight (almost twenty-nine), having done five albums and five tours, she really couldn’t complain.
“All right. How about I sing ‘Tattoo’? I haven’t sung that one in a long time. It was my first single, remember?” she asked.
The audiences’ loud applause and cheers gave her her answer.
She laughed. “All right, I’ll take that as a yes!” She tuned to her backing band. “You remember this one, right guys?”
The band all grinned at her.
“Of course, Jordin,” her lead guitarist said.
The song began, and Jordin prepared to sing. This would definitely be the last song though, she thought.

After her performance, she was finally able to leave the stage. Though, she only had five minuets to catch her breath before having to go straight into another fan event. She sat at the long table, and signed autographs with the four other artists that were there. The signing was only to be for an hour, but that hour couldn’t come soon enough for her.
“So what’s next for you, Jordin? I hope it’s another album. I love your music so much! I swear each album you do is like you are singing directly to me. I can relate to your songs so much! I’m David, by the way.”
Jordin grinned at the boy, and took the picture of herself that he had given her to sign. “Hello, David. I’m happy to hear that.” She signed the picture and handed it back to him. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet, actually. I think I want to take a little time off. I’d like to take a couple months at least. I’ve just been constantly on the go for the past ten years, or so I seems. I need a little vacation.”
“Well, you deserve one. I just hope you eventually get another album out, and not years from now,” the boy said.
Jordin shook her head. “No way! Are you kidding me? I love music too much to take that long of a break. I’d say no more than a few months. I just need a little bit more time to recharge.”
“Well, thank you for singing this.” 
“Thank you for wanting me to sign it,” she said with a wink. It was nice meeting you.”
“Likewise,” David said, moving on to the next artist.
As Jordin greeted the next fan, she couldn’t help but think more about that vacation. It really would be nice to take one. She hoped her publicist allowed it.

Finally, the benefit was over, and Jordin was able to head back to her hotel. She got into the limo with her publicist and they headed back.
“Jordin, I overheard you telling that fan of yours that you would like to take a few months off to rejuvenate,” Wendy, her publicist stated.
Jordin nodded. “I’m exhausted, Wendy. I need some time to relax.”
“I was thinking the same thing. You’ve been working so hard lately, Jordin. I think you should take some time off until the holidays. We have you booked for the Macy’s parade, come Thanksgiving, and I've been getting requests for you to do some radio station Jingle Balls. “How about just the Macy’s Parade and the Christmas events? You can have the rest of the year off to write for your next album, or to simply go on a vacation and relax,” Wendy said. “I only ask you keep your Macy’s obligation and do the Christmas shows.
Jordin smiled. “That I can handle! Thank you so much. I just really need this break.” She hugged Wendy
“Well, you’ve earned it,” Wendy said, hugging Jordin back.
“They arrived at the hotel, and the limo driver left them out.
Jordin and Wendy thanked him, and then headed into the hotel.
“So, I’ll go ahead and set those Jingle Ball dates up for you. You just enjoy your well-deserved break,” Wendy told her as they headed up the elevator together.
“Thank you again, Wendy,” Jordin said.
Wendy smiled. “Don’t mention it.”
The doors opened, and they stepped into the hallway.
“Have a goodnight, Jordin,” Wendy said, heading to her room.
“You too Wendy.” Jordin gave a wave. “Goodnight.”
Jordin entered her room, and shut the door behind her, hearing it lock automatically. She kicked of her shoes and threw herself down onto the bed. “Ugh! Finally!” She was so tired, all she wanted to do was take a nice, warm bubble bath, and then climb into bed and sleep until the next decade.
She continued to rest for a moment, then she was finally able to drag herself off the bed.
She ran her bath water, poured the bubbles in, and then stripped down. That being accomplished, she climbed into the tub, and waited for it to finish filling.
“Ah…” she closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth of the water as it enveloped her.
Once the tub was filled, she turned the water off, and then just lay back and closed her eyes. She would work up the energy to wash herself in just a moment. Right now, she just wanted to think about the long way she had come since being on American Idol eleven years ago.
She had released five albums and toured for each one of them. She had even done a celebrity cruise with all the American Idol winners from the past, and the two that had won the four seasons after her. American Idol had ended after ten seasons. Simon hadn’t wanted to do it anymore, and they weren’t foolish enough not to try to have a go without him.
Unlike other American Idol contestants, her popularity wasn't dwindling. It was increasing if anything. She sighed. This is what she wanted though. She always wanted to be famous for her singing, and now her dream had finally come true and then some.
The phone rang, ripping her from her thoughts. She let it ring for a moment, and then groaned. She had forgotten that she had brought her cell phone in with her. She sighed, and reached for it. She had set it on the wide ledge of the tub, that was there to hold shampoo and what not. She clicked on, and brought it to her ear. “Hello?”
“Jordin?”
“This is her. Sanjaya?”
“Yes! Hello, Jordin. It’s been a while, huh?”
Jordin smiled. “Hey, you! Mr. Rico Drake. I’ve seen you on Days of our Lives now. You’re pretty good!”
“Thanks. I love my job. The singing just didn’t pan out.”
“Well, we can’t all be singers, right? Just like we can’t all be actors. I’m not that good at acting, so there you go. You have one up on me.” Jordin grinned, even though she knew he couldn’t see her grin.
“I’m going to get to the point. I didn’t call for a social call. I called because we have a problem,” Sanjaya said, his tone suddenly turning serious.
“Oh? What’s that?” Jordin asked, not sure how she should feel.
“Remember what we did ten summers ago?”
Jordin nodded. “How could I forget? As much as I try to forget that night, I never can. What about it?” Now she was starting to feel sick.
“I got a message on my bathroom wall today. It appeared an hour and a half after I had taken my bath, so that means it was written while I was just downstairs,” Sanjaya began.
“What kind of message?” Jordin asked, though she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know.
“The words ‘Murderer! Vengeance will be mine’ were written in blood. Of course, I wiped it off once I was sure the person who wrote it was gone. I know it must have something to do with Henry. Who else would call me a murderer? Needless to say, I couldn’t go to the cops about it,” Sanjaya told her.
“So, what does this mean for us?” Jordin asked, whispering now, though she had no idea why.
“Well, I think it means that we’re in trouble. I need you to come down to LA so that we an all talk this through. The guys have all agreed to come down, and will be here the day after tomorrow. You’re the first girl I called, and I’m going to call the others after I get off the phone with you. Can you make it?”
Jordin closed her eyes and sighed. “I’ll be there. I’m headed home tomorrow anyway. Obviously still live in LA, right?”
“Yes. If you want, I can call you back with my address. I’ll leave it on your voicemail. Unless, you have a pen and a piece of paper right now?”
“No, I’m taking a bath right now. Just call me back and leave your address then. I’ll call you when I know what time I can be there.”
“All right. Thank you for agreeing to this, Jordin.”
Jordin sighed. “I don’t see it as having a choice in the matter.”
“Have a goodnight, Jordin.”
“Yeah right. You too.”
Sanjaya let out an amused sound. “Yeah right.”
They both hung up then.
Jordin sighed yet again as she set her phone back down on the ledge. She then began to absentmindedly clean herself. Going to Sanjaya's for this little incident was not exactly her idea of a vacation, but what could she do? As she had told Sanjaya, she really felt had no choice in the matter.

2

Much earlier that day, now forty year-old (almost forty-one) Melinda finished performing, and smiled as the South American kids swarmed around her and hugged her.

“Thank you for singing for us,” Dominic, one of the South American boys who was hugging her said.
“Aw! It was my pleasure,” Melinda said, kissing the top of Dominic’s head and hugging him close.
Melinda was in Rio Branco, South America doing her usual charity work. She had had two albums and toured twice, but after that, she decided to use her money for good and make appearances for charity. She enjoyed touring the world and bringing smiles to the less than fortunate’s faces. She donated money and helped build homes. She was actively involved in several charities. Melinda loved doing ‘God’s Work’, as she called it. Though, honestly, deep down she was doing a lot of it out of guilt. Even though killing Henry had been an accident, and she really hadn’t contributed much to it other than alerting the guys that Henry was getting up off the ground, and then later slapping him in the face, she still felt guilty. Doing all this charity work was her way of repenting.
“Can you sing one more song for us?” another boy asked her.
“Yeah, please?” A little girl asked.
Melinda smiled. “Of course I can!”
The kids cheered, and Melinda talked to her backing band. They decided on two songs, and Melinda began to sing the first of the two, smiling and laughing when the kids started dancing.
When she finished her songs, she went over to the kids, and they took turns hugging her some more.
“Now, who wants the presents I brought you all?” she asked.
“You brought us presents?” Abri, one of the South American girls, who was ten, asked.
Melinda nodded. “Yep! I brought presents for all of you.”
The kids all cheered, and Melinda and her band began unloading presents from a huge sack they had brought along.
“You guys are like Santa Clause, thirteen-year-old Fenyang said.
Melinda laughed. “That would make it Christmas in July.”
“She’s no Santa Clause. She’s one of God’s angels,” said one of the older teenagers, Abrahem.
Melinda had tears in her eyes at this one. She kissed Abrahem’s cheek, and hugged him as she handed him his gift. She had to wonder if God would consider her one of His angels. She had been part of an accidental killing. She had covered it up at that. Could God ever consider someone who had done such a thing one of his angels?
She finished passing out the gifts, and then watched the reactions as the kids unwrapped their gifts and discovered what was inside.
Melinda had packed toys, teddy bears, dolls, and clothes. She had also supplied everyone with bathing supplies like soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, and tooth brushes. To Americans, those were not such great things, but to poor children in South America, those things were almost better than toys to them.
She received more hugs as well as thanks yous from all the children. Some of the children even had tears in their eyes.
“Thank you so much. I love her already,” eight-year-old Jewel said, hugging her doll.
“You’re very welcome, sweetie. I’m glad you like her,” Melinda said.
Melinda talked to the kids for a few moments more, then they all had a nice dinner with food that Melinda had donated.
After that, Melinda read to the kids, and then finally had to go. She said her goodnights, and gave out hugs and kisses to the kids, then she left so that she could catch a private plane back to Nashville.
Now, it was twelve thirty at night, and Melinda was just drifting off to sleep on the plane’s couch.
Her cell phone rang, jerking her awake. She sat up straight, her hand to her heart. Still being half out of it, she thought the plane was having some kind of problem. It took a couple rings for her to realize it was the phone. She picked it up without checking the ID. “Hello?” She looked at her watch, and wondered who could be calling this late, or early if you looked at it in the technical sense.
“Hello, Melinda. This is Sanjaya.”
“Sanjaya? Wow, it’s been a while,” Melinda said. Jordin was the only one she still kept in contact with. She hadn’t talked to any of the other since... Well, since they all had arrived back home from that dreaded 4th of July reunion.
“I’m sorry to be calling so late, but this is an emergency.”
Melinda sat upright on the couch. “What’s wrong?” she wondered if one of them had been hurt, or worse, killed. Surely Jordin would have called her and told her if that were the case. That was unless...the one that was hurt was Jordin.
“No one is hurt, but I think someone knows about Henry.”
Melinda felt her stomach churn. That was almost just as bad. “Did you tell someone?”
“No! I told no one. As far as I know, none of us have told anyone. We made a promise not to.”
“Well, then, what makes you think someone knows?” Melinda asked.
Sanjaya explained to Melinda what had happened. “The words clearly stated, ‘Murderer! Vengeance will be mine’ in wet blood. Do you know how freaked out I was that someone was in the house, writing in blood the whole time I was downstairs watching my movie?” Sanjaya asked.
“You're lucky they didn’t kill you right then,” Melinda said. She covered her mouth.
“Tell me about it! Can you come down to LA? The guys all agreed to, and Jordin is going to as well. I think we all need to get together and talk about this.”
Melinda thought about it for a moment. She didn’t have anything planned for the next week. She was going to visit her family as a surprise, but she supposed she could put that off for a few days. She knew she had to be there. Besides, if the others were all going to be there, she didn’t want to miss out. “Sure. Where do you live?” She stood up and walked over to a little tablet of paper that was on the plane’s table. There was a pen on top of it. She grabbed the pen and uncapped it, then wrote down Sanjaya’s address as he gave it to her. “I’ll have my plane take me to LA then.”
“You have your own plane?” Sanjaya sounded impressed, despite the situation.
“It’s not mine, but I charter one occasionally to do my charity work. My pilot was going to take me home to Nashville, but I can have him take me to LA instead,” Melinda explained.
“All right. Thank you for this, Melinda.”
Melinda sighed. “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”
They exchanged their goodbyes, and then hung up.
Melinda sighed, and then got on the intercom. “Ralph, I hate to do this to you, but something has come up. Do you think you could drop me off in LA instead of Nashville? A friend needs me.”
“No problem, Melinda. After all you do, I’m happy to be able to do something for you,” Ralph said back.
“Thank you, Ralph. I appreciate that.” Melinda set the intercom device back don with another sigh. Deep down, she was scared stiff about what happened to Sanjaya. However, right then, she was just too tired to let it get to her. She lay down on the couch again, and pulled her blanket up around her. She closed her eyes, and drifted off, thinking that she could always worry about it in the morning. Besides, she didn’t even know for sure there was anything to worry about. For all she knew, it was just someone playing a prank on Sanjaya. A prank. Yes, that is what she would believe. It was much easier that way...

3
Earlier that day…

“All right. This class is to teach you guys self-defense! In my class, you’re going to learn to take crap from nobody! If anyone tries to rape you or attack you in any other way, he will be put down. You’ll be able to make him sorry they ever came across your path. We’re going to make that sick son of a bitch sorry he ever thought to touch you or attack you or… We’re just going to show that son of a bitch what a big mistake it was to mess with us!” LaKisha was shouting now, and she punched her fist high in the air. By this point, she noticed how all ten women in her class were staring at her, their mouths slightly open. She blushed. “Sorry. I just got carried away.” LaKisha, now thirty-eight, stood in front of the self-defense class. She had been teaching classes for five years, and she loved every moment of it. “I want you all to pair up into twos and prepare for your first lesson. We’re going to learn how to get free of an attacker if he grabs you.”
The first half of the last ten years, LaKisha had not only performed on Broadway in The Color Purple, but also she had released two CDs and toured for both. She had also spent a lot of time working out at the gym with a personal trainer. She had lost thirty pounds. Also, she had taken several kickboxing classes as well as a couple self-defense classes herself. In fact, she had joined a self-defense institute, and after graduating, was able to teach others. So, here she was. She enjoyed her job a lot, and had a new class with every class that graduated. She was kept busy, and the job payed her well. Now living in Manhattan, New York in a two-bedroom apartment with her daughter. She still wrote music, and occasionally performed places, but right now, she her main objective was teaching her class.
“All right, I want one partner to turn around, and the other one to grab you from behind,” Lakisha ordered.
The partners did as told, with one grabbing the other from behind.
“All right. Now. I want the person who is being grabbed to raise your foot and quickly stomp on your attacker’s foot. Please stomp gently. Remember, this is only your partner pretending to be your attacker. Only if you are actually being attacked will you actually stomp hard on their foot.”
Her class laughed.
“Don’t laugh. You would think that would be obvious, but apparently it’s not. In my last class, one lady stomped so hard on her partner’s foot that she broke her partner’s toe,” LaKisha informed them.
Her class laughed even more.
“All right, all right. It’s time for the next step. While your attacker is crying out in pain, take your chance. Turn around and elbow your attacker hard in the chin. Try your best to elbow underneath so that his head it snapped back. If all goes as planned, your attacker should let go of you, and you can get the hell out of there. If you have pepper spray, you can even spray him in the eyes for good measure. Again, remember, it’s not your real attacker you’re doing this to right now,” LaKisha ordered.
The class did as told.
“Very good. I’m impressed,” LaKisha said with a nod.
“I have a question. What if the attacker doesn’t let go of you even after you do those moves?” Helen, one of the class asked.
“Well, if you do it hard enough, I can almost guarantee it will work in your favor. However, if it doesn’t work, then you can also try this.” She demonstrated with Greg, her partner.
Greg started to attack her. She gently stomped on his toes, and then turned around and pretended to press her thumbs over his eyes. He grabbed her wrists, but he couldn’t get her hands off him, for she was grabbing at his skull with her fingers while her thumbs continued to simulate pressing hard into his eyes. She lightly kicked him in the shin.
“And if he grabs your hair from behind…” LaKisha turned so that her back was faced toward Gregory.
Gregory grabbed her hair.
LaKisha didn’t know what happened to her. She had shown several classes how to do this. Still… As Gregory grabbed her hair, she instantly flashed back to that night when Henry grabbed her hair and called her a nigger bitch. She couldn’t shake him off then, but now, she was sure as hell not going to let him do it to her again!
She stomped hard on Gregory’s foot, and when he cried out in pain, losing grip on her hair, she turned around and punched him hard in the stomach, stomping on his foot again.
“LaKisha, what the hell?” Gregory cried out, grasping at his stomach with one hand and his foot with the other.
LaKisha snapped out of it, and covered her mouth. “I am so sorry, Gregory! I don’t know what came over me. I just lost it for a moment.”
“You think?” Gregory asked. He sounded slightly annoyed, but not as angry as LaKisha thought he should probably be.
She turned to her class. “That is my personal technique, but only ever do that that hard if you are being attacked. You may practice now if you want. Just don’t actually punch your partner.”
“Maybe you should take your own advice,” Emily, another one of her class stated.
LaKisha nodded. “Please forgive me, guys. I have dealt with a traumatizing incident in the past, and I guess that just brought it all back to me.” She turned to Gregory. I really am
sorry.”
Gregory gave her a slight smile. “It’s okay. I think I should start wearing padding, huh?”
LaKisha laughed nervously. “Don’t worry. That won’t happen again, I can assure you.”
LaKisha turned back to her class, and for the remainder of the class, she taught them their techniques for the day.

Now, as LaKisha lay in bed, still thinking about that day, she felt ashamed of herself. Why had she done that today? It had been ten years since they had had that run-in with Henry. She didn’t know why she had chosen that day to flip out. Gregory had grabbed her hair for demonstration plenty of times before and she had never flipped out. She was ashamed that ten years later, she still hadn’t completely healed from that incident. She supposed she never would. She glanced at the clock and sighed. It was almost one in the morning, and she still couldn’t sleep. It was going to be a long night.
The phone rang, scaring her senseless. She jumped a little, and then laughed at herself. “Girl, you are too on edge. You need to calm down.” She quickly picked up the phone before it woke her fifteen-year-old. “It’s a little late to be calling me, isn’t it?” She asked, not having glanced at the caller ID before answering.
“I’m sorry to be calling so late, LaKisha, but this is important.”
“Who is this?” LaKisha couldn’t quite place the voice.
“It’s Sanjaya Malakar.”
“Oh, Sanjaya. Sorry. It’s late, and I’m half out of it. How are you? What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing really. It’s just that someone wrote the words, ‘Murderer! Vengeance will be mine’ in blood on my bathroom wall while I was right downstairs.”
LaKisha swallowed the lump that was suddenly starting to form in her throat. “What? Who would do something like that?” She was whispering now.
“I am thinking it must have something to do with Henry. Why else would I be called a murderer? I don’t know why I’m targeted of all people, and why ten years later, but I am. The guys, Jordin, and Melinda have all agreed to fly down to my place in LA the day after tomorrow. Well, I guess it’s technically tomorrow. I’m calling to see if you can join us too.”
LaKisha thought about it for a moment. She didn’t need this right now. She didn’t want to leave her daughter and her class. She didn’t want to have to go back and talk about something she just wanted to leave in the past. She was trying so hard to forget about that night, and yet here it was, showing up again. She sighed. “I suppose I can see what I can do. Sometimes flights are hard to get out so late of notice.”
“Call the airport. I can even call for you if you want. When it’s just one person, it’s usually not that hard to find a flight,” Sanjaya stated.
LaKisha sighed, and turned her bedside lamp on. “I’ll do it. What’ your address so I know?”
Sanjaya gave her his address, and she dug out a pen and a piece of paper. She wrote down the address.
“Call the airport now, and then call me back and tell me if you got a flight,” Sanjaya ordered.
“I’ll just call you if I can’t get one. If you don’t hear from me, it means I’ve gotten one. I’ll call you when I’m nearing arrival,” LaKisha said.
“All right. Thank you for this, LaKisha. We just all really need you right now,” Sanjaya stated.
“I’ll be there.” LaKisha hung up without even saying goodbye. Then, with a long and drawn out sigh, she dialed up the airport. She was able to get a flight for eight p.m. that night. She paid for it with her credit card, and then hung up. Next, she clicked off the light and lay back down in bed with yet another sigh. Tonight was going to be a really long night, and tomorrow was just going to be a pain in the butt. She rolled over onto her side and closed her eyes. “Why me, Lord? Why now?” she asked. She didn’t know when sleep had finally taken her, but eventually, it had.

4

Haley wiped the counter down of the bar she bar tended at. The bar had finally closed, and she was so exhausted.

She still lived in Nashville, and had released a couple albums and did a couple tours. However, her career as a singer just wasn’t taking off. She needed to pay the bills, so she was working as a bar tender a her fiancé's bar. She would perform at the bar regularly, but she just wasn’t happy with her life. She wanted to be a singer; not a bar tender. She didn’t know why she wasn’t popular. She was gorgeous, and she had a good voice. What more did people want from her?
She sighed. She was thirty-six (forty in four short years), and all she had to show for it was the fact that she had been on a reality show. Well, that and having had two CDs out and having done two tours. Now she was a bartender, and not so happily engaged. She just didn’t seem to have any luck at all with men. He loved her fiance, Frank, she really did. It was just that… Frank sometimes got violent with her. Owning a bar, he liked to drink a lot. When Frank drank a lot, he got drunk. When Frank got drunk, he got violent. Haley couldn’t remember how many times she had to cover up a bruise with clothing or makeup, or how many times she had to lie when someone saw the bruise anyway.
“Why do you stay with that loser?” Gina had once asked her over the phone.
“I love him,” Haley had simply stated.
She did love Frank. He wasn’t always nasty to her. In fact, a lot of the time, he was nice. He would buy her presents all the time. Of course, the presents were usually to make up for something… Even so, he would take her out for dinner and dancing. He would spare no cost on gifts even if he couldn’t afford them. He was constantly telling her how hot and sexy she was. He always made sure to make her the first priority when setting up bands to play at the bar.
Frank always told her how she had the voice of a country angel, and that anyone who didn’t love her music and voice was either deaf, or just flat out jealous of her beauty and talent.
Haley loved that about Frank. However, with Frank, there was always a bad to his good. The bad came when he thought she was flirting with men. If a man so much as looked at her in a way that Frank didn’t like, Frank would take it out on Haley, insisting that she led the guy on.
“You smiled at him! I even saw you winking. You want him, don’t you?” Frank had yelled at her one night after the bar had closed.
“Who?” she had asked, honestly having no idea what he was talking about.
“When you were up there singing.” Frank pointed to the stage with his beer bottle. That was already his sixth beer of the night. “He told you to take it off, and you smiled at him.”
“Frank, I was laughing at how drunk and stupid he was,” she insisted.
“Liar!” Frank yelled.
Before Haley even saw it coming, Frank slapped her hard across the face.
Haley had tears in her eyes from the pain, but she didn’t say anything. She simply held her cheek.
“Don’t you lie to me, you whore. I saw you smiling at him, and batting your eyelashes. You winked at him. I bet you would have gone home with him if you could have, wouldn’t you?” Frank asked.
“If you think that of me, then you don’t know me at all,” Haley had said.
“Oh, I know you, baby. I know that you belong to me and only to me. Don’t you forget that,” Frank told her, taking another sip of his beer.
“You’re the only one I love and the only one I need anyway,” Haley assured him.
This pleased him. “Good. Now let’s go home so I can show you whom you belong to.”
Haley hadn’t felt like sleeping with Frank that night. She didn’t end up having to, for he had fallen asleep on the bed, not even having undressed.
Now, Haley was closing the bar for the night, grateful that Frank was out of town at some bartenders convention. He had wanted her to stay back and look after the bar.
Haley sighed as she finished washing the counter. She knew she deserved better than Frank, but… She was getting older, and didn’t want to be alone. Who knew if she would ever find anyone else? She had thought she had found the one with her first fiance, Bobby, and hadn’t. Now she had thought Frank was the one. He obviously wasn’t the one, and she knew that darn well. For some reason though, she couldn’t help but think maybe God was punishing her. Maybe she was destined to never find happiness because of what she had done to Henry. It had been ten years since that fateful night, but she had never forgotten about Henry or what they had done. She still had nightmares to this day about it. In fact, sometimes she would dream of Henry crawling out of the water, and appearing by her bed, decaying and covered in seaweed, ready to rape her and get his revenge on her. She would wake up screaming, and that would wake Frank up. Some nights, Frank would surprise her and be sympathetic. Other nights, when Frank hadn’t gotten enough sleep, he would slap her and tell her to get out of his bed and sleep on the couch.
Haley shook her head. She knew Frank loved her. He just had a funny way of showing it. She couldn’t leave him. She wouldn’t. He didn’t mean to get nasty with her. He just drank too much. Maybe if she could just get him to stop drinking so much… Yeah, right.
Haley’s cell phone rang, taking her from her thoughts.
“Who the heck would be calling me at this time of hour?” Haley asked out loud, glancing at the clock and seeing that it was almost one-thirty a.m. She hoped it wasn’t Frank, drunk and calling her to see if she had closed up yet.
You haven’t finished yet? What is taking you so long, woman?
She looked at the caller ID and smiled. I was Sanjaya. She didn’t know why that had made her smile, though she figured it probably had to do with the fact that it wasn’t Frank. She pressed talk, and held the phone to her ear. “Sanjaya Malakar?”
“Do you know any other Sanjaya’s?”
“Ha, ha. I see you’re still funny. What’s up? Did you forget about the three-hour time zone difference? It’s one-thirty in the morning here.”
“I’m sorry, Haley. I just needed to talk to you.”
“It’s all right. I was just teasing you. I’m up closing the bar for the night anyway. I’m a bartender here now. What’s up?” Haley thought she detected a bit of worry in Sanjaya’s voice, but figured she was wrong.
“Haley, I think someone knows about what we did to Henry.”
Haley felt as if her heart had suddenly stopped. In fact, she placed a hand to her heart to make sure it was still beating. It was, at twice its normal rate at that. “What makes you think that?” she asked quietly.
“I took a bath and there was nothing on my wall. I went downstairs and watched a movie for an hour and a half, and then came back to the bathroom. There, I found the words ‘Murderer! Vengeance will be mine’, written in blood on my wall. Someone had been there and left without me even having noticed.”
“Do you have any idea who it could be? You didn’t tell anyone what we did, did you?” Haley suddenly found herself wishing she wasn’t alone in the bar right now.
“I didn’t tell anyone, Haley. Did you?”
“Of course not! I want to pretend this whole thing never happened. Why would I tell anyone?”
“Well, why would I?”
Haley bit her bottom lip nervously. “Point taken.”
“Everyone is coming down to my place to talk about this. Well, I have yet to get you to agree to come, and I have to call Gina after you. Can you come down the day after tomorrow? Well, tomorrow now.”
Haley thought about it for a moment. Frank was going to be gone for thee more days. He wouldn’t be happy if he found out she had closed the bar for three days. She supposed she could trust Rachel to run it. Rachel was her best friend, who also worked at the bar. She could trust her. “I’ll see what I can do. I know you still live in LA. I catch you on Days sometimes. You’re really good.”
“Thanks! I love my job,” Sanjaya said.
Haley sighed. “I’ll call and make the flight reservation.”
“All right. Do you got a pen and paper? I can give you my address.”
Haley searched for a pen and tablet behind the counter. “Hold on a sec…” She found some, and flipped the cap of the pen off. She set the tablet down on the bar. “All right. What is it?”
Sanjaya gave Haley his address, and Haley wrote it down.
“All right. I’ll call you tomorrow, and tell you what’s up,” Haley said.
“Okay. Thank you, Haley. I appreciate this. I just think we really need to discuss this together, and not over the phone.”
“I understand. I’ll see you tomorrow probably.”
“All right. Have a good night, Haley.”
“Thank you. You too, Sanjaya. Bye.”
“Thanks. Bye.”
Haley hung up the phone, and sighed. She then grabbed a phonebook and looked up the airline number. Next, she called and booked her flight, giving her credit card number to buy her ticket.
When she hung up, she grabbed her keys, and headed out of the bar, locking the door behind her.
She would call Rachel first thing in the morning and ask her to take over the bar for three days. She knew it was last minute, but Rachel was scheduled to work anyway. Hopefully she would be home before Frank even knew she was gone. If not, oh well. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been beaten by him before. Besides, this was something she had to do, rather Frank liked it or not.

5

Gina finished rinsing her friend Kayla’s hair in the sink, and then had her sit in a chair while she blow dried Kayla’s hair for her. She was having a sleep over in her Illinois home. Sure she was days short of turning thirty-four, but in Gina’s opinion, one was never too old to have a sleep over.

“Joe’s not going to wake up with all this racket?” Kayla asked.
Gina laughed, and slapped the air. “Are you kidding me? He could sleep through an earthquake.”
“I can’t believe you’re doing hair at 12:30 in the morning,” Danielle, another friend of Gina’s said. Her hair was wrapped up while her perm was setting.
“Well, none of us can sleep, and this is a hair dressing party.” Gina winked at her friend. Gina had had two albums out independently, and they did fairly well, but not as well as they could have. She only toured internationally once. Her second album was just a US tour. Gina knew she couldn’t keep depending on her music to make a living, so she went to cosmetology school, and became a hair dresser. She still sang, but it was in local places like night clubs and hotel lounges. Having an album out independently was expensive, so she had been working on her third album for a while now. She almost had it finished.
“You’re so good girl. You’re good at singing too, but as selfish as this may sound, I’m glad you never made it as a singer. I mean, I can’t imagine anyone else doing my hair,” Tanisha, the last friend at the party said, patting her freshly washed, styled, and cut hair.
Gina laughed. “Thanks. At least I’m good at something, huh?”
“You’re amazing at singing. These record labels wouldn’t know talent if it bit them on the butt,” Danielle said.
“Hm… I’ve never tried that before. Maybe I should try biting record executive’s butts,” Gina joked.
Her friends all laughed.
“I’d like to see Joe’s reaction to that!” Kayla said, and they all laughed some more.
“So, you and Joe have been married for nine years. When are you guys going to have children?” Tanisha asked.
Gina smiled. “We talk about it all the time. It’s just, we want to be a little bit more stable in our income before we start having children. Besides, we married young. I don’t think either of us was ready to have kids when we got married.”
“Apparently not! You’re almost thirty-four now though. Your biological clock is ticking,” Danielle said.
“I know, I know. I know most people have more than one kid by the time ten years of marriage rolls around, but Joe and I will have them soon. We just want to make sure we’re both ready,” Gina said.
“Well, it’s good not to rush when you have kids. I’m glad you’re both waiting until you one-hundred percent ready,” Kayla said.
“Thanks. Now can we please get back to what a fabulous hair dresser I am?” Gina joked. She loved her friends, but talking about where she should be in life right now was making her uncomfortable. It made her think that she had failed in life somehow.
Her friends laughed.
“Of course,” Tanisha said with a wink. “You really are fabulous.”
“Well, thank you!” Gina said.
Suddenly, Gina’s cell phone rang.
“Who on earth would be calling you so late?” Tanisha asked.
“That’s a good question,” Gina said, taking her phone from her pocket and looking at the caller ID. “Sanjaya,” she said in surprise.
“Sanjaya Malakar? Oh my gosh, he is so hot! Can I talk to him?” Tanisha asked.
Danielle rolled her eyes. “Boy crazy Tanisha strikes again.”
“Cut her a break. She is addicted to Days of our Lives, and he is a main character on the show now,” Kayla said.
Gina smirked. “Let me answer it first, and then I’ll let you talk to him.”
“All right. Thanks!” Tanisha squealed with excitement.
“You sure like your younger men,” Danielle quipped.
Tanisha rolled her eyes. “He’s only five years younger than me, and he’s more than legal, so who cares?”
Danielle rolled her eyes in return.
“Sanjaya, hey! What’s up? Long time no talk to,” Gina said.
“Hey, Gina. I’m sorry to call so late.”
“It’s all right. I’m up anyway. So, what’s up? We haven’t talked in ten years and you decide to call me now. Ha!”
“I know. I’m sorry we lost touch. I um… I need to talk to you about something important.”
“Let me talk to him. Please?” Tanisha asked.
Gina smiled. “Sanjaya, you have a fan here that wants to meet you. I’m having a party, and one of my friends is a huge Rico Drake fan.”
“Um... All right. But then I really need to talk to you,” Sanjaya said, having hesitated a moment.
Gina handed her phone to Tanisha. “Make it quick. He has to talk to me about something.”
“Hi Sanjaya! I am such a big fan of you. I don’t only like you because of your character. I never miss an episode of Days now that you’re on.”
Gina, Kayla, and Danielle all smiled and shook their heads as Tanisha talked with Sanjaya for the next minute.
Finally, Tanisha said goodbye, and handed the phone back to Gina.
“Thanks, Sanjaya. You made her life,” Gina said, glancing at Tanisha who was smiling, and vigorously nodding.
“Not a problem. It’s always nice to meet a fan. Seriously though, I need you to go somewhere private before I can tell you what’s wrong.”
“Okay…” Gina walked into the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”
“I got a message written in blood on my bathroom wall. It said, ‘Murderer! Vengeance will be mine’. Someone had written it while I was in the house, just down the stairs. They were gone before I even saw the message. Before you ask, no, I didn’t call the cops. I just cleaned the blood off. I think someone knows what we did to Henry. Why else would I get such a message?” Sanjaya said it quickly; almost all in one breath.
Gina suddenly felt sick. “Who would know? I didn’t tell anyone.”
“None of the rest of us did either. We’re all getting together tomorrow to talk it over. Everyone has agreed, but you. Do you think you can fly down to LA? I know it’s late notice, but I just got the message this evening.”
Gina said. “Well, if everyone else is going…”
“They are. So I can count on you to be here?”
“Give me your address, and I’ll see what I can do.” Gina really didn’t want to have to relive this nightmare, but if the others were going to LA, they probably thought this was something to worry about. As for Gina, well, she didn’t know what to think. All she knew was that she had to get down to LA. It was just a feeling she had.
Sanjaya gave Gina his address, and Gina quickly wrote it down.
“I’ll call and reserve my flight as soon as I get off the phone with you.”
“Thank you, Gina. I’m sorry I waited to call you until something like this happened.”
“It’s all right. I could have called you too. I’ll call you when I arrive in LA. Have a good night, well as good of a night as you can have, considering the situation.”
“Thanks, but I doubt I’ll be getting any sleep tonight,” Sanjaya said.
Gina sighed. “I hear ya.”
They said their goodbyes, and then Gina called the airport and reserved her flight. She paid with her credit card, and then hung up the phone, and buried her face in her hands with a sigh.
“Will this nightmare ever end?” She asked, looking up Heavenward. No, she supposed not.

Sanjaya sighed as he set down the phone and sat down on his bed. Well, he had done it. He had gotten them all to come down. He couldn’t feel too good though, for he just had a feeling deep down that them all coming down wasn’t going to help them much.
Them all being there or not, they were still all in danger. He knew that more than he was willing to admit.
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Vengeance