The Rising Star - Alexia Putellas

Part 106

"Don't worry about it. I get it." I shook my head trying to make her feel better.

"No you don't. You can't. What did she tell you about Jacob?" She sighed out and closed her eyes for a second before looking at me again with a look that only could be described as pure sadness.

Ella had told me about Jacob once. It was very early in our friendship and she told me the whole story or at least so I thought.

"That he was abusive. That one night he snapped and had hit her, she ran and got involved in a car crash causing her injuries." I summed up what Ella had told me back then.

I thought that was the whole story but boy was I wrong. Kristie let out a deep sigh again, she was clearly struggling with the memories she had from that time.

"The car crash didn't cause her injuries, it disguised them." She said, almost in a whisper.

"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows and shook my head confused, trying to process what Kristie just told me.

"He didn't just hit her, Alexia, he used her as his rackdoll. One night he did snap and he hit her but he never stopped. He kept hitting her and kicking her until her skull broke. Her femur, her ribs." She shook her head.

It was like she was desperately trying to get rid of the images that had haunted her in her sleep, images of Ellie barely recognizable, laying there broken in a hospital bed. And God, that God awful beeping sound that was the only proof that Ellie was still alive.

I remembered when Lieke got the call. It was during training, she dropped everything and was on the first flight to London. When she came back, it was like she had seen a ghost.

"Then he drugged her and placed her behind the wheel in the hope she would crash and it would look like an accident. She was in a coma for weeks." Tears started to form behind Kristie's eyes.

My face held no emotion, I was in too big of a shock. I sat there frozen, not able to move, I only stared at Kristie. Ella had told me about Jacob, in fact I was one of the first ones she opened up too. I genuinely had thought she had told me everything. It never occurred to me that she had left key details out even, Lieke had never said anything.

"I didn't know." I whispered still in shock, staring ahead of me. 

"You couldn't have." Kristie got up from her seat and walked over to the otherside so she was standing next to me. She placed her hand on my back to try and comfort me.

"Why didn't she say anything?" This time tears welled up in my eyes. The shock slowly wore off.

"Because she thinks she has to carry it all on her own. She's used to people leaving her that she just does it all alone." Kristie told me with a sad smile.

"How do I make her see that?" I looked up at the midfielder with determination.

She might think she's alone but I will show her that she's not. I will not leave.

"Be there for her." She simply said but gave me no time to say anything.

"Show her that you're gonna stay, that you're not gonna leave, not even when it gets rough or scary or real because shits gonna get real." Kristie breathlessly chucke. 

The midfielder knew enough about life herself because she had her fair share of setbacks and heartbreak to understand how it all worked.

"She hasn't dealt with the things she's been through, it's gonna catch up with her. She'll close herself off and push you away, she's gonna put everyone else's needs before hers and it's gonna frustrate you till no end but if you love her and I know you do, it's all gonna be worth it." A small smile broke out on my face, mirroring Kristie's.