Stranded

Chapter Eighteen

“We won’t get killed. I promise, Jade,” I squeezed her tight.

“Please don’t leave me,” She whispered weakly.

“I promise I won’t,” I squeezed my eyes shut. I promise. I won’t let anymore of us die. Not until we’re old enough. We will live until we can’t live anymore. These aliens won’t get in the way of it. Nothing will.

“I want to tell my story next,” Stephan announced suddenly. I nodded while still looking at Jade, trying to calm her down.

“Okay,” Trevor nodded, only because Jade was crying too hard to say anything, I was too busy soothing her, and Matt looked like he was deep in thought.

“I used to have a wife...and a son,” Stephan declared. All of our heads slowly looked up at him.

“What...what happened to them?” Trevor dared to ask.

“Her father didn’t want her to be with me. We got married secretly. Everything was tough for her. Her father didn’t approve of me. Her name was Bradi. She was beautiful. She had long, silky, brown hair. She had the sweetest brown eyes you could ever think of. Her father would abuse her. He hated me so much, that whenever I just walked past his house, he shot at me with a gun. He never got me. Her mother would also hit her. They all bullied her. And when they found out she was having a baby, they were really angry. But they didn’t hurt her. They wanted to. But they didn’t.” He closed his eyes remembering the times. My eyes widened slightly. He had to go through that just to be with the one he loved?

I reached my hand for Trevor’s. It seemed like he was thinking the same thing, because our hands met halfway there. We looked at each other, me having a little bit of tears in my eyes at the thought of him getting killed by my father just to be with me. He squeezed my hand gently. I could tell by the look he was giving me, he was saying that he would do just the same for me. I shook my head. He wouldn’t do that. That wouldn’t be worth it.

I’m not worth it.

He moved closer to me, and wrapped his arm around my waist. Jade’s head was in my lap as I played with her hair. It soothes her. “It would be worth it,” Trevor whispered in my ear, then kissed my cheek.

“I would do the same for you,” I whispered back quickly, seeing as Stephan was about to talk again.

“She gave birth to him. His name was Mason. He was a beautiful baby. She had to sneak out of her house in order for me to see him. But one day, she made the mistake of leaving the baby alone for her mother to babysit him while she was gone. Her mother threw Mason down the stairs. She banged him against the wall. She even cut him with a knife. But Bradi came home right when he mother was about to…k-kill him,” He gulped, embracing himself for the next part. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked off into the distance, pursing his lips to keep from crying. I heard Jade gasp, and then she started crying a little.

I’ve never seen a grown man cry. I wish I could’ve met Bradi and Mason. They sound like amazing people. And I bet Mason would’ve been the cutest thing ever.

“Her father came in. I was there at the time, by the way.  He came in. He said that  I wasn’t allowed to see the baby again. He said that Bradi needed to leave his house, and never come back. He told us that he was going to keep Mason. He said that Brandi was too young to raise a child at 20 years old. Brandi was sad. We were both sad. We knew that they would hurt or kill Mason. And we had no way out of it because her father held a gun to all of our heads, except for her mother’s head.” He looked down at the ground, clenching his fists.

“I wish I could’ve done something. I wish she didn’t do what she did.” He whispered.  He wiped a stray tear that fell down his face away.”She grabbed the gun out of his hand and she shot Mason. She killed him.” He put his head in my hands as everyone gasped.