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Submitted by AshK <alkite at gmail.com> (View user info) at 2005-04-13 13:51:59 EDT
Disclaimer: This is not a happy post, or a happy subject. I think it would sadden most people. It isn't written in a pretty manner, nor done up like a work of fiction. I just needed to write. Yeah, it's that kind of post.
When the phone rings at 2AM on a weeknight, it is rarely anything you want to hear. This was no exception. Terri's panicked, broken voice broke through ragged gasps "He's gone, he has Rachel." It took a moment for the sleep to retreat far enough into the corners of my mind for me to hear what she was saying. I still have not grasped the enormity of it.
Terri met Jason in 2000, while he was waiting for a plane in the Champaign where she was returning from a job interview in St. Louis. He was in town visiting an old friend who had taken on a teaching position at the U of I. The attraction was instant. Jason didn't fly home to North Carolina that day, instead he took Terri out for dinner and drinks. Afterwards, she went home, he went to a hotel and they thought about each other all night. I think we all got a glimpse of "love at first sight" in those first few months.
Jason flew here almost every weekend for eight months and finally decided it was time to move closer to the woman he loved. I remember thinking "good for you!" when Terri told me they were looking for a place together. Somewhere new for both of them. We all really liked Jason.
Months went by and Jason proposed. Terri, of course, accepted. He flew his parents, Joe and Marilyn, in to meet hers, and his family was just as sweet as he was. He had his dad's good looks and his mom's quick wit and easy laugh. Joe and Marilyn fit in with Terri's family as if they had known each other in years. So much so, that the wedding planning involved no bickering between families. Any married folks wish they had, had that experience? I know I do.
The wedding was beautiful and the couple was blissful. Their relationship was as uneventful as my telling of it indicates, so when my completely hysterical friend calls and says he's gone and took the baby, I couldn't grasp that she meant Jason. In fact I asked her where Jason was. She screamed the answer "He's gone! He. Has. My. Baby." The information wouldn't register. She could have told me aliens had grabbed her child and I could have wrapped my head around that easier.
My husband and I went to their place and Terri was a mess. The ER doctor gave us the rundown about three hours after we got her to the hospital. Broken Nose, Concussion, Fractured Clavicle, Broken right arm (above the elbow), Two fractured ribs (there were shoe shaped bruises on her back) and numerous bruises and cuts. She had laid unconscious for approximately three hours before she woke up and called me. Her parents were in Aruba.
It was a nightmare for weeks, not knowing where Jason or the baby was. Watching my outgoing, happy friend turn in to a shell shocked victim was horrific. Jason's parents couldn't find a medium between hating what he did, trying to figure out what happened and worrying about their only child. Everyone who has ever met this man would laugh in your face if you suggested he was capable of violence, me included. It just didn't make sense.
Jason was found a month after he blew out of town. A jogger found him on a park bench, dead. An autopsy was performed and a tumor was found in his brain. The doctors are convinced this accounts for his irrational behavior and his death. What the autopsy couldn't reveal was what had happened to Rachel. The police followed Jason's trail as far as they could, but couldn't find the baby or anyone who had seen him with her. The nightmare of waiting for news of her daughter was almost impossible for Terri to deal with. She will never be the same.
Rachel is home, now. She was found in an abandoned barn by some kids playing hooky. The coroner was not able to pinpoint her cause of death and I don't know that Terri will ever rest. I just hope she survives. There is nothing I know to say to her, because nothing will make this better.
Only time.
Maybe time.
I hope, time.
User Reviews
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2006-03-09 14:23:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This is horrifying. I just don't have anything to say to this. Just horrifying.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-04-14 14:15:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Holy... Aieeeee. That's not cool at all.
Submitted by stevie_says (user info) at 2005-04-14 04:30:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by GodChicken (user info) at 2005-04-14 02:37:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
What.The.Fuck.
Submitted by MoneyG (user info) at 2005-04-13 23:53:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Well, Time will do the trick. Always does.
Submitted by Bigmike (user info) at 2005-04-13 22:03:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Goddammit. Damn it all to hell.
Submitted by algermetiphist (user info) at 2005-04-13 21:16:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No comment.
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2005-04-13 19:15:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
oh damn, sorry to hear this
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2005-04-13 19:09:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh my god Ashk,
I don't know what to say except that my heart and thoughts go out to all of the lives touched by this tragedy.
I wish I knew why bad things happen to good people.
Submitted by Captain_Cool (user info) at 2005-04-13 18:53:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2005-04-13 15:30:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Josephine (user info) at 2005-04-13 15:12:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That's horrible. At the very least, I'm glad Jason had a reason for going crazy.
I hope things get better for Terri.
Submitted by ess-arr (user info) at 2005-04-13 15:05:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
great write...
Submitted by Pentameter (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:55:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Sometimes we don't realize what other people go through.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:47:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Holy cow.
I was wondering where you've been for a while now.
Welcome back...and my condolences. Yeah, that's about all I can really say right now.
Submitted by SiskelandFatboy (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:40:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
----
Submitted by spedmonkey (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:37:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:22:33 (#)
Ranking: 2
well... damn.
Submitted by Sarcasticus (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:29:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:22:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:19:18 (#)
Ranking: 2
See, now I'm torn.
It's good to see you because it's been a while.
But holy shit, that is awful.
So now I'm an amalgam of happy and horrified.
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:22:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
well... damn.
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:19:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
See, now I'm torn.
It's good to see you because it's been a while.
But holy shit, that is awful.
So now I'm an amalgam of happy and horrified.
Submitted by Badlands (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:18:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
...
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:16:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Adamdidit2u (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:14:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
c'est la vie
Shitty that is
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:06:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Horrific.
Submitted by knucklesnelson (user info) at 2005-04-13 14:00:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
WOW
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2005-04-13 13:59:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
So sad!
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-04-13 13:58:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Well, thanks for the disclaimer - I'm going to go hide under the covers now.