Fragments Of Yesterday, chapter 32
Officer Frederick had been driving his cruiser along Oakland for the latter part of the morning, no action coming to him whatsoever. He was a little relieved at first, but the boredom was really starting to get to his head. He had mental images of him sitting in a coffee shop getting fast on Dunkin' Donuts, and that alone was enough to drive him mad. He needed something to do. Anything.
"Base to Frederick," the CB blurted out. Frederick snatched the CB up so quick that it surprised even himself. He fought down the eagerness that would surely creep into his voice before responding.
"Copy base," he responded. He waited, the static on the CB grating down on his nerves. After what seemed forever, the base finally answered.
"We have a suspect for possible assualt that was called in a for minutes ago. He's a white, Caucasian male, age 46, about six foot in height. Witness says he has short black hair and blue eyes. Possibly driving an '82 black Ford Pinto, slightly rusted around the driver's side door."
"Roger that," Frederick answered. "Location?"
"The greater Oakland area," was his reply. Thanks for narrowing it down, he thought.
Frederick continued his drive, a little disheartened. It seemed that he wasn't going to see any action anytime soon. Not so much as a simple breaking and entering. Or even teen vandalism. And now he was stuck driving around Oakland, looking for a car that he was sure he had seen many of all around the city. He turned onto another street and backtracked his path, deciding that this was better than nothing. Hell, he might even catch someone speeding on the way.
***
"Mom, something's going on outside," Jakob called to Adrienne as he looked out the curtain. He couldn't really make out what was going on, but he could see that there was a man talking to Billie and Katie that he didn't recognize. Well, talking wasn't really the word. The conversation was somewhat of a heated argument, which was what prompted Jakob to look out the window in the first place.
Adrienne walked over to the window and looked, letting out a surprised and horrified noise as she pulled away. She had just saw a gun being pulled out and someone pointing it at her husband. "Give me the phone," Adrienne said in rushed tones to her youngest son. Jakob immediately and without question hurried off to fetch the cordless without so much as another glance out the window. When he came back in, Joey was in tow with him.
"Mom, what's going-"
"Shhhh," Adrienne quieted him, dropping her voice. She glance out of the peephole this time before turning and resting her back on the front door. "Joey, get down on the floor."
"What the hell is going on?" Joey demanded, completely terrified at the sound of his mom's voice. He had gathered that something was going on outside, so he made for the window to look. With a speed that Joey didn't realize his mother possessed, she snatched Joey and made him sit very roughly on the floor.
"Not now, Joseph," she said. She looked over at Jakob, who was holdly the phone rather loosely in his grip. She grabbed it from him very quickly and dialed 9-1-1.
***
Frederick was about to give up the search after about two hours on nothing. His lunch break was coming on soon anyway, so who would really care if he cut it a few minutes short? He turned down a side street of a residential area, trying to take the quickest route to this small little restaurant by the bay. He had been told that they had excellent pie, and he really had the craving bad about now.
He stopped short after pulling onto the street however, his cruiser coming to a complete stop. A few yards in front of him was the '82 Ford Pinto, black, with rust on the driver's side door. And what do you know, the driver was missing. And given the neighborhood, which was wrought with mansions and nice houses, the Pinto was scarily out of place. Frederick picked up the CB. "Suspect Pinto has been sighted. I'm going to check it out."
Slowly, Frederick got out of the cruiser, careful to be quiet. Down the road, he could immediately hear a conversation going on that didn't seem in the slightest bit friendly. And no one was really caring about being quiet about it, either. He decided to cut through some yards, not wanting to be spotted if this person was truly dangerous. In the end, that decision had decided everyone's fate.
He chose to go from the right side, slipping into backyards and being careful not to make any noise. The last thing that he needed was some over-excited dog announcing his presence to the entire neighborhood, let alone the person in question. As he neared the voices, he became acutely aware that this was a life and death situation. He could hear the struggle very clearly now as the maneuvered around a swingset, walking into another yard. The voices were now directly in front of him, so he creeped very light-footedly around the side of the house.
Immediately, Frederick saw the gleam of a gun in the sunlight. He un-holstered his immediately, holding it out in front of him and clinging to the side of the house like velcro. When he emerged, he found himself directly behind two men fighting vigorously in the driveway. A teenage girl was lying face down on the pavement, arms covering her head. Frederick opened his mouth to announce his presence, but before he could make a noise the man on the bottom had the gun pointed at the man on top. A man that luckily, Frederick recognized, because up until now he had been unsure of who was the antagonist and who was the protagonist.
The man on top was undoubtedly the lead singer for a band, oh what was their name? Something that his daughter had listened with an obsessive passion. Something Day, most likely a color. Red, yellow, orange, blue, green? Green. That was it. Green Day. And in the mix, this house was most likely the lead singer's, because once Frederick's assumption had been confirmed, the man on bottom definitely had nothing to do with this house. He was poorly clad and obviously worse for wear, and therefore the antagonist in question. And he now had a gun pointed in the face of the lead singer of Green Day.
All these thoughts and more went through Frederick's mind in about three seconds before he aimed his gun carefully and fired.
***
Katie heard the gunshot go off, and convulsively her entire body twitched. Inside the house, Adrienne screamed and Joey and Jakob shouted. Billie rolled off of Jake with a thud, landing heavily on the ground beside him. A pool of blood was beginning to circle both of them, Jake gasping for air. Billie didn't move.
Frederick ran around the side of the house in correlation with Joey flinging the front door open and Adrienne ensuing directly behind. "Are you okay?" Frederick shouted, holstering his gun at his hip and running over. Adrienne dropped down to her knees beside Billie, completely unaware of the cop standing only two feet away.
"BILLIE?" she asked/shouted, her arms encircling him. Billie groaned and sat up slowly, taking heaving chestfuls of air.
"FUCK." That was all he said as he rubbed his hands over his head, trying to orient himself. All of that had escalated so quickly, and to tell the truth he had no idea what was going on. He looked over, letting his eyes focus. His eyes focused in on Katie, who was currently crying in Joey's arms, telling him what was going out in sobs and a voice that was hitting an unnaturally high octave.
"Oh my God!" Adrienne screamed, hands falling to the front of Billie's shirt. He looked down, shocked to see blood all over him. Adrienne was crying, having no idea what had just gone on.
"Not my blood," Billie muttered, standing up and turning. Everything was coming back to him with a clear accuracy, and he was ready to fucking kill Jake. He noticed for the first time when he looked at Jake that there was a cop present, accounting for the gunshot that Billie had almost been sure of came from the gun Jake had been pointing at his face. In a way, Billie felt like he had been shot, and this was all one of those things described of being an after effect of death. The kind of denial the mind tricks itself it believing before it can accept the fact that dead is dead. No more. No Billie.
This theory was shot completely out of the water when arms clinged around his midsection with a ferocity that nearly knocked the wind out of him. He looked down to see the top of massively disheveled red hair, and he could feel the way that she was shaking as she held onto him. He put his arms around her gently, pulling her as close as he could get her. "You okay?" he asked, his voice coming out soft. Katie let out a massive sob before looking up at him, eyes red and puffy.
"Are you?" she blurted, that kind of hysterical and demanding sarcasm showing itself. Billie nodded, running a hand through her hair and directing his attention once again to the officer, who had his walkie talkie in his hand, informing dispatch that the so-called suspect had been apprehended.
After a long stare at the cop, his eyes fell down on the ground to Jake. The blood had stopped pooling, and it was clear where Jake had been hit. The officer didn't kill him, but injured his left shoulder. Currently, his hands were cuffed behind his back, although Billie was pretty sure he was in too much pain to move anywhere. The handcuffs surely didn't help matters much in that respect. Billie smiled at the thought of Jake being in even more pain, seeings as it was nothing left than what the fucker deserved. Bastard.
The cop finished on the walkie talkie and walked up to Billie and Katie. "I'm Officer Dan Frederick," he introduced. "I'm going to have to get a statement from all of you on exactly what happened."
"Are you going to put him away?" Katie choked, eyes boring into the officer's. Frederick could plainly see that this girl was terrified of this man.
"Absolutely," he said.
"What if he gets out again?" she asked, refusing to even so much as glance in Jake's direction.
"Trespassing, assualt with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault, conspiracy to murder... " Frederick trailed off. "This man will be in prison for a long time. No worries."
***
Lou had sat down in his crummy little apartment early that morning and hung up the phone with a sigh. He ran a hand over his face, knowing that he should feel guilty for doing something that was considered low even among the lowest scum of the earth. He had lost a lot of sleep over the decision, but in the end, he couldn't even feel guilty. He knew that when angry, Jake was an extremely dangerous man. And to be honest, after seeing Jake in the bar earlier in the week, Jake was also a dangerous man with a vendetta.
So Lou had called into the police station with all the knowledge that he possessed, knowing full well that he had just severed any kind of friendship that he had ever had with Jake by doing so. In a way, he couldn't even be bothered. Jake had had murder in his eyes, and that frankly scared the shit out of Lou, and Lou wasn't afraid of any man.
Besides, Lou could have just saved someone's life.
Little did he know that he had been successful.
***
Billie, Katie, Adrienne, Jakob and Joey all walked out of the courtroom with nothing but triumph on their faces. Jake had just been charged guilty with all the counts and more than what Frederick had named off only three weeks prior, and none of them could be happier. Jake was sentenced to be sent to a prison without parole and for fifteen years.
Joey threw an arm around Katie, pulling her closer as they walked to the car. "How are you?" he whispered in her ear, seeing that she was still a little shaky. She looked up at him and smiled, but her eyes didn't. "There's no way he can get out, Kay." He kissed her on her forehead. She nodded a little, ducking her head as they piled into the car.
"I can't help it," she breathed, her voice still sounding a little shaky. "I guess I'll always have that fear."
"I know," Joey said. He squeezed her hand comfortingly, smiling a little. "But you know it's not good for you to be stressed, especially with the baby and all." Katie nodded.
"I know," she answered. "I'm fine. Really."
***
The next few months passed on quickly, everything eventually moving itself back on track. Billie went back on tour shortly after the trial and dealing with the press, which was more than willing to make sure everyone around the world knew what was going on in his personal life. He had also broke the news to Tre and Mike that Katie was pregnant, which Tre had been inclined to tease Billie relentlessly over. One thing had eventually led to another before Tre ended up with a black eye that he complained about monumentally.
Katie and Joey and Jakob all went back to school, pretending that nothing happened. Claire had cornered Katie on many occasions, but nothing could really bother Katie. She was safe now, safe and away from Jake. She was also with someone who she loved very much and carrying his child, and for that she was happy too, even giving the fact that she was so young.
When Katie hit the fifth month of pregnancy, there was no hiding the fact that she was pregnant. That not only brought a lot more heat from Claire, but from the press to Billie as well. He all took it in stride, not particularly ashamed of it. After everything, he was supportive of Katie and Joey, even if they had made a mistake.
On April 3rd, Katie went into labor after doing her homework. Billie and Joey had been the only ones home at the time, and with much commotion, panic and stealth they had gotten Katie to the hospital. At 8:59PM, Kevin Armstong, named after Katie's real father, had been born.
***
Katie and Joey were all grins as they drove back to see Billie and Adrienne. They were both twenty-two, now, their six year old son in the back seat.
"How do you think they'll take it?" Katie asked with a smile as she linked her hand in Joey's. He returned the smile and turned back to the road.
"No idea," he answered. "But Mom will probably flip that we went off and eloped instead of having a wedding, and after that, much crying."
"What about Billie?" Katie inquired.
"Oh, I'd say Dad will pretend to side with Mom, but as soon as her attention is diverted, will admit that it was probably a good idea." Katie giggled at this, knowing it was all too true. She looked around as Oakland passed by, taking in the scenery. She could hear Kevin chattering happily in the backseat, making her smile widen into a grin.
Life was good for Katie. No, she amended, life is great.
And for once in her life, she didn't have to think about her past. All she could think about was the future, and all of her bad experiences and memories were nothing but the fragments of yesterday.
FIN
"Base to Frederick," the CB blurted out. Frederick snatched the CB up so quick that it surprised even himself. He fought down the eagerness that would surely creep into his voice before responding.
"Copy base," he responded. He waited, the static on the CB grating down on his nerves. After what seemed forever, the base finally answered.
"We have a suspect for possible assualt that was called in a for minutes ago. He's a white, Caucasian male, age 46, about six foot in height. Witness says he has short black hair and blue eyes. Possibly driving an '82 black Ford Pinto, slightly rusted around the driver's side door."
"Roger that," Frederick answered. "Location?"
"The greater Oakland area," was his reply. Thanks for narrowing it down, he thought.
Frederick continued his drive, a little disheartened. It seemed that he wasn't going to see any action anytime soon. Not so much as a simple breaking and entering. Or even teen vandalism. And now he was stuck driving around Oakland, looking for a car that he was sure he had seen many of all around the city. He turned onto another street and backtracked his path, deciding that this was better than nothing. Hell, he might even catch someone speeding on the way.
***
"Mom, something's going on outside," Jakob called to Adrienne as he looked out the curtain. He couldn't really make out what was going on, but he could see that there was a man talking to Billie and Katie that he didn't recognize. Well, talking wasn't really the word. The conversation was somewhat of a heated argument, which was what prompted Jakob to look out the window in the first place.
Adrienne walked over to the window and looked, letting out a surprised and horrified noise as she pulled away. She had just saw a gun being pulled out and someone pointing it at her husband. "Give me the phone," Adrienne said in rushed tones to her youngest son. Jakob immediately and without question hurried off to fetch the cordless without so much as another glance out the window. When he came back in, Joey was in tow with him.
"Mom, what's going-"
"Shhhh," Adrienne quieted him, dropping her voice. She glance out of the peephole this time before turning and resting her back on the front door. "Joey, get down on the floor."
"What the hell is going on?" Joey demanded, completely terrified at the sound of his mom's voice. He had gathered that something was going on outside, so he made for the window to look. With a speed that Joey didn't realize his mother possessed, she snatched Joey and made him sit very roughly on the floor.
"Not now, Joseph," she said. She looked over at Jakob, who was holdly the phone rather loosely in his grip. She grabbed it from him very quickly and dialed 9-1-1.
***
Frederick was about to give up the search after about two hours on nothing. His lunch break was coming on soon anyway, so who would really care if he cut it a few minutes short? He turned down a side street of a residential area, trying to take the quickest route to this small little restaurant by the bay. He had been told that they had excellent pie, and he really had the craving bad about now.
He stopped short after pulling onto the street however, his cruiser coming to a complete stop. A few yards in front of him was the '82 Ford Pinto, black, with rust on the driver's side door. And what do you know, the driver was missing. And given the neighborhood, which was wrought with mansions and nice houses, the Pinto was scarily out of place. Frederick picked up the CB. "Suspect Pinto has been sighted. I'm going to check it out."
Slowly, Frederick got out of the cruiser, careful to be quiet. Down the road, he could immediately hear a conversation going on that didn't seem in the slightest bit friendly. And no one was really caring about being quiet about it, either. He decided to cut through some yards, not wanting to be spotted if this person was truly dangerous. In the end, that decision had decided everyone's fate.
He chose to go from the right side, slipping into backyards and being careful not to make any noise. The last thing that he needed was some over-excited dog announcing his presence to the entire neighborhood, let alone the person in question. As he neared the voices, he became acutely aware that this was a life and death situation. He could hear the struggle very clearly now as the maneuvered around a swingset, walking into another yard. The voices were now directly in front of him, so he creeped very light-footedly around the side of the house.
Immediately, Frederick saw the gleam of a gun in the sunlight. He un-holstered his immediately, holding it out in front of him and clinging to the side of the house like velcro. When he emerged, he found himself directly behind two men fighting vigorously in the driveway. A teenage girl was lying face down on the pavement, arms covering her head. Frederick opened his mouth to announce his presence, but before he could make a noise the man on the bottom had the gun pointed at the man on top. A man that luckily, Frederick recognized, because up until now he had been unsure of who was the antagonist and who was the protagonist.
The man on top was undoubtedly the lead singer for a band, oh what was their name? Something that his daughter had listened with an obsessive passion. Something Day, most likely a color. Red, yellow, orange, blue, green? Green. That was it. Green Day. And in the mix, this house was most likely the lead singer's, because once Frederick's assumption had been confirmed, the man on bottom definitely had nothing to do with this house. He was poorly clad and obviously worse for wear, and therefore the antagonist in question. And he now had a gun pointed in the face of the lead singer of Green Day.
All these thoughts and more went through Frederick's mind in about three seconds before he aimed his gun carefully and fired.
***
Katie heard the gunshot go off, and convulsively her entire body twitched. Inside the house, Adrienne screamed and Joey and Jakob shouted. Billie rolled off of Jake with a thud, landing heavily on the ground beside him. A pool of blood was beginning to circle both of them, Jake gasping for air. Billie didn't move.
Frederick ran around the side of the house in correlation with Joey flinging the front door open and Adrienne ensuing directly behind. "Are you okay?" Frederick shouted, holstering his gun at his hip and running over. Adrienne dropped down to her knees beside Billie, completely unaware of the cop standing only two feet away.
"BILLIE?" she asked/shouted, her arms encircling him. Billie groaned and sat up slowly, taking heaving chestfuls of air.
"FUCK." That was all he said as he rubbed his hands over his head, trying to orient himself. All of that had escalated so quickly, and to tell the truth he had no idea what was going on. He looked over, letting his eyes focus. His eyes focused in on Katie, who was currently crying in Joey's arms, telling him what was going out in sobs and a voice that was hitting an unnaturally high octave.
"Oh my God!" Adrienne screamed, hands falling to the front of Billie's shirt. He looked down, shocked to see blood all over him. Adrienne was crying, having no idea what had just gone on.
"Not my blood," Billie muttered, standing up and turning. Everything was coming back to him with a clear accuracy, and he was ready to fucking kill Jake. He noticed for the first time when he looked at Jake that there was a cop present, accounting for the gunshot that Billie had almost been sure of came from the gun Jake had been pointing at his face. In a way, Billie felt like he had been shot, and this was all one of those things described of being an after effect of death. The kind of denial the mind tricks itself it believing before it can accept the fact that dead is dead. No more. No Billie.
This theory was shot completely out of the water when arms clinged around his midsection with a ferocity that nearly knocked the wind out of him. He looked down to see the top of massively disheveled red hair, and he could feel the way that she was shaking as she held onto him. He put his arms around her gently, pulling her as close as he could get her. "You okay?" he asked, his voice coming out soft. Katie let out a massive sob before looking up at him, eyes red and puffy.
"Are you?" she blurted, that kind of hysterical and demanding sarcasm showing itself. Billie nodded, running a hand through her hair and directing his attention once again to the officer, who had his walkie talkie in his hand, informing dispatch that the so-called suspect had been apprehended.
After a long stare at the cop, his eyes fell down on the ground to Jake. The blood had stopped pooling, and it was clear where Jake had been hit. The officer didn't kill him, but injured his left shoulder. Currently, his hands were cuffed behind his back, although Billie was pretty sure he was in too much pain to move anywhere. The handcuffs surely didn't help matters much in that respect. Billie smiled at the thought of Jake being in even more pain, seeings as it was nothing left than what the fucker deserved. Bastard.
The cop finished on the walkie talkie and walked up to Billie and Katie. "I'm Officer Dan Frederick," he introduced. "I'm going to have to get a statement from all of you on exactly what happened."
"Are you going to put him away?" Katie choked, eyes boring into the officer's. Frederick could plainly see that this girl was terrified of this man.
"Absolutely," he said.
"What if he gets out again?" she asked, refusing to even so much as glance in Jake's direction.
"Trespassing, assualt with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault, conspiracy to murder... " Frederick trailed off. "This man will be in prison for a long time. No worries."
***
Lou had sat down in his crummy little apartment early that morning and hung up the phone with a sigh. He ran a hand over his face, knowing that he should feel guilty for doing something that was considered low even among the lowest scum of the earth. He had lost a lot of sleep over the decision, but in the end, he couldn't even feel guilty. He knew that when angry, Jake was an extremely dangerous man. And to be honest, after seeing Jake in the bar earlier in the week, Jake was also a dangerous man with a vendetta.
So Lou had called into the police station with all the knowledge that he possessed, knowing full well that he had just severed any kind of friendship that he had ever had with Jake by doing so. In a way, he couldn't even be bothered. Jake had had murder in his eyes, and that frankly scared the shit out of Lou, and Lou wasn't afraid of any man.
Besides, Lou could have just saved someone's life.
Little did he know that he had been successful.
***
Billie, Katie, Adrienne, Jakob and Joey all walked out of the courtroom with nothing but triumph on their faces. Jake had just been charged guilty with all the counts and more than what Frederick had named off only three weeks prior, and none of them could be happier. Jake was sentenced to be sent to a prison without parole and for fifteen years.
Joey threw an arm around Katie, pulling her closer as they walked to the car. "How are you?" he whispered in her ear, seeing that she was still a little shaky. She looked up at him and smiled, but her eyes didn't. "There's no way he can get out, Kay." He kissed her on her forehead. She nodded a little, ducking her head as they piled into the car.
"I can't help it," she breathed, her voice still sounding a little shaky. "I guess I'll always have that fear."
"I know," Joey said. He squeezed her hand comfortingly, smiling a little. "But you know it's not good for you to be stressed, especially with the baby and all." Katie nodded.
"I know," she answered. "I'm fine. Really."
***
The next few months passed on quickly, everything eventually moving itself back on track. Billie went back on tour shortly after the trial and dealing with the press, which was more than willing to make sure everyone around the world knew what was going on in his personal life. He had also broke the news to Tre and Mike that Katie was pregnant, which Tre had been inclined to tease Billie relentlessly over. One thing had eventually led to another before Tre ended up with a black eye that he complained about monumentally.
Katie and Joey and Jakob all went back to school, pretending that nothing happened. Claire had cornered Katie on many occasions, but nothing could really bother Katie. She was safe now, safe and away from Jake. She was also with someone who she loved very much and carrying his child, and for that she was happy too, even giving the fact that she was so young.
When Katie hit the fifth month of pregnancy, there was no hiding the fact that she was pregnant. That not only brought a lot more heat from Claire, but from the press to Billie as well. He all took it in stride, not particularly ashamed of it. After everything, he was supportive of Katie and Joey, even if they had made a mistake.
On April 3rd, Katie went into labor after doing her homework. Billie and Joey had been the only ones home at the time, and with much commotion, panic and stealth they had gotten Katie to the hospital. At 8:59PM, Kevin Armstong, named after Katie's real father, had been born.
***
Katie and Joey were all grins as they drove back to see Billie and Adrienne. They were both twenty-two, now, their six year old son in the back seat.
"How do you think they'll take it?" Katie asked with a smile as she linked her hand in Joey's. He returned the smile and turned back to the road.
"No idea," he answered. "But Mom will probably flip that we went off and eloped instead of having a wedding, and after that, much crying."
"What about Billie?" Katie inquired.
"Oh, I'd say Dad will pretend to side with Mom, but as soon as her attention is diverted, will admit that it was probably a good idea." Katie giggled at this, knowing it was all too true. She looked around as Oakland passed by, taking in the scenery. She could hear Kevin chattering happily in the backseat, making her smile widen into a grin.
Life was good for Katie. No, she amended, life is great.
And for once in her life, she didn't have to think about her past. All she could think about was the future, and all of her bad experiences and memories were nothing but the fragments of yesterday.
FIN
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