Lies Behind The Woods

beat-up hair as her back was turned to them.
“Hello,” Steve whispered to the woman. “Are you OK?” Jane asked.
The woman moaned like a hungry child as she turned around and said, “Help me.”
Steve and Jane looked at each other, turned to the woman and yelled in unison, “SAMANTHA!”

12


Jane
As night continued to fall in Cabin Fever, Jane sat in a corner of the cabin after cleaning her wounds. She looked over at Steve lying on his back staring at the ceiling, angry at him for getting her caught up in his mess. She was incensed about his drama and how he had gotten her kidnapped by a crazy psycho like John Dexter. Mad that she fell in love with Steve. Sad that she was used and misled three years ago. Sadder still that her friend, Rebecca, fell victim to John’s plot for revenge. Jane shed a small tear for Rebecca as she saw her body slowly decaying in the hot cabin. It was a fate she did not want for herself.
Jane turned her head to look at Samantha. How could she be abusive to her daughter all these years and I didn’t know? She thought to herself as she lay down on the hard floor.
She lay there motionless. Jane closed her eyes and shed another tear as she thought about her own abusive relationship three years ago.
“You sick cheating bastard”! Jane yelled at her husband, Byron.
“What the fuck are you talking about now? You always have some kind of twisted theory in your head,” Byron responded as he sat on the sofa drinking his favorite whiskey, watching football—his usual Sunday routine.
Jane handed Byron his phone with a text message from a girl named Terry.
At the sight of his phone being in Jane’s hands, he didn’t reach for it. Instead, rage flashed in Byron’s eyes as his eyebrows sank in. Within a split second, his glass of whiskey was on the floor spilling its contents while he grabbed Jane tightly by the wrist. Jane could see his knuckles become white from how hard he was holding her, but she didn’t let the phone go and continued her argument.
“Who is she?” Jane yelled at the top of her lungs while her face was red with rage and pain.
Byron stood up and yelled back at the top of his lungs as his face turned red.
“How many times have I told you to stop going through my fucking phone? She’s a client on a case I’m working on.”
“Let me go,” Jane yelled as she pulled back. “Why does your client want to meet you at three in the morning, Byron?”
“It’s a special case I’m working that you weren’t a part of. It’s confidential,” Byron continued to yell at her.
“Even your own wife, Byron? You are always being sneaky and lying to me. Let’s see what you are really up to.”
Jane dialed Terry’s number. As the phone rang, Byron lunged toward Jane to grab his phone.
“Give me my shit back!” Byron yelled as he slammed Jane to the floor.
Terry answered the phone.
“Hey, baby!” Terry answered in a soft, sexy voice. “Hi, Terry. It’s Jane. His wife. Here’s Byron for you. We’re done. Good luck.”
Byron snatched the phone from Jane, hung up the call and smacked Jane as hard as he could. He beat her that night, as he had many others. Jane finally had enough of the abuse and ran away to White Pine looking for an escape. An escape that led her to her first big case three years ago to put away John Dexter.
Jane opened her eyes and wiped away her tears from the awful memories that led to her divorce.
If I only knew about Tara, I could have saved her, she thought to herself. She felt Tara’s pain.
If I only knew, Jane repeated slowly as she cried herself to sleep.


13


Steve
Steve sat in the opposite corner away from Jane and purposely turned his back away from her to hide his face. The smell of Rebecca’s decaying body made him sick to his stomach. Steve wanted to hide his guilt. He felt overwhelmed by his confusion about the events that happened over the last three days, and by the pain he caused Jane and the situation he put her in. His ego was hurt from being used by Tara in her trap.
Steve sat there wanting to be strong but, at the same time, felt defeated. The pain in his chest was more than the bullet wound in his shoulder. If only he hadn’t been on that run that day. If only he hadn’t been looking for his father. He wouldn’t have been in the situation he found himself in now.
Steve sat in the corner thinking about what Tara said, the abuse that Samantha put Tara through when she was younger. He started to remember his own abuse and why he started to run.
Steve woke up to the sounds of shattered glass and a violent scream. It was his mom’s boyfriend, who he had always hated. It wasn’t unusual for his mother to be fighting with her drunk boyfriend. Steve knew this man was no different. Steve jumped up from his bed and ran as fast as he could to the dining room, where his mom was shaking like a beaten animal. Her hair was tangled and her face was red with a small tear in her eye. A broken glass sat by her feet with blood dripping from her leg.
“I’m sorry, Spencer,” Steve’s mom said in a soft tone. Spencer was standing very close to Steve’s mom with his fist clenched. Grabbing her with a death look in his eyes.
Steve continued his stride and pushed Spencer back as hard as he could.
“Stop! You’re hurting her!” He yelled.
Spencer still stood there angry. He held Steve’s mother’s hand in a threatening grip.
“Let her go! You’re hurting her,” Steve yelled again.
This time, Spencer struck Steve, sending him to the floor with his mouth dripping in blood. This was