Chapter 5 - What's In The Bag 2?

Chapter 5: What's in the bag 2?

Naya sat upright on the bed. She drew her legs together and hugged herself tightly. If she was going to talk about her past ordeal, the least she could do was make sure she won't physically fall apart.

"You can talk to me, Naya" Jason encouraged.

Jason tried to hold her hand but Naya flinched, she didn't want to be touched. If she was going to do this, it was alone and on her term.

"I have been here too long, I made a mistake. He is going to find me and he is going to kill me"

A strange pain rose in Naya's throat and even after persistently clearing her airway, it remained. It was like her heart was being pushed out of her body via her throat.

"Who is going to kill you?" Jason was becoming increasingly worried by the seconds.

He moved closer to her but she moved away from him. So he decided to keep his distance.

"It doesn't matter, you can't help me. No one can.....no one can help me"

Naya felt wet fluids on her face and her left hand went to her face immediately. She traced the source of the leakage until it dawn on her that she was crying.

She felt something squeeze in her chest.

"You are right about one thing, I can't help you....Naya, I cannot help you unless you tell why you felt you needed a gun and who is going to kill you" Jason voice was firm and void of any emotions.

If she was in trouble he needed to be detached emotionally to come up with a plan. A clear head and a good plan was exactly what Naya needed from him.

Talk to me and I will do everything in my power to keep you safe, I promise"

Jason's unwavering sincerity almost made Naya believe him but if life had thought her anything, it was that she couldn't trust anyone.

"Don't... don't make promises you can't keep. Just don't" Naya was persistent in the way she feels about promises.

"I am Jason Ekoh-Yagazie, my word is my bond and I damn well keep my promises. Now talk....we don't have all day" Jason was just a little pissed she questioned his integrity.

He wasn't anything but the man of his word.

"Do you remember that Cinderella story, I told you few months ago?" Naya asked and looked up at him.

"Yes, I do.... If I am not mistaken Cinderella's parents died and left her with her evil stepmother and stepsisters" Jason answered.

"My parents died when I was twelve but instead of having evil stepmother. I had evil foster system.....I am sorry, I am explaining it to you like you are Nolani or any other child in this Orphanage with my Cinderella analogy" Naya attempted at a brief smile but even her smile was sad.

"I don't mind. I didn't even know who Cinderella was, until I googled her a few months ago. So, I guess.... thanks" even Jason's attempt at a joke was weak but Naya smiled nevertheless.

"I bounced from foster care to foster care till I was sixteen. But unlike Cinderella, I didn't met Prince Charming.....I met Kane"

A grand river overtook Naya as she hugged herself even tighter as she mentioned Kane's name, tears welled deep inside her and raced down her cheeks. She couldn't keep it in anymore, she thought she could but once the door to the quick sand that is called her life was open, she just kept sinking deeper and deeper.

Naya couldn't hold her heartbreak in any longer and she slowly dropped her whole weight on the bed and curled up like a ball as her tremor even got worst. Who said life was a road of roses, after all?

Her grief poured out in a torrent of irrepressible tears.

"Talk to me, Naya. I can help" Jason urged her on but she was inconsolable.

Her throat tightened and it seemed like her next anxiety attack was just around the corner.

"I don't care that you don't want to be touched but I am getting into bed with you and I am going to hold you until you stop shaking. Stop trying to hold your pain inside.....Naya, it is okay to let go and accept that life sucks sometimes and it's okay to be a little broken about all the little broken things in your life"

Jason first of went to the door and secured the lock. He took off his shirt and he climbed inside the bed with her. He kept his promise and held her tightly to himself.

"Just let it out, sweetheart. Don't hold it back anymore. Don't worry, I will hold you so you don't break into a million pieces" Jason whispered reassuring in to her ears and all hell was let loose.

Gut-wrenching sobs tore through her chest like she was being hacked apart by a mental patient with a hacksaw and chainsaw simultaneously.

She made herself smaller and burrowed deeper into Jason's embrace. Even though he couldn't understand what was going on and what was breaking the strongest woman he had ever met with exception to his mother. He just kept his promise and held her together.

Naya wiped her tears but the tears came back anyway. It was like trying to mop a room with a running tap.

When she became quiet for a bit, Jason dabbed her ashen cheeks.

"When I met Kane, I was just a teenager with abandonment issues in a crappy group home that needed an escape from her real life" Naya let out a laugh like the statement on its own was funny.

"I am going off on a limb to say, Kane wasn't really the escape you wanted" Jason said

"Oh no, he was....at least, he was when we met. He was this good looking kid that just finished his first tour in the Marine Corps. He was everything I wanted....came from a good and wealthy family. He knew what he wanted to do with his life while I was... clueless. He had just turned twenty and even though it was frowned up, I was sixteen which was age of consent and we were unstoppable"

Naya sobs subsided and she was still as a rock for the next part.

"My parents left me a trust fund that I could only access when I turned twenty-one and I made the biggest mistake of my life by telling Kane about it when we started dating. His parents had just cut him off financially.... actually, unknown to me, it was the whole reason he had enlisted and even when he came back, his parents still refused to help him."

Jason heard Naya clear her throat and assumed she was thirsty. He excused himself for a minute and poured her a glass of water which she gulped.

"When I turned eighteen, and he asked me to move in with him, I was the happiest girl on earth. He was this beautifully made hero that served his country and he was interested in me! After we moved in, I went to see his mother, I wanted to create a bridge to bring him back home but his mother warned me away. She told me to leave him but I wouldn't listen. I just couldn't reconcile the demon she was describing with Kane....why didn't I listen to his mother, Jason? Now, I am going to be on the run forever"

"Who are you running from, Naya? Who wants you dead?" Jason asked impatiently.

"My husband"

Naya's face was ashen again as she saw Jason's face drain of color.