Sacrifices of the Soul, Chapter 14
 

Theresa came into the kitchen and saw the freezer door open, but, couldn’t see the face.

" Miguel? Luis?"

" Nah, it’s me, Theresa."

" Chad! I’ve got a surprise for you."

Chad closes up the freezer door and Theresa sees him.

" CHAD! What Happened?"

Chad was standing there, with a towel filled with ice.

" Just trying be a big brother."

Theresa looked down at the floor and saw something red. She realized that it was blood.

" Chad, you’re bleeding! We have to go to the hospital."

" No hospital. I don’t got insurance."

" Chad, dammit, you’re a Crane. They can pay for it."

" I don’t take charity."

" When it comes to your HEALTH, there’s no such thing as charity. Now, I’ll help you to the car."

" No Hospital, Theresa. "

Theresa turned to look at Chad’s arm. Though the gash was bloody, it didn’t look very deep.  Theresa was staring daggers at Chad, but, his silence told her that he wasn’t going to budge either. Theresa sighed.

" Ok. I’ll help you up to your apartment, and I’ll check on you. IF I think that it’s serious, I don’t care Chad. I’ll call Luis and he’ll carry you to the hospital."

" You are bossy."

" When it comes to someone that I care about, you better believe it. "

Chad and Theresa made their way to the apartment above the Lopez-Fitzgerald garage. Theresa sat Chad down on the bed, and then went to get the First Aid kid that she knew Mama had placed there when Chad decided to move in. Theresa helped Chad off with his shirt. Theresa didn’t know how to deal with the thoughts that were running through her mind. There Chad was, hurt, and though she attended to his wounds, she couldn’t help but observe how certain muscles had improved since beginning the construction job. She put the disinfectant on the cut. On closer inspection, it really didn’t look that deep, and she put the gauze over it.

After dealing with the primary cut, she felt around the rest of Chad’s upper body. There were all sorts of bruises on it, and  her fingers seemed to trace over every one of them.

Through the pain, Chad could feel the sizzle of Theresa’s touch on his wounds. He didn’t understand why Theresa’s touching his scars was making his mind wander. In order to break the tension, he joked out loud,

" Will I live, Nurse?"

" I don’t know. I hope so. But, would you mind telling me what the hell happened?"

Chad began to speak, but, Theresa had pushed him onto the bed, chest first, and was on his backside, straddling him.

" Uh, Theresa, what the hell are you doing?"

" You’ve got tons of bruises. If I don’t give you this alcohol rubdown, you will barely be able to move tomorrow morning. Being in this position doesn’t stop you from talking, so SPILL IT!"

Chad felt the cool sting of the alcohol on his shoulders. It only stung for a moment, and then Theresa’s hands began to work their magic. He could feel the tension easing away.

" Well, Kay Bennett came to see me. She’s worried about Simone. She told me that Simone was beginning to make the wrong choices."

" Wrong choices? What happened to Mr. " Live life as it comes"?"

" Theresa. I’m an adult. I grew up in nothing but the streets, so I know the signs of scum. Outside of what happened a few months ago, Simone’s been protected and sheltered all her life. And, now, she’s in trouble."

" What kind of trouble?"

" Kay’s mainly worried about this punk, Hakim. That he’s into all sorts of stuff, and that Simone’s been spending a lot of time with him. So, I went to talk to him."

" TALK to him? Is this a new language."

" Yeah, the language of leave my sister alone or I’ll beat your ass. That language."

Theresa leaned down and kissed Chad on the cheek.

"You know, that’s sweet of you. But, you did the worst possible thing, Chad."

" What?"

" You may know about being a big brother, but, you know nothing about little sisters."

"Huh?"

" So, you told Hakim to stay away from Simone. What about Simone? You don’t think that she’s not going to have a say in all of this?"

" Simone is a child."

" Excuse me? A Child? Oh, I hope if she ever confronts you about this that you don’t start the conversation with that. Simone may be under 18, but, she is NOT a child. Not in her own mind. She has free will, and if she’s half as stubborn as you and Whitney, she will be a handful. She won’t appreciate you interfering in her life and not giving her any respect."

" Respect? She’s hanging around thugs, and you’re talking about respect?"

" Yes. Chad, if she finds out what you did, it’s possible that it will drive her even closer to that lowlife. Especially if he pulls the ‘it’s you and me against the world, Baby’ line."

Chad let out a sigh. " Damn! I didn’t think of that. My only thought was to get that asshole away from Simone."

Theresa finished  with Chad’s back and then turned him over, and slid onto the bed across from Chad. They were on their sides, looking at one another, as Theresa put the alcohol on her hands once again, and began rubbing it on Chad’s chest. She gave him a faint smile, and Chad had to stop his mind from wandering. ‘ Theresa is JUST a friend. You don’t need a ‘feelgood’ time. So, stop looking into and getting lost in those big brown eyes.’

" So, what were you going to tell me?"

Theresa, who had been admiring Chad’s chest, said, " Huh?"

" What were you going to tell me in the kitchen?"

" Oh, that. Just that I have registered for college."

" When?"

" Today. I’m not going to take a full load. But, I thought that it was time to begin the rest of my life. I want to be a designer, Chad. It’s time that I took steps to that effect. Did you know that Harmony University is part of a consortium of schools that participates in all sorts of special co-ops?"

" What’s a co-op?"

" It’s like an internship, but, it’s paid and these that I want, are fantastic. There are THREE that have to do with fashion: one in London, one in Paris, one in Milan. I’m going to win one of them."

" Well, you sound as if your mind is made up."

" It is. But, of course, you have to start with the beginning classes. So, I’m taking beginning computer graphics, english, beginning psychology and accounting."

" Accounting? There isn’t anything in there that says fashion."

" Not obviously, but, it’s there. The computer graphics is something that I want to learn, because I think I want to open up myself a little business, using my artistic talents to help other businesses to enter the ecommerce age. English is a must- no avoiding it. Psychology is an elective, but, I want to get those out of the way early, so that I can get classes in my major later.  And, accounting. I was reading this magazine article about all these young designers who got their dream of their own lines, but, were bankrupt in under 2 seasons. All of them said that they spent so much time focused on learning the ‘fashion’ side of things that they didn’t know how to deal with the ‘business’ side of it, and they made stupid choices based on ignorance. I don’t plan on making anymore stupid choices."

Chad smiled at Theresa. " Wow. Look at you. You have a plan, and you’re beginning to work it. Theresa, I think it kicks ass."

" You do?"

" Yep."

" I have a confession: I’m scared to death, Chad. I never thought about the possibility of these dreams. Not without Ethan.", Theresa admits.

" Well, you’re going to get all of your dreams, Theresa. And, it will be that much better because you got it on your own."

" I know what you’re saying is true. It’s just that I spent so many years thinking and dreaming only of Ethan."

" That time has to be over now, Theresa. You must go on with your life. He has. He’s been going on with his life from the getgo, when he married Gwen."

" Do you remember the wedding day?"

Chad nods his head. " Yeah. I remember it. I only remember two things: how I didn’t want to be there, and seeing you hiding in the bushes. Why did you torture yourself like that?"

" I had to see him marry Gwen. I don’t think that I would have believed it otherwise. Even when he stood there, at the altar, I thought that ‘fate’ was going to save me. That it was going to show Ethan that he was wrong. That there would be some indication on his face that he didn’t want to be there. That he didn’t really love her. That he couldn’t. That his family had forced him into the wedding, and that if he were free to follow his heart, he would be with me. After all, he had told me that he loved me."

" Ethan did that? Told you that he loved you? You never told me that before."

Theresa allowed a faint smile to cross her lips. " He did. It was the best moment of my life ever. And, then, it all fell apart. I destroyed Ethan’s love for me. "

" Theresa, I hate to say it, but, if his love for you could be destroyed so easily, it wasn’t much to begin with."

" I know. I looked for sadness on his face with Gwen, and there wasn’t any. He loved her. I never had given it any consideration. I thought she was a habit to him, like smoking cigarettes. It just hadn’t crossed my mind that she could have a real place in his heart, considering that I had offered him mine. In retrospect, I understand how unbelievably arrogant that sounds.  As if Ethan Crane had to be with ANYONE that he didn’t want to be with. "

" Theresa…"

" Chad, was it wrong for me to dream?"

" Oh, Hell no. It’s never wrong for anyone to dream. Sometimes, dreams are all that anyone has to make it through a day. The dream of a better life. A better time. Nothing wrong with dreams. Dreams are the only thing to hold onto when you have nothing. The difference between my life and so many guys that I knew growing up on the street, WAS a dream. It’s easy to let go of a dream, when faced with day to day survival. That kind of jungle living can wipe all your energy out."

" How did you do it? How did you hold onto hope?"

" I didn’t say anything about hope? I don’t think I believe in hope. Hope is way too dependent upon the ‘goodness’ in others. I’ve seen too much of the ugly of  life to believe in ‘hope’. A Dream is something different. A dream is producing records. A dream is knowing that it’s possible. A dream is putting together all the skills that you need, so that when a crack in the door happens, you can sneak through. "

" I don’t know Chad. I don’t know if I can believe in that. Hope is very powerful. You’re going to tell me that you’ve never hoped for anything?"

" The first and last thing I hoped for in years was a future with Whitney."