After suffering the consequences of a physical beating from her father, with a belt, Beth Culbertson decides she will not take any more abuse and runs away, but the father has a different story to tell.

 

“Tyson, wait up.” Ethan took the steps two at a time, racing to catch up with his friend. “You should have been with me! What a show!”

Several other students walked past; one girl rolled her eyes at their antics, others smiled at them. Both young men burst into a fit of laughter and continued jabbing at each other as they began the walk to Ethan’s home.

“So how did that press conference go? Learn anything special about the girl?” Tyson hadn’t changed his mind about her, but he understood that Ethan was different than him. 

“Haven’t been able to figure it all out yet.” Ethan stopped walking and faced his friend. “Her father is accusing her of assault and grand theft.”

“What?” Tyson could not hide his surprise. “She’s the one hurt. It had to be self-defense.”

“The Sheriff says she hit him over the head from behind.” Ethan scrunched up his face. “He was in a wheelchair, begging for her to come home.”

“Well, maybe she should go home. Maybe her dad’s sorry.”

“Are you crazy? I saw the red welts and bruises with my own eyes. If her dad did it, he should be in jail.”

“But what if he didn’t? You’re risking a lot, Ethan. Stop and think for a minute. You’re covering for a fugitive.” Tyson shook his head. “I’m looking out for you!”

“I know.” He shrugged his shoulders. “The least I can do is get her side of the story.”

“You know where she is? I thought you took her to the hospital last night.”

“Actually, she slept in the spare room.” Ethan sprinted toward his front door. 

“What? Oh God, no!” Tyson panicked. “Ethan, wait!” He raced after Ethan, grabbing his arm.

“Man, what’s wrong with you?” Ethan reached for the door handle.

“I didn’t know about the girl. I let Jesse wait for me here.”

Ethan yanked his arm away and opened the door. “I can’t believe you, Ty. I told you never to bring him to my house. He’s nothing but a lowlife.”

The bedroom door was standing open. Ethan rushed to the doorway and peered inside. He called her name,  “Beth. It’s Ethan.” No one answered, so he moved into the bedroom and checked the bathroom.

As he turned to leave, he spotted the bright red bloodstain on the bedsheets. Ethan made a low, guttural growl before spinning around to confront his friend.

Tyson stood in the doorway, stunned by what he saw. “Don’t jump to conclusions, Eth. Maybe it’s her woman thing.”

“I told you I never wanted that lowlife in my house. How could you, Ty?”

“It was just for an hour. You don’t know -”

“Get out, Ty. Just go before I say something we’ll regret.” Ethan pushed Tyson toward the front door.

“Over a girl, we don’t know? You’d choose her over me?” Tyson’s anger flared. “If our friendship means that little, you can go to hell.” 

Ethan grabbed Tyson’s shirt. Standing nose to nose, he snarled, “You chose Jesse over me. So, you can go to hell.”

Tempers flared, and fists began to fly. Tyson hit Ethan with a right uppercut to the chin, and Ethan retaliated with several punches of his own. His last effort sent Tyson sprawling across the floor.

“Get out, Tyson.” He turned and walked back into the bedroom. His stomach turned. He worried about where Beth was and what might have happened. Jesse had a lousy track record when it came to women; he prayed Beth wasn’t another notch on his belt.

**********

One hour after the fight, Ethan was still berating himself. Tyson was his best friend and he’d actually got into a fistfight with him. Granted, he shouldn’t have brought Jesse to his house, but he, also, had no idea Beth was here. Besides, Beth could have run away earlier this morning, or maybe she got scared with Jesse here and left. He kept trying to convince himself, but Jesse’s track record and the bedroom sheets told a different story.

Regardless, he needed to fix things between him and Ty. He reached in his pocket for his cell, but it wasn’t there; then remembered he’d forgotten it in his rush to get to the press conference. The next fifteen minutes were spent searching the house. He finally located it on the floor of the bedroom. 

“That’s odd. I know I didn’t leave it there.” He dialed Tyson’s number and listened to it ring. When Tyson didn’t answer, he left a message, “Ty, listen, man, I’m sorry. I flipped out because of Jesse and I shouldn’t have dumped it all on you. Call me!” He laid the phone down on the end table and headed to the kitchen for a Coke.

The phone rang and Ethan sprinted to answer it.

“Hi, Ty, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, man. It’s -

“Hello.” A young female voice was talking on the other end.

“Hello. I’m sorry. I was expecting a call from my friend.”

“I understand. My friend called me this morning from this number.”

“Your friend - is she by any chance Beth?”  That would explain the phone being in the bedroom. “Awesome, is she with you? Or do you know where she’s at?”

There was a long pause on the other end. “My name’s Rachel. I’m Beth’s best friend or at least I was till this morning. I need to talk to her.”

“Sorry, I’m not following. You talked to Beth, right?”  

“Yes, she wanted to come to my house, but my parents said no.”

“What? If she’s your best friend, why would they do that? She needed your help.”

“Oh, I know. I hate what I’ve done.”

“Listen, my name is Ethan and I found Beth in the park last night. Maybe, we could meet and piece the stories together.”

“Uuhh - I don’t know.”

‘I get it! You don’t know me, so let’s meet somewhere you’ll feel safe. Pick a place.”

“Okay, Beth and I always go to Chill Out; it’s a diner across from the Library. Would that be okay?”

“Great! I’m wearing a red basketball jersey and blue jeans. Can you be there in an hour?”

“I’ll be there. Thanks, Ethan. We’ve got to find her before the police do.”

“We’ll figure this out, Rachel. See you at the diner.”

Ethan exhaled loudly as he hung up the phone. He had an hour to kill and he needed to reach Tyson. He punched in his friend’s number, talking to himself while listening to it ring. “Well, Ty, why haven’t you called?” When it went to voice mail, he left another message, “Come on, Ty, don’t be that way. I screwed up, but so did you. Just call me back.”