The Rise of Rachel Stark Read online

  The Rise of Rachel Stark

  Copyright 2014 J.A. York

  Published by J.A. York at Smashwords

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: The Phone Call

  Chapter 2: East Tennessee

  Chapter 3: The Best Laid Plans …

  Chapter 4: Celeste

  Chapter 5: Why Rachel?

  Chapter 6: Celeste's Bad Night

  Chapter 7: The Bullies

  Chapter 8: The Rape

  Chapter 9: Rescued

  Chapter 10: The Aftermath

  Chapter 11: A Hospital Visit

  Chapter 12: The Restroom

  Chapter 13: 'Public Decency'

  Chapter 14: Time for the Truth

  Chapter 15: A Tense Fear, a Warm Glow

  Chapter 16: A Circle of Snoops

  Chapter 17: Dreaming about Jimmy

  Chapter 18: The Talk of the Town

  Chapter 19: 'Static Contractions'

  Chapter 20: New Year's Eve

  Chapter 21: The Music Man

  Chapter 22: The Drummer

  Chapter 23: Rachel! Rachel! Rachel! Rachel!

  Chapter 24: Two Weeks Later … $75,000

  Chapter 25: Insufficient Evidence

  Chapter 26: The Sting

  Chapter 27: Can You |Hear Me, Little Baby?

  Chapter 28: The First Kiss

  Chapter 29: The Millionaire

  Chapter 30: Riding Out the Waves

  Chapter 31: Tabitha Blaze

  Appendix

  J.A. York Recommends

  Chapter One

  The Phone Call

  "Oh, god ..."

  Sheldon Beasley's hand shook as he hung up the kitchen phone. His mouth fell open, and his breathing spoke of the panic rising in his chest.

  "Uh," he said, grabbing his head. "Uh. Oh, god."

  Rodney Stark had spoken in a whisper on the phone, a voice low and full of dread, because he said he had to. Sheldon missed much of what Rodney said, but he got the message just the same, right before Rodney said he had to hang up, and then did.

  On the night that Christians around the world celebrated a birth, Rodney said he was afraid his sister, Rachel, was going to die.

  Sheldon leaned into the living room, where four families had gathered, 10 people in all, his best friends in the world, talking and laughing, telling stories, nibbling on cookies and cheese balls, the adults drinking nog, the teenagers sipping cola, everyone marveling at the sparkling 15-foot Christmas tree with lights that spiraled into the room's vaulted ceiling.

  "Tabby!" Sheldon called. He tried to sound calm, normal. "Guys! Come here a second."

  The entire party had just come in from the garage, where Sheldon's dad had parked a brand new, solid red 1965 Ford Galaxie, Sheldon's combination Christmas and high school graduation present, although graduation was a few months away. Everyone had gushed over the car, patting Sheldon on the back, telling him he deserved it, though secretly Bull Evenshot and Jimmy Blaze, and maybe even Tabby Moore, were jealous. Even the grownups were a bit put off, feeling vaguely guilty that they had not given their kid such an outrageous present. And they had to admit to themselves they were a bit miffed that Charles and Joan Beasley had made such a show of it all, right in front of everybody. Yet, they all were longtime friends, as close as canned sardines, and they really did think Sheldon deserved it. Whatever uneasiness the unwrapping of Sheldon's gift might have caused was quickly forgotten. The festive air returned even stronger than before as soon as they all filed back into the living room.

  Then, suddenly, when Sheldon hurried into the kitchen to answer the phone, everything went wrong.

  Tabby knew the second she heard Sheldon call them into the kitchen that something was amiss. Bull and Jimmy followed her into the room.

  "Man, that is one cool set of wheels," Bull said, repeating what he had said earlier out in the garage, but really meaning it this time.

  "What's wrong, Sheldon?" Tabby asked.

  "Something's wrong?" Jimmy said.

  "That was Rodney on the phone," Sheldon said. "Rachel is going to have an abortion tonight."

  Tabby gasped. Jimmy and Bull's mouths fell open. The news took their breath away, even though it did not quite seem real to them.

  "Abortion?" Jimmy said. "What are you talking about?"

  A peal of laughter went up in the living room, grating on the kids' ears in the kitchen.

  After Chante High School's final football game of the season a month and a half ago, Rachel Stark had been raped in the town cemetery, not far from where she lived. She was on her way home when two guys jumped her. A few days later she told Tabby, Jimmy, Sheldon and Bull what had happened. They urged her to report it to the police, but she never did.

  But abortion? Rachel had not told them she was pregnant.

  Joan Beasley was playing the piano, and the group in the living room was singing Oh Holy Night.

  "That's it. An abortion. Rodney wants us to come out there. He wants us to … to stop the abortion," Sheldon said. "He said somebody – he called him an 'abortionist' – was coming, and Rachel is scared to death. She doesn't want this, but her parents apparently are forcing her to."

  "Oh my god," Tabby said. "You mean this abortion character is coming tonight?"

  "Rodney said it could be any minute now," Sheldon said.

  "Any minute? You're kidding!" Bull said. "How long has he known about this? Why didn't he tell us?"

  "Rodney said he didn't know until a few minutes ago, and that was only because he overheard his parents talking," Sheldon said. "He didn't even know Rachel was pregnant."

  "Wow," Jimmy said. "Look guys, we have to get out there, like, now!"

  "Right," Sheldon said. "Listen, I'm going to say Rodney wants to see my new car, and so we all are going out there."

  "Perfect," Tabby said. "Let's go."

  Sheldon led the way. "Hey, everybody," he said as they passed through the living room. "These guys can't wait. They want to have a little ride in my Christmas present. And that was Rodney Stark on the phone. He wants to see the car, so we're going to go out to his place for a bit. Back soon."

  "You're going out to the Stark place?" Sheldon's dad asked. It was more like a judgment than a question.

  Sheldon gave Charles Beasley a look that was just shy of a stare. "Sure," he said. "Why wouldn't we?"

  "Well." Charles cleared his throat. "Uh, there aren't any chains in the car yet. It's snowing out there."

  "Not that bad. We'll be fine," Sheldon said.

  "You kids be careful now," Joan Beasley said. Several adults echoed her, including Jimmy's grandparents. Jimmy's father was killed in the Korean War, and his mother died in an accident. Bull also lived with Jimmy's grandparents, because his parents died in a house fire.

  "We will, Mom," Sheldon said. "Don't worry."

  The teens disappeared into the garage.

  Sheldon backed his car out and down the driveway. It was snowing harder now, putting a fresh coat on the street and adding to the snowbanks along the roads that the plows had left a few days ago. Chante was getting the white Christmas that everyone always hopes for and then complains about.

  "How far is it out there?" Jimmy asked from the back seat, where he and Bull sat.
>
  "Four, I don't know, maybe five miles," Sheldon said. "I've only driven past the place, never been in there."

  "Sure wish I knew what Rodney meant when he said it could be 'any minute now,' " Jimmy said.

  "What's their place like?" Bull asked. "We need to talk about that, I think."

  "It's the old Davis trailer house," Sheldon said. "You know, about a mile or so past the cemetery."

  "That dump?" Bull said. "God, I don't believe it. I didn't think that place was even habitable anymore."

  "You could make a pretty good case that it isn't," Tabby said. "But the rent's dirt cheap, so that's where they're living. I was inside once with Rachel."

  "My god," Bull said. "Five kids and two adults in that trailer. How many bedrooms?"

  "Two," Tabby said. "The baby sleeps with Mom and Dad. I think Rodney sleeps on a couch in the living room, and Rachel sleeps with her two little sisters in the other bedroom. In one bed."

  "What's the layout of the place?" Bull asked.

  "Well, like I said, I've been there only once. But the front door, which is right in the middle of the trailer, enters into, like, a little breakfast nook or something," Tabby said. "Except the little table there could seat only two people, so I don't think they ever eat at it. Stuff was piled on it when I was there. So it's more like a little entryway than a breakfast nook, I guess.

  "I would think that 'breakfast nook' is way too fancy a term for that place," Sheldon said.

  "Well, right," Tabby said. "Anyway, and then that entryway is part of the kitchen, which is actually just a hallway that leads to the girls' bedroom if you turn right, and leads to the living room if you turn left. The parents' bedroom is just beyond the living room. And there also is a tiny bathroom there. The only bathroom in the place."

  "The kitchen is a hallway?" Jimmy said.

  "Well, yeah," Tabby said. "And a very short one at that. I mean, there's a refrigerator, sink and an electric stove and a few cabinets all along the exterior wall of the trailer. And that's it. That's the kitchen."

  "Where's the phone?" Bull asked.

  "Oh, yeah. It's, uh, it's on that little table in the entryway. I forgot about it because there was so much other junk piled there," Tabby said.

  "And is there a back door to the trailer?" Bull asked.

  "Well, there is," Tabby said, "but I don't think it works. When I was there there was a five-gallon bucket full of, I don't know, junk. Heavy stuff. Rachel said it kept that door from blowing open. So they never use that door. Besides, it leads out onto a little back porch, which is piled high with more junk. You couldn't even walk through it."

  "OK, and so where is that back door?" Bull asked.

  "Well, if you turn right just before you go into the parents' bedroom, that back door is right there," Tabby said.

  "OK. Think about this. If you had to guess, where do you suppose they would have Rachel tonight?" Bull asked.

  "I'm almost positive it would be the parents' bedroom," Tabby said. "It would almost have to be. I think Rodney would be in Rachel's bedroom taking care of the little kids. And Rachel would be at the other end of the trailer in the parents' bedroom, close to the bathroom."

  "So we would enter the front door," Jimmy said, "turn left into the kitchen slash hallway and walk straight back through the living room and – "

  "And you would walk right into the parents' bedroom. Correct," Tabby said.

  They fell silent. Sheldon headed toward the winding gravel road that led up and out of the Chante Valley, toward the town cemetery that overlooked the valley and then on past the Stark place.

  Finally Bull broke the silence.

  "One more question," he said. He paused. "Do you know whether there are any guns in that trailer?"

  Suddenly they were like birds flying in formation, soaring, diving and sweeping across the sky in unison as if they were a single bird. The same thought ran through the kids' minds simultaneously:

  What are we doing? What. The. Hell. Are. We. Doing?

  "Not that I noticed," Tabby, after a long pause, said in response to Bull's question.

  "And you know," Sheldon said, "I've never heard Rodney talk about going hunting or anything. Or his dad. Have you guys?"

  No, they said. But they fell silent again, each struggling with their own fears and doubts. They knew that no hunting didn't mean there weren't guns in the house. Finally, Sheldon spoke.

  "I sure hope we get there in time," he said. Then, as if responding to his own remark, he pressed down on the accelerator.

  The snowfall was getting heavier.

  Chapter Two

  East Tennessee

  Rachel Stark was lying in bed, the very bed she was conceived in all those years ago in East Tennessee.

  It seemed like such a faraway place now, East Tennessee. She was at home there. It would always be her home, no matter where else she might live, she thought. She was born in the house she lived in until they moved to Nebraska last August. If she could, she would move back to East Tennessee in a heartbeat. Especially now, this moment as she lay in Mom and Dad's bed, she longed to go back home.

  She tried to count her blessings, knowing that an "abortion doctor" would be arriving soon. Maybe if she thought good thoughts, it would make everything easier. East Tennessee always brought back good feelings.

  The people in the Appalachian Mountains where the Stark family lived, the "hill people," or "hillbillies" as some folks called them, liked to say they lived in a different time zone from the rest of the country. It wasn't a reference to the geographic time zones that everybody knows about. It was a reference to their way of life.

  The hill people lived mostly on farms or in very small towns. Because of the mountains they were somewhat isolated. They never seemed to be in a hurry. They didn't know the meaning of the word stress, because they had never experienced it. They were friendly – "Southern hospitality" was not something they put on when relatives from New York or Washington state paid them a visit, it was something they wore on their sleeves every day. They always had time for you, no matter what.

  Yes, the summers in East Tennessee were hot and humid, just like their first summer in Chante, for that matter. But the winters back home were mild or cool, not at all like the snow and subzero temperatures in Chante.

  And Rachel missed the fiddle, the harmonicas and the banjos of East Tennessee, and the folk music, the hillbilly or country music you could listen to on the radio any time of day or night. It's where she learned to sing, listening to and singing along with the radio. Even when she was 5 years old, her mother told her she was going to be a great singer someday. It made her feel good when she thought of that now.

  The Stark family lived in a small house in the country in East Tennessee. Dad did odd jobs – small carpentry jobs, house painting, handyman work. And like the pioneers of old, he made most of the furniture in their house, even the bed Rachel was lying in now. Mom made quilts and an occasional piece of pottery. They were honest, hard-working people, Rachel believed, and they were doing the best they could.

  The Stark family, like most families in Appalachia, had always been poor, although Rachel didn't realize it until she was in high school and traveled to a music competition in Nashville. The big city opened her eyes to a whole new world.

  But at home, things were getting worse. The Stark family was really two families. For years it was Mom and Dad, Rachel and Rodney. But when Rachel was 14 and Rodney was 12, Molly, now 4, joined the family, then Eva, now 3, and finally Johnny, now 2. In three short years, the family suddenly outgrew Benjamin's ability to support it.

  So they decided to move. Dad "heard" that Nebraska was a likely good spot for someone with his skills. The state's economy seemed to be doing well in the wake of World War II. And the picturesque little town of Chante, nestled in the hills in northeast Nebraska, was sure to become a tourist destination, he was told.

  But things, as things sometimes are wont to do, weren't working out as well as the family had
hoped. Dad was only moderately successful in finding jobs, and when winter set in, the jobs disappeared entirely. He managed to get the family on the welfare rolls, but getting by was a day-to-day struggle.

  Rachel did not want it, this abortion. She pleaded with Mom and Dad. When she was alone she cried.

  But five kids were enough, more than enough, she was told. They just couldn't afford another one. Besides, you aren't married. You were raped. You don't want this baby. People will talk. It's the worst thing that could happen to you, and we're sorry. We know it wasn't your fault. But it happened. It's a shameful thing. People will blame you. They always blame the woman. We would have to move again. We can't afford to move again. You can't walk around the school with a big baby bump. They won't allow it. You would have to quit school. You don't want to quit school. You're so smart and everything. And such a beautiful singer. So this is all for the best, she was told.

  But she was afraid, she said. Because women die.

  They had no answer for that. Just assurances. Denials. False promises. You won't die. We found this doctor. She's a woman. She understands. She knows what she's doing. She says it's safe. You won't die. Would we do it if we thought you might die? We wouldn't. You know that. Be brave. You have to trust us.