A Love That Heals Read online

  A Love That Heals

  Priyanka C.

  Chapter One

  The weather outside was mostly calm, except for a gentle breeze that would pick up every now and then.

  Jenna liked the calmness after the continuous days of storms that had thrashed the city for the last few days.

  Walking down the street, after just having finished a very scrumptious meal, Jenna and her husband, Mark were holding hands, and after a long time, they had been able to enjoy some quality time with each other.

  But as they were walking down the street, they noticed a car pull up on the other side of the road, and saw a few guys exit the car, holding on to a girl, who seemed as if she was having some difficulty in walking.

  She was being supported by two guys, both big and burly, while one walked in the front, and the other stayed a few paces behind.

  Instantly, Jenna knew something was wrong. She looked at her husband, and pointed at the group of guys.

  “Let me check it out,” said Mark, who was a police officer, and the most qualified person in the present scenario to handle the situation.

  “I want to come with you,” said Jenna.

  “You don’t need to. I can handle this,” Mark insisted.

  “And you know I can handle myself as well, don’t you?”

  Mark took a deep breath. He could sense the resolve in his wife’s voice and there was no use arguing with her when she was this determined about something.

  The group of people on which Jenna had her eyes was walking slowly towards an alley, mostly because the girl was slowing them down.

  Jenna and Mark crossed the road, and started to gain on the group, and when the guy was trailing behind looked back and saw Jenna and Marl, he said something to others, and the group came to a halt, with the girl hanging on the arm of the biggest dude who was with them.

  Mark approached the group, and Jenna stayed a few paces behind.

  “Where are you taking that girl?”

  “That is none of your business, chum!” said one of the guys in a squeaky voice.

  “You do realize that you have an intoxicated or a drugged girl with you, who does not seem to be in her senses, and it is almost 10 in the night, and so, as a concerned citizen, and also a member of the police force, it actually is my business to ask you what you are doing with her?” said Mark, flashing his police badge.

  The guys look startled, and Mark could see that his badge had worked precisely how he wanted it to.

  He did not always like to use his fists and legs to make people understand what he was trying to say.

  “She is our friend, and we were in a club where she drank a lot, clearly, and we were just helping her to her house. She lives down the street.”

  “Why would you stop the car meters away from her house, and then walk her there. Wouldn't it have been easier to stop the car in front of her house?”

  The guys went quiet, and just then, the guy holding the girl shook his arm, and the girl dropped to the floor, and in the next second, he turned around, and started to run as if his life depended on it.

  The other men too took the hint, and knew there was no use arguing with a policeman, and they too ran away into the darkness, and then turned the corner into the alley where they would have taken the girl had Jenna and Mark not stopped them.

  Mark hurried to the girl, and picked her up from the ground, and Jenna hurried to beside him.

  “She is very drunk, or she is drugged,” said Mark.

  “Hey, can you hear us?” Jenna asked the girl, who had her eyes half-open.

  “There is no use talking to her,” said Mark.

  “Wait, can you pull back her hood,” said Jenna, and Mark pulled on the hood of the hoodie that the girl was wearing, revealing messy hair, but a very beautiful face, with a very sharp jawline, almost perfect features, and eyes with smoky makeup that made the girl looked like she had just walked off a runway and gone to a club.

  “Shit,” Jenna whispered under breath.

  “What happened?” asked Mark.

  “I think I know this girl,” said Jenna, still talking in a whisper.

  “How?”

  “Because she is a senior at my school,” said Jenna, and then she looked at Mark and said, “and she is one of the brightest students that I have ever taught. We need to take her to our house, Mark.”

  ∞∞∞

  As Jenna opened the door, Mark brought the girl inside the house, who Jenna said was called Alissa.

  Mark hauled Alissa over to the couch, and dropped the girl onto the soft cushions.

  “Now what do we do?” asked Mark, his hands on his hips.

  “We have to wait for her to come to her senses,” said Jenna, who was looking confused herself.

  “You do realize we have just brought this girl to our house and she has no idea. In some places, this could be termed as kidnapping,” said Mark, walking over to the bar counter situated in the corner of the main living hall of their house, and taking out a bottle of water from the mini-fridge.

  Jenna rolled her eyes at her husband, and Mark smiled.

  Even at 35, Jenna looked as cute as any high schooler that she taught, and with her petite frame, brown hair and black eyes, and a face that looked very much like Jessica Alba, Mark could hardly believe his luck that he married a girl as hot and beautiful as Jenna.

  “She knows me. Although she has been bunking my classes for the past few weeks. And come to think of it, she has been acting very weird in school as well. A few of the teachers were talking about her, and I think they are right, there is something going on with this girl.”

  “That is a pity, but I am telling you once again. This girl ain’t waking up tonight. She is beyond passed out,” said Mark, taking a gulp from the Evian bottle, and emptying it up.

  “Throw me a bottle as well,” said Jenna, as she thought things over.

  After quenching her thirst, she removed her high neck sweater, and sat down on the couch beside Alissa, who looked as lifeless as a corpse, except for her chest which was heaving.

  “You go and take a shower. I will try and get her to wake up, and if she doesn’t, then she is going to the guest room, and you will have to carry her up.”

  “What? You want me to touch a very hot, and beautiful young girl, pick her up in my arms, and carry her to my guest bedroom? I am appalled! You are the worst wife ever!” Mark joked, and Jenna smiled, but her eyes were still on Alissa.

  She studied her face, observed the flawless, smooth skin, the contouring of her makeup, her smoky eyes, her straight, silky black hair, and her face, which resembled Kendall Jenner, the supermodel, and one of Jenna’s celebrity crushes.

  And then Jenna remembered how she had always liked looking at Alissa in the class, how her presence in the room would always bring calmness and joy to Jenna.

  As Mark climbed the staircase, and went to their bedroom, Jenna touched Alissa’s face, and then caressed her cheeks.

  There was no denying the girl was one of the most beautiful females that Jenna had ever seen, and even though she had not planned on touching her face, Jenna could not help herself.

  Jenna brushed Alissa’s hair out of her face and then looked at her face for a few more seconds, before she realized what she was doing was very creepy, and then she left Alissa on the couch and poured herself a drink.

  ∞∞∞

  3 hours later, Alissa was still passed out, and Mark had to eventually carry the girl upstairs to the empty guestroom, where he laid her down, and Jenna draped a blanket over her body, with Alissa snoring lightly.

  “She is really beautiful,” said Mark.

  “I know, right?” said Jenna, and although she thought she should have been a little jealous at the way Mark had call
ed her beautiful, she realized she felt jealous in an entirely different way.

  She felt as if only she had the right to call her pretty and no one else.

  “What if she wakes up in the middle of the night, does not recognize where she is and calls the cops, or starts screaming or something?” asked Jenna.

  “I am a cop,” said Mark, with a smile.

  “Yeah, but she doesn't know that. We need to write a note for her, and stick it to the headboard of the bed.”

  “I don’t think she will do what you fear, but if it will make you feel any better, then go ahead,” said Mark, and left Jenna alone with an unconscious Alissa.

  Jenna wrote down a note for Alissa, explaining where she was and why, and that she was in the house of her teacher and there was nothing to worry about.

  And then, she stuck the note on the headboard, looked at Alissa one last time, felt butterflies in her stomach, and then wondered why this girl was having this effect on her all of a sudden, and then, with weird thoughts running through her mind, she left.

  ∞∞∞

  The next morning, Alissa woke with a start. She was confused, and in a daze, and for a few minutes, she just sat on the queen-size bed, and looked around.

  She was in a medium-sized room, with two paintings hanging from either side of the bed, one depicting a very serene and calm scene from the Swiss Alps, and the other was a family portrait showing a handsome man with an even more beautiful woman, and a cute baby girl in their lap.

  Before Alissa could read the note, she recognized the woman in the painting, and was even more confused than when she had initially woken up.

  Alissa rushed outside the room, and walked into a carpeted corridor, which was empty.

  She walked down the hall, until she reached a set of stairs that led down to a massive hall, with a chandelier looking down from above, and then she saw them, the family that she had seen in the painting was sitting down below, except the girl.

  “Alissa?” the chestnut-haired woman, who looked like a young Jessica Alba, stood up from her seat, and smiled awkwardly at Alissa, who climbed down the stairs in a rush.

  “Mrs. Smith? Why am I here?” Alissa asked as soon as she was at the landing of the staircase.

  “It is a long story, and we have a few questions for you as well,” a man stood up, who Alissa thought must be Mrs. Smith’s husband.

  “Please take a seat first, Alissa, and have something to eat. You must be exhausted.”

  “I don’t want anything to eat. Just tell me what happened last night, and then I will be on my way.”

  “I am sorry, that won’t be happening, Alissa. You will sit down at the table, and then you will eat something, and then we'll talk. My husband is a police officer, and if you don’t want to make things tougher for you, you will do as asked,” said Jenna, assuming her strict teacher tone, and Mark was surprised to hear his wife, who was taking such good care of this girl yesterday, talk so sternly to her.

  Alissa took a deep breath, calmed herself down, and took a seat at the dining table.

  “That’s better,” said Jenna, and sat down as well.

  Alissa looked down at the plate in front of her, and cut a piece of the sausage, dipped it in sauce, and took a bite, and her growling stomach thanked her for it.

  Alissa noticed that someone had removed her hoodie, and she was in a spaghetti top, and her jeans.

  “Can we talk while I eat?” asked Alissa.

  “Of course,” said Jenna.

  “So?”

  “What is the last thing that you remember?” asked Jenna.

  “I was in a club, I was dancing with a few of my friends, and then I remember going outside for a smoke...I mean, for a breath of fresh air, and that is it.”

  “Who were these friends that you were with?” asked Mark.

  “Just friends from school.”

  “Guys or girls?”

  “Mostly girls, look, I don't need to be telling you all of this. Just tell me what happened.”

  “Well, what happened is, we saved you from getting raped last night,” said Mark, who was losing his cool with the girl, and Jenna placed her hand on his to calm him down.

  “We saw you with a group of young men, who looked very shady from their appearance, and you were leaning against one of them, and they were taking you to an alley, and that is when we confronted them. You were passed out from either the alcohol or you were drugged.”

  “I don’t drink. I am not 21.”

  “Although I would like to believe that, your breath did stink of alcohol. So, anyway, when we confronted the men, they ran away, and you dropped to the floor, and that is when I realized you were one of my students, and that is also when I decided to bring you home because you were in no condition to go back home,” said Jenna, looking at Alissa, with kindness in her eyes.

  Alissa looked back at Jenna, saw how poised she was, how every movement of her body was fluid and correct, and how her summer dress showed her curves in the most exquisite way.

  “I...don’t know what to say, except, thank you. I am grateful for what you did for me.”

  “That is more like it,” said Mark with a smile.

  “Now, can I go back to my home?”

  Jenna looked at Mark, who was once again left confused by Alissa’s aloofness.

  “You need to answer a few questions, Alissa. I am not just a concerned citizen, but also your teacher, and I know how bright you are. I need to know what is going on. Why are you behaving like this all of a sudden?”

  “Listen, Mrs. Smith, I am thankful to you for whatever that you did for me, but I don't think you have the right to ask me that question. It is personal.”

  “But I do have a right to ask you why you haven't been attending my classes?”

  Alissa fell quiet, and looked down at her food, fiddling with the hook of her jeans, and then she looked back up, and said, “I don’t want to answer. If you have a problem with my behavior, take it up with the principal of the school. Now, I really need to go back to my home,” said Alissa, standing up.

  Jenna looked at the tall, supermodel-like body of Jenna, and noticed the ab crack that was visible because of the length of her top.

  “Let me drive you home,” said Jenna.

  “Are you sure?” asked Mark.

  “Yes, I don’t have a class till afternoon,” said Jenna, and she too got up.

  “I can manage on my own,” said Alissa.

  “I didn’t ask you. If you don’t want to answer any questions about your underage drinking to the principal or to the police, you will come with me,” said Jenna, and Alissa rolled her eyes.

  ∞∞∞

  “Who do you live with?” asked Jenna, as her BMW sped down the almost empty roads of Los Angeles.

  “I live alone,” Alissa replied.

  “Where are your parents?”

  “My father left me when I was almost a toddler, and my mom...she passed away a month back,” said Alissa, staring out of the window, as the sun climbed higher into the sky and the shadows shortened.

  As soon as Jenna heard what Alissa had said, the pieces started to fit the puzzle in her head, but she still wanted Alissa to confirm it.

  “Did she live with you?”

  “No, she had been in the hospital for a few months. Listen, I don’t really want to talk about it,” said Alissa, taking her eyes off the barren scenery around them, and looking at Jenna.

  “Alright, suit yourself, but can I ask one last question?”

  Jenna heard Alissa take a long sigh, and then she nodded.

  “How do you pay for school, and other things?”

  “I work,” said Alissa.

  “Where?”

  “I work from home. I am a digital illustrator, and I am very good with photoshop, so I sell my stuff and services online for a fee,” said Alissa dryly.

  “What? What a coincidence! Because I have been searching for a cover designer for my book but haven't been able to find someone I like.”


  “I don’t make book covers,” said Alissa.

  “It is not so different from making illustrations or working on photoshop. All I want is for someone to combine a few images and give the cover some fancy text. Do you think you can do it?”

  “I might be able to,” said Alissa, suddenly a little excited about the prospect of earning some money.

  “Great! You are hired,” said Jenna, and beamed a smile at Alissa.

  “But you haven't even seen my work,” Alissa countered.

  “I know that you have a very sharp brain. I have seen you in class, and I have seen how good you are when you apply yourself, so, I think you would be great at this as well.”

  “That is good and all...but I already have a lot of work piling on, and I don’t know if I will be able to commit such a big chunk of time to this,” said Alissa.

  “Why can’t you? You hardly come to school, and so it's not like you have homework, and just yesterday, you were out partying. And if you are concerned about the money, then I will pay you more than anything that others are paying,” said Jenna, taking a sharp right, and turning into a suburban lane.

  “I didn’t know you were an author,” said Alissa, not responding to Jenna’s statements.

  “I am more of a short story writer. I am just combing all of my short stories and publishing them as a book,” said Jenna.

  “What are the stories about?”

  “Loss, love, romance, passion, resolution, and most importantly...not giving up.”

  Alissa nodded, and fell quiet, and then, she said, “I will do it.”

  “Great! But I just need one more thing from you,” said Jenna.

  “What?”

  “I want you to be regular at school, and I want you to attend my classes. If you can do it for a week, then you have a job.”

  “What? This is unfair!”

  “Is it?” asked Jenna, “it's only a matter of a week, and in return, I can offer you a job that can also be permanent if you want as I sometimes need artwork for my stories as well,” Jenna explained, looking at Alissa and enjoying the confusion and struggle on her face. And also thinking how cute she looked with her wrinkled forehead.