Free The Debt 2 by Kelly Favor Page A

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    Logging into Jake’s social media, she saw hundreds of new messages, and most of them were not the positive stuff she was used to seeing from his fans.
    Somehow, a video had recently surfaced that had been shot years before, when Jake was still in the military.   It must have been shot by one of his military friends.   Jake was in full uniform, and he looked very young, arrogant and hardened.
    She found one clip on YouTube that already had well over forty thousand views.   The title of the clip said: Jake Novak Talks Crap about Suicide Victims
    When it started, Jake was already in mid-sentence.   He was standing next to a large machine gun that was mounted on a crumbling wall.   Jake seemed to be chewing tobacco, holding a cup below his mouth and occasionally spitting into it.   There was a bulge under his lower lip.   “…You got to be kidding me,” Jake said.   “I’m out here risking my life for these people,” He looked directly into the camera, shaking his head.   “If someone decides to kill themselves, am I supposed to feel bad for that idiot?   They threw away their life because some kids at school picked on them, while I’m doing everything I can to stay the hell alive.   Damn, if you want to feel picked on and bullied, try coming to a foreign country and have people suicide bombing you and shooting at you from rooftops when you walk down the street.”
    She paused the video for a moment to collect her emotions.
    Raven felt sick.   There was a burning shame and rage inside her upon hearing his cold judgments.   What did he know about having been bullied?   How could he say what that could do to another person?
    Maybe he would have liked to trade places with her in high school.  
    I’d like to see how you would have handled it, Jake.   I’d like to see what you’d do without your strength and good looks, your charm and your confidence.   You don’t know what it’s like to be ganged up on.   But maybe you’re about to find out.
    Raven took a deep breath and pressed play again on the video, even though part of her could hardly stand to watch it after hearing what he’d already said.
    Now someone was laughing off camera.  
    “Preach it, Jake!” Another person called out.  
    Jake continued, seemingly emboldened by the encouragement he had received off camera.   “My friends have been shot,” he said, “and one of my best buddies got killed by a damn roadside bomb.”
    The guy behind the camera asked him an inaudible question.
    Jake looked away for a moment, and then back into the camera, eyes blazing.   “That’s exactly what I’m saying.   If you commit suicide, you’re a loser.   You’re a loser, okay?   It’s that simple, man.   I have no damn sympathy for someone that throws their life away.   Come here if you want to die so bad.   Come to damn Afghanistan, come to Iraq, at least do it for a purpose.   We got people here who would do anything to stay alive and you end it all because…who knows why people do that crap?   They’re full of excuses.   Maybe you’re being bullied because you’re weak.   Maybe you need to get a backbone.   I don’t think those people should be mourned or missed.   Screw them.   Screw you, if you try to kill yourself—I’ve got no sympathy.”
    And then the clip ended.
    Raven groaned and thought about replaying it, but then decided not to.   She didn’t want to hear him say any of that again.   It turned her stomach to see him talking like that, even though she knew he was probably just young and angry and maybe sad from seeing horrible things during his battles in Afghanistan.
    People who watched this video now weren’t going to cut him slack, though.   They were absolutely going to rip him to shreds for those comments.   Way too many people had been affected by a loved one committing suicide or battled depression themselves.
    And Raven understood better than most, what his words would do to someone who’d