Chapter 1
JACKSON POV
I woke up to the sound of screaming and seeing my dad rush towards me, I realized it was me who screamed. I was sitting on my bed and panting franticly, sweat dropping down my face and chest. Baba sat beside me and took me into his arms, whispering words of comfort into my ear and, soon enough, I felt better in his warm embrace.
“Are you okay?” he asked after some time. His tone was sweet and consoling.
I sniffed, “yeah”.
“Go change. I’ll make you something.”
It was Saturday morning of a cold November and the house was as quite as usual except for the clatter of dishes in the kitchen where, apparently, Baba was busy making breakfast. I went down the stairs and into the kitchen where the sun shining through the open shades almost blinded me.
“Do you want anything specific? Well, I hope not…” he raised an eyebrow.
I smiled, “no”.
I sat down on the emerald chair stacked in front of the island and the cold marble startled me. I looked at baba who chuckled at the reaction.
“The furnace isn’t working. I called someone to fix it.” He said while putting a plate with eggs and toast in front of me. He put another plate down on the table opposite me and sat there.
I started to eat ignoring the looks I was receiving from the other side and poured some water for myself and some for baba too when he pushed his glass towards me. I was eating very peacefully when I realized something. I looked up.
“Where’s Mom?” No answer.
I sighed, “Baba?” “Yes?” “What happened?” I enquired.
He looked at me and drank his water, his eyes not leaving mine. He put down the glass.
“Nothing happened. She’s at work.”
“On a Saturday.” He smiled and his eyes twinkled. I didn’t ask again and just continued to eat my food, not because I understood anything but because he’d probably get mad if I pushed it. Well guess what, I like to consider myself a bit rebellious, even though I always regret it in the end. But something was off and I could tell.
“I miss her.” I dared to say.
He narrowed his eyes. “What exactly do you miss?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. He kept looking at me except this time, he didn’t look happy. My rebelliousness left me instantly and I got up. “I’ll see you later I’m leaving. I’m going to go meet up with some friends.”
I didn’t wait for a reply and went out from the kitchen. I had forgotten how cold it was getting and when I opened the front door, I was slapped with a cold wave of air. I closed the door and went back to my room to find some appropriate clothing. I didn’t need to change so I just wore a puffed jacket that matched with my blue sweatshirt. I went downstairs once again and got to the door when,
“Jackson.” Ugh!
I stopped and turned to look at him. He had an unreadable look in his eyes, either irritation or worry. It has to be one of those. “Where are you headed to exactly?” alright, it’s definitely worry. I thought for a second and replied:
“I’m gonna stop by Peter’s. I’ll have lunch with him and I’ll be back after that. You’re staying here, right?”
“Yeah. I’m waiting for the technician. I was thinking we could spend time together since its weekend and I’m free but, we’ll do something after you return. In the meantime, I’ll get the work done and you go ahead.”
I said bye and got on my bicycle. Off to Peter’s we go!
“And checkmate! Ha! You lose, again.” I sat back sadly after peter shouted in excitement after winning for the 50th time. “Jackson, you got no skill in games. You know I love you despite that, right?”
I took the pillow beside me and threw it at him, he dodged it and laughed. I couldn’t help but laugh with him. That’s the thing about peter, if he laughs, you laugh too. Not because he makes you happy but because he’s got hell of a weird windshield laughter. I took my pillow and lay beside him on the carpet and looked up at his starry ceiling.
“I had one again.”
“When?”
“This morning”
He looked at me, “and?”
“The usual, someone’s chasing me but this time they caught me. I felt pain and when I woke up, I was actually in pain. Makes sense?” I asked.
“Uhhh, kind of. I mean, did you see someone or…something?” Not going to lie but he did not sound worried or anything, that’s not like him. He’s chill and likes to keep me the same way so he doesn’t react much.
I breathed out. “I didn’t see anything it was dark but I felt weird. Like I couldn’t breathe and someone was choking me. It just-it felt wrong.” He hummed. I looked at him, “Baba came and held me. He looked worried when I left. Talking about leaving,” I looked at the time, “I have to go.”
“Can I come?”
“No”
“Ok.”
I said goodbye and left. I rode my bike back to my house, which is, embarrassingly, 5 houses away from his in the same lane. It’s walking distance, I know, but Peter’s my only friend. If I didn’t ride my bike to see him I wouldn’t ride it at all. Gotta stretch my legs.
I came back and saw a van outside, probably the techs. I put my bike aside and went inside. Baba opened the door for me and asked how my time was. Turns out the technician was still working on the furnace as he arrived late and made baba mad.
“Alright, I’m tired. Can you go down to the basement and keep an eye on the guy? He’s taking forever. Tell him to hurry; I’m going to my room to freshen up a bit. We’ll have dinner when he leaves.” He told me. I took my jacket off and went downstairs. I could hear whirring of the drill. I went closer to find a guy working there. He was probably in his mid-20s.
“Hey” I said. He turned to look at me and stopped. He looked at me up and down and smiled. “Hi” he said holding out his hand for me to shake. I shook his hand. “I’m Lin.” He introduced himself. “Jackson.”
“Jackson. Wow.” He had one of his hands on his hip and gave me a wide toothy smile. “That’s such a pretty name. Not as pretty as you though.” Okay, what?
I mean, I know I got a handsome face and all but, nobody’s ever been this straightforward. Maybe he’s trying to be funny or friendly, I don’t know. I just smiled awkwardly. “Yeah”
He kept looking at me. I reminded him what he was there for. He went back to work and I took a chair and sat on it. I took my phone out and started scrolling. After some time, he told me he was almost done and needed something from his bag upstairs for the final touches. He went back upstairs and I just waited for him. I heard footsteps coming and realized he was here finally. I was mad at him and was ready to give him a piece of my mind when I heard the door close shut loudly. I stopped in my tracks and called out his name. He came out looking all smileys and like a creep. I wanted nothing more than to punch that smile off his face, it made me so uncomfortable.
“Did you close the door?” I asked him.
He bit his lip. “Thought we could use some privacy.”, and winked at me. I was like, what?!
He came closer until he was too close and when I tried to step back he grasped my arms tightly and pushed me towards him. “I have never witnessed someone so beautiful my whole life.” I tried to push him away but he was stronger than me, my whole heart was filled with disgust and fear. The disgusted part took control and I spit in his face as he came closer to me. He let go of me immediately. But he looked unhappy. The next moment, I didn’t even know what happened but I felt a very sharp pain in my cheek. He had slapped me. He yanked me by the hair and dragged me to his tools. I was unknowingly crying and calling for my dad. He threw me on the floor, picked up his wrench and hit me in the face with it. A surge of extreme pain flashed in my entire face and everything that happened after was blurry. I saw baba come and jump on him, punching his face repeatedly. I touched my face and I couldn’t feel it. I looked at my hand and it was full of blood, which was the end of me.
