he's a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land
The University of Toronto had always been a creepy place for Janine Hogart. Neither of her parents had gone to this college, but something about it reeked of Jay and Paige. She didn't like coming here to visit her brother or to visit her cousin. But she did it regardless. It was about 9 PM and she'd just gotten back from an extremely excruciating sit down at the Dot with her on and off again boyfriend, Hayden McCormmack. (He'd just gotten back from Australia to tell Janine that he was only back to get all of his stuff before he went back to Australia indefinitely.) Janine had been so furious the entire time that she was talking to Hayden that she'd neglected her call from Cameron, and she'd also forgotten about the voice mail until just now when her stupid alarm went off.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. It's 9," She grumbled at her phone before she flipped it open and clicked the button that would turn her alarm off. She'd set it for 9 so that she would be sure that she was with Cameron, and not still screaming at Hayden, earlier today. She saw that she had a voice mail and let her not so manicured finger hit the button as she put the receiver to her ear.
"Hey Janine. It's Cameron, but I'm sure you already knew that. I just wanted you to know that you're my favorite cousin, and that..."
The voice mail had stopped after 'and that' and Janine didn't know what to think. There was a silence that was followed by an insanely loud thud and as she felt her hand moving to her face she felt her eyes begin to sting. "Holy fuck, Cameron!" Those were the only words that were able to come out of her mouth before she heard the end of the message.
"To save your message, press 9. To delete your message, press 7. To return the message sender's call, press 8. To return to the main menu, press 1."
Janine listened as the stupid robot talked and she shut her phone before she pressed the buttons on her speed dial, calling everyone that she knew and cared about. First came Serena, Serena never let Janine down; until today. Next came Cohen, but Janine hung up on that one before the third ring. Christian was third and right when she was about to call Cameron she dropped her phone onto the floor before she let her hands hit her steering wheel nice and hard. "Damnit, Cameron!"
She was definitely crying now. She took in a deep breath, so far she'd only wasted 2 minutes and she picked up her phone with a shaky hand before she hit '2' on her phone watching as the word 'TRIS' came up onto her screen.
When Tristan answered, Janine was attempting to compose herself, but by the tone in Tristan's voice she hadn't done a very good job.
"Tris, its. It's Janine,"
"Janine. J. Calm down. What's wrong?"
"We have to go to Cam's room. Now."
"Just tell me what's wrong?"
"He OD'd Tris. He OD'd and he did it on purpose. I just hope... I hope we're not too late."
----
It didn't take too long for Tristan to arrive right by Janine's side after that short phone call. He lived in the apartments across the street from the dormitories and as soon as Janine saw her brother she enveloped him into a big hug.
"I'm scared, Tris,"
"Everything is gonna be fine, I promise,"
Janine let the hug end and took her brothers hand in hers as they faced the large brick building and each took in a deep breath. They both had the same thought before they took their first step, It's now or never.
It didn't take long to get to Cameron's floor, or for Janine to notice that his music was blaring and that his door was open. She let herself think happy thoughts, that Cam was being a jerk who was playing a joke. That's it, Janine. He's just joshing with you... thats all, But her thoughts weren't convincing her, at all. Instead they were making her take slower steps.
It took an eternity, but Janine and Tristan finally made it into Cameron's room, and before anything could process, Janine had let go of her brothers hand and had found herself on the floor crying. Something she hadn't done in ages, she hadn't had the need to cry. Until now.
----
Janine wasn't sure when Tristan had gotten her off the ground and into a chair in the hallway, she didn't know when she'd managed to grab a hold of Cam's glasses and she sure as hell didn't know when she'd gotten so damn cold. All that Janine did remember was Tristan pulling her into a tight hug and then the two of them turning to hear Cacie shouting at someone. The siblings looked at each other before pulling Cacie into the hug too.
Janine had let Tristan drive her home, she hadn't said a word the entire time staring blankly out the window before she realized that she was home. She was going to thank her brother for the ride when she noticed he was at her door side, helping her out of the car.
"You're going to stay tonight?"
"I wouldn't leave you here alone tonight, Niners."
"Hey, Tris... can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, J."
"Why do you think he did it?"
"Sometimes it seems like the only way out, sometimes just leaving the situation seems like the best alternative. Whether your family is gonna like it, or not,"
Janine and Tristan had told their parents, Paige and Jay, the bad news as soon as they went inside. Well, Tristan had told them and Janine sat staring mindlessly at the fridge. Paige had been crushed, and left the house in a rush to get to her brother Dylan's house.
"Tell Uncle Dylan we said hi?"
"Don't worry Tristan. I will, and sweetie... take care of your sister?"
"Sure thing, mom,"
"I love you,"
"Love you too,"
----
The next thing Janine knew, she was laying in her brothers bed. But tonight she wasn't alone, tonight Tristan was with her. She let out a sigh as she looked up at the ceiling above her brothers bed, thinking about nothing at all. She had the sudden urge to play 20 Questions, it was their thing after all, but instead she'd tell Tristan something he'd better not soon forget.
"Hey Tris,"
"Yeah, J?"
"Don't ever do something like this. Okay?"
"Okay J, I won't. Promise."
"Pinky swear?"
"Pinky swear, now get some sleep Niners... we've got a family to see tomorrow,"
"Okay Tris,"
Janine turned and looked at the digital clock that rested on her brothers night stand. The clock read 2:20 AM. It was nearly 7 before she got to sleep.
