Chapter 3

Recap: He turned back to me and called out over the crowd of people, "No thanks man. My place isn't far." I smiled and waved goodbye. Finally making the dreaded dash for my Camaro.

Jack's POV:

It took me an hour and a half to get home, which, considering I got lost three times, isn't too horrible. If anything good came from that experience, it would be that I actually figured out the quickest way to get home (no help from Adrien). So I guess overall I can't complain though, the amount of joy that my aching body felt as I neared the front door was overwhelming, I was numb from the cold, my white hair was plastered to my brow, and I was pretty sure that my already pale skin was about three or four shades whiter.

I was so preoccupied with being worried about frostbite setting in; I almost, but not quite, missed seeing the black Jeep in the driveway. To the people passing by on the street this was insignificant, to me it was the worst news I could possibly hear right now. It meant that hewas home. I inwardly groaned and opened the grey-blue, paint chipped, door and quietly trudged up the annoyingly squeaky steps to my room in the attic.

The second I got to my room, I threw my bag on the floor and began to strip off my soaked clothes. As I attempted to pull off my hoodie, which was literally sticking to my aching body, my mind traveled to the idea about how useless it was soaked, all the stupid thing did was add more weight to my person, something I didn't need when walking in the rain with a backpack full of books.

Shaking my head I tossed the useless though from my brain, I slipped off the rest of my clothes and quickly changed into a pair of white and red Lifeguarding sweatpants (from my summer job), and a plain navy blue hoodie. As I carried my clothes to the dryer in the basement, I passed the kitchen where Adrien was cooking-and I use the word lightly-dinner. I walked back to my room and curled up in a few thick blankets trying to get my body to stop shaking.

Sitting in my room, doing nothing allowed my mind begin to wander, as it usually does when I give it free reign over my thoughts. One side of me was thinking, 'You silly person, you should have let Aster drive you.' Then the other would think, 'No of course not! There would be too many questions and not enough answers. It would be too hard to explain everything.' I sighed, once again, the negative side of my brain was right. I like Aster along with all my new friends. They all seem really nice, but I don't trust them, not yet at least.

After what felt like forever the feeling began returning to my body. I emerged from my blanket igloo to retrieve the now brown apple from my backpack. I picked off the nasty parts, which left about half of the apple left to finish. It wasn't particularly good, being a few hours old, but my belly was happy to finally have some food in it for once.

Even though now my body was warm, my hair was still wet when I finally stopped procrastinating and got up to start on my homework. Since it was my first day there wasn't much to do, so I finished it all in about a half an hour.

For the third time today I retreated back to my bed, I laid back and stared at the ceiling for a bit, trying to quell all of the conflicting thoughts about how today went. Eventually, I gave up and forced myself to get out of bed for dinner.

We all eat in the dining room because the kitchen is too small, which after all isn't surprising since there are thirteen of us total. Out of all of us I'm the oldest, at seventeen, the rest of the orphans are under ten. I walked over to the table and sat next to Felix, a seven year-old boy that I got along with very nicely. He smiled up at me, his emerald eyes gleaming brightly, "Hi Jackie!"

I smiled at the nickname he always called me by, "Hey buddy." I ruffled his brown hair, "How was your day?"

He giggled and tried to fix his hair, "My day was good."

The sound of plates hitting the table forced everyone's attention towards the poorly prepared food. Adrien entered the room, fake smile and all. He walked over towards Felix and me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I flinched at the random contact I wasn't expecting, "Good evening everyone."

"Good evening Adrien." The routine was the same every night: Adrien would walk in and say good evening; everyone but me would respond in unison; he would grin and sit down; and everyone would begin helping themselves to the meal in front of them. There was a system to everything in this damn house. When it came to meals, the youngest would get the first helping then the second youngest then the third youngest…etc.

Tonight there was turkey, mashed potatoes, and salad. I, of course, took my food last. By the time it was my turn was really only salad left. I smiled slightly to myself, being grateful that at least there was that. I ate my salad and turkey scraps in peace then I got up to clear my plate.

After dinner, I went straight to work on my chores which kept me occupied until about 9:00, which is the little ones bed time. I helped them all get ready for bed, read them a story, then walked down the steps to face the devil. All this was part of yet another evening ritual. Adrien was sprawled out on the moth eaten recliner by the window. He was smoking a cigarette out of the window; his trusty beer can in hand. I sat on the matching sofa across the wall from him and held my breath, waiting for him to speak.

He took a long drag of the cigarette before he spoke, his voice filled with uninterest, "How was school boy?"

I started shaking again, however, this time it was not from icy rain, "It was fine, I made some friends." My mouth twitched as I said that, it really wasn't my imagination, they did exist.

Adrien of course busted out in a fit of laughter, his voice was filled with venom, "You have friends? Ha! That is rich. A useless brat like you could never have any friends." Whatever small smile that once existed on my face was now gone, I knew he was wrong, but I still flinched at his words. Suddenly he threw the cigarette out of the window and stood. He practically ran across the room and got right in my face, "You are pathetic, a loser, a freak! Why do you think that after ten years here no one wanted you? It's cause' your useless."

I clenched my eyes shut and pushed him away from me, "You're wrong!" Suddenly my eyes grew wide realizing what I had just done. Shit, that was a big mistake!

I guess it would be sad to say I was expecting it when Adrien smacked as hard as he could across the face. I fell to the floor like a lifeless doll, I deserved everything that came my way. He kicked me in the stomach twice, and since I hadn't cried out in pain he felt unsatisfied, he finished his beer and threw the empty can at my face. "Get out of my sight boy!" I tried to get up, but I fell right back down again, my stomach hurt so bad it felt as if it was on fire.

He lifted me up and threw me into the steps, which made the pain worse. He yelled, "Go!" and I scrambled up the steps as fast as I could. I turned at the end of the hallway and ran to my room as fast as I could before I collapsed on the floor. The sense of safety I felt when I locked my door helped ease some of the pain. I clutched my side as I crawled to one of the loose floorboards in my room. I reached down to the floor and moved the single wooden plank from its spot. I took out my personal bottle of painkillers that I kept hidden along with some other things, and took two of the blue capsules. I felt the drowsiness come shortly after that. I finally allowed myself to succumb to the darkness.

Morning came too soon for me. My body was aching in protest every time I breathed. A big, ugly yellow bruise covered my stomach and the left side of my face was swollen. I turned over, groaning as I shoved my face in my pillow. The noises coming from below me made my head begin to pound, "Fan-freaking-tastic," I said to myself, "as if I wasn't in enough pain already." I probably lay in the bed for a few minutes before I gave up and trudged to the bathroom to survey the damage.

I winced as I looked in the mirror, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I had a light bruise on my cheek, but it wasn't anything a little cover-up couldn't fix. My stomach however, was a different matter. I lifted my shirt again and stared at the large volleyball size back and blue mark. I sighed and shook my head as I put my shirt down and headed back to my room to take a pain pill to get me through the day.

My door opened just as I put my meds away and Adrien strode in, "Your boss called, she wants you to work from 1 to seven tonight. I told her you would be there."

I took the opportunity to finally glance at the clock next to my bed, which read 12:43. My mouth fell open, "I have less than twenty minutes to get there it takes more like thirty."

He smiled, "You better leave now then."

It took me five minutes to get up and in my Starbucks uniform, which is record timing for me. I ran down the steps and out the door before I was able to grab something for lunch, but it was ok. I didn't really feel like eating anyway.

My stomach pounded as I ran, but I knew I couldn't be late for work. I pushed past the pain and ran as fast as I could manage. By the time I finally got to Starbucks it was five after one. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found that the place was empty. I walked over to the place where I clock in, put on my apron and walked around the counter.

I tried standing for five minutes, but the running had left me in complete agony. Eventually I gave in and pulled up a stool to sit on. My stomach hurt so damn much, but there was nothing I could do about it here.

Suddenly the front door opened, it was my boss, Alana. "Morning Jackson," she cheerfully greeted me, "how are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?" I flashed her one of my bullshit smiles, I was fairly good at masking the pain by now.

"I'm good. I'm sorry I called you in so last moment, have some errands that I need to take care of so you're in charge of the shop today. I'll be by later to make sure you're ok." I nodded and she walked out of the door.

I let out a long breath that I did not realize I had been holding in. after a few minutes of being completely bored out of my mind, I decided to grab one of the newspapers to see what was going on in north Burgess. There was really nothing interesting going other than the sports, which I couldn't care less about.

I closed the newspaper as I heard the bell on the door ring. "Hello, welcome to Starbucks." I looked up to see that I was face to face with Adrien. "What do you want."

"I just wanted to see that my son made it to work on time." He smirked.

I gulped, why did I suddenly feel as if I was going to puke everywhere? "Do you want anything?" I asked hoping he would say no and walk out, if only I could have been so lucky.

"No, Jackson I actually came to give you this." I could tell he was choosing his words carefully as handed me a reddish brown apple. I furrowed my eyebrows a little know that it was all just a show for the cameras. "I also needed to make sure you are ok. You looked like you were hurt this morning when you bolted out of the house." He placed his hand on my bruised cheek, but I flinched away from his touch before he even raised his hand. He smiled devilishly and for a second I could have seen a glint of pure evil in his eyes. After a tense moment of eye contact, I was completely uncomfortable with; he turned and walked out of the store.

I buried my hands in my face, careful not to wipe off whatever cover-up was left. I stayed like that for what seemed like hours, fighting tears back. I was so zoned out I didn't even here the bell on the door that lets me know when someone comes into the shop, "Hello?"

I looked up and became immediately embarrassed work was for work, not wallowing in self-pity. "Sorry," I stammered trying to think of a quick lie, "I had a long night. What can I get you?"

"It's fine, can I have two Carmel Lattés and a Chocolate Milk." I nodded and punched the order into the computer, "That will be $7.67." As he was getting his wallet out of his back pocket I looked up at him only to realize that the customer was Aster. He did not seem to recognize since the Starbucks hat was hiding my white hair, so I decided not to say anything.

"Here you go." He handed me the money and turned to a table where a woman, who was tall and slender, was sitting with a young girl with bright blonde hair sat. I made the Carmel Lattés and grabbed a Chocolate Milk before I walked from behind the counter to the family. She took the chocolate milk from my hands and smiled. I lowered my eyes and walked back to my post, not wanting to stare at the family while they enjoyed their coffee.

I sat on the stool for a few minutes before I decided to throw out the apple that Adrien had brought me. As I walked to the garbage to throw it out I felt something grab my leg. I looked down to see the young girl that was with Aster. She pouted, "You no big brover." I smiled as Aster came running over.

"Sorry mate, I didn't see her sneak away." He picked her up and cradled her close to his chest.

I smiled and shrugged, "Don't worry about it, I love kids so it's all good."

Just as I was about to turn around the girl reached over Aster and took my hat off my head, exposing my un-pigmented hair, "Mine!"

"Jack!" Aster exclaimed obviously very surprised, "I didn't know you worked here."

"Aster who is this?" The taller woman who had been sitting at the table walked over to see what all the commotion had been about.

Aster smiled at the tan woman, "Ma this is Jack my new friend from school."

"It's pleasure to meet you Jack. It's always nice to meet one of Aster's friends." She held out her hand and I took it smiling back at her.

"It's nice to meet you mam." She turned and walked back to the table leaving Aster and I to talk.

Aster spoke as he handed me back my hat, "Sorry about the hat mate, this little culprit is my little sister Sophie."

I smiled at her, "Hi." Immediately after the words left my lips she buried her face into her older brother's neck.

"She's just shy." I smiled as Aster's comment and shrugged, "Well we'll let you get back to work." They threw out their cups and after we exchanged goodbyes and they left. I smiled; Aster's family seemed really nice, he's lucky.

The rest of the day was slow at work finally I was able to clock out head home. I knew it would take me about an hour to get home because my ankle so I wasn't in a big rush, I walked very slowly in order to properly enjoy the brisk autumn air, it was a nice night. The moon was just starting to show behind the clouds. Since I have always been a nightwalker and loved the cold, it could not have been any more perfect.

About halfway home I was sick of my pointless thoughts so I reached into my pockets and took out my iPod touch, a gift for myself for my fifteenth birthday, paid for by my tips at work. I scrolled through the endless list of songs and eventually settled on Yours to Hold by Skillet. The music filled my ears as I walked past the orphanage into the, not entirely ready to go home yet.

I walked down the familiar dirt path for about a minute before I came to the edge of the small frozen pond that I frequently visited. The wind nipped at my face, twisting my blank expression into a small smile. I playfully kicked a piece of ice across the lake and closely watched as it crash into a rock on the other side. The smashed pieces of ice spread across the pond like a million little diamonds, glistening in the moonlight.

I must have stayed there about for two hours. When I finally convinced myself to look at the time, it was ten. Sighing heavily I stood turned towards hell. As I twisted the worn gold doorknob I thought I was prepared for the pain that came from the fist colliding with my gut, never have I been so wrong.