XI.
Jack's clutching on to the damned folder that got him into the whole mess. He's clutching at it, holding it close to his heart and his eyes are glazed over. Bobby says something faint and gentle but it's lost in the sea of voices surrounding them. He looks horrible. He looks tired. Worn out. He's bouncing his foot, under the table. He's clutching at that folder because he knows that if he isn't he'll be tapping the table or pounding or doing anything to try and take his mind off of it. Jack looks worse than he did before. He, however, looks clean. It hadn't been that long ago when Jack had started hanging out with some kid in English who actually tracked him down to return his folder, per his contact information scribbled into it. It hadn't been that long since Jack had started coming home late, always with a far off look in his eyes, while he spoke in some kind of rhyme, about why the sky is blue.
It hadn't been that long since Jack had checked into Pine Meadows, the rehabilitation center.
Jack keeps looking down, afraid to acknowledge is brother.
"Ma wants to come see you," he's desperate, trying to find Jack's eyes, "Jack you listening? Jack?"
"What?"
He looks up, quickly, to try subdue his brother, before his gaze falls once more.
Jack rhymes when he's high. He comes up with nursery rhymes or riddles and words that match. He makes his best music then.
Bobby imagines that it's because all of those demons he's so afraid of are gone, for the moment, in the back of his mind where they can get to and eat up his creativity. He imagines that those demons are eating him at that moment. Him, in such a big facility. Him, so lanky and thin and scrawny.
"I want to come home," he mumbles, clutching at his stupid folder. Bobby nods, and tries to change the look he knows is plastered across his face. The look of horror, "I want to come home," he repeats once more.
"I love you Jack," he reminds him, standing.
Jack bites his bottom lip, a tear rolling down his cheek. He solemnly stands, and walks out of the visiting area. Bobby gets half way down the street before he makes the U-turn. It comes after he remembers those demons. The ones that keep Jack up at night. The ones that used to keep Bobby up at night when he was young enough to still wander into his room aimlessly and ask him if he could sleep in his bed. Those people in that place have their own set of demons, but Jack has two. His past and his addiction. Bobby turns back because he's almost certain that he knows what's best for his brother, just like all of those nights when he would wander in aimlessly and Bobby would have to talk ask him endless questions until he would fall asleep.