Rachel

The phone rang again. I rummaged the wastepaper basket for it and looked at the number. Marco. That was enough. I turned the phone off without answering. Then mum called from downstairs.

"Rachel! Jordan! Come down, I want to talk with you!" I sighed. This had been a terrible day from the beginning. I had been sent to Chapman two times because of Marco. Then he and Jake had harassed me for hours and when I finally had found piece to do my homework, mum yelled me down. I tried to calm down again.

"Rachel, this is not a thing I want to tell twice, come down now!" I threw the books away for the second time today and went down. Mum, Sara and Jordan sat there and waited for me. I sat down beside Sara. Everyone seemed worried. Sara was the first one to speak.

"Something has happened, right?" Mum looked as she had waked up from a dream when she heard Sara's voice.

"Yes, something has happened." She looked tired. "It's about your cousins Jake and Tom." Both I and my sister sat still and listened. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the rest, but I had no choice. "They had a little quarrel earlier this evening" mum continued. "It… strayed off" she got silent. I couldn't stand this anymore.

"Yeah, what?" I had got a terrible lump in my stomach. Then mum slowly opened her mouth and said one of those hundred things I was afraid she would say.

"If your uncle hadn't arrived in time, Jake hadn't survived." The silence that came whit those words made me understand the entire meaning of them. Suddenly I noticed that I was crying. And then an even worse thing hit me. It was my fault. I had been playing with both of them earlier this day. Tom had still been tickling Jake when I went. Had this happened after I left? Could I have helped him? Suddenly I heard Jordan's voice from somewhere far away.

"Is Jake all right?" mum looked at her, still worried.

"I don't know. He ran away after this. His mother called me to ask if he was here." Then it hit me. MARCO! Was it because of this he had been calling? Maybe Marco knew something. I ran back upstairs, in to my room, took the phone and called him. Mum came in after me.

"Rachel are you all right?" I never got time to reply, the next moment I heard Marco's voice.

"Marco. Hey it's Rachel, is Jake with you?" it felt like an eternity before he replied.

"Yes" I sat down on the bed in relief and mum sat down beside me. "Is he all right?" I asked after a while. This time it definitely took longer time to answer.

"Except the fact that he is completely drugged with analgesics and sedatives, he is all right" I sat there silent for a while and thought, then I wiped my tears away.

"Can he speak" I asked.

"Sometimes" was the answer. Sara and Jordan had come in to my room too now. Everyone was watching me.

"Marco, can we come over to see him?" mum started to protest but as it was all right with Marco and I and my sisters was nagging, she finally agreed. Neither Marco nor I had turned the phones of yet so when mum and my sisters sat in the car I pretended to remember something and ran back in again. When I had closed the door behind me I put the phone to my ear again. There was one thing I just had to know now.

"Marco. Does this have anything to do whit you-know-who?" Marco was silent for a long time.

"Both yes and no" he finally said.

"Thanks" I didn't get what he meant but right now I didn't care. I went out to the car.

Marco opened the door and we went in. Marco's dad was talking with someone in another room. Mum went in to them and I followed the others up to Marco's room. Jake was asleep when we arrived. The doctor was still taking care of him. I watched him too. His entire face was destroyed. He had bruises everywhere and two open wounds on his cheek that had been stitched. The parts we could see of his arms and body was the same. He was blue everywhere. Sara went over to him and lifted his hand which was lying on the quilt and hugged it. Jake opened his eyes and looked at her. Then the doctor left Jake with me, Marco and my sisters. None of us said anything. After a while the doctor came back with my mum, Marco's dad and Jake's parents. I panted and stared at Marco. He stared at me. Jake's eyes were closed. Sara placed his hand in the bed again and Jake's mum went over to him instead.

"Jake" Jake sat up as quickly as the lightnings outside when he recognized her voice. "No calm down, Tom is not here, please lay down again." Jake gasped for air. His dad came over to him too and pressed him down in the bed again.

"Tom is not here" he repeated.

"Jake, we have discussed this with Marco's dad" his mum told him. "You will sleep over here until we come back." Jake got another injection to calm down again. Then he slowly turned to his mother and asked the question that finally killed my theory that this had been my fault.

"Does that mean I don't have to go whit Tom to the Sharing?" As it was his dad who replied he slowly turned his head to the other direction.

"No, it will take a while before we trust Tom enough to let him take care of you that long, believe me. But now you should sleep" He placed the quilt over his son who immediately fell asleep I think. Suddenly Jordan yelled.

"What is this? Did Tom try to kill Jake because he didn't want to go to the Sharing?!"

"It don't seem better" Marco said. Jordan burst into tears. I dragged her out of the room.

"Come, Jake need to sleep" I said, as I tried to prevent myself from crying.