"Jack. Jack, yoohoo," Carey was standing over Jack's bed trying to wake him up. As soon as the idea popped into his head, he started shaking the bed. This did the trick and soon Jack's eyes opened and he sat up with a start, looking confused and disoriented. "You all right, man? You didn't even hear the alarm clock." Carey walked back and sat on the edge of his bed, grabbing his watch off the nightstand.
"Yeah, I just had a nightmare. You know, it's been a really long time since I dreamt about my dad." Jack turned his gaze downward in thought. "Wonder what brought that on," he said, shrugging it off and standing up to go get dressed.
Just as the two boys were double checking to make sure they go everything they needed from the hotel room, there was a knock at the door. Carey walked over to answer it, and Annie stood there with a few Styrofoam containers.
"Breakfast," she said cheerfully, offsetting the obvious tiredness she was feeling. "Complements of Molly." Carey took the containers and he and Jack finished up the food just as Molly knocked on the door and told them it was time to leave.
About half an hour into their day's journey they were pretty much settled in for the long ride. Jack was staring out the window, contemplating his dream, Annie was plucking around on her guitar and talking to Molly, and Carey was listening to his headphones. Jack kept listening to Annie to play the tune he heard last night, but she didn't. They hadn't spoken since the night before, and Jack wanted to ask her to play the song again so he could clearly hear it, but he wanted to wait until she wasn't talking to his mom.
About an hour later they had stopped for refreshments and a bathroom break. Jack and Annie got off the bus and stretched, but Molly and Carey had gone in to get snacks and stuff. Jack decided now was as good a time as ever to try to find out more about his obsession with her song. Entering back onto the bus, Annie went to a comfortable seat leaning against the window, and put her feet up on the seat, drawing her knees up in front of her. He walked over and sat by her.
"Annie?" She looked up from her book, and seeing he had come and sat by her just to talk to her, she realized it might be important so she bookmarked it again and put it down.
"What's up?" She asked in her usual cheerful tone.
"I was just wondering if you've written any more of that song," Jack said slowly.
"A little, not very much… but besides, Jack, I don't think I did write it. I think it's something I've always known, and somehow forgot it. Something from my childhood or something," Annie explained quietly.
"Really? I swear I've heard it before… see, I think..." Jack wasn't sure he wanted to talk about it. Fi would have understood completely, but this was Annie. Jack pushed his anger deep down inside about Annie being Fi's replacement and tried to ignore it. He didn't know how she'd react, but he did know that she had asked Molly why Jack seldom talked about it. "I think it's something my… my dad used to sing to me." Jack turned his gaze downward to the floor.
"Oh…" Annie didn't really know what to say. He looked up at her, and to his surprise there was an understanding look in her eyes, which was really encouraging to him. Seeing she didn't really have anything else to say, he decided to speak.
"Well, I... it's okay. I mean, I just wondered about it," he said, standing up just in time for Molly and Carey to enter back on the bus and hand them some stuff they got in the store. "Thanks, Annie," he said, turning to her as she took the bookmark out again. He managed a good sized smile at her.
"No problem, Jack," Annie said with a little shrug and a smile as she went back to reading. Jack decided not to say anything else about it and try to forget it. He fell asleep for about a half an hour, but started dreaming about his dad again and promptly woke up. He knew it was going to be a while before he could shake this off.
Annie, Carey, and Jack had all taken up a game of cards in the bus's overhead light when their pile slid onto the floor in disarray as the bus came to a stop. Molly turned around with her usual tired but satisfied and cheerful face.
"Here we are!" She said as the kids got up to make their way out. "Cool!" Carey gave the first aloud reaction to their hotel. Even though it was dark out, you could clearly see the building was much different than their usual hotel. It was one floor, and had very Mexican style architecture. A short Mexican in a brown suit came out to greet them.
"Hola! You must be Molly Phillips!" The man said in a thick Spanish accent, and extended his hand to Molly. Jack and Carey made eye contact briefly. Jack raised his eyebrows at Carey, who answered with a smile.
"Hello Mr. Rodriguez, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said, accepting his hand. He greeted the three kids.
"You must be tired, let me show you to your rooms," he said as two other guys in jeans and t-shirts came out and started taking their luggage from the underneath compartment on the bus.
About 10 pm they were settled into their rooms. Carey had gone to check out the "cool Mexican stuff" they had in this hotel. Jack had rolled his eyes at Carey when he asked if Jack wanted to come too. Jack had stayed back to work on his math homework for his summer school class he took by mail. He heard a knock at the door, and assuming it was just Carey forgetting his key, he opened it without even looking, and turned to go back in.
"Jack?" Annie said, pushing the door open about half way and poking her head in. Jack spun around, not expecting Annie at all.
"Oh, hey, what's up?" He managed to spit out instead of "what do you want?"
"Can I, come in?" She asked slowly.
"Yeah, sure," he welcomed her in with his hand, and she entered, holding in her other hand that had been hidden, her guitar.
"I remembered some more of the song, and wondered if you wanted to hear it," she said, standing in the middle of the room.
"Oh, well…" He was a little reluctant, thinking it could be too much to handle, with all the dreams he'd been having, but he gave in, telling himself if could be just when he needed. "I guess. Sure." He cringed at how unexcited he sounded, as opposed to how excited he was when he first knocked on her door the night before. "Have a seat," he said as Annie took a seat on the bed that he and Carey were sharing.
She sat there for a few seconds with her guitar as Jack stood with his hands in his pockets, a little too neglectant to sit next to her. She began picking the strings with her fingers softly, and in a whisper soft voice started singing the words.
Go to sleep, my child
Sleep well, my love
For in the morning you will become your greatest dreams.
A thousand stories could never tell of
The chances the morning holds for you.
In the morning you will become all your dreams,
But tonight you belong to me,
So go to sleep now, my child,
Sleep well, my love.
Somewhere in the middle of the song as memories began to fill Jack's mind, he had found it too hard to stand there in front of her. He was sitting next to Annie, his chin resting in his hands, his stare fixed somewhere off into space, somewhere behind the wall. She let the guitar ring with the last chord and sat there also in silence. Finally she broke the silence with something Jack didn't think she would say.
"Jack, I know you think that I don't know or don't understand how you feel to have lost your dad, but I haven't seen my dad for four years now. My mom and dad are divorced, and it's not that I don't see him 'cause she hates him, but I lived with her in South America for a long time, and now I'm here with you… and Molly and Carey, and I don't know when I'll see him again. He used to sing that song to me at night when I was little, and it…" Annie stopped to swallow and blink to keep from crying. "… it brings back a lot of memories for me, too."
Jack gained the courage to look up at her, having blinked most of the tears back from his eyes without letting more than a few escape, hopefully unnoticed.
"Thank you," he said softly, not really knowing what else to say. Annie moved her guitar to sit upright on the floor and leaned against the bed, and she turned to hug Jack. He tensed up at first, but it only took a few seconds for him to welcome it and hug her back. They sat there for a little bit in silence again, each dwelling in their own thoughts, before Annie stood up slowly.
"Good night, Jack," she said quietly, taking her guitar to leave.
"Night, Annie." She turned her head around to smile a little before exiting the room.
There was a knock at the door about a minute later, and Jack got up, expecting it to be Annie again. He opened the door to face a sheepishly smiling Carey.
"Forgot my key," he said with a little laugh as he slid in to get past Jack, who was moving rather slowly. He stood there and closed the door, realizing for the first time how aware he was of the feeling he had when Annie hugged him. He was trying not to forget the feeling of her arms around him, and how she felt in his.
"Stupid," he told himself as he laid awake in the dark. "Stupid..." But that night he had no nightmares…
- - - - -
Click and post, u know the drill... =)