Lightning-Dono: Astounded by Jack's rough act in the chapters before? Then this one is one to read...Although, you really should read all of the chapters, anyway, if you catch my drift...
I decided to speed up time a bit. Heh.
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-Jack's Point of View-
I had been told off. By whom, I had no idea. Probably Rick, that little, disgusting...thing. Either way, thinking of him just made me want to throw pots into the window, just to relieve my rage. I'd have to do more than that to cleanse my mind of the hatred that ate at the back of my mind for him.
It had been a week since that incident, and he still couldn't get over it. The other day I had knocked on his door, meaning to give an apology for harming his little friend like that. I must agree that if I had been the one to witness a spectacle like that, I would have surely run to the police. But as I was the one who did it, I have a very biased idea about how people should and shouldn't be handling the situation. Anyway, back to the fact that I had meant to give him an apology. When he opened the door, the first thing he did was glare at me. I held out my hand, hoping that he would shake it, understanding that I hadn't meant what I had done. Instead, I got an action that was all too obstinate to be true for him. He smashed the door into my hand, wedging it between the side of the door and the doorframe. I watched as his eyes glinted with satisfaction and then he let me withdraw my hand before slamming the door back into it's proper place.
Not only was I mentally hurt, but my hand also continued to throb with pain. Ever since then, I had to stick my hand inside a bowl of ice water for several minutes at a time to numb the pain.
What I had done to Ann was just from watching my elders. Or, rather, the many elders that I had, which included a step-father, step-mother, and some others branching off from there, including close relatives.
Let me simply explain.
When I was younger, about eight, before I visited my grandfather in Mineral Town, I witnessed a number of painful arguments from my two blood parents, who didn't really understand each other. How they even ended up being married, I never sought to know. But, they hadn't always been that way. For instance, when I was about five-years old, they would go everywhere with each other, clutching each other's hands like they were on their first date. My dad would make very suggestive motions as I watched, not bothering to think of my future social life with other humans. I don't think he really expected me to have a social life, as I didn't have too many friends at my tender age. We lived on a desolate country lane, which meant that even if people visited, they usually only did it for fresh, non-pasteurized milk. Nothing more. The kids I knew were from school, but I could never get in contact with them since my parents prohibited me from visiting them.
A few days before my eighth birthday, they divorced without notice. Not even telling me, my mom left in the middle of the night to marry some guy named Chad that lived in Tigerlily Valley. I didn't mind, of course. If it meant that she'd enjoy life more, I let it happen. But things only got worse from there.
Whenever my mom visited, it would spur arguments between my father and stepfather. I often had to run out of the house to escape the shouting. Usually, I took refuge in the small storage shack behind the house.
Pretty soon, my mom ceased to visit anymore, fearing those out of control arguments between the two men.
When I turned ten, my dad got a new girlfriend. He was still fairly young, so he had a good chance with her. They'd hold their little meetings and dates at our house, of which I was forbidden to watch, so he'd put me on the porch until they were done. It was funny, actually. He never seemed to notice the window by the dining area. Or he had underestimated my intellectual power. Every other evening when they ate together by candlelight ("Very romantic," his girlfriend would comment.), I'd peer through the window when I thought they weren't looking. There, I witnessed a number of things that my dad did to her. Including kissing, hugging, and all of that mushy love stuff. Now I understood why he hadn't let me into the house until they were done.
I supposed what I had done to Ann had been an act of showing off to Rick that I knew how to handle girls and something I had seen my dad do before. It didn't necessarily mean it was good, but I had wanted to do it for so long. I wanted to know what love physically felt like. Now it just felt so...wrong.
Two long years later after living with a very anxious step-mom (She never had children to care for before) and an energetic dad, I moved to Mineral Town. But that was only after I had started to recognize her as 'Mom', and not just call her 'Step-mom'. She hadn't let me go very kindly after I received a letter that my grandfather had passed away and that the farm was available for me to tend to. To the day that I had left, she had fussed about keeping myself clean, not attempting anything dangerous, and learning to build up my social life. My dad was sorely disappointed when I told him that it was very important for me to go and inherit the farm (Truthfully, he should've inherited it, but he wasn't interested). I thought he had wanted me to be an educated scholar a few years ago. That was until he told me that he had hoped for me to be some famous football player and bring the family fame.
And it all led up to this. Life for me had been completely perfect - Depression was rare, and I was pleased with the income I got from farming. That was until the incident. Ann no longer came to help me with farm work and Rick was still expressing malicious feelings towards me. I had told myself aloud that I had the Harvest Sprites to help with my farm work, but that still didn't heal that little mental rip that was present.
Over the last few days I had neglected farm work and calling the sprites to help me. Instead, I sat on my bed half the day and thought about what I done very obediently, as Officer Harris had told me to do when he had paid me that lecture-filled visit. I wasn't in the mood for anything, so I thought that I might as well do something to please someone.
There was a loud knock at my door, which made me look up. Getting slowly off the bed, I opened the door. It was Carter.
"What brings you here at this time?" I inquired, rubbing my eyes with my hand as though I had just woke up. Carter gave me a very strange look.
"It's one o'clock in the afternoon, Jack. I came around to inform you that Fate, one of your chickens, died this morning."
My breathing stopped. My favorite chicken? Why did it have to be her? The young pastor nodded at me sadly.
"I'll get you quickly to the church...She's already buried." He watched me curiously. "This hasn't happened before. You were always such a responsible young farmer."
"Not really," a sharp voice behind Carter snapped. I moved my head to see that Rick was standing behind him, looking a bit haughty.
"What a thing to say, Rick! Let's get him to the church to say his good-byes."
Rick nodded, giving Carter a purely angelic look. I scowled at him and followed Carter with tears waiting in my eyes.
"May we pay our respects to Fate, a chicken who departed this world early this morning."
Rick and Carter bowed respectfully. I conjectured that they expected me to do the same, so I leaned over towards the tombstone, squeezing my eyes shut to allow the awaiting tears to fall onto the rock.
"Fate..." I whispered. "Why did you have to go...?" My knees weakened and I fell to the ground, sobbing. Rick heard my secretive question that had directed towards my dear chicken. But Rick, being the jerk that he was, thought that he had to be the one to answer.
"The question should be 'What did I do wrong?'!" He said venomously.
"I didn't do anything wrong!" I lied, remembering what seemed to be countless days of sitting in bed and thinking, not bothering to care for my animals.
"Uh-huh! And Fate just thought she'd drop dead in the morning!" Rick turned extremely red, which didn't make him look very attractive.
"The only reason you're so bitter is because of what I did to Ann! Well, if you had just stopped and listened to me that one day instead of crushing my hand, you would've known that I'm sorry!"
That statement left Rick speechless. "Well," he said, shaking his head. "Well..."
Carter cleared his throat rather loudly.
"I think we could all learn from this. Good day." Carter hurried off into the church, Stu following him in solemnly.
I returned to my home, thinking of all the nasty things I could do to Rick. "Good bye," I had snarled at the back of his head as we split up. He didn't pay any attention, but he was probably steamed about the tone of voice I had said it in. That alone gave me enough power over him.
But Fate's death had a lasting effect on me. I no longer wanted to mope inside the house, watching the day's whiz by like a frisbee with a timeline written on it. The first thing I did when I got home was feed the animals. Except for one, because I couldn't find him.
My horse, Joey, was gone.
------
Interesting enough? I had to extend on Jack's history because I want you all to understand that he's not some bad guy who takes advantage of a girl's love. The next chapter should come pretty soon, so look out for that!
I decided to speed up time a bit. Heh.
------
-Jack's Point of View-
I had been told off. By whom, I had no idea. Probably Rick, that little, disgusting...thing. Either way, thinking of him just made me want to throw pots into the window, just to relieve my rage. I'd have to do more than that to cleanse my mind of the hatred that ate at the back of my mind for him.
It had been a week since that incident, and he still couldn't get over it. The other day I had knocked on his door, meaning to give an apology for harming his little friend like that. I must agree that if I had been the one to witness a spectacle like that, I would have surely run to the police. But as I was the one who did it, I have a very biased idea about how people should and shouldn't be handling the situation. Anyway, back to the fact that I had meant to give him an apology. When he opened the door, the first thing he did was glare at me. I held out my hand, hoping that he would shake it, understanding that I hadn't meant what I had done. Instead, I got an action that was all too obstinate to be true for him. He smashed the door into my hand, wedging it between the side of the door and the doorframe. I watched as his eyes glinted with satisfaction and then he let me withdraw my hand before slamming the door back into it's proper place.
Not only was I mentally hurt, but my hand also continued to throb with pain. Ever since then, I had to stick my hand inside a bowl of ice water for several minutes at a time to numb the pain.
What I had done to Ann was just from watching my elders. Or, rather, the many elders that I had, which included a step-father, step-mother, and some others branching off from there, including close relatives.
Let me simply explain.
When I was younger, about eight, before I visited my grandfather in Mineral Town, I witnessed a number of painful arguments from my two blood parents, who didn't really understand each other. How they even ended up being married, I never sought to know. But, they hadn't always been that way. For instance, when I was about five-years old, they would go everywhere with each other, clutching each other's hands like they were on their first date. My dad would make very suggestive motions as I watched, not bothering to think of my future social life with other humans. I don't think he really expected me to have a social life, as I didn't have too many friends at my tender age. We lived on a desolate country lane, which meant that even if people visited, they usually only did it for fresh, non-pasteurized milk. Nothing more. The kids I knew were from school, but I could never get in contact with them since my parents prohibited me from visiting them.
A few days before my eighth birthday, they divorced without notice. Not even telling me, my mom left in the middle of the night to marry some guy named Chad that lived in Tigerlily Valley. I didn't mind, of course. If it meant that she'd enjoy life more, I let it happen. But things only got worse from there.
Whenever my mom visited, it would spur arguments between my father and stepfather. I often had to run out of the house to escape the shouting. Usually, I took refuge in the small storage shack behind the house.
Pretty soon, my mom ceased to visit anymore, fearing those out of control arguments between the two men.
When I turned ten, my dad got a new girlfriend. He was still fairly young, so he had a good chance with her. They'd hold their little meetings and dates at our house, of which I was forbidden to watch, so he'd put me on the porch until they were done. It was funny, actually. He never seemed to notice the window by the dining area. Or he had underestimated my intellectual power. Every other evening when they ate together by candlelight ("Very romantic," his girlfriend would comment.), I'd peer through the window when I thought they weren't looking. There, I witnessed a number of things that my dad did to her. Including kissing, hugging, and all of that mushy love stuff. Now I understood why he hadn't let me into the house until they were done.
I supposed what I had done to Ann had been an act of showing off to Rick that I knew how to handle girls and something I had seen my dad do before. It didn't necessarily mean it was good, but I had wanted to do it for so long. I wanted to know what love physically felt like. Now it just felt so...wrong.
Two long years later after living with a very anxious step-mom (She never had children to care for before) and an energetic dad, I moved to Mineral Town. But that was only after I had started to recognize her as 'Mom', and not just call her 'Step-mom'. She hadn't let me go very kindly after I received a letter that my grandfather had passed away and that the farm was available for me to tend to. To the day that I had left, she had fussed about keeping myself clean, not attempting anything dangerous, and learning to build up my social life. My dad was sorely disappointed when I told him that it was very important for me to go and inherit the farm (Truthfully, he should've inherited it, but he wasn't interested). I thought he had wanted me to be an educated scholar a few years ago. That was until he told me that he had hoped for me to be some famous football player and bring the family fame.
And it all led up to this. Life for me had been completely perfect - Depression was rare, and I was pleased with the income I got from farming. That was until the incident. Ann no longer came to help me with farm work and Rick was still expressing malicious feelings towards me. I had told myself aloud that I had the Harvest Sprites to help with my farm work, but that still didn't heal that little mental rip that was present.
Over the last few days I had neglected farm work and calling the sprites to help me. Instead, I sat on my bed half the day and thought about what I done very obediently, as Officer Harris had told me to do when he had paid me that lecture-filled visit. I wasn't in the mood for anything, so I thought that I might as well do something to please someone.
There was a loud knock at my door, which made me look up. Getting slowly off the bed, I opened the door. It was Carter.
"What brings you here at this time?" I inquired, rubbing my eyes with my hand as though I had just woke up. Carter gave me a very strange look.
"It's one o'clock in the afternoon, Jack. I came around to inform you that Fate, one of your chickens, died this morning."
My breathing stopped. My favorite chicken? Why did it have to be her? The young pastor nodded at me sadly.
"I'll get you quickly to the church...She's already buried." He watched me curiously. "This hasn't happened before. You were always such a responsible young farmer."
"Not really," a sharp voice behind Carter snapped. I moved my head to see that Rick was standing behind him, looking a bit haughty.
"What a thing to say, Rick! Let's get him to the church to say his good-byes."
Rick nodded, giving Carter a purely angelic look. I scowled at him and followed Carter with tears waiting in my eyes.
"May we pay our respects to Fate, a chicken who departed this world early this morning."
Rick and Carter bowed respectfully. I conjectured that they expected me to do the same, so I leaned over towards the tombstone, squeezing my eyes shut to allow the awaiting tears to fall onto the rock.
"Fate..." I whispered. "Why did you have to go...?" My knees weakened and I fell to the ground, sobbing. Rick heard my secretive question that had directed towards my dear chicken. But Rick, being the jerk that he was, thought that he had to be the one to answer.
"The question should be 'What did I do wrong?'!" He said venomously.
"I didn't do anything wrong!" I lied, remembering what seemed to be countless days of sitting in bed and thinking, not bothering to care for my animals.
"Uh-huh! And Fate just thought she'd drop dead in the morning!" Rick turned extremely red, which didn't make him look very attractive.
"The only reason you're so bitter is because of what I did to Ann! Well, if you had just stopped and listened to me that one day instead of crushing my hand, you would've known that I'm sorry!"
That statement left Rick speechless. "Well," he said, shaking his head. "Well..."
Carter cleared his throat rather loudly.
"I think we could all learn from this. Good day." Carter hurried off into the church, Stu following him in solemnly.
I returned to my home, thinking of all the nasty things I could do to Rick. "Good bye," I had snarled at the back of his head as we split up. He didn't pay any attention, but he was probably steamed about the tone of voice I had said it in. That alone gave me enough power over him.
But Fate's death had a lasting effect on me. I no longer wanted to mope inside the house, watching the day's whiz by like a frisbee with a timeline written on it. The first thing I did when I got home was feed the animals. Except for one, because I couldn't find him.
My horse, Joey, was gone.
------
Interesting enough? I had to extend on Jack's history because I want you all to understand that he's not some bad guy who takes advantage of a girl's love. The next chapter should come pretty soon, so look out for that!