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Joel stood over Daniel's shoulder as he typed away at a furious speed, e-mailing his contact.
"So you told him then?" Joel asked, breaking the silence; he was curious as to why it was such a big deal that Daniel saw his brother.
"Yes I did." Was all Daniel said, he was never one to give out more information that was necessary.
"And?" Joel asked, suspicious of Jack.
"And he doesn't agree with our plans." He said simply.
"Is he going to be a problem?"
"Tell me how he can possible be a problem Joel." Daniel said angrily, tiring of Joel's stupid questioning.
"It's just that, well we saw him earlier, and hew could have been searching through the laptops files for all we know!" He suggested this, knowing it was weak and that Daniel wouldn't hear it.
"Joel, Jack is my business, my concern, you got it?"
"Yes." He said, in a sheepish tone.
"Good." Was Daniel's response as he got up and opened the door into the other room which Jack occupied. He looked in then shut the door back and turned to Joel. "If it makes you feel any better he is sleeping, take a look for yourself." He instructed as he took his familiar spot in front of the computer.
Joel did go take a look for himself, he didn't like having Jack here. He opened the white door and turned his head around the corner. Jack was laid on the bed clearly in a deep sleep, and looked like he was having a pretty bad dream. He was shacking and sweating and kept whimpering every now and then.
"Danny, perhaps you should see this." He said quietly.
"What?" He asked as he entered the room with Joel.
"Shi." He whispered under his breath.
"Should we wake him?" Joel asked.
"No. He's in pain when he is awake, leave him; he's just dreaming."
Joel went to leave, but before he did so he said, "You want me to bring your laptop in here?"
Without saying anything Daniel smiled and nodded, Joel knew him very well.
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As Jack slept he dreamt. He was seventeen again, living with his brother in their small home which they had inherited from their parents after they had died. This was all they had been able to leave them, the endless debt they had been in had swallowed everything else up.
He laid on his bed, tired from work. He had a weekend job in a car garage, and was slowly learning the finer details of mechanics. He had finished school exams a week ago and since then had been working non stop to help Daniel pay the rent. He was reading the latest detective fiction novel he had taken from the library, and was entranced in the words. He knew he was tired and had to get up early for work, yet he just couldn't make himself put the book down.
As he read sudden shouting pulled him back to the surface of the reality that the words had taken him away from. He looked towards the door of his small room and wondered what was going off. Daniel had instructed him to stay in his room all night, he had something going down. He wouldn't tell Jack what he was planning, but it would give them some extra cash so they could get ahead with the rent.
He tried to carry on reading but the shouting continued and gradually became louder and sounded more violent. Suddenly their was no more shouting, just noise, the noise of fighting. Now eager to see what was happening he climbed out of bed, and pulled on a pair of black shorts and a white T-shirt over his boxers, and silently opened his room door.
He tiptoed over to the landing, scared that Daniel would hear him and know he hadn't done as he was instructed. He leaned over to get a glimpse of what was happening, and didn't like what he saw. There were about six other boys in the house, none of whom Jack recognised, but they were beating the hell out of Daniel and Craig, someone who was close enough to the two to be a brother.
Watching this happen angered Jack and without thinking he pounced down the old wooden staircase and dove onto the first person he saw and began punching him in the face. What happened next was all a large blur. He was still fighting, with more than one person, but he could hear shouting too. Some of the strangers were trying to get their friends to leave, but they were too busy caught up in the fight. Jack moved onto the next person and began to smack him furiously, nobody could stop him.
Still amidst the fight Jack herd two gunshots and he immediately froze. Everyone did. They looked around to see one of the lads shouting for them to leave as he pushed his gun back into his waistband. Before he knew what was happening Craig was on top of the guy and the fight continued.
That was until, one of the men fighting with Jack pulled out a flick knife from underneath him. Jack chinned him one last time before he saw the silver glint of the blade, then felt the searing white hot pain erupt through his side, then again through his chest, causing him to fall to the floor in screams of agony.
That broke the fight up, everything pretty much stopped. Jack laid on the floor crying from the pain and watched as his brother froze, startled from what was happening. The gang was leaving, running away from the mess they had created, sirens could be herd in the distance. Craig was instantly by Jacks side asking him if he was okay. What sort of a question is that, Jack thought, I feel like I'm going to die! He closed his eyes and could hear his brother calling an ambulance. He opened them back up to see Craig had applied a towel to the wounds. He tried to speak but words wouldn't come out, the pain was too strong, he was loosing consciousness. Everything was covered in fog. Danny crying, saying he couldn't leave him, Craig pulling him away, their was no other choice, he kept saying. He could hear Craig telling his brother he would be okay, their was an ambulance coming. He could hear Danny saying he was sorry, he would come back. He opened his eyes one last time and focused his vision on the pool of blood that had formed next to him and was quickly growing. 'I'm going to die.' He realised that Daniel had left and he was going to die alone. He closed his eyes one final time and let the roaring pain take him away.