"YOU LEFT WITHOUT ME!" Jazz screamed at them as soon as they trudged into the hotel room Jazz and Sam shared. Seeing their expressions, Jazz immediately regreted her words. Sam and Tucker walked in slowy, probably unaware of their unanimous steps, and sat on the edge of the bed in tandem, staring at the ground.
"You found him, didn't you," she said softly. Their silence told her everything, and she sat on the bed opposite them.
"He didn't even listen to us..." Sam muttered. Tucker looked over at her, and then looked up at Jazz.
"Apparently, what sent him to New York was he went over to Sam's house and-"
"I WOULD NEVER DO THAT!" Sam shrieked suddenly, standing up. "NEVER! How could he think I would...I don't even remember...I..." She couldn't finish the sentance. Jazz, seeing her broken state of mind, instantly stood up and walked over to her. Sam backed away at first, but Jazz only held out her hand.
"That's what my parents said," Jazz said softly, "and I believe them. Just like I believe you." Sam's eyes, now swoolen and red from crying silently on the bus looked up at Jazz, a fresh onslaught of tears threatening to come through. Jazz smiled again, and put her arms around Sam. After a moment of shock, the Goth girl finally gave in and started sobbing loudly into Jazz's shoulder.
"I failed him, I failed him," she kept repeating. Jazz stroked her hair and tried to calm her down.
"Shhhh, you didn't. How could you if you don't know what happened? We just don't have all the pieces yet," she glanced at Tucker, who also looked to be on the verge of tears.
"I didn't forget..." he said, "It just...never occoured to me." He looked down. "Sam didn't fail him, I did."
"No," Jazz said loudly. Sam stopped sobbing and looked up at the older girl. "No one failed him. I think we are all being deceived here, but we have to prove it." She looked down at Sam. "We're not giving up until you remember everything, or we have an explaination as to why you don't, just like mom and dad." She sat down on the edge of the bed again. Sam joined her, and Jazz put her arm back around the younger teen.
"Now," Jazz began softly, "I know it hurts, but you have to tell me everything."
8 8 8 8 8
Danny sat, curled up in his bed, staring emotionlessly at the large window of his room.
"Why didn't you listen to them?" he heard a voice behind him.
"Alesha?" He turned and looked for her, once again amazed at how he'd begun to ignore his ghost sense going off so often.
"Why would they come here if they didn't really mean to apologize?" Alesha responded. Danny shrugged and turned away from her, grabbing a pillow and hugging it.
"Sam's really stubborn. She doesn't keep appearances for others, but she does keep them up for herself." He shrugged, "I guess that's why she came, just to say that she tried. She does that sometimes."
"That sounds really deep for a 15-year old human," Alesha commented.
"A couple of months looking life in the face, in all it's unmasked horror can do that to a person," Danny commented bitterly.
"So you don't think she has any regret at all?" Danny closed his eyes, as if trying to shut out her words.
"I don't know."
"That's a lie," she said almost immediately. Danny turned and sat up, glaring at her. "You do think she does, but you're still angry at her. You don't want to forgive her."
"No, I don't know!" Danny growled. She didn't respond for several seconds.
"How sad," she shook her head finally, "I almost thought you were growing up." She leaned closer to him. "You know, He," she stuck her thumb over her shoulder, "holds grudges too. I thought you didn't want to be like him." Her words stung him far more than any physical punishment ever could have. He could only stare in shock as she turned and phased through the door. Danny knew very well who she referred to when she said "he".
