Autors Note: I want to thank my reviewers. I love to get them! I also write this story for myself, but in the endI mostly do it for others to read and (hopefully) to like. I hope you will enjoy the new chapter:D

Everyone has Secrets

The next morning I felt quite well. Well enough even, to get out of bed. I looked down to my body and for the first time I noticed how much weight I had lost. Sure, I've always been a fragile and slim girl, but this was different. Worse. Not natural.
It scared me and I had to look in the mirror for a while before I got used to my new self. I had to tighten the belt round my pants when I put them on and the deep red shirt - the only one I had left - went over my head easily.
With a content smile I turned around, watching myself from every angle.
"That'll do", I muttered.
The Guardian Angel was lighten up by the sun, which shin through my window. I gave it a smile. I was absolutely certain that in fact it was the necklace that had brought Jim and me back together.

Downstairs I saw Jim looking furious at his mother. I had never seen him so upset before. He gestured wildly with his hands and his whole body was tense.
"You can't just turn your back on her like that!", he yelled, "She has no one left!
Especially in times like this it's very important for us to…"
"Jim, if I may?", Mrs. Hawkins interrupted, "We're not leaving her all by herself."
"We're not?"
Jim clearly was surprised by this answer. He had not expect his mother to give in so easily, but was still happy with it.
"No", she replied, "Angel is staying here. We only need to find her a different room. The one she has now is supposed to be for guests."
They both turned their heads towards the door where I was standing. Jim looked me straight into my eyes. I knew what he wanted to say. I slowly nodded to give him my approval. That was all he needed to know.
"We can put a second bed in my room", he said, with a slight of hesitation, "It's big enough for the two of us."
Mrs. Hawkins gave it a deep thought. She looked from me to Jim and back to me.
A sigh left her mouth. Sarah knew she could never keep us apart. It was the weirdest thing; I could actually see her thinking: whatever am I going to do with these two?
In the end, she never really had a choice. All the other rooms were occupied by guests, so she had to give in.
Luckily, there was a spare bed underneath Jim's and for the first time I really got a good impression of his room. It was indeed big, but still comfy at the same time. There were all kinds of posters hanging on his walls, mainly wit space pictures on it.
I sat down at his desk and watched some of the papers on it, until my attention was drawn to a bright blue notebook. I still had my own red one and this looked just like it. Only I guessed that Jim didn't used it to write stories down. No, it was something different to him, but still very important.

After Jim had made me a warm bed, he left the room to help his mother in the kitchen. I still gazed at the blue notebook on his desk. I knew it was wrong of me to look into his personal belongings without his permission, but I was so curious that I could hardly control myself.
Finally I walked over to the desk and opened the notebook. I struggled hard with my conscience, but in the end I never was a fair fight. What I saw made my heart jump over. It was about his father. Jim wrote about his father! As I leaf through it, more and more pages revealed to me what Jim felt.
It's so wrong of me, I thought, I shouldn't be reading this. Still I couldn't put the notebook away and let my eyes read the first page. I was about halfway through when Jim suddenly closed it. I looked at him and saw great anger. I had never seen him so mad at me before. The fury in his eyes frightened me.
"I tell you almost anything", he said, "But there are some things that I don't even want you to see. This notebook is one of them."
"I'm so sorry", I stuttered, "I should never have looked. It was wrong of me and I know that. I understand…your anger…"
"Indeed you shouldn't have looked! You only need to ask me if you want to know something, silly girl!"
Slowly I saw Jims face turn back into it's usual, sweet self. Although he smiled at me again, I knew I had lost some of his trust. And that is a hard thing to gain, especially from a boy like Jim. He was a far more complicated character then I had thought he would be. That is father left had made much more of an impact on him then anyone could ever imagine. I wanted to talk with him about it, but now was not the time, nor the place for such an conversation. I knew that Jim would tell me about his past when he was ready. That could never take long, assuming that he had been pushing away those feelings for years.
What I really was wondering, is how he had been able to conceal it. To be honest, even I would never have known about it if it wasn't for that notebook. Once again it was very clear to me: everyone has secrets.

We both laid on Jim's bed, gazing at the stars shining through the window.
"You know", he said, "All my life I've been waiting for him…hoping that someday he would come back to tell me he loved me, that he cared. But he never came. Words such as love and compassion became lies to me for such a long time…"
He turned his head towards me and paused for a moment, looking me into the eyes in silence. Then, as he continued, he gave whisper to his voice. A voice so softly now that only I could hear it.
"…But you gave them back their meaning."
I smiled. With pain in my heart I thought about my own father. He had always been good to me, just like my mother. Even when she died, my dad had still managed to keep me going. Hope didn't seem to leave him. The years I had spend with him remained in my memories, never to be lost or forgotten.
"Maybe", I said, "Your father wasn't ready for a child. Some are just not meant to be good parents. But that doesn't mean he never loved you."
Jim sighed. For him it made no difference, he still had no one to hold on to.
I crawled further into his arms and we just laid there, not speaking at all, knowing that being together was enough and exactly what we both wanted.
After a while we decided to go to sleep. I had taken the artefact with me to the new room and now it laid under my pillow. I don't know why, it just felt right. With my head full of questions I closed my eyes.
The most odd dream came over me. It didn't made any sense, until I saw both my parents. My heart filled with grief to see them. Take me with you, I cried. But before they could say anything, they disappeared. The memories I had came float over me. I wanted to forget it, to forget all. Nothing could be worse then this pain.
Abruptly I woke up, holding the artefact tightly in my hand. It was warm...it glowed.