"Hey kid, what are you drawing?" asked Jade as he sat down on the chair next to you. "I thought I told you not to call me kid. It makes me feel small."
"But you're 12 years younger than me." You frowned and said, "Well that makes you 12 years OLDER than me so I can physically call you gramps!" He made a face and said, "Aw! You go to your room little missy!"
"One second, I'm not done with my drawing..." He leaned over your shoulder and took a look at what you were drawing. It was a sketch of a person with large brown eyes sparkling in the moonlight sitting on a roof. It sort of looked like Jade but a little younger. "Wow, that's really good. It looks all Anime-ish." You looked up at him and smiled before saying, "Manga was my first type of drawing I mastered. I've gotten really far in it though. It makes things seem more realistic to me so I try drawing a lot to get better."
You looked down at the paper. It felt incomplete. You then started to draw a little girl next to the young boy. The girl looked like you. For some reason this felt like déjà vu. As you sat in your chair, you started to drift off into a dream...
DREAM
You were only 6 years old and you were panting and running through trees and bushes as fast as you can. They were scratching you but you had to keep running. The smell of lake water filled your senses as you kept dashing through the woods. You were crying. When you had gotten to the other side of the forest, you had fallen to your knees and sobbed by yourself. Then a young boy about 18 had walked out of his house. He had dark brown hair and large brown eyes. He lifted you up from the mud and carried you up onto the roof of his house. Once up there, he spoke to you, his voice soft yet stern. "We're not going to let them do this to you anymore. There's going to be a man that will take you away from all this pain. But then I'm probably never going to see you again. But that is the cost of your freedom. Do you understand?"
I couldn't have nodded because I was far too young to take it in but I nodded anyway as he said one last thing, "I won't forget you. You are the only thing I've cared about. You are my family, Jesse. I love you, and this is why I'm sending you away. Maybe someday we'll see each other. You never know. But for now, can we at least watch the moon one last time?" You smiled through your tears and sat with your knees to your chest while he kept you warm. You had dozed off...
REALITY
You woke up and looked outside. "What was that all about?" you asked yourself out loud. You shook your head and got up to down into the lower part of the hotel. You were staying at the hotel to hangout with the band after the show. You had just fallen asleep in their room while drawing and you were wondering what time it was. It was 4:45. You had been sleeping for an hour. "I wonder where they are all at?" you questioned as you walked into the elevator. You hit the button to the first floor as the doors closed. But instead of going straight to the first floor, it went up to the 4 floor and stopped. You stood there conspicuously and waited for someone to walk in. When the doors opened, Jade walked in. "What were you doing on the fourth floor?" you asked. "Oh I had some business to take care of. Where are you heading?"
"Um, I was looking for you guys. I accidentally fell asleep when I was drawing." You answered. You noticed the elevator had stopped for some odd reason. You looked at the dial to see if you were at another floor. You weren't. "Why'd the elevator stop?" You asked Jade. "I don't know but it better start up soon."
You stopped and sat down and pulled out the drawing from earlier. You stared at it a long time. Jade sat down next to you and said, "Hey, who did you get this idea from? It kind seems familiar but I can't place my finger on it."
You looked and him and said, "I got it from my memories. I can't think of it either but I just had this dream that I was running and this boy told me that I'd be all right and that I'd be saved and I'd never see him again. It was so strange... But it was probably nothing." You both turned away from each other both thinking, "No, it couldn't be..."
"It's probably just a coincidence," you say. Jade sighs and says, "but I feel like I should remember something in those limits but I blocked out my life from 18 and up and I feel like something important is coming back to me."
"Then maybe this will refresh your memory possibly. I'll give you the whole story of my dream." So you told him everything. By the end of it all, he said, "Wow, I feel like this refreshes some of my past that I can't remember. I remember moving out of my parent's house when I turned 19 but before that...I remember helping this little girl because her Aunt was physically abusing her with knives and fireworks. I remember, she had this burn on her leg. It was so bad; we had to take her into the hospital once. The last day I saw her was the day we laid on the roof." He looked up at the ceiling of the elevator. "I wonder if we'll get out of here sometime soon. I'm hungry," He said. You sighed again, and said to him, "I'm wondering if I'm the chick you're talking about. I didn't think I had a bad life n the past. I know my parents died and I know that I lived in a foster home for a few years but I don't ever recall being abused. That time of my life is a complete blur." Jade then stood up. "But anyways," he started, "are you ticklish?"
"What? Why?" you asked. Because right then he attacked you and tickled you on your stomach. "Jade! Stop it! No, hahaha" you screamed, It was right then that the elevator turned back on and the doors opened revealing the rest of AFI and nearly the whole hotel staff. "God Jade, talk about a Pda. Now everyone knows about your new girlfriend!" shouted Davey. Jade stood and helped me up. He then said, "What? She's not my girlfriend..." He says that yet he held your hand the entire time he explained what happened.
"Jade, I really better get going. I need to go home and take care of insurance and bills and I need to go back to my job but I promise you I'll try to keep in touch okay?" you said as you grabbed Geiger and Schilling. As you walked out of the hotel, Schilling said, "Wow, to think we met AFI and befriended them all in one night. Jade is a nice guy, Jesse. You should date him."
"What? What are you talking about I'm way too young for him plus he only thinks of me as 'family'." You said as you all crossed the street. "Our little girl dating? I don't know...I think we might need to step up and look into this Jade guy and make sure he's worthy for our little Jess," snickers Geiger. You pout and scream, "Oh guys, would you shut up already? I hate it when you treat me like a kid. I'm 20 years old, damnit!"
You all laughed as you finally made your way towards home even though you had to walk.
You came home to an empty and quiet house. "Wow, none of us have been here for awhile. It's just how we left it," you paused, "A shithole."
You all walked in and sat on the couch and watched a little bit of TV. Then that's when Geiger and Schilling decided to invite some old friends over. The next thing you knew was everyone was stoned, including yourself. You were so hazed that you didn't even care that you were making out with someone who is practically your brother. That's right. Geiger. You had your legs around him as he had you pinned against the wall. He had his hair in his face so you couldn't really identify him instantly. He was just so good as he chewed your upper lip and you nibbled on his the same way. He had you so you were so comfortable in his arms that you were easily taken advantage of. He lightly brushed you face with his hand as he started kissing your neck. He then put his hand behind your neck to keep you up but instead that just made you more unbalanced so he just laid you on the couch. He started to unzip your pants but you mumbled to try and keep him off. Geiger looked up at you sadly but you shoved him off of you and ran up to the bathroom. "What have I done?" you say as you look into the mirror to see your smeared makeup and hickeys on your neck. "How am I going to explain this to Jade?" You opened the cabinet and grabbed a large bottle of pills. "It's not like he's my boyfriend...Like that would ever happen," you say before slipping a handful of pills down your throat.
It took a few minutes of walking before the pills kicked in. Your vision started to blur as you were nearing the steps. You slipped and fell down them but there were only 5 steps and they were carpeted. But you had cut your head on the railing but you were feeling numb so you weren't in shock. You pulled yourself down the hallway and propped yourself up against the wall as you lay in a pool of your own blood rushing from your head. You felt like concrete. You couldn't lift your arms or move your body. Your vision slipped as your head fell into the puddle of blood. You see blackening walls as you fall into an unconscious state.
Jade's point of view
All you can remember was that her face was pale and there was blood down the side of her face. You were trying to remember what she looked like when she was full of life and her eyes were always light. She had marks all over. "What had she done?" you asked aloud. "Jade, what are you doing here?" screamed a voice from behind you. It was Schilling. "I was coming to make sure you got home alright. I looked up your names in the phonebook to get an address. What the hell happened?"
She looked down and sighed, "Well, we kind of had a party and well she apparently was all over Geiger and she ran upstairs," she paused and pulled out a medicine bottle, "I found this empty upstairs. She must have overdosed."
You said, "So why are you still standing here? She needs to go to the hospital!"
She looked down at Jess and said quietly, "We can't afford to go the hospital..."
Jade opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out except, "Come on. We're going. I'll pay for everything as long as she gets better."
You and Schilling were waiting in the waiting room. None of you knew where Geiger was but Schilling said that he was a private person and never showed up when things happened. "He is always blank but there's something about his eyes that always showed that he has gotten hurt. His blue eyes are so cold and shadowed. But he seems so happy most of the time. Who he is, is something even I don't know."
You later found out that Jesse had suffered minor concussion and would have to stay in the hospital for a few short days. You visited her occasionally. You would always fill each other in on what had happened during the week.
"Yesterday, Geiger came to see me. We talked about a lot," she paused, "I guess there something between us now...ever since that night. I guess it could work and I'm willing to give it a try. I get so out of the whole dating system after awhile of being single...Hey are you okay?" she asked as she noticed you frowning. "What? You're dating him?" She nodded but made a face of confusion of why you were freaking out so much. "I can't believe this..."
"Why is it such a big deal that I'm actually dating someone? I'm not a kid, you know? Maybe I shouldn't have told you at all!" She yelled. You yelled in frustration before walking out of the room. "Why am I so mad about this? It's not like I like her or anything! She's too young!" You screamed when you got outside. "Keep telling yourself that but I know how you really feel," said Davey as he came up from behind you. Jade turned around and looked at him. "Is it that obvious?"
"Just a little but I can mainly tell from your eyes. You really light up when you look at her and she makes you laugh. What more can you ask for? Hey, maybe you might even end up with her someday."
You sighed and said, "Yeah right. Not as long as she's with Geiger. But whatever, I need to get out alone for a while. I'm just really frustrated."
Davey looked up and said, "Don't do something stupid that you'll regret later."