All Good
(Day 160: Friday Afternoon)
"So, you have nothing to share?" Fairy Godmother doubts.
"Nope," Jay leans back at the desk, smiling. "Now that I'm in the land of cherry trees everything's fine. Good school. Good food. Good girlfriend."
"And you have nothing from your time on the Isle to share?"
"Nothing worth talking about," he crosses his arms. "I'm moving on."
"And there's nothing recent that's been bothering you?" she slowly asks.
"Nope. Everything's good now."
Carlos furrows his eyebrows at him, "Fuck you."
Jay offers him an even look, humming, "I don't think so." before he turns back to the headmistress; however, then Carlos hits him on the shoulder. He quickly faces him again, "Hey."
"Why don't you do it back?" he almost smiles. "Get even."
Jay looks him up and down, "No." before he shakes his head. "Look. Fairy Godmother, I really just want to get on with whatever's next. I'm not the dwelling kind."
"Unresolved issues can impact a person greatly," she lets him know. "I'm giving you the opportunity now to relieve yourself of that stress."
"Do I look like I have stress?" Jay rhetorically comments before smiling. "I'm all good."
"So, you have no unresolved issues with your father?"
Jay narrows his eyes and leans forward, "My father'd better hope I don't see his filthy face ever again."
"Oh?" Fairy Godmother smiles. "And why's that?"
"Because," Jay grits his teeth. "If I ever see him again I will kill him."
"Why?"
"He tried to kill me," he evenly responds. "Why not him?"
It takes her a moment to entertain, "And how would you kill him?"
There's a minute of silence, before Jay concludes, "Tie him up somewhere cold, bleed him until he's too weak to move, and then watch him starve for the few weeks he has left. By the end of it he will be begging me to cut him loose, tell me how much he loves me and what a great son I've been to him."
She notices him start to frown, "What's wrong?"
Jay thinks, "He gets like that. He'll tell me how much he loves me one day and then throw knives at me the next." before he eyes down. "Something's wrong with him."
"Do you believe, then, that he deserves to die?"
Jay meets her dark brown eyes, "When my mother asked him to get help, to see Dr. Hyde, he killed her. Right in front of me. In the kitchen, he had this long knife." and a stillness washes over him. He makes the motion, "He held it firm, starting just below her heart and gutting her down. Like an animal." He recalls her terrified whisper, "Sorry, she said. She knew she'd abandoned me, left me with this monster. And the next second she dropped, smacked her head on the table, and blood filled the floor."
"So, you would be killing him for her," the headmistress examines.
"No. I'll be doing it, because I want to."
Fairy Godmother notices his eyes are glossed over, and he's far too calm for the subject matter, "Do you plan on killing him?"
"I don't plan on anything," Jay evenly explains. "It will happen when it does, if he's stupid enough to try to talk to me again."
"And are you sure you could go through with it, watching another human being take his last breath?"
The more he thinks about it the more clear his mind is and the more calm he feels, "People say I'm confident. I'm not. I just speak before I think. But this, this is the one thing I'm absolutely sure about."
"Jay," Fairy Godmother attempts to reason, "just because your father was a killer, doesn't mean you need to be. You can choose how to live your life."
"Exactly," Jay counters. "If I kill him, then the future's all mine. He won't kidnap me. He won't kill my wife. He won't scare my kids. He won't be taking my life." Jay grins, "Because, it's going to be all mine. Like he always said, if you want it take it. If you can't have it, break it. And when I'm done breaking him, the fire will wash him and everything he's ever touched away. Only I will remain."
Mal claps, and everyone turns to her, "Great story, Jay."
It takes a moment for him to chuckle, "Yeah. And she fell for it."
Fairy Godmother looks between the two, confused, "What's going on here?"
"His mom left," Mal fakes a smile. "You don't need to worry about him killing anyone or anything. He made it up."
When the headmistress turns back to Jay he makes a face, "You wanted a story. I gave you one." before he eyes up at the clock. "Time to go." He stretches before standing, but when he makes it out of the room Mal pulls him to the side of the hall.
"What the hell?" She glances around, furiously whispering, "I mean, how much more of an idiot could you be?"
"Sorry?"
She hits him on the chest, "You were going to leave me."
"I wasn't—"
"They would've taken you," she desperately concludes.
He lets out a breath and smiles, "I'm sorry. You're right. I'm an idiot."
Mal narrows her eyes at him, "Yeah, and you'll get caught if you try to do this by yourself, so if you're really serious about it—" She looks sternly into his eyes, "I'm going to be there for you when that opportunity comes and if you still want to. Got it?"
"Yeah," his eyebrows raise. "Got it."
Mal takes a deep breath, "I hate therapy. You up for a drink?"
It takes him a moment to say, "We're going to the castle today, remember? We don't have the time—"
"Then we can have it there," she asserts. "Let's walk now, so we can have some later."
Jay frowns, "I didn't make you want a drink, did I?"
"No," Mal tilts her head. "Some authority figures just know how to rub my scales the wrong way."
He smiles, "Nice pun."
"Yeah," Mal sighs. "I thought so."
- How awesome would it be if Jay eventually became a father who kills a pedophile eyeing his little girl?... I already had a pedophile storyline planned for a long time from now (like when Mal already has her own daughter) so it would be pretty easy to implement. Don't worry. I didn't spoil anything. Mal's daughter doesn't get hurt or anything... Okay. Now I spoiled something. All well. Probably about twenty books from now. Surely you'll forget by then.
- Next Up: Spoiler, the story ends with Ben and Chad in a hotel room... any guesses how that happens? Remember, five chapters left. A lot can happen in a day or two...