I don't even know what to say anymore, my apologizes will soon lose meaning if I use them each and every chapter...
But worry not, my final exams are almost worry, and during holidays I'll try to be more quick in my updates.
You wanted to know why Jack was so angsty? Well, I hope this clarifies things.
Thank you all who gave me your feedback, it was greatly appreciated and made me forget my studies and rush to my computer in order to give this to you in return. ;D
(Sorry for the lack of Tooth in this chapter, but it had to be made...)
XXII
A week earlier...
The rain was pouring, cold and heavy, whipping against the boy's cloak like small, albeit heavy, pebbles thrown from the revolving skies. But the young shepherd could only laugh at their futile attempt of bringing him down from his absolutely elated state. Nothing could turn down his inner joy that came bursting out in waves of laughter and long strides.
Jack had run half the way, sometimes slipping in the now soaked grass. But he always managed to regain his balance with a bright chuckle and a frenetic wave of arms.
Thunders roared now and then, devastating the sky above his dripping head with their core-shattering sound.
He finally entered the village, bare feet splashing on recently formed puddles as he ran down the muddy street. There was no one to be seen, no living soul wanting to get drenched in the abundant rain. They were all tucked up inside their cozy little houses, preparing their scarce dinner – the wait for fish as been longer than ever – or calming their little children, who were probably hiding from the loud blast of the thunderstorm.
Normally, Jack would take a glance at the docks, a frown deeply settled on his face, and mix of relief and worry would cloud both his heart and his ocean-blue eyes, as he saw no boat moored there. But today the rain was so violent and the delight in his heart was so great – thanks to the lovely afternoon spent with the lovely mermaid – that he couldn't spoil such bliss by sparing the fishing boats' safe harbor a look.
So he headed directly towards his family house, settled down the road of a by-street, the yellowish glow coming of the steamy windows like his own lighthouse.
The loud bleat of his heard, currently sheltered on their own petit stable, greeted him through the thunderstorm. Various pairs of eyes shone back at him, as a sudden lightening illuminated the surrounding area in a plain white flash, while the shepherd whispered soothing words to the agitated animals.
He quickly got away though, and hurried his way inside. His mother was probably freaking out by now, and he would have to endure her pouring worry, risking not being let out so soon.
- Mum, I'm here already! – he shouted into the fire-warmed house, as he left the chaos of pouring water and raging thunders outside.
- And I know what you'll say: yeah, yeah, I can't be out 'till night time... – he excused, while he quickly undressed his drenched cloak.
- But now I came...
And what he was about to say got stuck in his throat, suddenly incredibly hoarse and dry. Therefore, what left his lips was not above a whisper.
- ... back...
With widened cerulean eyes, almost sea green due to the warm glow of the fireplace, the lean boy paled even further.
There, sat outspread in the rocking chair across the room, stood a broad figure, nothing more than a silhouette against the flames cracking behind him. He remained quiet, very still, a pair of cold blue irises staring back at the frozen boy through the darkness, like a predator waiting for the reaction of its surprised prey. And the silence prevailed, heavy, suffocating; and the chaos outside seemed suddenly much more inviting than the storm about to fall upon him.
But then a lightning bolt gashed the skies outside their little house, and the bright flash illuminated the sat figure's features in contrasting sharp angles. He seemed to glisten slightly, and the young shepherd concluded that he was probably as soaked as him. Maybe more even. With the time that man had spent in the sea, he was probably drenched with icy cold water until his very core.
The boy seemed to snap awake, his eyes narrowing and arms crossing over his wet chest, almost protectively. With that, the figure got up from his resting position, as if he was waiting for the lad before him to man up and face him properly. But it was Jack who cut the thick silence first.
- So... you're back.
- It seems I am.
- Where's mum?
- Your mother's in the kitchen. She wanted to give us some time to catch up... talk man to man.
And the notorious way in which the large figure before him spat that last word, with a well-known smirk that frequently played in Jack's lips, made the young shepherd glare from under his wet bangs.
- Do you still take care of your mother's sheep, Jackson? Having fun, lazing throughout the fields?
- Someone needs to do it, father. – the boy snarled in response, dodging the man to hang his wet cloths near the blazing fire.
But it wasn't over yet. It never did. It was always the same talk, every time he returned from his blasted journeys. Ever since Em... well, their father became bitter and bitter, and all that acid only fuelled Jack's anger towards him further more.
- Being a shepherd is a boy's job! Do you want to be a boy forever?
Now the teasing smirk had disappeared, replaced by an ever-present scowl, that splitted the older man's forehead with a deep furrow. Jack stopped in his tracks, his back turned to the figure by the door, panting slightly under his breath.
- It's time for you to man up and take over your responsibilities, to bring some income into the house! You can't live partying around forever, like a worthless lad, doing nothing with your time! – the oldest man yelled in his deep accent, strong grip on the chair near him, knuckles turning white by the force exercised. Then he sighted deeply, and gazed the boy's dripping back with a stern stare.
- Your mother has been forgiving you because of everything that happened...
The fisherman's irises turned fleetingly towards the ground, softening just the slightest. But just as fast as his eyes returned to the lad before him, the awaited hardness returned in full-force.
- But this has to be over. It was bad for everybody, but you can't just use it to excus-
- Do you think I'm using it as an excuse? – Jack suddenly exclaimed, in an offended burst out, tearful eyes glaring towards the man with a black fire dwelling bellow. – So I can wander around, as if I were a drunken trump? Pretending that it affected me more...
But the boy was so perplexed by the accusation that his previous yells died down to a mad mumbling. His mother had already came out of the kitchen, thanks to the yelling, and with one chiding look towards her husband, a soothing hand tried to reached out, in order to comfort her miserable son. But her warm touch seemed to only aggravate the situation.
Jack, as triggered by the affection, snapped, slowly retrieving towards the door.
- YOU KNOW NOTHING! YOU HAVE NO IDEA W-WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH! – then his husky voice was no more than a sibilating snarl. – How DARE you?
He put on his drenched cloak again, not caring a thing if it froze him to the bone or not, and opened the door to the pouring storm outside.
But just before he ran away, his watery eyes turned towards his father, perforating the man's speechless gape with the coldest glare Jack's enraged heart could muster.
- I will never be a fisherman!
...
..
.
- TOOTH!
His voice was hushed by the still ranging storm, the rain splashing against his face as if attempting to dig gashes on his pale skin. The tumultuous dark waves splashed strongly against the steep walls of the cliff, down there, in the bottom of the precipice.
The boy, more sopping wet than he would be if he took a death jump towards the ocean, tried one more time, with his throat so soar and raspy that he could swear that it was bleeding. But is soul was bleeding too, and those incessant tears hurt more than the walls of his esophagus.
- TOOTHIANA, COME HERE RIGHT NOW!
And in the unanswered silence that followed, the boy hiccupped in despair.
He slowly sat on the drenched grass, feeling the cold seep even deeper through his cloths, but he couldn't care less. Rain splashing continuously on his leather cloak, the boy tried to disappear from this world, lost in the exasperating emptiness of his own mind, rocking back and forth in his stance.
With knees brought close to his chest, he embraced himself into a tiny ball, like he had done countless nights before, following Emma's disappearance. Like he had seen his little sister do so many times too, when the dark came in the creep of nighttime. It was a position from which he had saved her innumerable times, telling her stories and making her laugh even if frightened tears had already stained her rosy cheeks.
Unfortunately, it seemed no one was ever there to save Jack himself...
...
..
.
The week that followed was of party and joy, as husbands, fathers and sons had finally returned home, mostly unharmed and with both a lot of fish to feed the modest village, and incredible stories of glorified heroes that dwelt on the Northern Seas.
But for Jack, it was above all a nightmare. The only thing that shed any light over the sulking boy was his own mother's happiness; the poor woman was finally at peace.
It was a strange phenomenon: whenever his father left to his fishing journeys, uncertain of ever coming back, he always seemed to take his mother's heart with him. She would worry, night and day, always glancing the tiny port through the thin glass of their kitchen windows. Of course she tried to hide it when she was with her son, but Jack could see right through the emptiness of her once warm orbs.
Ever since Em went away, a ubiquitous light that used to color their dull lives had extinguished, once and for all, leaving a strange cold emptiness in all their hearts:
His mother tried to fill it with a constant anxiety over her family, like they would disappear out of thin air, and that imprisonment made Jack restless and with even a greater need to get away;
The young shepherd, as it should be, tried to fulfill the void with his constant runaways, long adventures out in the nature, without the human presence to remind him of the real world. Well, now he had Tooth; And what a blessing she was...
The stern fisherman opted for something quite similar, even if both father and son disbelieved strongly that they were the slightest alike. His good old dad hided away in the sea, as odd as it seems, given the way of his little daughter's departure from this world. But maybe it was the fact that, like Jack, it was a way for him to avoid his colorless life, and therefore, not needing to face all the weight that came with it accepting its reality.
What Jack had said before was true. He had been the most affected of them all, even if his mother lost her sweet child and his father was never able of seeing his little girl became a beautiful woman.
But venturing on such thoughts was a dangerous thing for the young man to do. He dismissed them during the day, lost in the routine of his tedious day-to-day life. Take sheep out, bring sheep home. It was all he ever did. A part of him whispered that maybe his father had a point, but Jack would quickly shoo it away, pretend he hadn't heard it above the one big choice: he would NEVER be a fisherman!
He practically lived up to reach the next Sunday, and that was certainly not healthy. Either way, it was better than risking that the tenebrous ghost that hunted his being might finally submerge him in a deathly sea of guilt.
In the end, that little mermaid was the only good thing left in his life, the only light he had found to replace the hole left by Emma's.
So, has he thought about it all, after having thrown all his frustrations against the innocent girl, he thanked the heavens that the good hearted creature had forgiven him. He wouldn't bear to see her swim away forever...
Because right now, Tooth was much more than an enjoyable company, much more than a distraction for his free day.
In that moment he realized, with a mix of dread and confusion as he stared wide eyed at the smiling mermaid, that something had irreversibly changed in his life when he first laid his blue irises on her pinkish ones.
Being with Toothiana had long surpassed the naive curiosity of the contact with a mysterious world.
At this stake, with all the darkness that dwelt, waiting, in his heart, Jack needed the mermaid desperately...
How was it? To bad? It was just a peek at Jack's life at home, and now you see he has some pressure on his shoulders. Can't be playing around all the time...
Please leave your review. Good or bad, they are always welcomed!
Until next chapter!