Jake walked down the halls of the high school, following the massive crowd of fellow students as they flocked to the lecture hall for a meeting. Before crossing the threshold of the doors, a hand grabbed his sleeve and tugged for his attention. His eyes met Sherry's smiling face "I finally found you." She maneuvered through the packed doorway to his side. Jake smiled at her, an eyebrow raised in amusement as she still clung to his arm. She noticed his gesture and blushed "Oh, sorry." Releasing his arm , she pointed towards two open seats in the third row of the massive room. Jake nodded knowing how she liked to be up front at things like these. She seemed to be excited today, more so than usual. As they took their seats, Sherry pointed to a group of staff that had gathered in the front of the room with what looked like two police officers. One was an older man with short dark hair and a stern expression, beside him was a young man, a bit shorter than him. He looked to be not much older than them, he had short brown hair with a slight spike to the front. When the group departed, taking a stand along the wall, the two officers stood before the mass of chattering teenagers. The older man cleared his throat and the room fell silent. The man introduced himself as Captain Redfield. The young man beside him was First Lieutenant Nivans. They were there to inform the students of the consequences of breaking the law and to explain the sudden rise in criminals acts in the area involving alcohol or drug abuse. The lecture was relatively short. When they were dismissed, Sherry grabbed Jake's arm and pushed through the crowd of anxious students to get to the front of the room where the two officers were. Sherry called excitedly "Chris!" waving to him with her free hand. The man smiled at her "Sherry? I didn't know you went to school here." "Yeah. We do." She smiled up at him with admiration "This is Jake." She pulled on his arm so he'd introduce himself. "Hey." He looked down at Sherry, an eyebrow raised. Chris held out his hand and Jake took it hesitantly as they shook hands, Jake's sleeve slid up his arm exposing the bruising on his wrists. He hoped no one was paying attention as he shook his arm, making his sleeve fall back down. "I'm Chris. This is Piers." He gestured towards the young man beside him. The young man nodded his greeting. Jake stood by nervously as Sherry engaged Chris in a conversation about school and her duties on the student council and such. As they continued to speak, Jake had an eerie feeling spreading inside him that Chris was eyeing him. Studying him as if he were scrutinizing a criminal. Taking note of everything from posture to behavior. Jake averted his eyes, looking down at Sherry. "Excuse us but we need to get going. We need to get to class." Sherry checked her watch and gasped "Oh my god. We're gonna be late. I'm sorry." She looked up at Chris with embarrassment. Chris smiled "It's okay. We'll catch up another time." He smiled as did Piers as they parted. He walked inside the house, locking the door behind him. He dropped his backpack in the hallway by the stairs as he made his way to the kitchen, shuffling through the mail. He tossed the envelopes on the kitchen table, swiping an apple from the fruit bowl before crashing on the couch. He sighed, staring at the fruit in his hand, thinking about earlier in the afternoon. He could have sworn Chris had seen the marks. The man was perceptive, the look he gave Jake was one that told him he knew. He knew it all. He swallowed, his appetite had left him. He placed the apple on the coffee table as he got up, heading for the stairs. His thoughts were a jumbled mess. He sighed, stopping for a moment in the doorway that divided the living room from the hallway. He leaned against the door frame, a wave of nausea sweeping through him. He took a breath to calm himself, shaking his head slightly, hoping it would recede. An odd dizziness set upon him, making the room sway and rock as if he were on a boat being tossed about by clumsy waves. He let go, stumbling a bit then falling over as the world seemed to flip. He lied on his back, staring up at the ceiling with a dazed expression. He put a hand over his face and laid there, hoping in jut a few moments, he'll be feeling better. He released a deep breath and closed his eye, making the spinning in his head fade. Jake stared up into a pair of curious blue eyes surrounded by a halo of sun ray blonde hair that hung down like a curtain. He raised an eyebrow "Sherry, what are you doing?" Sherry sat up and smiled "Oh, um...well I knocked but no one answered. So I let myself in." "Okay. I meant what are you doing as in why are you staring at me?" He sat up, looking at her questioningly. "Oh well, I saw you were sleeping on the couch so I was going to go and come back later but then you started talking in your sleep." Jake felt a bit of panic rise in his chest as he asked "Did you hear any of it?" He hoped he wasn't mumbling about his father. Sherry gave him a small smile "Yeah. You said some things about your mom." "Oh." The panic vanished quickly replaced by a deep sorrow as thoughts of his mother danced through his mind to the beat of his heart. He remembered after she passed, he would dream of her and wake up to a tear stained pillow and the sound of his own sobs. She placed a hand over his "You really miss her a lot, don't you?" Jake nodded quietly, squeezing her hand "Yeah." "What happened to her?" Sherry asked, quickly adding "If you don't mind my asking." Jake released a slow sigh, speaking softly"She was sick. It got worse as time went on until there was nothing that could be done. The doctors couldn't save her." Sherry looked away "Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." Jake shook his head, watching her "No. It's okay." Later that night Jake dragged himself up to his room and crashed on his bed, exhausted from the day's dealings. He tossed his backpack and his jacket in a corner, shrugged out of his shirt and kicked off his boots before stretching out lazily. He folded his arms behind his head stretching the muscles in his shoulder and back. He was about to give into blissful sleep when a thought ran across his mind. He wondered how he ended up on the couch before Sherry arrived. He also wondered how Sherry got in if he locked the door. As he pondered these thoughts he came to one simple and easy conclusion. His father. Jake had almost forgotten that Wesker was home. The house was so quiet and he hadn't seen a single sign of life all day until Sherry. He let out a long yawn before dragging himself out of the comfort of his bed to shut and lock his bedroom door. A habit he had begun to do every night but it was clear that it was to no avail. Wesker always seemed to get in anyway. It was more of a symbol of false security, an illusion decent enough to allow him what little bits of sleep he could muster. As he crawled back into bed, curling up beneath the covers into the warmth, his thoughts turned to the memories of his mother. With each fond remembrance it seemed to cradled him into a world from the past. It wasn't long before the sweet images that played out through his mind lulled him into a deep sleep.