Chapter 16 PT 2 ("I'm a wreck")

Didi and Rev. Stone were sleeping peacefully in their bedroom when the phone suddenly rang. Didi groaned, glancing over at Rev. Stone to see if he would get up. When she realized that he wasn't she rolled her eyes and reached for her phone, "Hello...yes who is...Jack? Are you ok? Jack...Ok, ok...I'm on my way." Some tears were starting to get in Didi's eyes as she hung up the phone; she hit Rev. Stone with all of her strength and he woke up in pain.

"Ouch! Didi!"

"No time for that, we have to go pick up Jack from the police station."

Rev. Stone's eyes widened, "Ok, wait, what in the world are you talking about?"

"Jack's in trouble, that's what I'm talking about. We need to go I'll explain it in the car, come on."

...

The car ride was a long and frustrating one. Didi couldn't wrap her head around it. She never imagined her son being in jail, and definitely not for fighting.

"I don't understand this...Jack doesn't fight. Jack's a good kid Didi."

Didi felt like she was going to cry again, but she kept her eyes on the road, "Jack is a good kid...but something happened to him that day he got beat up by that pimp...something changed him and we didn't do anything about it. We just tried to give him his space, and that's not ok. We should have taken him to see a counselor...We should have made him go."

"Didi if we made him go he would have been stubborn and just not talked...He would resent us."

"But don't you think he'd be grateful for it in the end? It's better than this! It's better than him using fighting to feel better...I just can't believe this happened."

"We had no control over this Didi...he did what he wanted to do," Rev. Stone sighed.

"He's our child. Sometimes he shouldn't do whatever he wants to do," Didi practically choked on her words as she tried to drive faster.

"That's it son! You only get one call."

Jack turned and saw the police walking towards him and he sighed. He couldn't take this environment. Everyone looked terrifying, and he had no room to himself. The food was really cruddy, but he didn't want to eat anyway. He just hoped that his parents would be able to help him. He always thought that he could be on his own. He was practically an adult now in his eyes, and relying on his parents for anything just didn't seem like something he should be doing anymore. But as he sat on his hard bed, he wished now more than ever that his parents were right next to him, giving him comforting words, and making him feel better.

He looked around at his surroundings. He shared his cell with another man, who was much bigger than the guy he had fought at the fight club. He kept to himself and Jack was more than grateful for that. When they dished out the food to everyone, Jack easily let him have his meal, not only because he wasn't hungry, but because the guy looked like he was going to take it anyway.

The cell was pretty small, and the floors were cold and felt like cement. The beds were metal, and they gave you one pillow and a small cover. Jack didn't feel like sleeping, he was just going to sit there and wait for his parents.

"What's your name son?" His cell-mate looked at him and Jack felt something go off in his stomach. He was frightened, but he tried not to show it.

"Jack...Jack Papas."

"Hm," the man grunted, "Thanks for the dinner Papas...whatcha in here for?"

"...Illegal fighting," Jack gulped. He wondered if the man was just trying to test him, and he wanted to fight.

Surprisingly, he didn't do any of that. He sat down on his own bed, "How old are ya son?"

"Nineteen sir..."

The man chuckled, "No need to call me sir. My name's Ezekiel. I got caught up in here for illegal fighting at your age too...Needed a little stress reliever at home, was constantly getting abused by my folks and stuff like that. But if I learned anything son, anything at all, it's that illegal fighting is the last thing you need. You believe in God or what?"

Jack nodded, "Well yeah...it just doesn't seem like He's been hearing me lately."

"Maybe you the one who aint listening son. Maybe you need to eh, as they say open up them ears of yours a little more...pray a little more, be a little stronger. Ask him for courage, and wisdom instead of asking him for things to go ya way ya know?"

"Yeah...yeah I guess you're right...It was Ezekiel right?"

"Yup, name came straight out the Bible. Even got the name tattooed on my left arm here," he said as he pulled up his sleeve and showed Jack the tattoo. Surrounding it were pictures of angels, and a cross.

"Wow...nice. But what did you get it for?"

"When I went to jail for the first time, it was hell son...Practically lost my um...what's the word for it? Oh yeah my identity son, I lost my identity. Police here treat us like we aint shit. One thing that's good is that they aint racists. They treat every race the same, poorly. Sometimes they give us food that I swear not even a dog would eat. They give us numbers not names, but I always wanted to keep my identity. I knew I would get out soon the first time, so when I got out at the age of 20, I went ahead and got my name tattooed on my arm to show them, that I was Ezekiel, not number 522," he spoke sincerely, with such passion in his voice that Jack really sat down and listened to this man. He didn't seem like a bad guy at all.

"Ezekiel...you're very wise. You believe in God. You know right from wrong. Why are you in here?"

"Same reason you are son, keep letting my past control me instead of moving forward. That's all I'm gonna say about my story, but you'll probably get out of here soon. I have a long way to go, and I pray to God everyday that I don't die before I get out and make a change in my life. We all gotta make a change you hear me? When you go home you listen to your parents and you quit all that illegal stuff. It aint good for you, I'm living proof."

Before Jack could respond to this, he heard two familiar voices calling his name.

"Jack Papas! When we get you out of here there's going to be hell to pay!" Didi was furious, but she was more than grateful to see that her son looked okay.

In the background, Ezekiel was looking at Jack's interaction with his parents. "That's something I never got with my parents...I hope he appreciates that." He looked away so that he wouldn't draw any attention to himself as the cell gates opened.

"We already paid your bail, that's a whole lot of money coming out of your back account Jack," Rev. Stone said sternly.

"I'm just happy that your ok...and grounded for possibly the rest of your life."

Jack honestly didn't care that he was going to be grounded. He did what he hadn't done in quite some time, and he pulled both of his parents into a hug. He was grateful that he had parents who loved him and cared about him enough to get him out of jail. If he didn't have supportive parents, he'd be stuck in that cell for months, frightened and alone. He looked back at Ezekiel, and Ezekiel looked at him. He gave him a firm nod, words weren't needed. Jack truly respected that man.

...

Once the Papas family got into the car, the lecturing wouldn't stop. Jack knew that this was coming, but he was honestly so tired that he could barely comprehend what they were saying.

"Jack I never want to see this happen again. I'm serious. Do you understand?"

"..."

"Jack!"

Jack shot up, "Huh! Sorry!"

Rev. Stone couldn't help but chuckle a little bit at that, "Didi let him get some rest, we can grill him tomorrow. For now, I'm just happy that you're not hurt."

"Thanks dad..."

"But that doesn't mean you're getting off the hook," Didi continued, "I know you know better than all of this...get some rest, but be prepared for an intervention tomorrow."

Jack groaned but fell asleep during the car ride.

At the Boykewich residence, Chloe couldn't sleep. She was still downstairs in the living room with the lights on and a book in her hand. Honestly, she wasn't even reading the book. She felt terrible. She felt guilty. She didn't know what else to do, but she felt pathetic for leaving Jack there. She heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and she turned her head to see that it was Leo.

He was about to turn off the light when he saw Chloe there. He jumped a little, surprised by her presence, "Chloe? What are you doing? Why are you still up?"

She sighed. She thought about lying, or saying it was nothing, but she knew it wouldn't work. Leo always had a way of figuring out what was wrong with her, "Leo...I did something stupid..."

Leo took a seat next to her and looked at her with concern, "You're not pregnant right?"

Chloe glared at her, "Ok I know that's kind of a trend in this town, but no I'm not pregnant...It has to do with Jack."

"You know Jack has a girlfriend right?"

"Yes," Chloe rolled her eyes, "I'm not interested in him it's just...Ok...I found out that he was taking steroids...and participating in illegal fighting..."

Leo's eyes widened at this, "This is terrible. Do his parents know?"

"I doubt it...So I took him to the fight club earlier in the night so that I could go and speak to the people myself and get him out of his fight..."

"Chloe! Do you know how dangerous that is!" Leo looked furious, but more concerned than ever.

"If there's anyone who knows about danger it's me...But I just wanted to help. But I think the steroids really messed him up...He ended up fighting this guy, and the police came but he didn't stop. I called his name so many times but he just kept hitting that guy. So I took off because I didn't want to get caught there too...He saved me Leo, and I didn't even help him..."

"This was beyond your control. You go to bed now but we're going to talk about this in the morning."

Chloe sighed, "Alright..."

"I'll take it from here."

"What are you gonna do though?"

"Just get some rest," Leo said.

Chloe made her way upstairs and was about to go to her bedroom when she heard laughing coming from Ben's room. The door was open slightly, so she peeked her head through it and saw that Ben was on the phone. He was laughing, and he didn't even notice Chloe.

"Yeah well I'm glad you're ok...and it's good to hear you laugh Ally," he said. Chloe noticed that there was a cheesy grin on his face and she rolled her eyes. "Oh gosh..."

She made her way to her bedroom before he could take notice of her.

...

Meanwhile Leo called up Didi right away. She answered after the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi Didi...are you informed of your sons participation in illegal fighting?"

Didi sighed, "How'd you find out? We just picked him up today from...jail. He's not gonna do it again, he learned his lesson. Don't spread this around ok?"

"I won't Didi, but you know how this town is. I just wanted to make sure you know. Is he ok?"

"Yeah he'll be fine. I'll be giving him a long lecture tomorrow you can count on that, and I'm going to make him see a counselor, he needs it."

"I totally agree. I think maybe his fighting had to do with the steroids too."

"The what!"

Leo was startled by Didi's tone of voice, "I'm sorry Didi...wait I thought you knew?"

"No! Who told you this? My son would never do that."

"Chloe...she was there and-"

"Chloe doesn't know what the hell she's talking about! Goodnight Leo."

Didi hung up before Leo could even say anything back.

A/N: So sorry about the long awaited chapter! I've been really busy with school and thank you to whoever is still reading this I really appreciate it. The story is almost done.