Chapter 18: Jacob's Story

The next morning, Alex woke and found her parents still next to her as well as her younger brother Max and Mason and Juliet as well. The only person that she wished was there is the one person that lost his mind. Alex simply looked back at her false leg and always knew that it would remind her of Justin. 'I would rather just not have a leg but then what would the point be; it would still remind me of him.' Alex thought as she let tears slip down her cheeks. Then a doctor came into the room and smiled. "Hello doc."

"Alex there are a few more people here to see you however you seem to be overloaded as it is." The doctor said.

"Let them in." Alex said sadly looking away and closing her eyes trying to keep herself from crying.

"Ok then but before I go, I just thought that I'd let you know that you can leave today. It may be hard to walk at first but you should be fine." The doctor then left and in came Jacob and Miss Hanson.

"Miss Hanson, sergeant, why are you here?" Alex asked knowing very well that they must be busy.

"Just call me Jacob." Jacob said with a smile.

"Call me Bailey, got it Cadet." Bailey winked at her and all Alex could do is roll her eyes. "So how are you Alex?" Bailey asked.

"I'm physically ok but I'm gonna be haunted by this for a while. I killed my own brother, I" Alex couldn't finish her sentence.

"Alex, you didn't have a choice, he would have killed you if you hadn't got him first. Besides, I should have tried harder to make you stay. I can only blame myself for letting you go but regardless, none of us knew that your brother was the mind behind this. I have to forgive myself like you have to forgive yourself." Bailey said walking over to Alex as the others were waking up.

"I don't think I can Miss, I mean Bailey." Alex looked away from everyone too ashamed of herself.

"Alex, let me tell you a story about me." Jacob said sitting down next to Alex on her bed. "I also had an older brother and we were the best of friends. One day both he and I had gone walking in the woods. We were miles away from town but we knew the forest better then anyone else which is why were allowed to go. Soon we came to someone that we didn't even know but we knew he wasn't sane. We had seen his picture on wanted posters for killing people without reason. He was pretty messed up and we knew it so we both ran. Only problem was that I was much slower then my older brother. The psycho caught a hold of me and threw me toward a cliff that we were at. We knew to avoid it and so we stayed away from it. Anyway, my brother rushed toward the man and tried to push him over. It worked but the man had grabbed onto my brother and pulled him over the cliff. My brother managed to grab onto a small indention in the side of the cliff but the man had kept his hold on my brother. My brother had told me to forget him and just get out of there. I had to try and do something and so I went and grabbed onto his hand ignoring what my brother had told me. I grabbed a hold of him as he slipped but I wasn't strong enough to keep my hold on him and he slipped and fell hundreds of feet down. I blamed myself for not being fast or strong enough. I wanted more then anything to jump over that cliff. My brother had a child at that time as well and so I vowed to keep watch over my niece. I lost my brother but I wasn't going to lose the next closest thing to me. I helped watch over my niece for years until her mother died in which I took my niece in as my own. Point is, I blamed myself but the fact was I couldn't have done anything about it. I eventually forgave myself." Jacob finished

"Jacob, who is your niece?" Alex asked curiously.

"You're looking at her Alex." Bailey said with a chuckle. "I never did get the chance to know my father but when I look at my uncle, I see my father in him and I wouldn't want it to be any other way. Yeah I wish my dad could have raised me personally but I couldn't and so my uncle was best. You had to protect yourself Alex and so you did, don't blame yourself for something out of your control." Bailey smiled slightly.

Alex didn't feel like the story was exactly like hers or in a way close but it seemed like Jacob's experience was worse then hers in a way and it did help. "Thanks Jacob, that does help." Alex then stood up and then grabbed onto Mason for support. "I have a niece to go see." Alex said slowly getting to the door. By the time that Alex had made it downstairs, she seemed to be able to walk fairly well. She let go of Mason and tried to walk by herself and she could walk, sort of. She wobbled a little but she could move by herself. Alex walked out the front door and could feel the sun shinning down warmly on her cold body. "Gigi won't want me to see her but she'll have to deal with." Alex absent mindedly took a step without working on keeping her balance and fell to the ground.

Mason rushed over to Alex. "Are you ok Alex?" Mason asked worriedly.

"I'm fine Mason, thanks." Alex said getting onto her feet. "Let's go." Alex then slowly walked off.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and please continue to read and review, thanks you. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.