The next week was a blur to Jessie, who found herself close to the point of depression over Jason's death. Her quiet spells, which came more often and for longer periods of time now, seemed to wear on her foster parents, and particularly on Diana. She would glare at Jessie every time she came into their shared bedroom, slamming whatever door she passed through to accentuate her displeasure. Normally, Jessie would have tried to work through her differences with her foster sister, but now, she couldn't be bothered.
School was even worse than it had been before. Time seemed to stick from one minute to the next, dragging on endlessly until Jessie felt like she would cry if the day went on any longer. On Friday, having been an entire week since she had seen Jason, Jessie could barely sit through all of her classes. Her teachers found her difficult to communicate with, but Jessie no longer cared about pleasing everyone. She no longer cared about perhaps being transferred to another foster home. All she cared about was the fact that Jason Grey was dead.
The school bell finally rung, but Jessie was no longer the first person out of their chair, eagerly scrambling towards the door to start their weekend. She was the last person to exit the classroom and anyone who cared to look at her as she passed them in the hall stared after her for a moment, shocked that someone so young could look so old and sad.
Jessie bent over to put her books in her locker, and the locker door above her head slammed shut with hinge-shaking force. Normally, Jessie would have jumped, startled by the noise, but the noise no longer affected her that way. All it did was make her angry, and she stood up and glared at the senior next to her in rare defiance.
"What?" he asked, but to Jessie it sounded more like a squeak, and she wondered how stormy her face must appear to him.
"I," she said slowly, with deadly care put into the syllable, "am not in the mood."
She slammed her own locker with more force than necessary, and it was the senior's turn to jump. His mouth dropped open as the tiny sprite of a junior walked away, her shoulders slumped, as though she carried too much weight and burden on them.
For the past week, Jessie had not been near the hospital. She couldn't bear the sight of the white brick establishment that boasted to help save people's lives, yet had let Jason's life slip away so easily. All it had taken was a pen, and a signature, and his life was no longer his.
"The pen was probably black," Jessie found herself thinking, and she shuddered despite the warm day as she thought about the only color she had ever loathed.
She pushed away all thoughts of the hospital and of Jason as she headed towards a small park she had found down the street opposite from the hospital. There, she perched on a vacant swing as she delved into her homework. Perhaps if she threw herself headfirst into some project, like homework, and never looked back, she wouldn't feel as much of the hurt and grief she now felt.
All too soon, it was time for her to start heading home. She had completed her homework two hours ago, but she was in absolutely no hurry to get home to a family that regretted her presence. With a sigh, she packed up her books, tucked her pencils and pens away, and made her way towards home, realizing that she had delayed long enough.
It was only when she stepped through the front door that Jessie realized that something different was going on. There was absolutely nothing littered on the floor, not even dust. She crept into the kitchen and her mouth dropped open when she saw that there were no dirty dishes in the sink. No milk containers were left out to spoil, and no cereal boxes were scattered around the counters.
A noise behind Jessie made her turn, and she saw her foster mother standing there, trying to fasten one of her diamond earrings on. "Hello," Jessie said softly. "Are we going out somewhere?"
Mrs. Davis shook her head, still trying to fasten the earring, and said, "We are, you aren't." She smoothed her dress out proudly as she said, "A family from the hospital is taking us all out to dinner for the work our dear Diana did on their son."
"How wonderful," Jessie said flatly.
"Isn't it?" Mrs. Davis asked, but by her tone Jessie knew that the statement was rhetorical. "Darling!" she called for her husband as she strode out of the room. "I can't get this button in the back!"
Jessie rolled her eyes and trudged toward the staircase to head up to her room. She felt weary, though she had barely done anything strenuous all day. All she wanted to do was sleep. However, there was a pounding on the stairs and suddenly, Diana was in front of her, glaring and blocking the way up to her bedroom.
"Excuse me," Jessie said wearily, trying to be polite.
Diana, however, shook her head. "This is a very important night for me, and I'll not have you ruining it," she hissed at Jessie, taking a step towards her and causing Jessie to take a step back to keep from running into her. "It's a lovely restaurant," she said, tossing her head and making her atrociously-large earrings jangle.
Beyond caring just how wonderful the restaurant would be, Jessie tried again, "Diana, let me through."
Diana pressed her lips together sullenly and shook her head again. "I don't want you messing this up for me," she told Jessie again, narrowing her eyes before she added, "you little freak." That struck a nerve in Jessie, but she only blinked outwardly, determined not to let Diana see any weakness. "When that family comes, mom and dad will be downstairs reading quietly," Diana told her. "The twins will come running in, looking adorable, once the family's been bidden to step inside, and I'll come down the stairs, having just finished getting ready." She raised an unfriendly eyebrow at Jessie and asked, "And you? Where will you be?"
Jessie's eyes narrowed and her anger for Diana spewed forth in controlled sarcasm as she said calmly, "I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending that I don't exist."
Diana's eyes narrowed as she noticed the biting sarcasm that coated the sentence, but she nodded. "Excellent," she told Jessie, stepping aside and allowing her to pass.
Diana's room was quiet and dark, both of which Jessie was thankful for as she tumbled onto her bed and let the tears fall. They were tears of frustration, and tears of anger. They were tears of sorrow and tears of loneliness. How could the world be so cruel as to take her parents and Jason from her? It was too much for her to handle.
The doorbell rang and Jessie heard Diana scrambling up the stairs. If she hadn't been so distraught and fed up with life, she might have laughed at her foster sister's foolishness. For now, it only conjured up a smile in her mind. She vaguely heard her foster parents talking to someone else, but she didn't pay any attention until she heard slow footsteps coming up the stairs once again and Diana burst into the room.
"Get up!" she hissed, flying around the room. "Get up now!"
Jessie rolled over and stared at her blearily. "What?" she asked, confused.
"Somehow," Diana growled, "they found out that you exist. They want to see you."
"What?" Jessie asked again, now utterly confused.
Diana threw Jessie's best pair of jeans at her and hissed, "Just get dressed!" She wheeled towards the door and threw over her shoulder, "And hurry!"
Jessie dressed as though she was in a daze, not understanding how, or why for that matter, a family of Diana's patient would know her. She pulled on her good jeans and searched through her drawer for an appropriate top. Finding none, she sucked in a breath and did something that she knew she would later regret: She raided Diana's closet.
Inside, she found tops that were far too skimpy and ugly to use, but at the very back of the closet, she found a plain, forest green sweater that fitted her perfectly. She slipped it on, combed her auburn hair back and settled a headband over the crown of her head. After that, she slipped on her worn out Converses and opened the door of the bedroom, taking the stairs two at a time in order to reach the bottom floor in a relatively quick amount of time. It was time to act like she loved where she was currently living, and all the people she was currently living with. Why did her life have to be so difficult?
"Sorry I'm la-" Jessie began, looking up for the first time and cutting her sentence off mid-syllable with a gasp.
There, looking better and more alive than he ever had, and standing in her living room surrounded by his family, stood Jason Grey.
A/N: WOOHOO!! I've just been waiting for that!! :D LOL! Hope I suprised you a little!! Anyways, I'm sorry for taking so long to write this, but I hope that you guys enjoyed it just the same. I will warn you that updates might be scarcer since I've started school and have a LOT of homework, but I will do my best to write and update as much as I possibly can. ;) Jessie's comment about pretending as though she doesn't exist actually comes from Harry Potter, which I just recently watched for the first time. It worked into the story perfectly, so I thought that I'd use it! Also, please review. I absolutely love hearing from you!!