-7 Years Prior-
Jack threw his bag of belongings inside the small room. He sighed and looked around at the walls. The walls were a dull gray with nothing adorning them. The room made Jack feel unwelcome. The curled his toes as he looked at the floor, a rough wood floor lead to a twin bed in the back corner mere feet from the doorway. The only color in the room came from the bed comforter, which was a dark and lackluster blue.
Jack took two steps forward and fell onto what was now his bed. He quickly fell asleep, not wanting to be awake.
Footsteps from the hallway woke Jack up just enough for him to know he wasn't going to back to sleep.
"Jack!" call a woman's voice from the hallway.
Jack just groaned in response. He turned to make sure he was facing away from the doorway.
"Jack," She was in his doorway now, "come down and meet everyone. They're all very excited to see you."
Jack groaned his words out, "Okay…I'll go down."
He felt a weight settle at the foot of his bed. A hand rested itself on his calf. He shifted to face the door, seeing a woman with chestnut hair, and lightly tanned skin. Her features were soft.
Her voice was soft when she spoke, "It'll be okay Jack. I'll walk with you so its not so awkward when you go down." She soothingly rubbed Jack's calf.
He sat up, and looked at her with sad eyes, "What if it happens again?"
She smiled softly, "I will do my best to make sure you don't want to go anywhere else. Does that sound fair?"
Jack looked into his lap, "But, last time they didn't want me."
She lightly placed her hand on Jack's shoulder, "If I didn't want you here Jack, do you think you'd be here?" Jack shook his head, "See, and in a week or two we can redecorate this dreary room."
Jack looked around the small room, "Why does it look dull in here?"
"It was cheap to do it like this." She stated flatly.
Jack nodded his head, and moved to stand. He stretched his limbs and walked to the door. The woman stood with him and they made their way to the stairs leading down to the main floor. Jack walked hesitantly down the steep steps towards the living room.
A few kids were sitting on the couch staring at the T.V. as it showed a zebra being mauled by several lions. He heard noise in the kitchen from what he assumed were the other kids. He halted at bottom, and turned around to whisper to the woman.
"They don't look very excited." He said solemnly.
"Oh Jack," She said comfortingly, "They're just preoccupied. And they didn't hear come down the stairs."
Jack walked quietly to the kitchen, it was his favorite place to be in any house he's been to. He stood in the doorway. He waited until a kid his age noticed him standing there quietly.
"You must be Jack!" The kid exclaimed joyously as he stood quickly and walked over to Jack to shake his hand, "I'm Eathan, And that there," Mason pointed to a kid scrambling around the stove grabbing seasonings, "is our very own chef, Mason." Eathan threw a hand in the air to wave behind him to Jack, "Did you meet the other two yet?" Jack shook his head, "Oh, Well, c'mon!" He lead Into the living room. He moved Jack to side of the couch, "Guys!" He half yelled to get their attention, "This is Jack." The three on the couch all looked Jack up and down, assessing him. "Jack, this is Tyler," He gestured to kid closest to Jack, "That's Vivian," The girl sat in the middle of the two boys, "And the one farthest away, who has already zoned out in the T.V., is Ian."
They all looked to be the same age as Jack. Although the girl looked to be a year older. Eathan lead Jack back into the kitchen. Eathan offered a chair at the table next to him. Jack took the chair. Seeing his foster mom sitting across from him.
"Oh, and Jack," Jack turned his attention to Eathan, "Just to make your life easier, remember Mason can always be found in the kitchen, Ian zones out a lot, Vivian is the only girl, and Tyler is super quiet. And well, I shouldn't be too hard to remember."
Jack smiled and nodded his head. Jack never had a problem remembering names. He's had to do it for a couple years now, so he picked up a few easy tricks to remember people's names. He looked to Mason, then back to Eathan.
"What's he making?" Pointing a thumb to Mason.
Eathan shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows but, it always turns out amazing." Eathan glanced to the side towards the basement steps, "Oh yes, there is one more kid you gotta meet. Let's go say hi shall we?" Eathan stood and lead the way with Jack in tow to the stairs.
At the bottom was just an enormous bedroom. Jack looked around in amazement, the walls were adorned with an vast amount of photographs that depicted a great deal of sunsets and rises, random people doing random things.
"Franklin! We have a new recruit!" Eathan shouted throughout the basement.
Suddenly a light turned on down a hallway that was hidden in the dim light from the staircase. A small child walked down the hallway, he looked to be eleven years old. He stopped dead in his tracks looking at Jack. Jack noticed this but, he could tell the kid he guessed was Franklin stared past him at the staircase.
Eathan knelt down, "C'mon Franklin, don't be shy."
Jack knew why Franklin didn't want to come any closer, he knew what was behind him, what was probably staring at the youth in the hallway across the room. Jack turned his head to look at the staircase behind him. He saw the monster standing on a up on a few steps from the bottom. He mouthed the words 'Stop it' and turned his attention back to Franklin.
Jack knelt down next to Eathan, "Don't worry, we don't bite." He held out his hand and waved.
He took a few steps forward, Franklin matched his steps until they met in the middle of large bedroom. Franklin's eyes were switching between Jack and creature.
Jack leaned in real close to Franklin and whispered, "Hey, don't worry about that thing behind me. It can't do anything to you." Franklin nodded his head. Jack nodded in return and stood, facing Eathan.
"Well, he does warm up to people usually right away. Glad he likes you with your crazy snow top." Eathan beamed an amused smile at Jack.
Jack began to walk up the stairs when he noticed the creature was not following him. Eathan gave Jack a funny look as he passed him on the stairs. Jack waved the creature to follow him. It shook its head. Jack shrugged his shoulders and started to walk up stairs.
"Wait!" Jack stopped in his tracks, "Don't leave me down here alone with it!" Jack turned and saw Franklin running up to him on the steps. He stood a few steps under Jack and looked up at him. Jack nodded at Franklin and let him go in front allowing Franklin to be farther away from the beast. Jack trekked up the stairs the monster now following him. Jack had a terrible feeling the beast was taking an interest in Franklin. He reached the last step and was shoved to the ground.
-
-Present-
Jack jolted up awake. He sat up in his bed and looked around frantically. His bedroom was off. His walls weren't this pale green color, nor did it have such an uncomfortable bed and sheets. He looked at his arm. It had an I.V. needle in it. He looked down at himself. His chest and arms were covered in thick red scars. Wait. Why am I shirtless. Jack heard voices coming down the hall. He focused his hearing trying to hear what they were saying.
"…Healing fast…" a deep voice said.
"…Not an infection…" a woman's voice said.
"…His back though…" the male said.
"…May be tattoos…" she said. They were standing out the door at the foot of the bed. Jack looked around the room. Realizing he was in a hospital.
Jack ripped the I.V. out and stood. He had only his underwear on. He quickly glanced around the room. Seeing a pair of sweat pants on a chair meant for visitors he hurriedly slipped them on rushed to the door. He put his ear to it to listen to the voices.
"He's only been here for seven hours. He shouldn't be healing like that." The woman said with shock in her voice.
"I know. I'm afraid he might be taking some type of drug."
"What drug does that?" She sounded perplexed.
"I don't know but, I think that Australian did that to him."
"He seemed a little too protective for that." the woman stated.
Jack heard the man hum in thought before speaking, "But, he did get angry rather quickly when we told him he couldn't visit," He paused seeming to let the woman think about hi words, "He could've done that if the boy caused him to flare up in fury," There was silence, Jack guessed the woman nodded her head because the man spoke more, "Whether he did or not, we still have to ask him questions about it."
"True, okay, let's go in." He heard the doorknob turn. He hid against the wall as the door opened. "Where is he?" She got her answer as she was shoved to side and say a pale skinned boy run out the door pushing the man out of the way.
Jack ran down the hallway hoping it would lead to front of the hospital. He dodged an excess of people wandering through the hall. He moved the fluidity of water through the hallway and pass people.
He sighed in relief as the hallway lead to the waiting lobby of the hospital. He fast walked towards the entrance trying to be nonchalant. He was stopped abruptly by a hand. He looked to his side seeing Aster standing there with his hand on Jack's chest.
"Where ya' goin' ya gumby?" Aster asked him with a worried look.
Jack tilted his head to the side, "Home. Where else? How did I even get here?"
Aster gave Jack a concerned look, "Well, when I heard ya shout over the phone I got worried, afraid someone broke in." Aster's face turned a little red from embarrassment.
Jack crossed his scarred arms, "Well, that's not strange at all." He noticed Aster's expression change from embarrassment to being offended.
"Ya were in a bad way Jack." Aster meagerly defended himself as he gave Jack an elevator look, evaluating Jack's condition.
Jack poked a finger in Aster's chest, "You don't get to decide what way I'm in!"
Aster looked around. People were gawking at the sight of Jack's scarred and black infected body, "Jack, I was only doin' what I thought was right."
Jack jabbed his finger harshly into Aster's chest, "No one asked what you thought!" Jack then crossed his arms, "I'm going home now." Jack started to walk to the entrance.
When Jack walked past Aster, he swore he saw something walking next to Jack. Aster turned to get a better a look at Jack. He jogged to catch up to Jack who had quickly made it to the parking already.
"Jack, wait!" Aster called. Jack stopped and turned to face Aster. "Here." Aster took off the hoody he was wearing and gave it Jack.
Jack took it roughly, "Thanks." He said in a callous tone. He slipped it one and turned away from Aster.
Jack walked away Aster in a hurry, leaving him standing in the parking lot with just his T-shirt on. A tear fell down his cheek as he looked to his side to see the demonic creature he knew as Uphir. To his left was the other beast Jack remembered as Agares. They both were smiling at Jack, each held a different intent as Jack focused on the busy highway he was turning onto in front of the hospital towards his home.
Okay, So this Chapter has obnoxious amounts of dialogue. Personally, I like dialogue. Some people don't. if you don't, than you aren't gonna care for this chapter. We all know what a hoody is right?...Good. So you know what i'm talking about. The creatures aren't demons just so you know. Just some creatures I made up, but I did look up demon names, and I figured those fit the specific ones I named. Do you think they should names? If not I can get rid of them no problem. Hmmm...Any errors tell me. Anything you specifically liked about it tell me that also. Okay, well, Hope you enjoyed this chapter! i'll be putting in more flash backs as the story comes along. And do you think I should have more of Aster's V.P. In the story?