You're Not in This Alone

I ran after Jason when he left, and no one stopped me. I actually had to chase him for a long time. When he’d left the breakfast table, he had begun sprinting down the street in no particular direction.

I had to chase him as fast as I could. I called to him and begged him to stop, but he ignored me and kept turning around corners. His attempt to lose me failed; I didn’t need my eyes to know where he was.

He was far ahead of me before I knew he was slowing down. When I finally caught up to him, we were miles from home. A part of my mind felt stupid for not just asking Nadia to teleport him back, but another part of me knew that would’ve just angered him more and made him feel even more helpless.

When I saw him in the distance, I realized he had stopped altogether. He was laying on the pavement in front of the local library. The sun was just making its way over the tall treetops and revealing a boy stooped over, gasping for air, crying, and shaking violently. The worst part was that he didn’t look like a sad young boy anymore. I saw a full man, broken apart in pain and hatred.

I approached him cautiously so that I didn’t startle him, but I made sure to shuffle my feet enough to let him hear I was there. He didn’t look up at me, even though I was still panting.

I silently bent down and hugged him, but he growled, “Get off of me!” and pushed me away with so much force that I fell back onto the pavement on my arm. I gasped as a sudden burst of pain shot up my arm.

Jason didn’t leave me time to think about my arm. He stood and faced me, glaring with hatred and malice. “Don’t touch me,” he spat. “Don’t talk to me. I don’t want to hear your voice or what you have to say. You’re just like the rest of them in my eyes. For all I know, you killed Grace. You’re just as much a suspect as the ret of them, so don’t even try to convince me otherwise.” He was still a man on my eyes. Now he towered over me, his body shaking with rage. He was no longer crying.

I gasped again, but not because of my arm. His angry words hurt me much more, and I felt tears spring to my eyes.

I didn’t speak because he’d commanded me not to. Instead I gave into the despair I felt inside. Cradling my arm against my chest, I sobbed because of physical and emotional pain. How could he think I would’ve killed Grace? How could he mistrust me so much? How could he have struck me with so much strength?

Only a minute passed before I felt his soft hand on my shoulder. He hugged me this time. “Ebony, I’m so sorry. I don’t know why… I didn’t know what I was doing,” he sobbed. “Are you okay?”

I sat up, being careful not to jostle my arm. “It’s okay, Jason,” I whispered. “I wouldn’t be just as angry if I were you. I get it. But I think my arm is broken.”

Jason’s anger immediately transformed into pity. He groaned and ran his hand through his dark brown hair. “I can’t believe I did this. I’m so sorry. I’ll never make this up to you,” he said.

I shook my head and replied, “I should’ve known not to get so close when you were that angry.”

Jason looked upset when he said, “Man, Gerard is going to kill me.” With almost a laugh, he added, “Hopefully not on the literal sense.”

“You can’t think it’s one of us,” I asked quietly, hurting again.

Jason sighed and shook his head. “No,” he admitted. “You would be the first ones I’d think are innocent, but… I don’t know. Whoever it is, I will find them and kill them.”

As he helped me to my feet, I sighed. “Just make sure you’re sure before you kill someone,” I requested tiredly.

“We can’t walk back with your arm like that,” he pointed out. Although it was probably only fractured, my right arm was already swelled up to twice the size of my left arm. Before waiting for me to answer, Jason shouted, “Sarah! Tell Nadia to teleport us back please!”

A few seconds later, Jason and I stood in the supply house living room, which contained Nadia, Gerard, and Sarah. Gerard came to me quickly when he saw the awkward way I held my arm.

“What happened?” he asked with a lot of concern.

Jason bowed his head in shame and opened his mouth to tell what happened, but I spoke before him. “I fell when I was trying to catch up to Jason,” I explained.

Gerard didn’t question the story right away when he saw Jason’s surprised expression, but he did give Jason a sharp glance with a hint of anger.

“I’ll go get ice,” Sarah said before walking to the kitchen.

“I’ll go get a brace from the hospital,” Nadia added before disappearing.

“What really happened?” Gerard asked when they were gone. “Come on, Ebony. You don’t fall when you run.”

I sighed and replied wearily, “It doesn’t matter, I’m fine.” I remembered the gouges left in Jason’s arms from Grace’s nails when she’s talked to the dead. Sometimes it was necessary to bear pain in silence. If he could, I could.

Gerard and Jason stayed with me whole I iced my arm, and when the swelling went down I put it in the brace and a sling. The day was long, slow, and slightly hostile. Everyone had a hard time figuring out what to do with themselves.

It didn’t help that Jason was killed that night while he was watching a movie with Gerard and I, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.