Letters From Jack

Claire looked at her husband again and then back at her daughter, "Where did you find this, Zoe?" She questioned.

Zoey's eyebrows met in the middle. Her mother could tell she was confused, and possibly hurt. She crossed her arms over her chest, "I found it hid in my album. Who is he?" She asked, her foot tapping slightly against the floor. It was something she did while waiting for something, it was a bad habit of hers.

Claire swallowed hard, and then looked at her husband one last time, "I don't have a clue, sweet heart. I guess we didn't know him."

Kenneth looked at his wife, and tried to remain calm. He didn't like the idea of lying to their daughter. He knew she deserved to know the truth about her life. She deserved to know every detail of what had happened in her youth.

"You don't know him?" Zoey questioned.

"I guess he was a friend we never met." Her mother stated.

Zoey laughed bitterly, "Funny, because that picture is taken inside our old home. We're standing in front of the staircase, Mother." She said.

Claire inspected the picture again and then made a shocked face, "Oh! How could I forget. Jared Reed!" She called out, making a dramatic face. Kenneth's face was confused. "This was your homecoming dance a couple of weeks before your accident. You two went as friends. He had just transferred, and you were nice enough to go with him since he didn't know anyone."

Zoey raised her eyebrow. He was a newly transferred student? That didn't explain the kissing picture.

"Really? Because I have another picture as well." She said, pulling the picture of the two of them kissing out from her pocket. She handed it to her mother, and watched as she studied the picture.

"Tell her the truth." Her father spoke.

Her mother looked at him, and for the first time Zoey had saw her eyes reflect that of anger. "I will not tell her, and you won't either!" Claire hissed, "We didn't work this hard to let everything fall apart now."

"Claire, She's twenty one."

"I don't care! I'm doing this for her. I'm protecting her!"

Kenneth shook his head. Zoey didn't understand what was going on. What were the two of them hiding?

"Who is he?" She asked again, not in the mood to play games.

Claire sighed, "He was a fling you had. A older boy who took advantage of a young girl." Claire snapped, sending a look of warning towards her husband to not elaborate.

"What?" Zoey asked, shaking her head.

"He was a filthy boy. Everything about him was sour. He was no good for you. The two of you only dated briefly. I was hoping we wouldn't have to relive those memories."

Zoey nodded her head, and was content with that answer. Her mother had never give her a reason to not trust her, so she believed her and walked away back to her room. She checked her email to see if her agent had anything for her to do. Her schedule seemed pretty clear for the next couple of days, so she figured she could contact some friends.

As the night prolonged along, she had messaged a few friends to see how they were doing, and took a long relaxing bubble bath. After she dressed for sleep, she tossed her dirty clothing into the hamper, and then began tip toeing down the hallway towards her bedroom. Her parents normally turned in quite early so she didn't want to disturb them. Just as she was getting ready to pass by their door she heard voices coming from inside. She normally didn't eavesdrop, but she heard her name and couldn't just over look it.

"Zoey needs to know Claire."

"She doesn't need to know. She's very content with her life at the moment. Who knows where she'll be in five years if her modeling career kicks off. She could really do something with her life."

"She'll do something with her life anyways. I don't see how this information will hold her back."

Claire sighed, "Ken, I love you, can we please drop it?"

He nodded his head, "I just don't see how keeping Jack from her is helping the situation. She was clearly wondering about him earlier. I just feel so guilty keeping this from her, especially when I know you have an entire box full of her memories."

"Her memories of him, and I only kept them because you insisted that one day I show her. I think showing her could only do her damage at this point. Tomorrow afternoon when she goes out, I'm burning that horrid box and every damned letter he wrote her."

"Those letters belong to her, Claire. You never know, they may hold the key to bringing back all of her memories."

"Memories she's better off without!" Her mother hissed, "I'm not allowing her to know about him. We moved away from Gotham to free her of that disease, Ken. I will not stand her and allow my daughter to know anymore information. That car accident was the best thing to have ever happened to her. It freed her of him, and the horrible life she would have lived with him." She said, and then Zoey jumped seeing the light turn off. "Now good night. No more talk about Jack Napier, ever." Her mother said.

She waited for a few moments and then tip toed to her bedroom. Once she was inside, she leaned against her door and shook her head. Clearly, she was wrong about her mother. She was in fact hiding something. . . and that something was a boy named Jack Napier.

Zoey tried to remember his face, his name, anything about him, but she was coming up blank. She then picked apart the conversation she had just over heard.

An entire box of her memories. She bit on her lip at that. Her mother had a box of memories? She decided that tomorrow morning after her mother left for her morning yoga class that she would search this house until she found the box that contained her past.