Amped Up: Why Is My Name Jason?

When I heard my father say that, I began screaming at him. “Dad, you have no right to do that to Mom. She’s loved that song from the moment she heard it. You need to play it for her, but you won’t. I just don’t see what legitimate reason you have for not playing the song for Mom. Plus, when I was looking down during the performance, I noticed that both Garrett and Madison were confused as hell as to what song I was playing; they’ve never heard it despite the fact that it’s a Jonas Brothers song, one you tried to hide from us.”

“That’s a Jonas Brothers song?” Madison asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, Maddie. Now could you please shut up? I need to have a little discussion with our father about why it took seventeen long years for Lovebug to be played again.”

“It won’t help, Voorhees,” Garrett sneered.

“And why not?” I growled.

“Because it’s you,” Garrett replied with an evil smirk on his face. “There’s absolutely no way that Dad would even bother paying attention to a loser like you. Why would he?”

“How about because Jason is more like your father than you and Madison will ever know?” Aunt Lizz retorted angrily. “Whereas you and your sister prefer to have popularity much like I did when I was a teenager, your younger brother has gotten into music the way his father did. Of all your cousins and siblings, he’s the only one who did, despite the fact that each of you guys is the offspring of a musician. Jason is technically the only one here deserving enough to spend time with his father because of what his interest is.”

“Aunt Lizzie, just stay out of this,” Madison retorted angrily. “This is between me and my brothers. No one else is to interfere amid this dispute between the triplet Jonas siblings.”

“Yeah,” Garrett chimed in. “This is between me, Maddie, and Voorhees. No one else must put their two cents in regarding this argument. It’s me and Maddie versus Voorhees.”

“Stop. Calling. Me. VOORHEES!” I yelled angrily in between short breaths that made it seem like I was huffing. Garrett had called me Voorhees enough and I was sick of it. Was my father going to stop Garrett and Maddie though? I don’t think so. He was too caught up thinking about my mother to even notice what his elder son and daughter were doing.

“Well, Betsy,” I heard my father say, “you were right. When we came up with the names for my sons and Joe suggested that we give Garrett the initials GM, you said that Garrett would have been nicknamed General Motors while Jason was saddled with Voorhees because of all the Friday the 13th movies. I, of course, never expected that it would be my own kids to call him that.” He sighed heavily. “Maybe Mandolin and I shouldn’t have given him that name. Plus, if you remember, the remake of Friday the 13th was released on the day that your mother died. Jason is a constant reminder of the day your mother died and the fact that she and your father would never get to know any of their grandchildren whereas my parents and Teddy’s parents each got to do what they could not. Betsy, how in the world are you able to deal with Mandolin’s death whereas I can’t?”

Aunt Lizz smiled. “Because I know where my priorities lie, Kevin. I’ve learned to accept the fact that not only was my sister wasn’t strong enough to give birth to my niece and both of my nephews, but that my younger nephew is a constant reminder of the day my mother died because of what you and Amanda agreed on naming him. Despite all of that, Jason will always be my favorite. The two of us will always have that bond linking us to Amanda.”

My father rolled his eyes. “Quit talking about that, would you? Just because I can’t see her doesn’t mean that you can keep bring that up to annoy me. You and Jason can see her; I get it. Now, would get leave me alone about that? I don’t want to hear any of it.”

“But, Kevin,” Aunt Lizz objected. “It’s just like Jason and I have been trying to explain to you, Amanda will come before you if you just agree to play Lovebug for her again. Otherwise, Jason and I can never see or speak with my sister anymore. I don’t want that.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s the reason this whole thing was set up in the first place. You guys are trying to convince me to play Lovebug for Mandolin so you guys can continue speaking with her past the New Year. Remember, I read that stupid note from Jason,” my father said.

“Exactly, well, now you understand the predicament we’re in,” Aunt Lizz reminded him. “Plus, if you refuse, not only do Jason and I lose that ability, but you lose your chance to see your wife again. From the moment she died, Amanda always told me that you would be able to see her. All you had to do in order to see her was play Lovebug, something you were adamantly against from the beginning…even playing it at Amanda’s funeral.”

“I was upset!” my father yelled.

“So was I!” she reminded him.

I glanced over at my siblings. Both of them seemed bewildered, as if they didn’t know what was going on or what Dad and Aunt Lizz were talking about. Good thing too because I didn’t exactly want my brother and sister to know all about my ability to speak with ghosts.

“What is going on?” Garrett asked.

“Yeah,” Madison agreed. “What are you two talking about?”

“It’s something that only Aunt Lizz and I can do!” I yelled. “So, stay out of it. I don’t want either of you to know about what she and I can do. You’ll just call me a freak or something.”

Dad spun around. “Excuse me?”

My jaw dropped at the fact that my father was now interested in what was going on in my life. For seventeen long years, my father had ignored me. Why was it that he had suddenly come out of his shell to help me? Since I was in too much shock over what my father had done, I heard my aunt’s voice begin to explain the situation to him. “Kevin, you’ve been so focused on losing my sister seventeen years ago that you’ve completely neglected your youngest son. Voorhees is just the beginning. Garrett and Madison had the whole school gang up on him which eventually led to Jason becoming the social outcast while his brother and sister basically ruled the school.” Aunt Lizz walked over to me and put an arm around me. “I’ve tried to help him after about it all and knowing about both your schooling experience and my sisters…both of you being somewhat loners at some point or another. I didn’t want that to happen to Jason. Unfortunately, because of his boneheaded siblings who knew nothing about their parents’ teenage years, Jason became more like his parents than either Garrett or Madison would ever be able to comprehend. Things just got way out of hand because you neglected Jason.”

“Yeah, and now there’s really no one who can keep us from doing all of this!” Garrett exclaimed happily as he looked over at Madison. “Dad has been just so upset over Mom. And, Mom? Well, Mom’s dead. It’s not like she can even do anything to stop me and Maddie from continuing to do what we’ve been doing from the time that we were little kids.”

Dad turned to them. “Well, see, that’s where you’re wrong, Garrett. From the time she died, your mother has been in constant communication with you aunt. Then, from your seventeenth birthday, Jason has been able to do the same. Both of them can communicate with her and they’ve both been able to alert your mother as to what’s been going on. She knows everything and has been communicating with us through Betsy and Jason.”

“What?” they asked in unison.

“I can speak to Mom!” I yelled at them.

Madison shrugged. “Good. You can turn to her when you have to deal with all of your stupid problems. We don’t care. Garrett and I have popularity. We have millions of friends and don’t need to have Mom’s ghost following us because we’re so lonely and need someone to talk to. Garrett and I aren’t like poor pitiful Voorhees who needs Mom’s ghost around.”

“That’s it!” Dad yelled. “Grounding. Both of you!”

“How long?” they groaned.

“A month,” he said.

“A month!”

“Care to make it two?” he asked.

Garrett and Madison shook their heads. “No.”

Upon hearing of my brother’s and sister’s grounding, I smirked. Finally they were getting the comeuppance they deserved. Voorhees was my least favorite word to hear…unless it dealt with the Friday the 13th movies. Then, I could live with it. As if my father was reading my mind, he spoke. “Oh, and every time I hear that you refer to Jason as Voorhees or ignore him at school, your grounding just gets extended another week. I will know too.”

I was glad that my father was finally trying to make things up to me, but I could only wonder why he was doing this. This just wasn’t like him. What happened that caused my father to change his tune? When we got back to the hotel, I snuck over to his room in order to ask him about it, but I never got the chance. I heard my father playing a song I recognized…and it wasn’t Lovebug. No, the song I heard my father play was Gotta Find You, the song that Uncle Joe had played in Camp Rock. I stood outside the door for a moment listening to him play. It was rare when I heard him sing; my guess was that the same was true with Mom. Once he was finished, I was about to walk in when I heard my father speak. “I miss you, Mandolin. Jason’s existence never let me fully get over your death and I don’t think I ever will. Lovebug is the only song I can never play again. I never wanted to. Why did you have to pick that one as the one you’d appear before for?”

Hearing that, I walked in. “It’s her favorite song. Why else would she pick it? Now, would you please stop talking to yourself?” I said taking a seat next to my father. “We both know Mom can’t answer you. Not until eleven fifty-four on New Year’s Eve will you and Mom be able to communicate with one another. That is, if you agree to play Lovebug.”

“Yeah, we know.”

“So, are you going to play it for her?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Not sure.”

Ugh! Stupid stubborn Dad! Realizing that my father probably wasn’t going to answer my question, I left the room to go talk to my uncles about all of this. Maybe they could help me figure out why my father had a sudden change of heart in regards to how he treated me.