Stand A Little Too Tall, Say A Little Too Much

When Jack awoke from his sleep, he saw Chloe sitting on the windowsill staring into the distance.
“Hey.” Jack managed to whisper whilst mid-yawn.
Chloe slowly turned round to face Jack. “Morning.” She lowered herself off the windowsill and climbed into the bed next to Jack.
Jack wrapped his arms around Chloe’s waist and pulled her close to his chest. “How’re you?”
“Mhm. I’m kinda okay I guess.”
“What’s up?” Jack kissed Chloe’s head.
“Still adjusting to Justine being gone. It’s so hard.”
“You’re not the only one.”
“I know. It feels so dark without her here.”
“It does indeed.” Jack stared into Chloe’s eyes for a while and then edged forward. Jack brushed his lips along Chloe’s and she wrapped her arms round Jack’s back. Chloe leaned forward and pressed their lips together. They moved in perfect sync.

After a few minutes, Chloe eventually broke away and pressed her nose against Jack’s. Jack smiled and then weaved his hand through Chloe’s hair.
“I love you Chlobear.”
“I love you too, Jackolope.” Chloe smiled, kissed Jack’s lips and then sat up slightly on the bed.
“Breakfast?” Jack suggested.
“Sure. Whatcha cooking?”
“What do you want?”
“Anything, I’m not bothered.”
“I’ll surprise you.”
“Alright then.”

Jack went downstairs and collected all the ingredients ready to cook up his special chicken and bacon omelette.

--

Once Jack had finished cooking, he shouted up to Chloe and told her to wake up Alex too. After Chloe had got dressed, she walked into Alex’s room and gently shook Alex.
“Time to get up sleepy. Jack’s cooked for you.”
She heard Alex groan and decided to leave him for a few minutes. Chloe headed downstairs and sat at the table. Jack brought over her omelette and she smiled.
“Thanks baby.”
“It’s alright. Did you wake Alex?”
“Yeah, he started moaning though so I don’t know when he’ll be down.”
“Ah, let’s just leave him for now. He’ll be down soon.”
“Yeah.” Chloe grabbed her fork and dug into the omelette.

After they’d both finished eating, Jack took away the plates and loaded them into the dishwasher.
“I’ve gotta go out for a bit today round my parents if you don’t mind.”
“That’s fine.” Jack smiled.
“Also, I was thinking. Maybe we should invite Alex’s parents and Justine’s mum round to explain what’s been going on. I don’t think either have any idea that Justine’s gone.”
“That seems like a plan. I’ll speak to Alex in a bit.”
“Okay. Well, I’m off out now, gotta be at home early.”
“Alright. See you later.”
“Bye.”
Chloe wrapped her arms around Jack and reached up to kiss him once again. Jack broke away and then gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
“Go on before you’re late.”
“See you later.”

As soon as Chloe had left, Jack ran upstairs and burst into Alex’s room. To his surprise, Alex was sitting upright on the bed against the wall. Jack sat down next to Alex and rubbed his shoulder.
“Are you alright, Alex?”
“Mhm.”
“What’s up?”
“Nothing much. Just feel a bit rubbish.”
“Chloe was like that this morning too. You’ve gotta keep your head up. Have you heard anything from Justine at all?”
“Not that I know off. I haven’t checked my phone for a while.”
“Maybe you should check it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Come here, I’ll check if you don’t want to.”

Suddenly a vibrating noise filled the room.
“What was that?” Jack raised his eyebrows.
Alex grabbed his phone off the dresser and sat back down on the bed. He checked the screen. 1 new message. Alex opened his inbox and covered his mouth in shock.
“Alex?”
Alex didn’t say a word but passed the phone over to Jack. Jack read the text and his mouth dropped also.
“S-she’s okay. She’s okay.” Alex stuttered.
Jack passed the phone back to Alex. “See, what did I tell you? Don’t give up hope.”
“I’m not going to. I really hope she gets out.”
“Me too Alex, me too. Anyway, you should eat your omelette before it goes cold.”
“Thanks Jack.”
“It’s okay.” Jack got up from the bed and headed towards the door. “I’ll be in my room if you need me.” Jack smiled and then closed Alex’s door. Jack returned back to his bed and got under the covers again. His eyes started to roll back into his head and within minutes, he was asleep again.

--

“Megan.” Justine whispered. No response.
“Megan?” She whispered again.
“What?” came the reply.
“The door’s open. I’m going. I’m getting out of here.”
There was no reply for a few minutes. Eventually, Megan got out of bed and walked over to Justine.
“What?”
“I need to get out Megan. I can’t pass up this opportunity.”
“No, Justine. You know Josh will find you.”
“He won’t. I’ve checked. He’s not anywhere in this building.”
“But-” Megan was cut off.
“Look I’m going, I don’t care. I need to get out of here whilst I still can.”
“Fine. Be careful. Don’t say I didn’t warn you if anything goes wrong.”
“Bye Megan.”
Megan didn’t speak another word but instead returned back to her bed. Justine grabbed her phone and quietly sneaked out of the room and out of the front door of the building. As soon as she got outside, she legged it down the path and onto the main street. Justine ran down an alleyway and she smiled to herself.

Justine ran past a few shops and some people gave her dodgy looks. She continued to run down the path towards the train station when suddenly she heard footsteps running behind her. Maybe she wasn’t alone after all. Justine kept pushing on and told herself that the footsteps were just in her imagination. It wasn’t until a hand grabbed her arm and stopped her in her tracks when she realized the footsteps were real.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” Josh hissed.