Remember, Jack?

Alex was born with a gift, a special sight that enlightened the future of the closest people in his life. It only occurred within a couple months of the event and only showed him the major turning points of their life. He couldn’t tell you what horses would win at the next race unless it was destined to make someone the wealthiest man in town, nor could he couldn’t tell you if that boy was about to spill his ice cream cone.

When Alex was younger, the first time it happened was when he was sixteen—he woke up to get dressed for school. As he opened the door, the staircase in front of his door showed an image of his mother falling down a staircase, and out of sheer instinct he screeched her name as he saw her head hit the wood floor at the bottom, only to see her less fuzzy figure peeking out the bedroom door down the hallway, worry across her features as to why in God’s name he was screaming for her. As he glanced back to where he last saw her dead body, there was nothing but the polished wood, dark and untouched for the morning. He shook his head at the sight, dismissing it and apologizing.

3 weeks later, his mom took a wrong step while carrying the laundry downstairs, her skull taking all the force and his little sister finding her when she came home from school that day.

This curse he called it transpired over his adulthood to be something he could suppress if he wanted to, and most of the time he chose to, especially after the surprise of his husband proposing to him was ruined two months in advance. All he had to do was focus on the image trying to be opened to him, then shut the door to the light, and it would never be opened to him again, and he could live like a normal person. He had never told anyone, not even his best friend or his current husband or his father. It was easier to control over the years, and if it ever came to him, he could push it away like he always did.

When he was twenty-six, two weeks before his husband Jack and himself got the call from the adoption agency, the light flashed the brightest it had ever hit his eyelids, and instead of the white light it always produced, this was a soft pastel pink and it didn’t hurt so much to stare at. He watched the scene of a small baby wrapped in a pink blanket arrive on their doorstep, and he saw the love in his own eyes. He saw the love in Jack’s eyes too, and he saw how happy they looked, together, as a family.

For the next two weeks he had to entertain Jack and pretend like he didn’t know the outcome of the nerve-wracking anticipation. It was a façade he learned to wear two more times after Anna came, and soon their family of two grew to a family of five. Anna, Louis and Josh joined within fifteen years, all five years apart. Alex learned quickly how to mask his gift, and how to play along with Jack to keep him from ever getting suspicious. If he was honest, he loved it. He loved playing this game and he loved it when he saw the scene finally play out. The best part of it all was his family in the end, after Josh, they settled into a suburban home and paid off the mortgage, watched each child walk at graduation, practice Anna’s valedictorian speech, sent them off the college, give Louis advice on how to pick up ladies, tell Josh that he needs to stop spending his money on games and go outside and hang out with his friends.

The hardest part though, was Jack and himself handing off their children like their parents handed off them when they got married. Soon, they were left alone in the household, all of their children living their adult lives.

When Alex was seventy-seven, he hadn’t had a “vision” in fifteen years. His life was done turning around, all he had left was Jack and his house, and while most may have found it sad, he had done everything he wanted to in life. As long as Jack was around, him and his old-fart husband could laze around and take life in the bursts it came in.

After thanksgiving that year, after Alex had cleaned up the kitchen with the reluctant help of Jack (although all it took was a smack of the ass and he complied), the last thing on the agenda was to finish the laundry and snuggle up with his husband, make fun of their matching stupid turkey sweaters and go to bed.

“’Lex?” After all these years, Alex had learned how to tell what Jack wanted just by the way Jack called him from the living room. He finished folding the last pair of pants and put them into the basket before moving towards the couch where Jack was watching a stupid show on TV.

“Coffee?” Jack turned around in his place before smiling and yawning, turning back towards the television as Alex passed by. He walked into their bedroom and decided to wait and put the clothes away tomorrow and instead spend the evening on the couch. He walked back towards the kitchen, made Jack’s coffee exactly the way he liked it, even though it might have taken longer due to his shaking hands, and turned the corner into the living room.

Without warning, the brightest light he had ever felt blinded him and forced him to watch the cinema play in his head. No matter how hard Alex tried to push it away, whether it was due to his age or to the intensity, he found it impossible to stop. The illumination was so bright that it made his head pound and his arms weaken. Before him, was a hazy image. In front of him was Jack and himself on their couch, Alex holding onto Jack with all his strength as he saw the look on Jack’s face. It was frozen solid, like a statue in a museum, his features blank and his eyes closed but facing the television as if he were still watching it. When he looked back at himself, there were glistening streaks of tears running down his withered face, and it reminded him of himself when he attended his mom’s funeral at the age of sixteen. The worst was the new sensation, the pain he felt from himself in the future, the peace from his husband and the fire inside his guts. They were wearing the matching turkey shirts from today, and the same sitcom was playing on the TV.

When he found enough strength to push himself from the strongest vision he’s ever had, he opened his eyes to see his husband staring at him with worry on his face. Everything in the room matched with his vision.

“You ok?”

And this; this would be the hardest façade he’d ever play on Jack, because he couldn’t tell him what happened, he’d have to go on playing along as if the hardest part was that the next morning he’d have to put away the clothes or that Josh forgot his jacket and he’d have to ship it to him because he lives 1,000 miles away.

And with a crack in his voice, Alex nodded and whispered “yeah,” with a fake smile planted on his face.

Jack cocked his head slightly, but his attention turned back towards the TV when Alex sat down next to him, offering him the warm mug. Alex decided that he’d do what he did when they were younger— he’d push his arm around Jack’s back, and place his other on his front, lacing his fingers together on the other side of him, then curl up right beside his husband so he could hold him like he was the most precious thing in the world. And Jack played his part too, he wrapped his arm around Alex’s body as well and hold him close. They sat like that for a while, watching television together for the last time, Alex listening as Jack took sips from his mug.

About twenty minutes later, Jack spoke up quietly.

“I think I’m gonna pass out early tonight, ‘Lex.” Alex took alarm to this, because he knew the moment Jack closed his eyes, he’d fall asleep and he’d never wake up again. He looked up at his husband with pleading, glossy eyes, trying hard to think about how he did it when he was younger, how to play this game of “keep the secret from Jack.”

“Please baby, please, stay up a little longer, for me.”

“We can stay up tomorrow, today was busy with the kids, and I’m tired.”

“Wait, wait, how about we play 20 questions?” Jack took a little surprise at Alex’s pleading, and he really had no idea why he was being this clingy.

“’Lex, we haven’t played that since we were first trying to get into each other’s pants as teenagers.” It made Alex choke out a laugh, because they had made it to question 9 before they couldn’t stand the tension and made out like the horny little shits they were at eighteen.

“C’mon, one round and then I’ll let you sleep.” It hurt so bad to know that this would be the last conversation they had before Alex was alone.

“Ok, question one, what’s been your favorite place we’ve visited?”

“That’s an easy one…’Lex, that’s definitely…been, Venice.” Alex held on tighter to Jack as he felt his breathing slow down with each breath, trying desperately to keep him awake.

“Two, how happy were you when you found out we were parents?”

“I was so nervous…remember when we brought Anna, and you said…I shouldn’t…”

“Jack?”

“…I shouldn’t drop her or else you’d drop me, remember…”

“Jack, please, please stay awake Jack,”

“and when you would get up…every night just to, just to, just to make sure she had all…all ten toes?”

“Yes, Jack,” he was full on crying now, and he’s pretty sure that his face was covered in tears, “I remember.”

“God I remember just being the…happiest, damn happiest father in the world…because, because you, were there too and you know…"

"Last question, Jack, last question."

"I remember..."

"How much do you love me?" Even in this hazy state, Jack was taken back by the question.

“How much, do I? More than anything. I love you more than anything, 'Lex.” Alex choked out one of the most pained sobs he's ever felt.

“I love you too, Jack. More than anything.”

And Alex watched as Jack’s eyes slipped shut, whispering, “I think I’m going to sleep now,” before his breathing slowed to one breath, two breaths, and then—nothing. Alex plays his final show, his acting’s done and the curtain’s closed. Because Jack was it, and now he has to pretend on his own.