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I can only imagine the sight that I must have been when Jason opened the door to find me. My clothes in tatters, my feet scraped and covered in mud, my hands and feet once again caked with dried blood. Surely I thought that Jason would have turned me away. But, to my surprise, he looked at me with an almost disinterested gaze. He simply stepped to the side and allowed me entrance into his apartment.
Jason had long since moved out from his parents’ place despite the fact that we were still only highschoolers. He always had been a loner and from what I recall him telling me, his parents never really tried to understand him. His older sister was the golden child and he was an after thought since he was young.
I wasn’t thinking about that right now. Right now, I was just happy to not be cold and bare to the elements. I hadn’t spent any extended time inside a place except for the police station. And, from what I heard on the radio, it didn’t end well.
I couldn’t remember what happened after they had put me in the holding cell with the others. But I did remember what happened to Grant. Even as much as I had fantasized about hurting him in the past, and how I wasn’t too torn up about the fact that he was good and truly gone, the savagery in which I or the Wolf in this case had dispatched him churned my stomach. But, that also could have been the raw human meat that may still have lingered in my stomach. I did try to purge, but the possibility was always there.
“They’re going to come looking for you here. You know that.” Jason said matter-of-factly.
“I know.” I said with a nod. “Believe me, I’m not here to stay. I just stopped by to see if I could take some clothes with me. I’m leaving town. Forever.”
“Good. We don’t need psychopaths like you here.” Jason said coldly. And, I couldn’t dispute him either. “Yeah, I’ll give you some clothes. But first, I gotta give you something else.” Jason then did something that I didn’t expect. He clocked me, square across my jaw, sending me on my ass.
I looked up at him, rubbing my mouth with the back of my hand. Upon looking at it, I saw the blood that I was tasting in my mouth. I tried to get up but Jason wagged his finger.
“Just stay down there you son of a bitch.” He said. For now at least, I complied. I sat down on the carpeted floor. I opened my mouth to speak but he shook his head. “Don’t talk, don’t move. Don’t do fucking anything.” He snapped at me, jabbing his finger in my direction. He turned from me, poured himself a glass of whiskey that had been sat on his kitchen counter.
“You know Jack. Last time we spoke. You were not very kind to me.” He said after downing the glass. “If I recall, you said you were liable to kick my ass.” He chuckled. “That would have been a sight huh? All because you wanted to defend Tilly from me.” My heart sank. I knew just where this was going and I didn’t like it.
“It was you who should have stayed the fuck away from her!” Jason growled. “You were so worried about me, just so you could get her alone and butcher her.” He shook his head, began pacing. I just now noticed that there was a bulge in his coat pocket. He had something there. “And…and if I thought that I could, I would kill you right now for what you did to her. That beautiful Angel…who was always too good for a spineless fuck like you.”
I sat therein silence, unable to fight back against his words. Tilly died because she was with me. And part of me agreed. I deserved death for taking her life. My brow furrows though at something that he said. “Wh~What do you mean if you thought you could kill me?” Jason looked at me with cold hatred.
“I saw the whole goddamn thing Jack. I watched as you changed into that…that…thing..and I saw you tear her apart. How she begged and screamed and cried for you to stop. But you wouldn’t listen. How you turned her into a pile of gore that didn’t even resemble a human anymore. How you fucking ate her!” From his pocket, he pulled forth a handgun which he promptly aimed at me.
That was when I remembered the police at the station saying that Tilly’s 911 call picked up the presence of another person at the scene. “Were you stalking us?” I asked. “What the hell were you going to do?” I asked and Jason began to pace again.
“I was gonna take this gun and kill you Jack. I was going to put this to the back of your head and pull the trigger, splattering your brains all over your precious car.”
“Because you were jealous?”
“Because you took what was mine! I loved her! I loved her more than I ever loved anybody. And she chose you? YOU! What a joke.” He tapped the side of his gun to his temple. “Every other time, I could steal a girl away from you no problem. Because that was the order of things. You’re weak. A doormat. The kind of person who trusts too easily. Which is hilarious because between your stepdad and his goon who beat you daily, you’d think you’d be more discerning.”
“And then, after the party…and after you confronted me…I couldn’t take it. You had forgotten your place.”
“My place? What? To be kept in misery by my supposed best friend!?”
“Yeah. It amused me. Seeing you get your hopes up just for me to snatch them away. And then you’d still be all chummy with me. How pathetic!”
“What’s pathetic is that you felt the need to make me miserable to stroke your own ego. How many of the girls you stole from me were meaningful relationships for you Jason? You want to talk about pathetic, let’s talk about your unhealthy obsession with Tilly. Do you know how uncomfortable she was to just be around you? You’re nothing but a pervert and a creep. Filling the hole of loneliness you felt from your parents by being a manwhore and a cruel friend.”
“SHUT UP!” Jason shouted, pointing his gun at me now. “I don’t want to hear another word from your fucking mouth! She should have been afraid of you, you monster!”
“Yeah..she should have.” I sighed, looking down. “If you’re going to shoot me Jason…” I lean up, pressing my forehead against the barrel of his gun. “Then pull the trigger. Do what you wanted to do three days ago. Do it. DO IT!”
I watched as Jason’s hand gripped the handle of his gun tighter. Fierce, blood lusting determination etched on his features. He wanted to kill me right then and there. But, he faltered. He loosened the grip, dropping the barrel from my head. He bowed his head and sighed. “Take some clothes and get out.” He said in a monotone voice. “And don’t you ever come back Jack.”
I rose to my feet and stared at him. I didn’t say anything. I just went to his bedroom and took some clothes to change into. A shirt, pants, and a pair of shoes. I approached him when I was done, reaching into the breast pocket of his jacket and taking his hangover sunglasses he usually wore. Placing them on my face I turned and left without saying goodbye.
As I walked down the hall, I heard the sound of a gunshot. After that, there was an audible thud. Part of me wanted to rush back, to check on him. Despite everything, he still had been my best friend. But, no. I couldn’t linger. Couldn’t be caught. I had to run, to go and get as far away as possible. There was nothing left for me here now…except of course for Lissa. But, I knew that she was far better off and safer without me.
I was ready to leave all of this behind. I had questions that I needed answered. And to start, I needed to learn more about my birth father.