present day - 13

                                    

                                          
That was three weeks ago. 
                          
Jackson was at the airport, waiting to get picked up by his dad. They had all agreed that if he did well enough at his new school, he could visit his dad at home as well as visit the university that scouted him earlier. 
                          
His phone buzzed in his pocket yet again and it's no question who it is. He picked up his phone, just to make sure it wasn't his mom or something, and- nope, he was right, it was Carolina texting him yet again. 
                          
Not only did guilt eat at him for sleeping with the girl he actually had a crush on's best friend, it was also two days later when he realized that Carolina was actually crazy as HELL. He's always heard that Latinas were crazy. But he though it was just a stereotype like white people can't dance or black people love fried chicken, that kind of thing. 
                          
But no, this bitch is actually crazy. 
                          
She's excessively texted him over the last couple of weeks and he explicitly told her that while she was a very pretty girl, it was just a one time thing that should've never happened. 
                          
But does she listen? No. 
                          
"We'll speak more when you get back," she insisted in their last text.
                          
Jackson ignored her, again, and just as he put his phone away, his dad pull up in front of him. Jackson placed his luggage in the back of the suv he owned, and got in the passenger side of the car. "You're looking good," his dad commented as he started driving home. 
                          
"Thanks. You too," he replies.
                          
"Any idea where you wanna go to college?" His dad asked, making him roll his eyes. Here we go...
                          
"I'm still deciding. Might even take a gap year," he tells him. 
                          
After half-heartedly answering his question, his dad takes them out to a diner so they could both eat. It was pretty obvious they still weren't on good terms, but Jackson figured he needed to get out of town for a bit to clear his head and get away from all the crazy drama. 
                          
He thought moving with in with her mom would suddenly fix everything. And then he met a girl. 
                          
When they went home, it was late. His dad left left Jackson to settle in his old room again, and he saw that everything was as he last left it. A clean bed, nightstand, desk and chair. It looked like any other room in the house. Jackson walked around the house, trying to see if there were any new changes in the past six months, but nothing. He assumed all his dad did was work, eat and sleep. He looked at the photo on the walls and fireplace and saw a picture of his whole entire family, his mom included and brother included. His mom, dad, Ryder and him.
                          
Jackson almost rolled his eyes at photo. 
Happy family his ass. 
                                    * * * *
Vietnam, 1975
                          
He woke up to excruciating pain radiating off his leg. He screamed, going over to reach whatever's broken, but was stopped by someone else's hand. 
                          
"Dừng lại, bạn sẽ làm cho nó tồi tệ hơn!" He heard. The language was unintelligible. He now dreaded opening his eyes. Not only did he hurt himself, he was now also captured by...who knows. 
                          
"Please monsieur, stop moving!" He heard a feminine voice say now. Confused, he opened his eyes to see two people hovering over him. One was a younger Asian boy, about twelve. And the other was an older Asian girl, but he couldn't tell her age. She could've been anywhere from sixteen to twenty-one, he wasn't too sure. He was in a small grass hut but he wasn't too sure where. He didn't know anything.