Sky Corruption (Past Tense)

Chapter Thirty-Five

"It's dark out." Jay stated numbly, he made a glance back at North, who had been passing the hours by throwing a rubber ball toward the other side of the aisle, a bored look played on his face. "I wonder what the rest of our crew is up to back at the bunker."

"Nikki would have our necks for staying out this late." North chuckled. "She usually spends the entire evening cooking up a storm for tomorrow morning."

Jay also laughed, the thought of Nikki swatting at his hand whenever he made a grab for her food was endearing. He tilted his head and made a grunt.

"Looks like we'll be staying the night here." Jay sighed as he made a stare at the window outside, North also made a stare and scoffed.

"China must be having a field day, she gets to stay out longer than a few hours and scavenge for junk." North pointed out. "Lucky."

"Doubt it." Jay responded with a shrug. "Faith is with her and she wouldn't let China just collect things without a real good reason, plus, China would be more caught up with trying to find Ezra's brother."

Silence fell in between them. Jay had been fumbling around with the locket he had pulled from the pocket of his pants, he made several clicks and had never glanced down at it. North had noticed this and decided to stop playing with the rubber ball.

"What's that?" North asked.

Jay gave him a smile and tossed the locket over to him. North looked inside to see Jay, next to a younger girl who looked exactly like him. Her hair was tied back in two Dutch braids, several strands had fell on her face as she wore dark clothes. Jay had on a different attire, he wore a plain t-shirt along with a jacket that was hung over his shoulders, his arm was around the girl's neck, she held a nonchalant peace-sign with a small smile.

"I take it that this was your sister?" North hesitantly asked. Jay nodded and gave a bitter laugh.

"Yeah, that was Thalia, never actually gave a damn about much." He casually explained. "She never liked hugs, so in the picture, I decided to catch her off guard...she gave me hell after that but laughed it off."

North eyed the background, there was a wired fence behind them, the whole picture was in this sepia filter, there was a field behind them and a man idly in the corner, in a uniform with shades on.

"Where were you both?" North pressed on, he was aware that Jay had a rough past too. During the apocalypse, everyone in the bunker were orphans, it was a miracle to even see a pair of siblings exist at the same time: Winter and China.

A bitter laugh emerged from Jay once more. "I was released from prison that day. Was sentenced for about a decade."

"You were an arsonist." North clarified.

"Through and through." Jay admitted shamelessly. "I was quite the social butterfly, so I didn't face much trouble with many people in there...only from the real fucked up prison mates."

"What were you in there for?" North asked.

"Assault." Jay continued. "Beat the ever-loving shit out of Thalia's father."

North had raised his eyebrows in response, he squeezed along the rubber red ball as he continued to listen to Jay's past.

Jay sighed. "It can only take a matter of seconds for your life to change, North. Thalia's old man was drunk and touching her, so I decided to beat on him one day, beat him near to death. Next thing I knew, I spent most of my life taking to my little sister through a glass screen. She never hated me, she was pissed at the fact that I was locked away for her sake though. All it took was a few seconds for me to seal my own fate, but I didn't care, a few years in prison was nothing compared to Thalia having to live with a predator for a father."

North was left slack-jawed. "And I thought my life was fucked." He shook his head.

"I took a look at your record that day." Jay admitted. "I knew why you were there."

It was North's turn to give a bitter laugh. "Guess that's why you didn't kill me, you pitied me."

"No." Jay protested. "Losing my sister had already left me dead inside, I didn't really care much for human life, no matter the age group, I was only tagging along with the others because I needed a place to rest. I would've killed you if you hadn't given me that damned look."

"Don't tell me that you have a soft spot for puppy eyes." North snarkily remarked.

"I've met some pretty fucked up people as I was doing time, but there were a few people that honestly, didn't deserve to be there." Jay continued. "Kids your age."

"Kids?" North repeated.

"Kids. The ones that don't know any better and are only just troubled delinquents that are on the verge of throwing their life away...like I did." Jay rambled as he slowly settled down. His tone wasn't tough as it was when talking to the group on a daily basis, nor was it soft whenever China had approached him. It was raw, broken, and somewhat hopeful.

"I'll save that story for another day, we should rest up, I'm thinking of catching up with the other three in the morning." Jay grumbled as he moved his bag so he could lay down.

North grinned down at Jay. "You're one tough ass man, you know that?"

"Only because I was surrounded by tough ass kids such as yourself." Jay said with a vacant smirk.

A moment passed and North had decided to make a small resting place for himself. Jay had his arms propped behind his head and he had stared up at the ceiling.

"Thanks, Jay." North mumbled as he rested his head on his jacket.

"For what?" Jay snorted.

"Not giving up on life." North responded before he fell into a deep sleep.