Fighting For Ava

*16*

Jethro woke up to see the sun already peeping out of the hurdle of clouds. Hoots of cars sounded far away and he realized he had slept long into the morning. That was because he hardly slept over the night. The thought of what might have happened to Ava denied his eyes from peacefully pulling closed. Images of Ava kept appearing in his illusory vision and it was no surprise he eventually had a horrible dream about her.

He had seen her in a winding sheet, with multiple heads shaking in sorrow and he jolted up, sweating and panting. He just had to thank his lucky stars Mother T was not there to witness him have another terrible dream again. Not even with Ava in it. Mother T would surely tell him he needed an exorcist to get the girl off his head.

Jethro stayed awake a couple of hours after the nightmare, silently assuring himself it was just a consequence of his awful thoughts. He told himself not to think of Ava again and when he was able to do that for some minutes, he finally fell flat on his bed and slept.

The rays of the sun creeping in through the window slit blinded his face as he staggered up from his bed. He groped for the bottle on his desk, feeling considerably dehydrated after the much sweating he did yesterday when he woke from the nightmare.

He gulped down a mouthful of water and then thought of going to see Ava. His eyes suddenly bulged midway through the thought.

It was Saturday.

Mother T was always at home on Saturdays and she enforced general cleaning of the house on weekends.

Shit.

Jethro knew he had to look for a good reason to evade the cleaning. For minutes, he racked his brain for one and then his face burst into a glow when he finally got it. He nodded in satisfaction with the idea as he pushed his door open and moved to the living room.

Mother T was doing something over the table while Kitty clung unto Rose's legs as she examined whether the curtains would need washing.

"Should you be bothered with that?" Mother T said to Rose as she put the books on the table into a neat pile, "We're only doing the kitchen works. Jethro will do the washing and scrubbing. He should have the energy since he had not been to school."

Jethro grunted when he heard the statement. Mother T had not noticed he was already in the living room and she only looked back when Rose started chuckling.

"Of course, you have the energy." Mother T affirmed quite funnily when she finally saw him.

"But I did laundry yesterday, Mum." He groaned an argument but Mother T was certainly not ready to listen to him, "Mum." He groaned again.

"And I did the laundry too, didn't I?" Mother T said rhetorically and started moving towards the kitchen, "If I can still do the cleaning, then you're doing too." She added conclusively.

"I know, Mum. The washing. The scrubbing. I'll do everything." Jethro's voice stopped her just before the door to that little room creaked.

"So, why the groaning?" Mother T swiveled and gave him a raised brow.

"I'm going somewhere," He said and before Mother T could say her disapproval, he quickly put in, "But I'll be back early enough to finish the washing and scrubbing." He promised with a pleading look on his face.

Mother T sighed and looked suspiciously at her son, "And where are you going that's so urgent?"

"I'm going to see Finn." Jethro lied with a deceitful smile and just as he did, he saw Rose stare at him in shock, her face showing the expression, ' Finn? Really?' He winked secretly at the girl, subtly telling her not to say a word.