Finding Jaime

Chapter 46

Jaime POV

I followed Jon Hamm (sorry, that's who he looks like to me), realizing I could get out of that room/cage thing.

"Why can't I just decide here and now if I want to live or die?" I asked.

"Because it is not that simple," Jon Hamm said. "Perhaps in your current state of mind, you would choose death. But maybe that is not the decision you intend. Then you will find yourself somewhere you do not want to be. And eternal regret is not a state you want to remain in."

I frowned. That didn't make any sense to me. But who was I to argue?

Jon Hamm stopped. I stepped beside him. There was a small T.V. in front of us. On it was my mom. Sitting alone in our apartment. She sighed, got up, looked at the microwave clock, which said 11:15pm, and shuffled into her bedroom.

"I tried, Jaime," she whispered to herself. "I tried so hard."

"What does she mean?" I asked.

"Where is this place?" Jon Hamm asked.

"Our apartment. Our old apartment," I said.

"Is there a significance to the time on the clock? Or the day?"

"I don't know," I said, continuing to watch as though our kitchen was on some T.V. sitcom.

Just then the door opened and I came rushing in, breathless. I recognized what I was wearing. I heard myself brush Mom off again. Tears filled my eyes.

"This has an emotional connection for you. What is happening? Why do you not want to speak with your mother?" Jon Hamm asked.

"This is the night she died. I thought if I stopped her from telling me what she wanted to tell me, she'd have to stay alive. I thought I could save her," I said.

"But you did not. You let her die knowing there was something important she needed to tell you."

I nodded my head.

"I didn't want her to die," I said.

"So you were not ignoring her for your own reasons. You were trying to keep her alive?"

"I guess. She's. She was my mom. I didn't want to lose her.  I didn't know what would happen to me if she died. And I didn't want her to die."

The T.V. shut off and a green light turned on to my right.

"Your decision is made. And accepted. You may pass through that door," Jon Hamm said.

I walked through the door and saw the room I was in was the same as the one before. But Jon Hamm was already in front of me.

"How?" I asked, looking behind me and then in front where he was standing.

"We are not held to the same rules here as in your world," Jon Hamm said. "Come. See."

Another TV screen.

Meagan was holding Marvel, who looked upset. Figures were rushing around in the background.

"Why Jaime went, Mama?" A very sad Marvel was asking Meagan.

"Do you recognize this?" Jon Hamm asked. I nodded.

"I think this is when I got lost in the reservoir near my dad's house."

"Who is the small human?"

"Marvel," I said.

"I do. I marvel at all small humans. But who is she?"

"Her name is Marvel," I said. "She's, she's my sister, I guess. My baby sister. On my dad's side."