LOTF: Before and After

Phase 3: Chapter 37

The woman at the door reached her arms out to Jack, causing him to step back dramatically, putting distance between them before she could touch him.

Jack didn't hear Paige come down the stairs, but all of a sudden, she was behind him, grasping his shoulders and holding onto him tightly.

"Stay the hell away from him" she demanded fiercely, her eyes tainted with pain and frustration as tears formed in her eyes too. Paige pulled Jack back against her own body protectively. For the first time in Jack's life, he let his sister take charge. For the first time in Jack's life, he didn't know what to do.

"Paige, sweetheart" the woman sobbed as she reached her hands out toward them longingly, but didn't make any attempt to step any closer.

"Get out" Paige's sharp voice demanded as she clutched her arm tightly around Jack's chest. Jack stared at the woman, silently begging himself to keep it together. His expression was hollow but stricken.

Just then, Ralph came up behind Paige, peering around her curiously. He'd been so quiet in his step, nobody heard or noticed him come into the entryway of the house. Paige practically jumped out of her skin when he appeared at her side; she'd forgotten about him completely in the heat of the moment. She released her arm nearest Ralph from Jack's shoulder and wrapped it around Ralph's shoulder and neck, holding him tightly like she was Jack. Paige stood holding both boys under each of her arms, staring coldly and infuriated at the uninvited guest.

"I said get out" she repeated harshly as everyone's attention shifted away from Ralph and back to the strange, unwelcome woman in the doorway. The woman herself recentered her focus on Paige.

"Paige, please. All I need is to talk to you guys, just five minutes" the woman pleaded.

Ralph was stunned by how much like the Merridew kids she looked. She had the same facial features and slim build, her eyes were the same deep ocean blue, her hair the same bright blond. He couldn't take his eyes off her long enough to blink. She was wearing a long black trench coat with a bright blue button up underneath. Her black, fur lined winter boots looked expensive to Ralph. Not a single hair fell out of place in her scalp-tight bun. Her big, black purse lined with pearls reminded him of the female CEOs he'd see in the movies his own mother loved to watch.

"What you need is to get the hell out of my house" Paige strictly continued to demand. The distressed and tempered look in her eye was frightening. Her eyes were still glassy as she resisted the tears forming in her eyes. She refused to cry in front of this woman, she'd never give her the satisfaction of believing she cared enough to cry. "If I have to ask one more time, I'm calling the police."

Paige could feel both the boys shaking in their skin beneath her arms. Ralph was certainly more surrendering to his afflictions than her own brother was. She could physically feel Jack resisting the outpouring of conflicting emotions he was feeling. He tried to bury it, to steady his hand so he could convince himself he was fine, didn't care, wasn't affected. Paige could sense him begging himself not to cry, like she was. Ralph, she noticed, already was crying, but silently, seemingly unnoticed by anyone who didn't look straight at him.

"Okay, I'll go. But only for Jack, and because I can see that you're not ready to listen, Paige" the woman said simply as she took a few steps back. Her words, and how calm and cliche they were, sent a sting of rage through every nerve in Paige's body at the speed of light. She was certain she'd never felt this angry in her life. She wanted to punch something, to destroy every inch of drywall in this house. She'd never felt this inability to control her own intensifying temper before. She wasn't levelheaded enough to realize it yet, but later, she'd conclude that this is how Jack's felt every day since his return home from the island.