The New York Mystery Crew: Jackson's Past (book 2)

Chapter 3: Flashbacks

On March 6, 2018, Jackson was heading to school with his big sister, Lisa, when he suddenly had an aching headache, probably due to the gunshot he had just heard. "Are you okay?" Lisa asked, sounding concerned. "Yeah." Jackson replied, putting pressure on his head. "I'm fine." "Are you sure?" Lisa asked again. "I'm sure." Jackson responded. "Okay." Lisa said, suspiciously.

Jackson took a sigh of relief. He didn't know what was going on with him, but he didn't think he wanted to find out. He didn't need to get Lisa and his friends involved. That would be a lot of explaining to do and he didn't want to explain what was going on. Mostly since he would be just as confused as they would.

Suddenly, everything went black and he found himself back inside the forest where his traumatic past took place.

"Jason, I hear something." Jackson whispered. "What is it?" Jason asked. "Someone's in the bushes." Jackson replied. "You hear someone in the bushes?" Jason responded. Jackson nodded.

"Maybe we should go home." Jackson said after a minute. "It's probably just an animal." Jason replied. "It's probably nothing to worry about Jack." "I hope you're right Jase." Jackson responded.

After a few minutes, Jackson sensed that Jason was getting uneasy. "Let's head for home, the bushes rustling so much is making me uneasy." Jason said. "Good idea." Jackson replied. "I got that feeling a long time ago."

He could hear Lisa calling for him, and the next moment, everything was black again, although he knew that his flashback wasn't over.

Jackson started panting and found himself standing outside of his school with Lisa looking at him worriedly. "Are you okay Jack?" She asked. "I'm fine." Jackson replied. "Why?" "You spaced out a few minutes ago and I had to drag you here." Lisa explained. Weird. It felt like mere seconds to me. Jackson thought to himself. Also, what was with the gunshot? It sounded like the same kind of gun that was used to kill Jason when 'the incident' happened.

"Hey, weirdo!" A familiar voice called. Jackson glanced over and he saw Gavin looking at him with his signature smirk. "What do you want Gavin?" Lisa asked. "I'm not doing anything." Gavin replied, his expression never faltering. "Yet." Lisa whispered, barely loud enough for Jackson to hear.

10-year-old Gavin James had wavy light brown hair that wasn't much shorter than Jacksons, hazel eyes that would stare straight into your soul, light skin, and was muscular and tall.

"Bugger off Gavin!" Mason said, making Jackson jump. "What's Gavin done to you Mason?" Phil asked. "He's just plain mean!" Mason replied. "He bullies Jack." "That doesn't make him a bad person." Phil responded. "Nobody knows whats been going on with him since the shooting." "What shooting?" Lisa asked. "We'd rather not talk about it." Phil replied. "Okay. That's fine." Lisa responded. "I was just curious."

Jackson saw a brief flash of what looked like angel wings growing behind Phil. He shook it off, but decided to keep it in the back of his mind.

Suddenly, his headache was back, another gunshot was heard by the group, and it was more intense than the last. "Jack, are you okay?" Phil asked, with growing angel wings flashing behind him. His voice was concerned and Jackson wasn't sure if he was worried over him or the fact that there were wings growing on his back. "I'm fine." Jackson replied.

"Are you sure?" Mason asked, raising an eyebrow. "You kinda look like you have a headache." "Yes, I'm sure." Jackson responded. "This happened earlier on our way here." Lisa explained. Mason scrunched his eyebrows, as if he was thinking. "Strange." He said after a minute.

Suddenly, Jackson found himself back in the forest with Jason.

Jason looked just like him, only just slightly shorter and he had crystal blue eyes instead of green or brown.

"You'll never outrun me." Said a familiar voice. Jackson froze in place and his heart almost burst out of his chest at what he saw. A woman wearing a black hoodie-dress was standing in front of him, while pointing a gun at him. "Your time is up little Fireball." The woman said.

"NO! I won't let you kill him!" Jason yelled, stepping in front of him. "I cannot let your prophecy come true, little Thorn." The woman replied. Than, she pulled the trigger and Jackson instinctively shut his eyes tight, and when he opened them, a terrible sight was in front of him.

Jason had been shot.

"Jack, snap out of it!" Phil was shouting. Jackson groaned and put a hand on his hand. "Are you okay?" Rachel asked. "I'm fine." Jackson replied, not questioning how Rachel had gotten there in the few seconds he had apparently fainted. "You're hands are sweating!" Rachel commented with concern in her voice. "What happened?" "I-I don't wanna talk about it." Jackson replied, before the group heard a bloodcurdling scream, which made them all jump.

The group followed the scream as fast as they could and they eventually found Mason laying on the floor, his usual dark brown eyes now white. None of them had realized he had left. Not long afterwards, they saw blood running out of his stomach, as if he had been shot. Rachel started shaking him violently, but nothing was working.

"Someone has to go get him." Rachel said after a few minutes of everyone violently shaking Mason. The group looked at each other before finally Gavin offered to bring Mason back to his senses.

Gavin's POV: First Person

Slowly, I put my hand on Mason's forehead. I really hope this works. Does he really think I'm mean and a bully to Jack? I hope not.

Soon, I find myself inside a dark room with a bunch of bloody chains and a bloodcurdling scream. Wait what? I look around, but I find nothing. Suddenly, there's a bright light blue glow coming from one side of the room. When I look over, I see Mason, chained to a machine that looks terrifying.

In front of him, I see a woman wearing a black hoodie-dress and I hear some man cackling evilly. Mason gives one final ear piercing, bloodcurdling scream before everything went silent and I see something being pulled from his body. I look closer, as I don't have my contacts on me. It looks like some sort of Icy Orb is being extracted from inside him.

Once the woman leaves I hear Mason panting. "Mason! Are you okay?" I ask, running over to him. "No." He replies in between pants. "What happened?" I ask again, attempting to figure out how to release him from the machine. "I was trying to get to Science Class, when I felt this intense pain. I found myself somehow pulled inside my mind and than that woman started pulling something out of me and it was the most painful thing I've ever experienced." Mason explains.

"Two elementals in one dream." The woman says from behind me. "How exciting!" I hear a thud from my left and suddenly, I'm chained to the machine that probably had Jack trapped as well as me and Mason.

Mason's POV: Third Person

Mason's breath started quickening its pace as he was forced to watch as Gavin was tortured until he gave them what they wanted. Suddenly, he was back inside the school.

Mason and Gavin were panting heavily. "What happened?" Rachel asked, worriedly. "They took some sort of Ice Orb out of my body." Mason explained. "I think they might be going for Gavin next." "Why Gavin?" Jackson asked, leaning against the wall. "I think those things that they took from us might some sort of Elemental Orbs and it's possible that Gavin has the one they're looking for next." Mason answered.

"I guess the new question is; What are they going to do with those Orbs?" Gavin asked.

A/N: New chapter! I would write down or try to remember the underlined words. They're gonna be important for later in the groups story.