After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 98

"You didn't" Paige Merridew warningly contended the very second she closed the hotel door behind her. She whipped her head of perfect blond hair to locate her little brother, who had already taken up comfortably on his temporary bed.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about" Jack responded, his voice cool and steady.

"Don't tell me you actually stabbed that kid in face, repeatedly, after he was already dead" Paige forcefully snapped, her hand still on the doorknob, her face hot with shock.

"Then don't ask me" Jack kept his head straight as he answered, still no evidence of anything resembling guilt or remorse in his voice. He casually scrolled through the TV guide as he sat comfortably on his bed, back against the headboard.

It was a chilling sight to his sister who was expecting... well, she wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it was definitely more than this.

"Jack!" Paige snapped impatiently. Her voice sounded as if she might cry, but her face told a slightly but still notably different story. "I'm serious! Did you or did you not stab a dead kid repeatedly in the face?"

"Would it have been better if he were alive?" Jack finally turned to look at her, his eyes empty of any sign of emotion.

"That's not funny" Paige insisted.

"I wasn't kidding" Jack was quick to respond.

"Why, Jack?" Paige sighed as she took a deep breath. She moved from the door to plop down onto her own bed adjacent to Jack's, but she continued to stare at him intently. "What did that poor, innocent kid ever do to deserve something so awful?"

"Just because he's dead doesn't mean he was innocent" Jack's voice dropped. There was the heart, the moment Paige finally struck a nerve. Jack's voice sounded low like Evan's now. They were finally getting somewhere.

"Alright" Paige agreed, "so what then? What could he have possibly done to warrant... what you did to him?" she questioned again.

Jack just shook his head and rolled his eyes at the same time. He kept his head forward as he stared intently at the TV. The volume was so quiet, it was inaudible, and whatever show was playing catered in no way to Jack's taste. It looked like something a grandmother would watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Jack wasn't watching the program so much as avoiding his sister's pressing questions.

Paige sighed and hauled herself off her bed, then perching herself on Jack's right in front of him. She clasped both her palms around his raised knees, forcing him to pay her his full attention.

"What did he do, Jack?" Paige demanded sharply.

A sudden knock at the door made it so Jack didn't have to answer his sister's question. Both siblings flinched at the sound, and Jack pushed Paige's hands off him before throwing his legs over the side of the bed to go answer the door.

"Are you here to rattle me for answers too?" Jack questioned the unexpected visitor.

"Quite the contrary" Jeffery Langley assured him as Jack opened the door the rest of the way, then leaving Jeffery to stand alone in the open doorway.

"Hi Mr. Langley" Paige smiled weakly at him from her position on Jack's bed.

"Hey Paige" he smiled back at her, the same weak and halfhearted one she gave him. "Do you mind if I have a moment with your brother?"

"Course not" she pulled herself up as she answered. It was silent as she collected her little purse from the bedside table and shuffled passed Jeffery on her way out. "Be back later" she added quietly.

Jeffery slowly, in a precautionary way, sat down on the edge of the closest bed; the one claimed by Paige. He kept his eyes intently on Jack in the few silent seconds.