Duskwood - For all the Ghosts that are never gone

Chapter 17: Hackerboy

My knees were weak, luckily Jake held me so tightly in his arms and gave me support. Otherwise I would surely have sunk to the ground long ago. It still felt so surreal that he was actually here. And yet there was this feeling of familiarity that he had always evoked in me. It was just so much stronger right now.

My tears were getting smaller and smaller, but I made no effort to detach myself from Jake. Somehow I was still afraid that he would just disappear again. I didn't know if Jake was experiencing a similar fear, because he didn't make any effort to get away from me either.

We would probably have to remain here like this forever...

But then I felt someone else squeezing me. I briefly detached my face from Jake to take a look at the other person. A slight smile came to my lips when I spotted the blonde haired person. I rested my head against Jake's shoulder again and released my right arm from him to include Lilly in our embrace.

I noticed Jake flinching nervously. He seemed noticeably uncomfortable that his youngest sister was seeking his physical closeness. He had no choice but to put up with it, though.

Punishment had to be....

"You don't need to cry like that! I told you all along that Jake was alive and would come back," Lilly's tearful voice rebuked me.

"Yes, you did," I replied and started crying heavily again. "But I was so worried."

"Me too," Lilly replied, crying even more than before. She also clung desperately to Jake.

" Never do that again," I now addressed my words to Jake. I was aware that Lilly's and my conversation had taken place as if he wasn't standing right next to us.

"Never, never, never again," I affirmed, trying to sound stern. But relief had taken over my voice.

"Don't you dare do that to us again!" Lilly's attempt to discipline him also failed with her joy at finally being able to hold him in her arms.

"[MC]..., Lilly...," Jake breathed uncertainly.

"Well, I really hate to disturb your trinity," Dan cleared his throat. "But hacker boy, oh hacker boy! You have soooo much to explain to us!"

"I guess so..." Jake replied almost meekly and carefully removed his arm from me. But all he managed to do was get me to hug him tightly.

It almost felt to me as if he was really going to disappear again and I definitely had to prevent that.

"But not here," Jake said calmly.

"Pff, like we're just going to take you away without an explanation." Dan laughed spitefully.

"Of course we're taking him with us!" It was me who had broken away from Jake and was glaring at Dan.

"I'm certainly not going to let a wanted criminal into our house just like that," Dan argued.

"Jake's not a-" I began and was immediately interrupted by Dan.

"Honey, I'm more than pleased to remind you that the FBI was at Grimrock to arrest your boyfriend." Dan put a particularly pejorative meaning on the word "boyfriend".

"Fine, I'll pack my things and go with Jake," I nagged back.

"[MC]", Jessy tried to calm me down with her gentle voice and appeal to my common sense. Instead, she got the same angry look from me that I had just given Dan.

There was no discussion at all about letting Jake leave again!

I was seething inside, just like when everyone had so readily agreed to send Jake to the mines. To the others, except Lilly, Jake was still this weird, creepy hacker that they would have preferred to have nothing to do with. None of them saw that Jake had been acting so selflessly all this time. Of course he had to put measures in place to protect himself. But instead of staying out of it completely when this whole thing got too dicey for him, he had stayed in.