Race to the Finish

Race to the Finish chp. 43

“You ok?” A voiced snapped me out of my tauting thoughts.

I whipped my head around to find a concerned looking Jason looking down at me. His dark hair fell right over his eyes making his stormy grey eyes even darker making him seem even more mysterious and brooding than he usually is.

I nodded slightly still deeply distraught by my thoughts. Jason seemed to notice how off I was because he sighed deeply before going to sit beside me. He turned his body so his back was flat against the wall; one leg on the window with his knee propped up and placed his arm lazily on top of his knee, and turned his head to look at the dark night beneath the shimmering stars.

“You know when we were little, before Andy was born, Aliana and I would be each other’s comfort. My dad, my biological dad wasn’t a good man.” He paused and let out and un-amused, low laugh. “I mean he did end up in prison.” He shook his head. “Anyway, because of him always causing trouble, my mother had to work day and night. She would only get about 5 hours of sleep on a good day. More than often would she only sleep three to three and a half hours a day. Aliana and I were too young to get a job and help our mom out so we never saw her, but we knew how much she loved us.” 

A small, sad smile appeared on his face, yet he never once looked me in the eyes as he was telling me this. I stared at him because for some reason his story captivated my attention. 

Then he smiled a big happy smile, yet you could still sense the sadness behind it. “She would leave us small notes throughout the house. We found them everywhere. They used say things like ‘Have a nice day my babies’, ‘Remember mommy will always love you’, ‘I miss you’, etc. She always made sure we knew that she loved us although she wasn’t there.” He exhaled sorrowfully.

I thought back to my mom. She didn’t do anything of the sort that Jason’s mom had once done, but I know she loves us. Every time we do see her, although it is in awful circumstances, the way she looks at us, talks to us, tries to protect us as much as her ability, and worries about us constantly shows how much she loves us. I love my mom deeply. I don’t know what I would do without her.

“As I was saying, my dad really wasn’t a good man. Aliana and I only had each other and we would protect each other with our lives.” 

I stopped him before he continued. The question just slipped off my tongue before I could stop it.

“Did he beat you guys?” I asked in a small voice much like Jaiden’s.

He finally looked at me in the eyes. His eyes seemed to be searching mine trying to find something that I didn’t know. He stared into my eyes intently as if he were trying to hack into a top secret file of the CIA. 

The noise from the party seemed to have faded away from us. I could barely hear the laughter, music, or talking that surrounded us as I looked right back into Jason’s cryptic eyes. The sounds around us became more as a buzzing whisper. 

“No, he never beat us.” He stopped talking and seemed to be choosing his next words cautiously. “Has someone beaten you?” He asked almost monotonously, if it weren’t for the underground tone of anger.