Where Clover Whitens (Jalex)

Dissonance

TW: blood, post-graphic depictions of violence, vomit. Please see the tags for any other trigger warnings.

There's a stake in your fat black heart

And the villagers never liked you.

They are dancing and stamping on you.

They always knew it was you.

-Sylvia Plath, "Daddy"

Jack had never been so thankful for his phone and car, simple everyday items he never thought too much about. On any other day, he probably would roll his eyes and laugh if he heard someone show thankfulness for inanimate objects. On the day he found out about Alex's abuse, however, they made all the difference.

He was stupefied by Stacy's call, so much so that he had to pull over on the side of the road to speak to her. And after, he'd sped so fast back to Beau's house that if a policeman had been around, he'd probably have been arrested.

"Hello, is this Jack Barakat?"

"Who's asking?"

"This is Stacy, Stacy Carpenter. I'm Caitlin and Beau's cousin. And I need to talk to you."

Immediately, Jack's stomach had dropped. Caitlin had never said much about Stacy, but everything he'd heard had been negative. He could distinctly remember the party (in which he and Alex had made out in the bathroom), how Stacy had not been in attendance, and how Caitlin's family had made jokes about her. If he were to trust his wife, he'd think Stacy was no good. Yet, something in his gut was screaming at him to listen to Stacy.

"What's this about?" Jack asked.

"It's about Beau. A-and Alex."

Jack had been right to listen; if possible, his stomach dropped even further. "What about Alex?"

"He's dating Beau, right?"

"Yes?"

"Jack, Alex is in danger."

On one hand, Jack had felt somewhat vindicated. So Beau was dangerous and Jack hadn't been crazy. On the other, Jack had left Alex alone at Beau's house. Had he made a mistake in doing so?

"What do you mean?"

There was a deep sigh on the other end, a hesitation. "My best friend, Jordan, used to date Beau. I didn't mean to set them up; Jordan and I ran into Beau at a restaurant once and Jordan begged me to set them up, so I did. They were together for over a year. At first, all Jordan could talk about was how amazing Beau was and how perfect they were together. But then...," Stacy trailed off.

At that moment, Jack pulled over and sent a quick text to the band group chat. He knew where this was going and where he had to go. But he'd need backup.

"Then?"

"Jordan started to pull away from me, wouldn't return my calls or texts, no showed plans...," Jack's stomach sank even further as Stacy trailed off, sickened at how eerily familiar this sounded.

"Then one day, finally, I decided to just go to his apartment when I knew he'd be home. When I did, I found him so beat up that his arm was in a cast, which he never bothered to tell me about. It was obviously Beau who had done it, but it took weeks to finally get that out of Jordan, and even longer to get him to break up with Beau."

"Did he press charges?"

"We tried," Stacy said wistfully. "But as you know, my family is very rich and powerful. My grandfather got the best lawyer in the country to represent Beau and Jordan was too terrified to see it through. I stuck by, of course, but my family all took Beau's side."