Sun and Shadow

Chapter 3 - Who's at the door?

Jude woke up in his room not sure exactly how he got here. He was in the backyard a minute ago wasn't he? He looked over at the clock and saw the time...it was 8:30am! He had been asleep all night. He stood up and saw he was still wearing the clothes he had on last night except his shoes. He looked across the room but Jesus's bed was empty.

Jesus! Jude remembered pushing him and seeing him fly across the yard. Jude hurt him! He started panicking, what did he do? How did he do it? He was getting scared when he remembered hearing Stef say something about Jesus being okay. Was he? Jude moved to the door when he suddenly felt his stomach clench. He almost doubled over in pain. He was HUNGRY!! Starving even. It was worse than the other day. He opened the door but didn't see anyone.

Heading downstairs he heard voices talking low in the kitchen. He recognized his family but couldn't hear what they were saying. He debated listening from the hallway but his stomach demanded attention so Jude took a breath and walked in causing everyone to go silent.

Jude looked around and saw everyone there except Brandon. He looked closely at Jesus, trying to find any sign of injury. His face fell as he saw the bruise on the side of his face.

"Jesus..." Jude said feeling sick.

Jesus jumped up and came around the table with a smile. "Hey bro, it's okay" he assured Jude with a smile. "I guess you didn't know your own strength." He grabbed the smaller boy in a big hug but Jude kept his arms down. "It's okay" Jesus whispers as he feels Jude trembling.

"I'm so sorry" Jude cries and finally wraps his arms, carefully, around his brother in a hug.

They stand there for a few minutes as Jude cries till Jesus hears his stomach growls, loudly. "Jude" Jesus laughs at him "you hungry?" he teases his little brother.

Jude sniffs and looks up and over at the family. "Yeah, actually I am starving" he says quietly.

Lena stands up and fixes a plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes from the stove and sets them at the table. "Eat up honey" she says smiling at Jude. He sits down and looks over at Callie and Mariana and can see the worry on their faces.

"Thank you" he says quietly and starts eating. Each bite seems delicious and the more he eats, the hungrier he feels. In just a few minutes his place is clean, but he still feels hungry.

"Wow Judicorn, you inhaled that" Mariana teased him. "You must have really been hungry."

Jude looks nervous as his stomach growls again. Mariana laughs "Are you still hungry?"

Jude looks embarrassed but he looks up "Starving, it doesn't feel that I even ate" he admits.

Stef and Lena look at each other. "Jude" Stef asks gently "are you hungry for anything in particular?"

Jude thinks for a moment "Burgers, bacon, steak, hot dogs, peanut butter, pizza, cheese, fruit and vegetables" he pauses "milk, juice, chocolate...I don't know but I am really hungry" he says apologetically.

Stef stands up and opens the fridge. "We have a couple of burgers and some lasagna leftovers..." she starts.

"Yes!" Jude says.

"Which?" she asks him looking over at him.

Jude blushes... "both" he asks.

Over the next half hour Jude inhales an inhuman amount of food. Clearing out many leftovers as well as several dishes Lena makes up. He eats over a dozen eggs in omelets as well as an entire pack of bacon. Everyone is stunned, but he finally slows down after drinking an entire gallon of milk.