And Life Goes On

Virtual Hangman (7)

Sean's P.O.V
        After what seems like an age, the lift dings and the doors open. I almost run out, and then look back at Jenna standing in the lift, looking at me with daggers in her eyes. She hesitantly walks out the lift, and over to Matt, who had walked over to me when I was looking at Jenna.
"Hi! I'm Jenna." She says, all traces of anger gone from her voice. Matt is about thirty five with black, wavy hair cut so it's not quite long enough to put up and soft green eyes. He's one of the nicest guys in the whole of Sky.
"Matt." They shake hands, and Matt and I fist bump. "Sup?"
"Well, Jenna is meant to be a soul collector." I say bluntly. Matt gives me a funny look and fake laughs, raising an eyebrow.
"Ha! Funny, Sean."
"No joke, dude." He takes in my dead serious face and his eyes get wide with disbelief. 
"That- that's impossible..." He stutters, fidgeting with his hands.
"You would think." He walks over to his desk in the middle of the room. It's a cluttered space; there are five filing cabinets and a computer in the middle of the desk with what seems to be virtual hangman displayed on the screen. He sits down at the desk and motions to the two chairs opposite him. Jenna walks in front of me, not even looking at me, and sits in the chair. I follow her lead, taking the other seat.
"Sean, if this is true, it doesn't make any sense. All the jobs are run by me, and I would've seen if someone was meant to be a soul collector." Matt starts, all business like. 
"We get that, but is there anything you can do? This hasn't happened in, what, a couple centuries, from what I've heard." I say, trying to get past the obvious blabbering. 
"You'll have to check with the Frontrunners. In fact, I was meant to be meeting them later to discuss some issues with the Assigners. I can talk to them for you?"
"That'd be great. When's your meeting?"
"Uh... couple hours... have you seen your room yet, Jenna?" He replies, glancing at his watch. 
"Not yet." Jenna speaks up for the first time since she met Matt. 
"Well how 'bout you go get settled, and I'll call you after the meeting?"
"Awesome. See ya." I stand up off the chair and start walking over to the lift, but Jenna cuts me off, walking off in front of my with a sad/angered expression covering her face. 
"Bye. It was nice meeting you, Jenna." Matt says, lifting a hand in a wave. Jenna turns around for a split second, giving a faint smile. 
"You too." She almost whispers. Matt gives me a look that says 'dude, what did you do to get that girl so depressed?' so I just shrug my shoulders, even though I know what I've done. Jenna and I walk to the lift, and I press the button to the ground floor.
"Ground floor. Doors closing. Going down."
        We ride the lift in uncomfortable silence. Jenna seems to find something greatly interesting in the lift wall, and has her head rested on it. When I look over, I swear I see a tear slipping down her face. About half way through the ride, she sinks down to the floor and tips her head back- staring at the ceiling. I sink down next to her.
"Why'd I do it? I could be at the beach right now. Sex seems better than this. I loved him." I have no idea why I feel a tang of jealousy after she says that. She starts noticeably crying.
"You loved him?" she ignores me and stands up. I copy her, and she heads out the now open doors.

       When we get back to the desk to find out Jenna's room number, the queue is no longer there and we head straight to the assigner behind the desk who I know as Dorothy. Dorothy is around forty, with long straight blonde hair and friendly brown eyes. She gives me a warm smile and looks Jenna up and down.
"Jenna?" She exclaims, her eyes growing as wide as saucers.  Jenna looks up.
"Dorothy?" She squeals, ignoring me completely so I know i'm not off the hook yet.
"Oh my God, Jenna! I haven't seen you in forever!.. wait... why are you here, baby?" Dorothy asks in a motherly way. 
"I... I had a few problems with... uh..." Tears start brimming around Jenna's eyes.
"Oh Sweetie, please say Jason didn't do this to you." Jenna only nods, lowering her head. Dorothy walks around the back of the desk and hugs Jenna tightly.
"I told your parents not to trust him..." She mumbles, squeezing her eyes shut.
"My parents wouldn't care if I got hit by a bus." Jenna mutters back into Dorothy's hair. 
"Oh, baby." She says stroking Jenna's head like a two year old. I cough, feeling awkward. "Hello, Sean. How are you?" Dorothy offers me a small smile, as if i would know what's going on. I don't.
"I'm good... How'd you know each other?" The curiosity gets the better of me, but I make no move. The only though on my mind is that i wasn't there for Jenna when she was breaking down like this the minute she got here, and I want her to have a moment to cry away the pain, because that never happened for me. The pain never ends. 
"I was her baby sitter when she was little." Jenna pulls away from Dorothy and looks up at her.
"You look good, better than... before." She says, glancing over Dorothy's figure for the first time since we got here. I know Dorothy's suicide story, so I can just about understand why Jenna would say that. But I could never imagine what Dorothy would look like with cancer- i guess Jenna saw her go through that.
"I know. I just couldn't deal anymore." she replies, sighing and shaking her head. Jenna pulls her into a hug again. 

       Dorothy's father left when she was very little, and her and her mother were fine until Dorothy found out she had cancer. Her mother was stressed out all the time, and one day she had a panic attack when she was out shopping. She hit her head on the pavement and died. Dorothy grew up doing the odd job until she was thirty, still having cancer. They did a procedure that got rid of the cancer when she was thirty. But after nine years, the cancer came back. She went to hospital, and was told to stay there until she was better, but decided she wasn't happy, so she asked the doctors to stop trying. They refused because they said she was going to survive, so Dorothy stole the sleeping pills from the bed over and overdosed on them that night.

"So you want your form?" She walks back around the side of the desk.
"Uh, yeah please. I just need to know where I'm staying." Dorothy types a few things into the keyboard and rummages in a pile of papers. She picks out Jenna's form and reads the address.
"Okay... Willows road, Jonas house, room fifteen." Damn...
"Thanks." Jenna says and turns to me. "what?" she asks when she sees my face.
"Uh... nothing."