How it Happened

Chapter 11

I don't regret the decision that I made. I don't think that I ever will. I wanted to protect Jett and help him come out of the dark hole that he and the rest of his family had thrown themselves into. It wasn't fair that people were picking on the weak.

I hear a plane go by. I don't bother to try and hide myself, there's no point. What are they going to do now anyway? They can't hurt me more than they already have. I just sit up, too tired, too weak, too fed up to do anything. I just sniff a little while drawing spirals in the ash in front of me, but I'm not looking at the spirals, I'm looking at the scar on my wrist.

I didn't want act straight away. No part of me decided that that was a good idea, but I had to. Mainly because I knew that if I didn't, then Jett would get beaten again and then the fault would be mine.

I hadn't worn my mother's hoody since I went out to look for Saffron. I was too scared to. The man in the tavern had recognised it. Not only that, he saw my face and my eyes. He seemed to know so much about my family, as if he'd seen me before.  I just shook off the feeling as I pulled on my hoody and left the work shed.

I strolled to Stormchester Academy, taking my time. I didn't need to be in any hurry.

Once I arrived, I hung in the shadows of a factory that towered the school on the other side of the road. I tugged a little at my hood in an effort to cover my face better. I stood there and waited.

A few minutes later, the school bell rang and the whole street filled with children of all ages trying to find their parents or making their own way home. It took a while before I saw Jett. From what I could see, there weren't any new injuries on him. Hazel quickly ran up to him and tugged at his arm, surely trying to get him to hurry.

A dusty blonde boy, the same age as Jett approached the siblings with a swagger and his head held high. Jett pushed Hazel behind him as the boy approached. I couldn't hear the words that they were exchanging, but it didn't take a genius to realise that it was George. I kept a close eye on them, not moving but ready to pounce at the slightest lift of a fist.

However, George kept calm and just spat a few words out at Jett and Hazel before walking away again. I stepped deeper into the shadows as Jett and Hazel left. With any luck I could make it back to the Shack before Jett made it back from dropping Hazel off at home, if he was even doing that.

I stayed there for a while, making sure that I wouldn't bump into him. Eventually I called it safe and made my way to the shack with my hood still up. I stopped just before I got to the entrance and kept an ear out. Jett was already in the Shack. There was a different feeling about it compared with when it was empty. 

I retraced my steps for a few meters before taking a side alley and then slinging back in the direction of the Shack, trying to go behind it. Another alley soon appeared on my left and I darted down it and joined the street that I would normally take when going to the Shack from work. On my way down, I pulled off my hoody and quickly shoved it into my bag.

I eased open the door and flung myself at Jett in an effort to make it look like I didn't know already that he was okay. 

Jett embraced me. "Everything's fine," he said, "Nothing happened." 

I held him a little tighter. "Good. For today at least," I replied. 

He pulled back to look at me. "What do you mean?" He asked, his face scrunching up in confusion. 

"Just because he didn't do anything today doesn't mean that he won't do anything again." 

"You're overthinking this," he said, seeming a little annoyed at what I had said.