I N S T I N C T | Jackson Whittemore

51: Independence Game

Independence Game
Chapter 51

Jackson stood at his PE locker, staring down at his phone that repeatedly flashed with a notification that read:

NO NEW MESSAGES 🚫

Disappointed, he pressed his warm forehead against the cool metal locker. Annie should have texted him by now, he couldn't stand the thought of her being mad at him the rest of his life. If she didn't show up tonight with the key, he wasn't sure what he would do.

"Dude, you okay?" Danny asked, concerned with his best friend's behavior as he broke Jackson from his thoughts.

Blinking, Jackson shook his head, "I'm perfect."

Danny scoffed a laugh, joking with Jackson, "Well, we all know that," he giggled, turning more serious as he asked, "but are you okay? You didn't answer my texts all week. I'm getting worried about you."

Jackson's mind was going a mile a minute as he stared across the room at Gerard Argent who had just walked into the boys' locker room to deliver a final "pep-talk" to the lacrosse players as their principle. Jackson didn't even hear Danny calling his name, too consumed with Gerard.. how he would do anything to protect him, how he would do anything for him...

"Jackson!" Danny finally yelled, shaking Jackson's shoulder.

Jackson's eyes seemed to unglaze as he looked around him. He let out a heavy breath, rubbing the back of his neck as he closed his eyes, trying to stay in control of his own mind. Nothing made sense, it was like trying to look through a fogged window.

Jackson turned to his best friend, jaw clenched as he looked back at Gerard, "Stay in the goal tonight, Danny. Do not come out," he ordered. Danny noticed the warning in his voice, and was prepared to follow whatever Jackson told him next. "And if you see me coming towards you, run the other way... as fast as you can."

With that, Jackson slipped the rest of his pads on and walked out of the locker room. To where? The thought was oblivious to him, he just knew he had to leave, had to get to the field, had to obey orders.

Revenge. Death. Destruction.

* * *

Coach smiled at his lacrosse players, before frowning at McCall, and the replacing it with another big smile. He sighed, bringing the megaphone to his mouth, telling his typical pep-speech, "Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will be joining others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind."

Melissa, who had snuck into the locker room to speak to her son – still taking baby steps to restore their old relationship and succeeding – stood next to Stiles and scoffed, "What?"

Coach wiped a stray, fake tear from his eye as he laid his hand on top of his heart, "Mankind – that word should have new meaning for all of us today."

Melissa was incredulous to the situation. Her eyes were wide with confusion as she turned to her son's best friend, "What the hell is he talking about?"

Stiles sighed, not taking his eyes off Coach, as he told Melissa, "He does this every year..."

"We are fighting for our right to live," Coach declared, reigning in shouts of excitement from uneducated players. "But as the day the world declared in one voice..." he paused, absorbing in the silence around him.

Melissa raised a finger in the air, "Wait, is this...?" she trailed off.

"Yep, it's the speech from Independence Day," Stiles nodded, shaking his head as Coach sniffed the stale locker room air. Disgusting. "It's Coach's favorite movie," Stiles continued.