It killed me inside that Jasper may die soon. He's in pain everyday. He would have millions of cuts all over his body one day and bruises on his arms the next. It's a never ending cycle. We had to change this. And soon.
I sat next to Jasper on his large bed as he moaned in pain.
"Jasper... this can't go on any longer. You're miserable."
"Then kill me," He grumbled. I lied down beside him and cuddled into his back.
"Don't."
He carefully turned to face me with a painful smirk.
"You're beautiful," He said, his one eye caught in my gaze.
"Shut up, you're dying."
"Doesn't mean I can't admire your beauty."
"Jasper, this is serious. We can't keep ignoring this forever," I said, sitting up.
"Ignore what? I'm fine, Sora. I'm still alive as of right now. That's all that matters."
"No! You can't seem to understand that you can die any day!" My head exploded as I continued to yell at Jasper. But he didn't seem to listen.
"Stop it," He interrupted, "Damian will hear."
"Yeah and what does he think of this? Does your own brother not care?"
"He's pissed. But he won't care if I die. It'll be less to take care of-"
I interrupted him with a slap in the face. He starred at me in shock as he held his reddened cheek.
"You shut your mouth, Jasper. Damian is your brother. Someday you might lose him. Be grateful that day isn't soon."
I got up and left Jasper staring at the wall, shocked.
As I walked down the stairs, I saw Damian sitting at the bottom with a stressful look on his face.
"Is everything okay?" He asked with a worried look.
"Sure." I took a deep breath and walked out.
I rested my arms on the fence that held in all the horses and watched the trees blow around in the wind.
I heard footsteps come up behind me and I looked to my left as Damian's fiance stood next to me with a small smile.
"Its beautiful out here, isn't it?" She said.
I nodded and stared ahead. I heard her sigh as she tried to match my stare.
"I don't think we every officially met," she began, "I'm Hayden."
I was hoping she would've found it clear that I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment, but apparently she's more clueless than I thought.
"Are you going to speak? Or am I just going to stand here like an idiot?" She pressed.
"Listen, I'm not in the mood for small talk right now. Or ever." I stood upright and began to walk away until Hayden stopped me with her left hand on my shoulder.
"Sora, Jasper didn't mean what he said. He's just a little off," Hayden said as she turned me around, forcing me to look at her. She was very beautiful. Her long brown hair blew gently in the wind as her ocean blue eyes glimmered in the sun light. Her skin was flawless. If I was a man, I would probably love her too.
I stayed quiet, assuming my silence would speak for me. Hayden let go of me and sighed softly, then left without another word.
It was getting late, and I still couldn't bring myself to come inside. My head throbbed with pain. Jasper was probably already asleep by now, which made me feel awful. The last thing I wanted was to let him go to sleep knowing I was pissed at him.
I walked into the front door of the house and all the lights were off. I looked at the digital clock on the oven in the kitchen.
2:06 AM
Shit.
I went upstairs to Jasper's room and smiled at him; fast asleep as if there was peace on earth. He must be having a good dream for once.
I sat on the edge of the bed and changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants. As I lied back onto the bed and got under the blankets, I felt Jasper move closer to me. I snuggled in to him and rested my head on his chest as if this was my way of apologizing, and he accepted it.
I awoke the next morning before Jasper and went downstairs to make coffee. Damian and Hayden were cuddling on the couch and watching The Choice as the ate breakfast, not even knowing I was there.
I made two coffees and went upstairs without a sound. Jasper was still fast asleep, but he looked stressed and upset his eyebrows were furrowed with anger. I set the coffee down on the dresser and sat by Jasper, gently trying to shake him awake. He didn't budge. I felt his forehead with the back of my hand and froze. His entire body was ice cold and pale as snow.
"Jasper." I said firmly, hoping he would hear.
No matter what I did, Jasper didn't move a single inch. His heart was still beating, but he had the appearance of a dead person.
"Damian!" I screamed, feeling tears well up in my eyes.
Damian and Hayden raced up the stairs and their eyes widened as they saw Jasper.
"It's happening," Damian said, running to the other side of him.
"What? What's happening?!" I yelled, holding Jasper's hand tight.
"He's going through hell. I knew this would happen. I just hoped it wasn't going to be soon." Damian pressed his two fingers to Jasper's neck to feel his pulse and widened his eyes. "His pulse is quickening. It's too late to bring him out of this."
I could feel my heart racing and my head spinning. "What can we do?" I questioned in a firm voice.
"We need to bring someone in. He needs someone to go through this with." I could tell Damian was hinting to me.
"That's impossible. I can't just enter his mind."
Damian opened the bottom drawer of the end table by the bed and pulled out a small black cord with two circular links at both ends. He was going to connect our minds.
"No. I'm not going to just get inside his head. This isn't right," I said, standing straight and folding my arms across my chest.
"You're the only one he trusts. You need to do this. It's the only thing that can save him. He just started his first stages. It's not too late."
I sighed and thought about Jasper. About what he would want me to do.
"I'll do it."
I lied down next to Jasper's lifeless body and held his cold hand. I felt Damian press one end of the cord to the side of my head and then put the other end to Jasper's.
"I need you to close your eyes," Damian instructed. "It'll feel like you're dreaming, but you need to take this seriously..." His voice slowly began to drift away as I felt myself exit reality and enter the nightmare of hell.
