Stranded Belief

Chapter 7 Jack

Chapter 7: Jack.
Song: Battle Field.

Jack sat beside Bella as everyone was setting up for bed. "I need to talk to you after everyone else goes to sleep." He leaned over and whispered into her ear. She blushed bright red. Jack smirked and Bella knew he had seen. He walked back over to his claimed tree and sat down, still smirking at Bella.

Mikki watched them and shook her head quietly. Bella was falling head over heels for Jack, and Jack slowly was too, whether he realized it or not. She just hoped that neither one got hurt in the end. She continued watching them make faces at each other. She softly nudged Destiny who was next to her. They giggled quietly before each laying back down and falling asleep.

Jet and Hazel were lying with their makeshift pallets next to each other, studying the stars while they held hands, occasionally glancing at Jack and Bella giggling.

After a while everyone was asleep. Jack motioned for Bella to follow him. He wandered through the woods for a few minutes before finding a log that was suitable for both of them to sit on. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, both thinking back to the conversation/argument they'd had earlier

Jack scoffed at how she'd had faith in something that he was pretty sure didn't even exist. They walked on either side of the group. He'd then made the mistake of saying that Bella's feeling must've been wrong. He rushed after her when she started walking faster to get away from the group. "Look, I'm sorry okay? The words came out of my mouth before they went through my brain first." Jack tried to apologize. "Yeah like I haven't that excuse before." Bella said sourly. She then stopped for a moment to look at Jack. "You know what, I don't get it." Bella stated. Jack looked confused. "Get what?" "I've heard plenty from Jet about how you guys were placed in a good Christian foster home, so why don't you believe." Jack's expression darkened. " It's kind of hard to believe in someone that takes the people you love most from you." Bella felt a wave of empathy go through her, she remembered going through these exact same emotions before she became a Christian. She looked at Jack again. "I get it. I've gone through these exact same feelings before, but just because you've gone through plenty of loss doesn't mean that the Father won't be there for you when you need Him." She could feel herself getting upset. Jack glanced over, saw her watery eyes, and gave her a hug. "Why don't we talk about this later." He said. She nodded into his chest before walking over to Mikki and striking up a Disney conversation with her.

Jack spoke first. "I've been thinking a lot about what you said earlier, and I've realized that you at least deserve an explanation as to why I don't believe, but you've got to to promise not to tell anyone. The only other person that knows is Jet." After she softly nodded, he continued. "You most likely already know about what happened to my biological parents from Jet." She nodded again. "Well you've probably also noticed that Jet and I don't have the best brother relationship in the world."

He didn't wait for a response. "What no one else knows is that Jet and I have a younger sibling that was staying at a family friend's house when the accident happened."

Bella interrupted him.
"Wait, you guys were in the vehicle when it happened. Jet said that you guys were at your grandma's house. Explain that first."
"Yeah that's when this story starts getting really messy. Jet's mind has completely blocked out all memories of the crash, so until graduation he believed what all of the social workers had told him. I wasn't so lucky. I still remember to this day every detail of the crash. I thankfully no longer go into panic attacks when I think about it, took eight years of counseling."