*Arrow*

*Chapter 5*

     The house was empty and utterly silent when I finally made my way inside. I had waited until Sean was clearly out of sight to come in, just in case he would decide to return and explain himself. But once it became obvious that he wasn't coming back, I yanked the door open and found myself face to face with a pitch-black house. 

     At first it seemed like no one was home, and after I threw my hoodie on my bed I investigated to see if it was true. No one could be found, and I was about to give up my search when I heard a voice, no louder than a whisper:

     "Nicole?"

     That could've been none other than Jason's voice. His room was right behind me, and it was just then that I realized there was a light coming from it. How had I not seen it before?

     "Jason?" I whispered, hesitantly poking my head into his room. There was a small shadow on the wall, and when I spoke, it moved. "Don't worry, it's me. Nicole."

     Jason spun around, and I got a full view of his terrified face. Before I could say anything more, Jason rushed into my arms, nearly knocking me over. Soon he began to cry.

     "What . . . ?" I began, but my sentence dissolved on my tongue. "What's wrong, Jason? What happened? Are you hurt?"

     Jason sniffled, shrugged, and continued sobbing.

     "Then what's wrong? And where's mom?" I knelt down to his height and wiped tears from his eyes, which were dripping off his chin and onto the floor.

     "That's what's wrong," he told me quietly. "Mom's not here."

     I felt stupid for not seeing that earlier. I felt stupid for everything. "Then where is she?"

     Burying his head in my shoulder, Jason shrugged his shoulders again.

     "Tell me what happened," I demanded.

     "Well," he started, wiping more wetness from his cheeks, "I went over to Austen's house. You know that, don't you?"

     I nodded. Austen was one of Jason's friends, and I did remember his mother coming to pick Jason up.

     "So I was at his house for a few hours, and then his mom drove me home. I used the key you gave me last week to get in the house, and no one was here. Not even you." As he turned his head to look up at me, Jason wiped his nose on my shirt. I didn't care, though - I deserved it.

     Seeing the fear in Jason's blue eyes made me want to cry myself. How could I have been so careless as to forget about my own brother? "What time did you get home?" I asked

     "Around seven-thirty." The innocence in his voice was almost unbearable. "Where were you, anyway?"

    Trying to keep my face calm and composed, I answered, "I was at the beach with . . . . a friend of mine." I couldn't bring myself to say who it really was. Embarrassed, I hugged Jason to my chest. "I'm so, so sorry, Jason. I honestly thought mom would be home, but I should've have though about you first. I'm sorry."

     Jason said nothing. He had stopped sniffling, and I stroked his wavy brown hair to the rhythm of his breathing. 

     "Do you ever wonder why mom's never here?" he murmured into my shoulder after a couple minutes.

     The question caught me off guard. Jason had never let on before that he was bothered by our mom's questionable presence in our lives. I always thought he either was too young to notice or didn't feel compelled to tell anyone. Me? Well, I was bothered by it, but based on what I'd been through with my father it didn't affect me as much. I was more concerned about how Jason handled it, or how he would handle it. My mom's affairs outside our home were none of my business.