T.R.I.G.G.E.R

T.R.I.G.G.E.R - #14

"There is only one person...the only person, I know...that has hair as red as yours."

My heart dropped to my stomach at the possibility that I know this person.

He could be anyone.

Someone I've beat up before. The brother of someone I've beat up before.

He could be the child of some past foster parents I've had, or someone I met on a street or in an orphanage somewhere.

He could be anyone, and I won't know until I look at his face.

I took a deep breath and hesitantly turned around.

He had on black vans, instead of the school policy dress shoes and his khakis weren't navy blue. They were black.

His hoodie was left open and I could see his white dress shirt, that was untucked, with a black tie and unbuttoned vest.

I searched through all the 'rule breakers' that I know in my mind, but it was useless. There were too many.

"Jacks..." He said in a much quieter, less aggressive tone.

But, it shook me.

That name... No one calls me that.

No one has ever called me that except for one person...

~

"Jacks!" My best friend yelled at me. "Don't do that! I hate worms."

I giggled and held the worm closer to his face.

"AHH!" He screamed and fell off the tree stump we were sitting on.

I dropped the worm and laughed until my stomach hurt.

"T-that's not f-funny, Jackie!" Tucker huffed and crossed his arms, making a mad face at me.

"I'm sorry, Tucker." I said, still laughing. "I couldn't help it."

"Whatever." He sat back down on the stump next to me.

I stopped laughing and started carving lines in the stump with the pocket knife Tucker gave me.

"Jacks..." Tucker took the knife from me.

"Hey!" I was about to yell at him, but I couldn't.

He was hugging me really tight, and he was stronger than me.

"Tucker, why are you hugging me? Get off!" I tried to squirm and punch him, but he wouldn't let go.

He's stupid for hugging me because he knows I don't like hugs.

"Jackie...I know your mom and dad hurt you again today." I stopped moving, and just let him hug me.

Tucker is the only person I told about my mom and dad. He's my best friend, we tell each other everything.

"That's why you wanted to leave, right? Because they hit you again?"

"I'm not talking about it." I told him.

Tucker always made me cry when he talked about my parents hurting me, but I didn't want to cry today.

"I know that. I'm your best friend, I know everything about you, Jacks." He let me go. "You wanna go play a game at my house?"

I was happy again when he said something about video games. "Yeah!"

"I'll race you." He said and started running, but he didn't go anywhere.