Where Is Jared

Where is Jared Chapter 20

Chapter 20- JESSIE-

"Wait! Your son...he's twelve! He couldn't have..."

"No. Not him. I had an older son named Kyle." Jacob was crying, and it was odd for me to take in all at once. Not very manly, I thought, but it must be a touchy subject for him.

"But then... well, Jared never mentioned..."

"I know. I told him to never mention Kyle to anyone. It was just so... terrible for me to have fathered a kid like that."

We were quiet, waiting for him to go on. He took a deep breath, and finally told his story. "Kyle grew up as a good kid. He was normal, fun, just the average little boy. He was three when Jared was born. I'd thought he was a great kid... they both were." He frowned, thinking about Jared. A tear streamed down my cheek. "So, when their mother...passed on, I let them both have the world. I let them do whatever, whenever. It made me happy, as their only parent, to see them happy. And it seemed okay, for a while. But Kyle got into high school, and he started getting into a lot of trouble. Detention, probation, and finally almost getting sent to jail. It pained me to be his father, so I buckled down on all three of them. But it was already too late.

"Kyle resisted every ounce of my punishments. He'd run away, he'd physically fight me. I'd had enough. He was seventeen when he got into some gang trouble. I was hoping there wouldn't be much of a problem with him and that gang, but who was I kidding?

"Kyle apparently was told he had to murder a high member in society to join this gang. They said he was a 'nobody' if he didn't try this..." We were all tearing up now, trying to absorb everything. This was so unexpected. "So he killed a member of the School Board, Mr. Summers. I didn't know the man personally, but I'd heard he was a great man, and had a great kid, and my son killed him.

"And Kyle just came home one day and told me all of this. He didn't bother to hide it, just told me, and then left. He's eighteen now, so I don't claim him. I've never told the police, never told anyone. And I haven't seen him since that day." Jacob leaned over on the table and cried.

We were all in despair now. And now was the moment of truth. Katie finally spoke. "Mr. Richardson, my father was Gabriel Summers."

Jacob looked at her with pained, bloodshot eyes. "I'm so... so... sorry. So very sorry." He stood from his chair and hugged Katie like she was his child.

TIM

I took all of this in. Every detail, every word pained me. It was so unlikely...yet it happened. So unlikely that Katie would kill Jared, thinking he was the one who killed her father. So unlikely that Kyle, Jared's criminal brother, would actually be the one who killed Gabriel. And so unlikely that we'd be here, discussing this with Jacob, who had kept everything from everyone in the first place.

After all these jumbled thoughts, it was a wonder we all didn't go insane. I spoke very quietly. Or at least I was going to speak, but Katie wailed first.

"I killed your son! I killed him, because I wanted revenge! You shouldn't be sorry, sir! Because of me, all of this has happened! Jared didn't kill my father. He was innocent, and I killed him, all for nothing. Damn it!" She slung her arms around Jessie. "I'm so sorry for killing him! I'd better have a hell of a time in jail for this." Now I was crying.

Crying; for Jared, the one whose death was uncalled for; for Katie, who took that life; and for Jessie, who had to suffer because of a choice she had nothing to do with. Jacob was still stunned too, apparently. He didn't know anything about Katie killing Jared. "You... you killed Jared?" I think he was more astonished than anything else.

"Yes." Katie said, not fighting the tears anymore. "I'm the one who should be sorry!"

They hugged again, trying to find the right words for an apology. Both of them seemed to have a lot to be sorry for. I spoke after a long silence. "We need to find him. Kyle is with the one who helped with Jared's murder. They are together, somehow. We need to know everything you know about where he might be. Then we can get the police in on this."

"Um... well, I haven't spoken to Kyle, but there are some places in the forests where we used to go camping. I'm pretty sure those are places where he'd hide when he was pissed at me... back before all of this." Jacob said, smiling ruefully.

"Can you take us there?" Jessie asked. It was almost the only time she'd spoken since we came here.

Jacob nodded, and we all walked out to his car.

"There are so many places he could be. We used to go camping everywhere in the woods up here." Jacob sighed, settling in for what looked like a long road trip.

"How far is it?" I asked.

"A few hours. Why?"

"I've got to call my parents, then." I said, grabbing my cell phone. "Mom?... Yea I'm going to be home late. Is that okay?... Yea I will... Love you too...Bye." I hung up. "She said be home by one am." I told Jacob.

"We can manage that. It doesn't leave a lot of time to search though."

I thought of woods and trees in the dark...searching for a killer...that did not settle very well with me. But there were four of us, and only two of them, right? I hoped we would be okay. I knew we would be okay. And then, Jessie and I would be together. I hoped.

The drive was peaceful, the open road was comforting, and the silence threatened to put me to sleep. For that I was grateful, because it meant I could dream quietly without worries.

I finally drifted to sleep, letting those fears fall behind, at least for a few minutes.

*Dream*

We made it to the forest that Jacob was talking about. It was a deep canopy, with great greenery and bushes, almost too beautiful to be real. And it expanded for miles, with nothing but trails and Jacob's knowledge to guide us. We started in, carrying the water canteens that Jacob had thought to bring. Thank God he's here, I thought.

No one had spoken. Jacob simply led us up the steep hill and into the trees' shelter.

It wasn't long, not long at all, before we came to a small cabin. It was simply built from logs and grass, and it was nestled in these trees serenely. And, on top of that, it wasn't even visible from the trail. I didn't realize it, but Jacob had led us off the trail, straight to this cabin.

And that was when we heard it.

The gun shot off to my left, with the deafening crackle that came with it; it put all of us on our toes. And then I saw that Jessie was no longer standing.

She had been shot in the stomach. I ran to her, trying to run faster than humanly possible, even though she was only three yards away. Katie was there, too, pushing on the wound, like she had been trained to do so.

And the strangest part of this dream: there was no sound other than that gun shot. It had taken me this long to see that it was quiet. The gun shot was all I had heard. And as Jessie's mouth was open, screaming in pain, there was no sound, only the sight of the blood spurting from her abdomen. And though my mouth was open, yelling for her to hold on, telling her I loved her, there was no sound.

Finally I looked away from Jessie, not able to stand anymore helplessness. And I saw the barrel of another gun, pointed straight at my head. At the other end of the shotgun was Jacob.

I heard this shot too, and then I woke up in Jacob's car.

Jacob looked worried. "You okay? You were tossing an awful lot. I thought you were having a nightmare."

"I was." I said silently. And I realized that I wanted nothing more than to get out of this car. This dream shouldn't have scared me, but it did. It made me afraid of the one who could possibly be my savior, or the one who could be my killer.