Jacqueline || BWWM

Chapter Seventeen

Be aware: this chapter gets a little intense.

Whit goes on talking like nothing just happened. For her, this is true so I keep everything to myself and let explain the next picture.

"This is us with her the last time we ever saw her." She points to a picture of three smiling little kids. They look a little older in this photo, but the major difference in the is that Jackie lays in a hospital bed while the other two kids hug her.

"What happened?" My memory is unclear when it comes down to most things to do with the fire, all that's burned in my mind are the screams that tore through the house as the fire and smoke put out my internal lights.

"It's a long story." She grimaces, her voice wavering slightly.

Interesting.

"I've got time."

Whit quirks an eyebrow at this, her facial expression openly asking: what about the party?

"I..ah..don't really care for parties." I shrug slightly. "If you don't mind, I'd like to hear what you've got to tell."

She looks uneasy and it's clear that she'd rather do anything than what I'm asking, but like the girl I vaguely remember her to be, she probably won't say no. She never could, and by the way, she leads me back towards the couches, it seems like that hasn't changed.

"I don't really mind, I guess." Whit takes a deep breath in, holds it for a few seconds, and then lets it out quickly. "So the girl in the picture with King and I is Jackie. She was our best friend for as long as either of us could remember. We used to do everything together. We went that far back. Seriously, like, we have pictures of us and her in diapers, at Disneyland, the zoo, school, everywhere." A fond sigh escapes her lips at the memories.

Nothing leaves my own. Even though I'm almost one hundred percent she's talking about me, I can't remember anything. I can't even picture myself living the glorious life she describes. My tattered timeline only has three memories on it: The fire that destroyed Jackie at five, The first person that made Lin feel like she was truly alive at thirteen, the guys that took everything away at barely fourteen, and created Jacqueline.

"That sounds really awesome," I whisper, smiling comfortingly at her.

Whit actually seems to still be hurting.

What gets me though, is why? Yes, I get that she was close to Jackie, me, but that was doing a very young age. Plus it's been twelve years. Shouldn't she have already forgotten everything?

"It was."

"So what happened, like why was she in the hospital?"

Of course, I know the answer, but I want to hear it from her point of view: it'll make everything seem more real.

"It happened the week before school ended. Her family was at their house in lake rogue. When these-" As if she was just snapped out of a daydream, Whit's voice transforms from the bored, emotionless mask it'd taken moments earlier, and into this more high pitched tone.  "When this fire broke out of nowhere. No one saw it coming. No one." She clarifies once more.

It's like she begging me to believe her, the way her eyes hold mine with so much intensity.

Interesting.