Codes

Chapter 12- All Better...Kind of?

"Ok..." Jackson said as if he were unsure of how to tell me what happened to him. He took a deep breath and began his story, "After I left your house I headed for home. I made the stupid decision to take the shortcut through the woods, even after what happened last night I was tired and wanted to get home as quick as possible disregarding the thought that there could still be danger in the woods."

"You're an idiot sometimes, you know that right?" I told him, smiling and adjusting my position on the floor next to the couch.

"Yeah, I know," He said, "but only sometimes." His smile widened and he tried to sit up on the sofa wincing in pain. He managed to raise himself to a small slouch with the help of one of the pillows Lia had placed on the couch for him. He gestured to the space that he had just created, "Sit down if we're going to have story time"

I obliged and sat next to him with my hands in my lap. "Continue" I told him.

"Ok, Ok," he said " Calm down "I'm getting to it" He sat up straighter obviously trying to hide his pain. "Damn" He said "What are those two doing" He was obviously referring to Evan and Lia, they had been gone for a while. Then, as if on cue, Evan and Lia walked into the room with a red box with a white cross on it, labeling it as the first-aid kit.

"We found it!" Evan said smiling and holding up the bright red box.

"Jeez, took you long enough" Jackson replied.

Lia sat on the floor and open the box revealing the contents to us. "Crap," She said. "There aren't any bandages."

"What?" Evan said "How do you have a first aid kit that doesn't have the necessary tools needed for  first aid?"

"I-I don't know." Lia said looking worried. "I thought we had some." 

"Don't worry, Lia" I said, "there is literally a store one block away from here, I'm sure they will have bandages there."

"Oh yeah, " Evan said. "But someone needs to stay with Jackson and I'm the only one with a driver's license so who is coming with me?"

"Lia will!" I say quickly.

"What?" She says.

"Yeah, good idea. It is your  car." Evan said looking at her with a smile.

"Actually, it's my parent's old car." Lia said, "but we can use it. Just let me go get the keys."

Lia disappeared around the corner leaving us alone momentarily before returning a few seconds later with a pair of jingling keys in her hand. "Ok, Let's go." 

"Shall we?" Evan said holding his arm out for her to take.

Lia looked flustered for a second before smiling and taking his arm and letting him lead her out the door. Before leaving, Evan turned back to us,

"Behave you two." He said cocking an eyebrow and giving us a mischievous grin.

"Okaayyy" I said.

"No promises" Jackson said looking at me and mirroring Evan's grin.

Evan laughed and left. Jackson and I sat in silence as we listened to the sound of Lia's old Camaro pulling out of the driveway and rolling down the street at a fast speed.

"Ouch," I hear Jackson wince as he sucked in a breath.

"Are you ok?" I ask, my eyes darting to his. 

"Yeah, I am" He said "But they better hurry."

Then, I spotted the TV remote on the corner of the table. I picked it up and starting flipping through the channels to find something to take Jackson's mind off of his injury.

"So," I said, "Continue your story"

"Ok," He responded, "So, I walked through the woods for awhile and when I was about a mile away from my house I heard footsteps behind me. I stopped and looked around, there was no one there so I dismissed it and continued to walk through the leaves." Jackson looked down at his hands. "But when I started to walk again the footsteps started up again as well. This time when I stopped I felt as if I was being watched so I turned around, and right behind me was a man wearing a black mask with white markings on it."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I ran," He said, "and the man ran after me. What happened after that was kind of a blur but I just remember him catching me and holding me by my collar up against a tree before he whispered something in my ear and slashed me with a dagger and ran away after telling me something along the lines of: 'next time it will be a lot worse'. Then I managed to drag myself here"

I gasped. "Did you get a look at his face? Maybe we can go up to the police and find him!" I suggested.

"No, I didn't" Jackson said, looking sadly at his hands which were now folded tightly in his lap. "But I can't help but think that if I had taken a few more seconds to try to catch a glimpse of something that would help me identify him people wouldn't be worrying over me now." 

"No, Jackson" I said dropping the remote and grabbing his hands,  folding them in mine, "This isn't your fault!"

He looked at me, his brilliant blue eyes reflecting the sunlight that was shining through the window, his bright blonde hair was casting dark shadows over his cheekbones. His jawline hardened, "Yes it is, Cora"

Just then we heard the lock on the front door click. I pulled my hands away from Jackson's quickly as the door swung open to reveal Lia and my brother standing on the other side.

"WE HAVE RETURNED" Evan announced rather noisily. He walked quickly over to Jackson, "move, Cora." He said, I got up, watching as my brother helped Jackson get back into a laying position.

"I'm going to need you to take off your shirt, Jackson." Evan said, taking on the voice of a professional doctor.

"Woah, woah, woah," Jackson said, "There are ladies in the room that I don't believe will be able to handle seeing my shirtless body." He smirked and looked at me, "I already had one swooning earlier"

"Oh my gosh Jackson, If your abs don't kill us then your ego will!" I said. 

He laughed and started to lift the hem of his shirt "You have been warned." He said, smiling.

Jackson pulled his bloodstained shirt  over his head, revealing 6-pack to everyone in the room. I looked away in spite of his previous comment. I waited as Evan cleaned and bandaged the cut while Jackson put in a great amount of effort to try to hide his pain.

After my brother finished patching his friend, he turned to face Lia and I.

"I think it would be best if we didn't tell anyone about this incident," Evan said, "Lia, how long will it be until your parents get back?" He asked, his bright blue eyes focusing on Lia.

"They won't be back for a few days, why?" she asked.

"Jackson might need to stay here while he recovers, Is that okay?" Evan replied.

"Yeah," Lia said, "In fact, I have room for all of you if you want to stay too."

"Okay." I said, "We'll need to go grab some things from our house first."

"Cool, I'll come too!" Jackson said, getting up form the sofa.

"No," Evan said, "You need to rest."

"But I need stuff from my house too!" Jackson protested "Besides, wouldn't you say I needed fresh air, Doctor. Evan?"

"Fine" My brother gave up, "but we'll have to take the car."

"Yay!" Jackson grinned, his messy blonde hair bouncing as he got up, his jawline hardened in pain as he instantly regretted moving so suddenly.

We all piled into the car and sat quietly as Evan started up the car and drove down the road.