One Last Hope

Ten

Jasmine and Logan spent the afternoon catching up outside the school library. It was getting dark so they decided to head on over to Logan's house just like they planned to. He told her earlier that he had a surprise for her but he wouldn't give any clues about it. She trusted him and his judgment so she decided to go along with it. He was her childhood best friend, after all. Why would he try and harm her? 

"We're almost there, just a little longer."

"Yes, I know where you live." She walked ahead of him.

"Right." 

He unlocked the front door and invited her in. She stepped in and set her belongings down on the floor. Logan went upstairs, saying he was going to go get the surprise and to make herself at home. Jasmine made her way down the hallway, looking at all the family portraits and paintings on the walls. She found a really nice photo of Logan and his younger brother. They were only a year apart and yet she couldn't remember his name.

"What do you mean you've never drank Pepsi? Pepsi is the bomb dot com." A voice coming from upstairs said.

"Tom, that was by far the lamest thing I've ever heard you say. Please do yourself a favor and never say it again." Kaylee giggled.

"Don't change the subject! Now will you please explain to me why you've never tasted-" The boy stopped himself and looked at Jasmine in amazement, "Hi.. I'm Tom!" He extended his hand to her. 

"I go by Jazz," Jasmine shook his hand and looked toward her sister, "Hey, Kay. Watcha doin' here?" 

"Oh, ya know, chilling here with my buddy, Tom." Kaylee looked at the time on her phone, "Darn, look at that. We've gotta go." Kaylee grabbed Tom's arm and led him out the door.

The door slammed shut, leaving Jasmine all alone waiting for Logan to come back. She went back to looking at the photos in the living room.

Her eyes scanned all of the pictures carefully until she came across a very peculiar picture. It was of Logan hugging this really pretty girl. She remembered seeing that same girl in a photo on the other side of the house. She looked through all the photos curiously looking for another picture of the girl. She finally found what she was looking for when she saw a picture of Logan kissing the girl. Jasmine picked up the photo frame and examined the girl. She couldn't help but wonder about her. Obviously she was his girlfriend but something about her bothered Jasmine. She just couldn't put her finger on it. 

"Jasmine?" Logan called to her, running down the stairs.

"Yeah?" She quickly placed the portrait back onto the counter so he wouldn't see that she was snooping.

"This is bad, this is really bad." He put his hand on his forehead in disappointment. 

"What is it?" Jasmine was confused.

"Shit, shit, shit. Don't hate me, okay?"

"What the hell is going on?" She rested her arm on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Your brother, Cody. He's alive."

"What do you mean he's alive? An old woman he used to live with confirmed to us that he was dead." She backed away from him, clearly upset.

"No, he's alive. He's been living with us for the past year. He was here just this morning but somehow he knew that I was bringing you over.. so he flipped out and left."

"No.. that can't be.." She didn't know what to believe. She sat down on the floor, her back against the wall, "Why would he leave? Why was he here? Why didn't he come home?"

"I'm sorry, Jazz. I didn't mean to upset you.. I was just trying to help." He sat next to her and pulled out a note from his pocket, "Three years ago, he came to me in desperation. He told me what happened with your father. I know everything. He asked me to take care of you when the time came.. he told me to give you this."

She unwrapped the note trying to hold back her tears.

Dear, Jasmine and Mikaylee

I know It's been tough but I know that the both of you can pull through this, you need to act like the warriors I know you are. I wish I could do something to help the both of you out but I can't. I've got problems of my own. Dad is much worse than you could possibly imagine, he's completely insane. He's got spies and helpers of his all over town. It could be anybody.. the police, the grocery store cashier, your Spanish teacher, anybody. They're in on it, they're all in on it. Be extra careful about who you trust. I've asked Logan to take care of the both of you while I'm gone. As soon as these crazy men stop trying to catch me, I'll get back to the both of you.

Love you,

Cody