Globe Tracers 1: The Case of Thomas Crain

Chapter 20: Not Backing Down

Kyle:

Jessica must have prayed for an hour. Watching her, she rarely spoke when she prayed so I wasn't sure exactly what she was praying for. Was she praying for forgiveness for giving up on herself? I hoped so, but I doubted it. More likely she was pleading for God to make her able to protect me and save this boy, afraid that she couldn't do it herself.

I demanded of myself to believe she was wrong, that somehow we were enough for this task, and that she was enough for me, but a part of me knew something was wrong.

(***)

Allen:

It was about 6 pm. I didn't know if they had returned yet, but I brought Kyle and Jessica some leftovers from what my wife had cooked that day. When little Jaden heard I was going to see Jessica he jumped at the chance to come with me. I'm not all that sure what he saw in her, or if he just liked that she played with him and was a total goof.

As we pulled up to the tower, I did start to wonder about my decision to bring Jaden, as he answered my question about why he liked her without even being asked. "You think we can get Jessica to blow more stuff up?" Oh yeah. Maybe it would have been better if the two actually weren't in and I could just drop the food off.

Despite some of my better judgments, I allowed the impressionable little boy to follow me into the building, guessing I couldn't just leave him in the car. As I walked into the first floor of the tower and looked around, I was rather confused to see Kyle there by himself sitting on a couch. I walked over to him.

"Where's Jessica?" I asked.

"Up in the clock," he replied, sticking a thumb in the air point up. It struck me how odd it was that that statement made sense to me.

Kyle hunched over and held his head in his hands. "Shouldn't she be with you?" I asked.

He smiled at me with a slight sneer. "It's not like I've never gone to the bathroom without her. She doesn't have to shadow me everywhere."

"Still, you're not in a bathroom."

"Observant," he said and sat back. Looking at his face as he was there, I knew something was wrong. It was Jaden who spoke up first though.

"You've been crying," he said. He got up on the couch, no small feat for someone his size, and sat next to Kyle. He put a hand on Kyle's shoulder, likely no idea how to help in the slightest but I was proud he was still trying. I sat down too, putting beside me the glass bowl of food I had with me.

"Something happen between you two?"

Kyle shook his head. "Not what you might think."

"You have an argument?"

"You know us," he said, a slight smile. "We fight all the time, but that ain't gonna come between us. She's just hurt and really... I don't know, maybe she needs some space, maybe she doesn't... things have never been like this before." He stared up at the ceiling.

"Like what?" I looked around to make sure no one was watching, worried that this might be something having to do with our secrets. No one really was even looking in our direction though.

"She's obsessed," he replied.

"Isn't that how she spends every day?"

Kyle chuckled, "More than that though. Jessica thinks that if she can't find this kid, it reflects on her ability to protect me. She's in the clock now praying like her life depends on it."