Life's Fear

Chapter Ten

Midnight... 1... 2... 3.

What was supposed to happen now? I'd been pacing around my room since eleven and finding absolutely nothing to do on my laptop or my phone. No one had been in my room since, and I had heard everyone else go to bed – Mum especially as she dragged her body upstairs after her spin class. Dad was still grumbling incoherently under his breath.

The house was silent by two, and by that point, I'd been restless with trepidation and anxiety. What did he want? Why was he ordering me to be awake at 3? I had so many questions to bombard him with, but I knew I would never have the courage to ask some of them due to the effect he had on me: he intimidated me at the best of times and when he wasn't intimidating, he was just bizarre... and then of course there's the vandalism aspect to him.

But as soon as the first pebble hit my window, I shot up from my bed and made a beeline straight to it. Jason had just thrown another and it hit the window just as I approached it causing me to jump back in astonishment. Jason ceased future actions after that which gave me the opportunity to open it.

"What are you doing?" I hissed, though making sure to keep my voice low so I wouldn't wake anyone up. On another hand, once you were asleep in my family, you were out unless there was an alarm blaring; we were all heavy sleepers.

"Didn't know whether you'd be awake and I'd have to wake you up," he said quite emotionlessly, shaking his hand with the additional pebbles he'd brought as backup, obviously. There was a pause before he added, "So, you coming down then or what?"

All I could do was stare at him for a few seconds before I shut the window, grabbed my coat and phone before making my way as carefully as I could downstairs. Jason was still standing there, pebbles in his hand when I closed the front door. I made sure to leave it unlocked so I would be able to get back in, and there was absolutely no way someone would wake up and see that the door was unlocked.

"What are you doing?"

"You haven't been responding to me," he said simply with an expression like he was completely perplexed by this.

"People normally take that as the other person doesn't want to talk to them, Jason."

"Huh."

"What?" By this point I was standing opposite him, slipping into my coat as it was a lot colder than I anticipated. I was highly thankful I had grabbed it on my departure.

Jason stuffed the pebbles in the pocket of his jacket as he said, "That's the first time you've ever said my name, Blair."

"And?" I retorted, tightening the grip on my chest with my arms.

He shrugged nonchalantly and turned away as he said, "Sounds good from you."

"What's the deal here?" I remarked, suddenly feeling immensely irritated that I was standing outside my house with Jason who had a pocket full of pebbles at the ready to throw at my window at three in the morning after he's been incessantly texting me all day even when I hadn't responded. What was his deal?

"Do you want to go on a walk with me?" he asked. He slowly turned back to me, though I couldn't read his expression. I've realised that my efforts would always be futile if I were to endeavour to read it again, because seems trained to keep it as impassive as he can. I guess that's one requirement of blending in and acting as though you don't exist.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah." He licked his lips.

Fighting the urge to groan obnoxiously, I stuffed my fists in my pockets and began walking off my property. Jason followed promptly though he took the lead as soon as he caught up to me barely a few seconds later. "This way," he kept saying or, "take a turn here". It took a good half an hour before he finally declared, "We're here."