Life's Fear

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Why is Jesse here?" I demanded before I could reveal any answers.

"Jesse was willing enough to fill us in on the situation between you and Jason. He came into the kitchen whilst I was on the phone to Max, and overheard us talking. He said there was something we needed to know, and I called your father in to listen too. Jesse had some very interesting things to say about you two," Mum explained softly, though she was careful to avoid looking at me as she spoke.

Jesse was still eluding my gaze as well. Dad was the only one staring back at me, and that wasn't a good thing. He knew that his gaze was intimidating to us children. We would always buckle under his gaze.

"Mum," I wagered. "Please."

"Blair, how can you associate yourself with a boy who has been arrested? Max had some common sense turning that photo she had found into the police. They can do their job now and the vandalisms will stop. Bellmere is a town that thrives off tourism. With the graffiti, how will our town cope without the tourism that we need? Some of us can be cooped up in this town, but it's our life. We don't want to see it ruined."

"The graffities didn't ruin the town. They were washed off easily," I argued, moving my leg a little and hearing the bag plummet to the floor. "Mum, you work in social services. Jason has only just been arrested, and it's not like he's murdered someone or beaten them up. He'll get out. He will."

That may have been my mantra that he will get out, but I knew it wasn't true. There was nothing that could be done for him to get out. He had vandalised the town, and even though I was against it originally, now I admired it for the reasons he explained. Sure, the jury possibly won't see it that way, but I did. I just needed my parents to see it like that too.

But then a thought came to me.

Jesse works in the hospital and has seen Jason around. He knows he visits his sister so therefore he must have pieced everything together. He must at least have an inkling for the incentive to paint the town red – pun intended – even if he hadn't voiced them out to my parents.

"He has still been arrested. Blair, just because I work in child services, doesn't mean I must condone their wrongdoings. Jason committed a crime. I would be arguing the same thing to a child I was assigned for in work. I help those who have been put into care." Her voice seemed so impassive as if she had no true judgement, but I knew she did. She was a sucker for helping children in need, especially if they had been in the wrong once before in their life, whether that was arrested or not.

"Don't argue with your mother," Dad interjected, just as I had opened my mouth to speak, though no actual sound was generated.

"Do you even know why he writes what he does?" I asked.

Jesse looked up at the ceiling, apparently finding something enthralling about the cream-coloured ceiling. Mum shook her head stiffly, and Dad just continued to gawk at me with intense eyes and pursed lips. No one seemed particularly interested in what I had to say – though Mum had concurred – but I was going to articulate it anyway.

"His sister is stuck in the hospital because she has schizophrenia and has respiratory problems, so she might not even live to see the new year. She likes to write, and she's written some of the phrases that Jason has written around the town. He wants everyone to see what she's written because of the phrase that says someone dies twice: once when they take their last breath and another when someone says their name for the last time. Jason wants to keep Scarlett's memory alive – his sister. She's only sixteen, Mum." I figured if I could get the sympathy vote from Mum, she may be able to wager with Dad on this whole topic.

"It's true," Jesse breathed softly, lowering his head and connecting his gaze with mine. "She will fall from the brink of death soon. The doctors... they're not hopeful."