Speechless// Jachary

5

As Jonah left, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Thinking it was his mom, he turned it on. It wasn't.

Jack: help. (Address)

He looked back at His phone, checking it was really from him. It was. He texted him a reply.

Jonah: I'm coming.

He placed his phone in his pocket and went to the address the boy had told him, worried. Jack never used his phone. He only got it so he could message Jonah. He stopped when He got hurt. Why was he messaging him now? Jonah didn't know.

Fifteen minutes later, he arrived at the house. He knocked and a tear stained Jack answered. He looked at the boy, shocked.

"Hi," he said. Jack ushered him in and showed him to his room. The house was eerily quiet and extremely messy. Not how he ever remembered it. It was always clean with nothing out of place and not a speck of dirt anywhere. Jonah knew that something was up.

"Jack, what's happened?" He asked the teen, shocked. The curly haired boy sighed and pulled out a note pad and pen, which he then started writing on. When he finished, he showed it to Jonah.

My mom and stepfather never came home one night. I haven't seen them in three days.

Jonah looked up at His ex best friend. "Where did they go?" He asked.

A party, like every night.

Jonah took in the information. "So they went to a party and never came back?" Jack nodded. "Do they drink at these parties?" The older boy asked.

Always drunk or with a killer hangover.

Jonah read the words, shocked. He couldn't believe that he was only telling someone about this now, once they had left him.

"Jack," he said, looking into the boys eyes. "We need to tell someone." The curly haired boy nodded in agreement, a tear falling down his cheek.

The older teen opened his arms, letting Jack gratefully fall into them. Until then, he didn't realise how much he missed having a shoulder to cry on.

"I'm sorry," Jonah told the boy. "I'm here for you."

***

The next day, the two boys met in the toilet after school.

"You ready?" Jonah asked his refound friend. He hadn't told Zach that he was in contact with the boy because he knew that Jack didn't want to. Instead, he made the excuse he had after school detention and so couldn't walk home. Jack nodded and took a deep breath.

The boys exited the bathroom, walking through the deserted corridors until they reached Mr Crupp's classroom

"You okay?" Jonah asked, checking up on the kid. He nodded and the older teen knocks on the door.

"Come in," Mr Crupp says. The is no going back now.