Dude, I love you

Chapter Fifteen

Jack Johnson’s POV

When I finally decided to go home my mom was waiting by the door, she told me my dad and Jeff went out driving to look for me. Jack had apparently told them he didn’t come with me and that he went home instead. He also told them that I went to the store alone instead. That was two hours ago and it was just passed midnight now.

My mom immediately noticed the scrapes on my hands and the dirt on my pants. I told her that I was walking up into the parking lot of the store and I ended up tripping over the stone parking pillars on the ground and hit the sidewalk pretty hard. She freaked out and asked I needed to go to the hospital I declined and told her I just needed ice and to get cleaned up.

“Jack why didn’t you call us?!” she says sounding exasperated.

“I dropped my phone somewhere and was searching for it the whole time.” I lie. I received them I just couldn’t face them when I was a complete wreck.

“Honey,” she pauses to put her hands at the sides of my face. “A phone can be replaced, you can’t.” Her eyes are on the verge of watering.

“Mom I’m fine I just fell and had trouble walking.” I say with forced chucking and grabbing her wrists to lower her hands to hug her.

“I know Jack, you should have come home and gotten Jeff or your dad to go help you look for it though instead of worrying us.” She says squeezing me tighter.

I heard my Dad and Jeff pushing the screen door open and entering the back to come meet us. Jeff playfully hit my arm while my dad hugged me. They both looked relieved.

“What happened?”, “Why didn’t you come home?” they asked in quick succession.

“I dropped my phone somewhere and when I noticed it was gone I tripped and scraped my hands and knees, I retraced my footsteps and couldn’t find it. So I retraced my steps from after school and found it in the park.” I was surprised at how easily the lie was forming and how I effortlessly executed it.

After a light hearted scolding and getting cleaned up we got ready for bed.

Lying in bed and replaying everything that happened and what could have been done to change it I began to feel disconnected from the world. It was both satisfying and terrifying. The pain and heart ache I felt just seemed to dissolve into my pillow, but so did all the things that made me happy. Tears flowed but I wasn’t pushing them out, it’s as if my emotions themselves were leaking out of my body and finding rest in the fabric. After some time darkness finally took me and I willingly drifted into it, finding comfort in the void.