Julie Henry

Chapter 17

Jake came out and ran towards me, not aware of the guys covered in black, standing a-few feet away with loaded guns pointed right at us.
"Get away boy !" One of them yelled before Jake could help me up. Jake turned around seeing them for the first time. He took a step back.
'That's better' the man replied at Jake's obedience.
'What do you want from her ?' Jake asked.
'Mind your own business !'
'Go home!!' another man yelled.
Jake got angry and charged right at them.
'JAKE DON'T THEY HAVE LOADED GUNS!!' I yelled in one breath and then I heard three gun shots. I shut my eyes as the gun fires echoed in my ears, i heard Alice's voice scream 'JAKE!!!'.
I blacked out.

I opened my eyes to Sams head looking ahead nervously. My head pounded as I laid in her lap. I mumbled for water
"Hey she's up" Sam said aloud making my head hurt more. I looked ahead it was James and Mike they both were on edge about something . I got up sitting.
"What happened ?" I asked slowly.
Sam rubbed my back 'just hope nothing happens' her voice dry as if she had been crying. Her eyes were puffy too I looked ahead Mike and James were in no better shape.
'Please tell me what happened, where's Jake? is he okay?!' I looked up at her, pulling her hands away from her face 'I don't know if he's okay, he got shot quite a few times' she said slowly. I stood up immediately hearing that but got a head rush and fell right back again.
'Jake is okay, I know it, he is going to make it for us and for himself' James spoke under his breath. I never saw him serious like this. James was younger than all of us, the jokester of the gang.
"Jake stay with us ! Jake! Jake! " I heard Alice yell from the guest room which was closest to the entrance of the house. Mike and James stood up immediately and ran to the room me and Sam followed them just as swiftly. Alice and a doctor were standing with Jakes ...dying body.
The second I saw Jakes face and body covered in blood, goosebumps spread all over my skin, I couldn't bare the sight, I came out immediately, I couldn't hold my tears in, as all of them inside yelled at the dying body not to die.
'Don't die Jake!'
'Stay with us!'
'Please stay with us!'
With each yell that I heard, my heart dropped to my feet.
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Flashback
It was our first day in the neighborhood and I had come home to find a note on the door from Kevin that he was out and the neighbors had a spare key of our house.
I knocked on their door and Jake appeared. His shirt hugging his muscular body, his hair falling perfectly on his forehead, his face like that of an angel, his eyes, a deep dusty brown.
His voice echoed in my head that night.
I saw him in school, I saw the girls talking about him, I saw the silence as he walked past girls who looked at him in awe, I saw the guys being envious and I saw him walk upto me asking me to join him for lunch in the cafeteria if I didn't have any friends (since I was new).
He taught me to skate and I taught him to play the guitar. I helped him with school work and he helped me sneak out after curfew. I remember how irresistible he looked at prom and how I spent each second of that night fighting myself from kissing him. From kissing my best friend. To him I was just that, a friend, but to me he was the reason I had butterflies, the reason I had started writing love songs, the reason I slept with the widest smile on my face just thinking of him. Every time he'd look me in the eyes, I'd wish he'd never look away. His smile, his innocence, his naughty teenage ways! I missed it, I missed 16 year old Jake.
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Everyone was pleading inside and I was standing out here like a pathetic loser, why does everyone I love have to die ? I asked. Please don't! I sat on the floor outside the room and cried.
In a while Ashley, Ronald and Ivy came. Ivy's eyes were red.
'How is he?' she asked me before going in, not waiting for a response. Ashley looked at me as if she was saying something and than she just leaned in to hug me 'I got your back' she whispered and followed Ivy. Ronald stayed out with me.
"How did this happen ? " he asked
I couldn't move my lips, I was shivering and I was scared, he kissed me on my forehead and went in.
"Please God don't "I whispered, pleaded, prayed.