Opaque

Chapter 11

The smell was awful. The stench of the dead body is overwhelming. I was extremely careful not to mention Jaxen's mother was dead for the past two weeks. Jaxen must be deeply in his grief, dressing her and taking care of her until he realizes that she is dead. Jesus... I help him with her body to be moved into the living room. Her body now rests on the sofa, Jaxen holding his ma's hands. La Polizia is coming soon.

He starts to sniffles. He starts to cry again. He got up off the sofa, bawling again. "It's okay, Jaxen," I say, trying my best to console him. "No. Not okay." He cries in his pain. He was all over. He starts to smash his right hand into the mirror on the wall right next to him. The glass shards are all over the floor. "Jaxen!" I yell out and runs to him. I hold him from the behind to give him the "feeling of the straitjacket." After a long time, he stands still. Very still-like, he mumbles about his ma and something that I didn't hear.

There are rapping sounds at the door, I let him go, Jaxen strides to open the door to let them in. La Polizia officers come in the doorway, they saw the glasses shards on the floor. I quickly grab the broom to sweep up the glass shards. After I put them away in the trash, the police come into the living room, I spoke to them quietly about what happened. Jaxen is still holding his ma's hands, mumbling. They ask me if he is going to be okay, I told them he will be okay, as long as I can check on him. They called for the mortuary to come to pick his ma up. It took 25 mins.

They come in to pick his ma away to the morgue. "Jaxen," I say, quietly. "Ma has to go." "I know. I know." Jaxen says, not sure if he truly wants to let go of his ma. His eyes are fazed like he is not really paying attention to his surroundings. I pulled his hands away gently to put his ma's body. He got up to give them some space. They lied her down and pick her up to be on the gurney, pulling up the gurney and take her away. The police left with them.

Jaxen still stood there, not moving. Damn. He is taking this hard. I decided to see if I can check on the refrigerator to see if he have food. The refrigerator is fully stocked. I pull out my phone from my jeans pocket to call someone who I think can help Jaxen. "Hello?" Giovanni De Víí, my military friend. I pulled him through the Silent Vipers since he has the discharge. He has seen me through everything. He always has been reliable and calm. "Hey, Gio." I sigh. "How are you doing?" "Nothing much, how about you?" He says, casually. "Listen, Gio. We have a problem with Jax." I want to get to the point. "What is going on?" He says, concerned. "Jax just lost his ma two weeks ago and he dressed her and everything. He just got out of the trance and came over this morning." I answer him. "Jesus..." Giovanni murmured. "I'm coming over as soon as possible. Wait here." "Okay. See you later." I say, finishing up the conversation. I hang up the phone and put my phone back in my pocket. I check to see if he is okay. And he is not ok.

Not even 15 minutes later, I hear the car doors slamming. I arise from the sofa to see Giovanni. I open the door. "Hey," Giovanni says, smiling. He has a mop of soft curls, stark green eyes, pale skin, tall and lean with muscles. The winning smile that ladies literally drop dead at the first sight of. They are coming soon." "They are?" I didn't expect them to come. I thought it was only Giovanni and me to help Jaxen. "Well, Mason wants to come and end up inviting all of the guys," Giovanni says, shrugging his shoulder. "How is he?" "He is not exactly okay. Even we do know he is already not alright in the head." I explain the whole situation to him. "Man, that's crazy." He shifts his weight on his other feet. He says, his mind forming a plan already. "You should start the coffee. I will talk to him."

5 minutes later, the guys come in, loudly talking. Some kind of normalcy for Jaxen, he seemingly sometimes bounces back into his old self, he giggles at Mason's antics. There are always a group of stereotypes, Blackburne, the asshole type, Mason Thorpe, jokester, Jasper Slater, man of few words, Giovanni de Víí, friendly and reliable, Saint Vincent, troublemaker, and me, the leader.

2 hours later, we all went back home. Jaxen went home with Giovanni. I wait in my black Mercedes Benz, I am even ready to come inside. But I do know I have to. I'm just. . . . Sad. Sad for Jaxen and for myself. I have grown jealous of his ma after those years and I don't know if he has grown jealous of living free from his ma. His ma and he do need each other, his ma's had been using him innocently for her dead husband's role, he is not exactly alright in the head and he does need his ma for the routine and everything. Not exactly on codependency, they just need each other.

I pull in my car near the entrance of the backyard.
I had a pool in my back yard, maybe Lana would like to swim with me.

Then, I saw her dark hair poking out of the water, she just swims up to the surface. I swear I had never seen anything more beautiful than her. She turns her head towards me, swimming more faster to the front of the lake. Once she got up, I have seen more of her flesh, curvy like Aphrodite, beautiful like Psyche, wet dark hair dripping water all over her body.

Dio Mio, I want her now.