Arsonist's Lullaby

Chapter 20 - Sam

"What am I going to do? I can't find him anywhere!" I panicked as Josh tried to calm me down.

"He couldn't have gone far. He left his car here." He tried but I wasn't paying attention to him. The look on Jesse's face when he realized he was almost about to kill that man. I couldn't believe that Jesse, my Jesse, was capable of being so...violent.

I knew he had a hard past and fighting was something he'd always done but today I saw a part of Jesse I didn't know existed. I hated myself for it but it was true. In those moments while Jesse was beating the life out of that man, I was scared of him. Terrified.

"He's hurt too. That son of a bitch broke the rules and kicked him!" I said angrily. Josh shook his head and glanced at the guys dragging Michael's barely conscious body out of the gym on a stroller.

"What the hell happened here?" Mark's voice boomed from the doorway as he saw them carrying Michael out.

"I'll take care of him. Stay here, we'll look for Jesse together." Josh ordered and jogged towards an angry looking Mark and begun to explain. I turned back around and tried to think of where he could be.

"Woah. What happened?" Casey whistled coming up behind me.

"Some guy was being a dick and Jesse got into a fight with him." I sighed running a hand over my face.

"He what! Oh hell, if dad finds out...he's done." Casey shook her head, eyes wide with worry.

"It wasn't his fault! The guy kept bringing up Jesse's parents and started talking about what he would do to me. They said it was a match." I explained but she continued to shake her head.

"I don't know. Dad was really upset last time Jesse got into a fight." She mumbled as we watched people cleaning up the bloody mess. It was horrible to look at.

I couldn't believe Jesse had done all this...with just his bare hands.

"This is really bad." Casey said softly. I looked at her a little confused. Was there something I was missing? She hesitated before explaining.

"Dad was always bailing Jess out of jail when we were younger. He would get into fights at school and sometimes random people on the street. It was bad." She frowned. "Dad would make him do extra hours around here so he wouldn't get into trouble anymore." Casey's voice got softer and she started to look worried. It was strange seeing her so serious.

"It wasn't his fault! Michael came after me so Jesse shoved him out of the way and that's when things got really bad. I'll tell Mark myself but him myself but first I have to find Jesse. He cou-"

"Jesse's not here?" Casey asked. I shook my head.

"He took off and we've been looking for him everywhere for the past three hours but..." I tried to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat. Casey was quiet for a while before she spoke up.

"Did you try looking at the cemetery?" She asked quietly. I looked at her and shook my head.

She looked a little reluctant as if she shouldn't have been telling me this. "Last time something this serious happened, he ran away and dad said he found him at the cemetery."

"Why would he be at a cemetery?" I asked. The look on her face made sense as it dawned on me.

His mother.

"Don't tell him I told you, but that's his safe place. He would disappear in the middle of the night and dad would find him the next morning sitting in front of his mom's headstone, just staring at it." She said sadly. If it wasn't that image of Jesse that almost made me cry, it would have been the unshed tears in Casey's eyes.