My Exact Opposite | Jachary AU

32

"Zach, honey? Are you okay? I heard about what happened at school, and I've talked to the principal about it," Zach heard his mother say from outside his door.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Zach's voice was tinged with guilt because of what he was going to do, but he'd already thought of how he was going to do it and when. His eyes flashed a dark green without him realizing, too caught up in his own guilt to notice. His phone was buzzing every few seconds, but he didn't want to reply to any messages that were being sent to him. The screen lit up with a call from Jack, and he sighed. It was as if his arm moved on its own, reaching over the bed and hitting the 'answer' button. The line was silent for a few minutes before Jack spoke.

"Zach, don't do it."

"I'm not going to," Zach replied, every ounce of guilt going away as he spoke the words. Jack deserved to be hurt after Zach was dead, because he was the one who drove Zach to do it. And, if he was being perfectly honest, Zach had no other choice than to do this. He'd let his emotions spiral too far out of control, and he was left with a hot mess.

"Really?" Jack still sounded suspicious.

"Really. I was just being rash," Zach said in a monotonous voice, a small smile spreading across his face as he lied to the person who'd lied to him. The best part? Jack was believing him.

"Oh," Zach could hear Jack's relief through the phone. "I'm really sorry about Gabbie, I've told her to stop," Zach just raised his eyebrows and forced his voice to be lighter.

"That's good," The line was silent for a minute before Jack spoke again.

"Promise you won't do it?"

"I promise you it'll be the last thing I ever do," Zach smiled as he thought of the double meaning. Of course, Jack probably wouldn't catch on so he wouldn't be breaking the promise. It all worked out.

"Jack I have to go. I'll talk to you later," Zach hung up, his smile growing wider as he thought of how his death would speak to Jack, saying it's all your fault.

But aside from Jack, Zach wanted to die because he couldn't take it. He couldn't handle his emotions, couldn't handle caring about someone else, couldn't handle having to deal with his memories. He wanted them all gone. He wanted to separate his mind from his body and escape, or, at the very least, fly away. Or sleep forever.

But none of them were possible except for the last one, so that would be the way he'd permanently get rid of himself.

When Zach was certain everyone was sleeping, he quietly grabbed his backpack off the ground and looked around on his desk, making sure he wasn't forgetting anything. He saw the pieces of paper with lyrics on them and stuffed them into his backpack, intending to erase every physical thing he ever wrote. He went back into his dad's room and rummaged around one of the desk drawers before finding a was of crumpled bills, counting them out before walking out of the house and going into the garage. He found a half-empty gas can and put in his bag before walking out onto the street and hailing a cab. The driver was a little bit surprised at the location but obliged anyway. When he looked in the rearview mirror, he was surprised to find that the boy's eyes were purple, but then he blinked and they turned back to brown. The driver, confused, just decided to drive to the motel the boy had requested. In return, he got an extra 10 bucks thrown into his lap. He called out to the boy, but he was gone.

Zach walked to reception and asked for a room, the receptionist not even bothering to look at his ID. He paid the lady and walked to his room, putting the key into the lock and pushing open the door to reveal a dingy room. He closed the door and fished around in the bag for the lighter before pulling out along with the half-empty gas can.

He stood for a moment, second thoughts invading his mind before he thought of what happened today and let himself go.

He yelled, fury and pain evident in his voice as he poured gas all over the room, staining the sheets and the carpet and the walls and he grabbed the lighter, so ready to throw it on the ground and watch his world burst into flames and then it'd be over, everything would end and finally, he could get out of here. He wanted out, he wanted to escape from hell because it was too painful and emotions were too complicated for him to understand and - God, how he hated it.

But then he thought of Ryan and Reese and hesitated, falling onto the bed while watching the tiny flame on the lighter. He sighed, grabbing the song lyrics out of his bag and holding the lighter to them, watching the flames lick away at the paper. He let the paper, still burning, flutter out of his hands and fall to the ground.

At first, when the room lit up in shades of yellow and everything started getting hotter, he was appalled. He still had to take care of Ryan and Reese and his friends, like Corbyn, Jack -

Jack.

Zach snorted, staring at the ceiling as he watched the flames lick at the walls of the room, slowly making its way over the bed. The fire in him died while the fire outside grew. Everything in him was too much. He couldn't bear the emotions that constantly fought inside of him, couldn't bear the fact that he felt like a ship in a storm.

He glanced around the room and saw thick black smoke fill the room as he breathed it in, coughing, his throat burning. He was getting light-headed, his breaths coming in uneven gasps until he couldn't breathe, his irises turning silver before they disappeared as his eyes fluttered shut. He thought he heard a siren, but they would be too late.

***

"Z.....Za-Zach? Zach!" He thought he heard someone yell out. Zach opened his eyes, confused. He'd only been out for a minute, and they'd already saved him?

"Fuck," he muttered, sitting up, bracing himself for the pitying glances and the apologies.

"Zach, I thought - I thought you were never gonna wake up again!" Was that Jonah? Where was he?

"What? Jonah, is that..?"

"Yes! Fuck, I'm so happy you're awake. Jack somehow was able to teleport you to the hospital and they said there was a 60% chance of survival," Jonah's face was swimming into view now, and Zach could easily identify what he saw there: it was relief.

"Where's Daniel? And Corbyn?" And why do I always change worlds in a hospital?

"They have to finish some project for school."

At those words, Zach sat straight up and forced himself to focus, the action making him dizzy.

"Wait, what project? How long have I been out for?"

"You've been out for two months, and, y'know, a lot can happen in two months," Jonah shrugged, instantly smiling again.

"Anyway, don't you wanna know what happened to Gabbie?"

"Gabbie? What was her Skill? I kind of forgot...." Zach must've looked troubled, because Jonah immediately put on a 'don't worry about it' face.

"The doctor said this might happen because you're still recovering, but she's a Trancer. Ya know, like she can control people with her mind?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember. So what happened?"

"She's in jail. Don't know for how long, but the guards all have Skill cancellation powers so they can't escape. You had to get stitches for the wound, but no one knows why it took you so long to wake up," Zach didn't know why, but he suddenly had to ask about Jack.

"How about Jack? How's he doing?" Jonah shifted, withdrawing the emotions from his face, "And don't even think about lying to me," Zach said while leaning back onto the pillows. Jonah's facade dropped and emotions flashed across his face: sadness, anger, frustration, despair.  

"He's in the room right next to yours. Attempted suicide."

Hey, it's been a hella long time and I'm really sorry, school's been realllyyyyy annoying. 

Hope you enjoyed the chapter :))