The Loner

Chapter 8

After Jaiden finishes his explaining he takes a big breath. I zone back in and applaud. Evelyn is smiling and complimenting the board. Jaiden bows proudly. Jaiden looks at me for a second. I can see a light hint of sadness in his eyes. "So what do we do about Freddy?" Evelyn pipes in. She turns to Jaiden waiting for an answer. His face is blank, "Uhm, I dunno. We don't have solid evidence to bring to the police so the only thing we can do is wait around for something solvable with evidence, does that make sense?" Me and Evelyn exchange a glance of pure confusion, then turn to Jaiden and nod in agreement. He smiles, "Fantastic." I didn't want to ruin the moment with my confusion, probably not the best idea in the long run. But anything to make Jaiden happy, I can tell he doesn't trust me. Maybe he suspects me as an accomplice of Freddy. Like I would help that son of a bitch.

After a long session of exchanging ideas of where Freddy could be, we still have nothing. I heard the rising fear in Jaiden's voice. I pulled him aside and questioned him. "I'm scared for Evelyn, he kidnapped her once who says he wouldn't do it again." He said, his voice cracking. Tears started slowly falling down his face. I pulled him into a hug. He resisted at first but finally accepted it. Evelyn looked over confused. I mouthed "I'll explain later." She nods and turns away, occupying herself with the board. The hug lasted longer than I expected, but it was refreshing nonetheless. Jaiden being shorter than me is great. Hugs are so much better with shorter people. After Jaiden pulled away his eyes were puffy and his glasses were fogged. I put my hand on his shoulder and said "You may not trust me, but I will always be here for you." Jaiden smiler his dorky smile, "Thank you." And ran to the bathroom to clean up.