AppleHeart

Chapter Thirteen

Se·cret/ˈsēkrit/noun: Something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others.

"Two whole weeks?" Mr. V questioned. Mr. sets his cane down on his desk as he rises to his feet, "Has anyone contacted him since?" Next to him, Ms. Scatter paced back and forth wrapping up a conversation on her phone then hanging up.

"I talked to Mr. Dalmatia, he said he texted him." Scatter began texting rapidly, asking if any of the other recruiters have heard from Jack.

Recently Jack Hearts has been acting strange, even for his usual behavior. One; he's been very quiet. He would arrive at the meetings without muttering a single word, in cases where he did talk, his voice was soft. Two; he began missing meetings, one day he shows up, next he wouldn't be there for two days, then show up looking a bit sick and moody. Three; after a week, he stopped showing up altogether. For two weeks, Jack managed to disappear. Knocking on his front door didn't do anything because he was either never home, or the blinds were drawn and Jack would ask them to leave through texts. Asking his boss, The Queen of Hearts, would not be a good idea for two reasons; either she'd threaten to have their heads cut off thinking they recruiters had ruined her best entertainer or it would somehow get Jack in trouble.

Mr. Dalmatia, Farja, Malfie, Jill, Veil, Scar-chan, Scatter, Mr. V, even Miss Hades, and Joe were all worried, but, none were more worried and anxious than Apple Poison. He felt Jack was avoiding him, personally. But why? Did Apple do something wrong? Did he say something offensive? Is he a bad boyfriend? Not to mention, Jill has been integrating Apple, a little mercilessly too. Jill also thought Apple may have said or done something bad to Jack, and yes Apple told her he didn't know what was going on either. This leads to now, early September, at Mr. V's office, there was still a month left before the fall festival began, and things were going according to plan, even the haunted house. "Oh! Mr. V!" Scatter exclaimed, "They got something!" V turns to his assistant.

"Do they know if Jack's okay?" V asked. Scatter laughs nervously as she rubs the back of her head.

"Sort of, Miss Hades and Veil saw Jack walk into a hospital during their lunch break."

"What is he doing at a hospital?" V takes his hat off and runs his fingers through his hair.

"They were thinking the same thing then he came outside with a sad expression on his face." V frowns at this.

"Is he sick?"

"They're not sure, but it looks like it." This just adds even more anxiety to both Scatter and V. If Jack was sick, then how bad it is? How did he get it? Will he recover? All these questions needed answers.

Meanwhile

Mr. Dalmatia, Malfie, and Eight Foot Joe walked around the city; Malfie and Joe talked for the most part, but Dalmatia was silent and thinking about his best friend. Dalmatia tried texting again, but this time no answer. "It's no use," Dalmatia heard Joe say, "The best we could do at this point is to give him some space," Dalmatia whined quietly, but he knew Joe was right.

"Don't be so sad, puppy," Malfie said, "Jack will come around, eventually." He sets his arm around Dalmatia's shoulders while looking at his reflection in his mirror that he carries everywhere. Unknown to them, Jack was over five blocks away, in his own world. Jack was trying to find ways to get out of the situation he got himself in, the longer he thought about it, the worse the solutions became. What was he going to do? He couldn't tell the others about his condition, plus he had already pushed them away. Then there's his boss, she'll definitely be suspicious of him and will be demanding answers.

Maybe I'll just move away for a while until I get this whole thing sorted, he thought. Then he heard a low growl. Jack looked down at his stomach, then he chuckled sadly. "I guess I could get something to eat for now." Jack walked another few blocks before he stopped in front of a diner. "This will do." Not even a few feet away, Malfie, Joe, and Dalmatia were walking in Jack's direction. Dalmatia was the first to notice Jack and immediately ran and pounced on him.