~Jasam's Rain~ (Undergoing serious editing)- Read at your own risk.

Chapter 8: The old man was right...Shit.

                                     Chapter Eight

I found myself deciding that I’d hang with Neil at the shooting range before I even opened my eyes Wednesday morning. At the realization that I was still at the hotel rather than at home with my family and friends, my heart seemed to grow heavy in my chest.

 My phone rang on my way down to the lobby, it was Sultan. I’d been ignoring calls from my family since Friday night, but now I felt an intense urge to hear my brother’s voice.

“Hello?”

“Oh thank God Jace, where the hell are you?!” Sultan practically screamed in my ear.

“Around.”

He sighed, “Everybody’s going crazy here, we all miss you…please just come home” his voice sounded strained.

“What does dad have to say about that?” I wanted to know.

He hesitated “he wants you home too.”

His hesitation, however brief, said it all, “Tough”

“What the hell does that mean? He sighed “ok, take a few days more to calm down, then come home…please” he pleaded.

“Not coming home Sul” I said quietly.

“What? Jasam…ok at least… don’t do it for dad then, do it for the rest of us, it’s a mad house without you, we need you bro” he sounded anxious but I couldn’t concede, I just wouldn’t.

“You don’t understand Sul…I…since I left I haven’t had a single nightmare, that has to count for something, I think this is a good thing.”

“So you don’t have nightmares anymore…BIG DEAL… they have shrinks that could fix you right up, just come back and we’ll-“he started

“It’s not just the nightmares, I’m not angry anymore, I feel…great…I feel free you know, I don’t worry about my grades anymore, or trying to make dad proud or how I feel about Tira, I just feel like this huge load’s been lifted and if I come back it’ll go back to the way it was, I don’t want that.” I said adamantly.

“How do you feel about Tira?”

Shit I hadn’t realized I’d mentioned her. I remained silent.

When he realized I wasn’t going to respond he went on;

“Ok ok, forget I said anything. It…it doesn’t matter I swear, maybe it doesn’t have to go back to the way it was Jace, I’m sure it’ll get better, it just takes time. Come home…or at least tell me where you are so I know you’re ok”

“I’m fine, everything’s fine, tell them that. I gotta go.”

“Jace-“I ended the call before he could say more and sidestepped a group of tourists to purchase a margarita at the bar. They didn’t ask for I.D. The first few days had been a challenge but I’d gotten the hang of it and if my family, excluding my dad, was here, it would have been almost perfect.

Across the lounge sat a blond haired girl of about sixteen, she had been staring boldly at me for the past five minutes and it was hard not to feel self-conscious. Setting down the glass, I decided there was no way I was going to let a child make me feel uncomfortable and even though it felt petty I stared right back at her for almost a minute without blinking. Something about her felt…off.

“Refill sir?” the bartender asked, I looked at him and gave him a short nod, then turned my attention back to the girl, only she wasn’t sitting across the lounge but standing right next to me.