Entry #12050104001305

A Moment Alone

Jay had been gone no longer than two hours before he returned to Tim's house. After a quick stop at Jessica's house to get her work clothes, Jay had driven her to work and managed to get a few cardboard boxes from the storage room then quickly returned to Tim's house. Even though he hadn't been gone long at all, he was shocked to find most of Tim's things were missing. His furniture was still in place, but the few books on his shelves, his collection of CDs, all of his clothing, and his guitar were missing. Upon closer inspection, Jay managed to find all of the missing belongings in the trunk and backseat of Tim's car. Even after that discovery though, Jay still felt uneasy.

Tim and Hoodie were missing.

Jay still felt uneasy and more anxious than usual because of his realization that morning that he also had a masked persona and he wanted nothing more than to just sit with Tim and talk about it. Unfortunately, it didn't look like that would be happening anytime soon.

With some time to himself, Jay went out to his car and grabbed his duffel bag with his good hand before returning inside. Dropping the bag on the bathroom floor, he locked the bathroom door and wasted no time in stripping himself of his clothes - Were these even his? He didn't think he owned a black hoodie; it was possible it belonged to Tim - and turning on the hot water. With the hot water burning the skin of his back, Jay unraveled the white bandage of his right hand.

The wound beneath shocked him. All four of his knuckles were swollen and bloody, the skin split open in a gruesome display. Though he turned down the temperature of the water until it was only lukewarm, as soon as he eased his hand under the water, he drew it back with a hiss through his teeth. The skin was red and tender, and the water didn't help to soothe it at all. He knew he'd have to clean it, especially if he didn't want it to get infected, but it wouldn't be a fun task.

Jay's right arm shook as he gently rubbed soap over his busted knuckles, trying as lightly as possible to clean the wound. It was still painful, but some part of his brain whispered that it could have been worse - "You could have ended up with a broken leg, now couldn't you?"

With his hand finally clean, Jay wasted no more time in the shower, hurrying to wash the rest of himself and then shutting off the water and drying off. The clothes in his bag were folded up and wrinkled, but he wanted something else; besides, Tim would want his hoodie back. Speaking of which, where was he supposed to put the piece of clothing? All of his things were packed up... He supposed he could just put it in with his own clothes and give it to him later. After all, wherever Tim was going, Jay would be right behind him.

Jay knew Tim didn't have enough money to rent another place - if he did, then he wouldn't be getting evicted - but he also knew that he couldn't sleep in his car. There wasn't enough space to accommodate his broken leg. Jay himself was low on cash and he'd have to count how much he actually had later, but he thought he might have enough for them to stay at a hotel for a few days. Though that itself was probably a long shot.

Pulling on clean clothes from his duffel bag, Jay was caught between wanting to ask Jessica if they could stay at her house until everything was sorted out and not wanting to drag her back into this mess. In all honesty though, it seemed like she was already going to be involved no matter what anyone wanted or tried to do to stop it. Alex had kidnapped her from her home; he had forced her to become involved. While he hated having to ask her, he also couldn't expect her to give up her house to go on the road with them, and he wasn't about to leave her unprotected (though, if he was honest with himself, was he really a good form of protection in any way?). Though Tim was injured and wouldn't be able to do much in the way of protecting, Jessica, Tim, Jay, and Hoodie all stood a better chance if they stuck together. At least, that's what Jay told himself. Safety in numbers, right? Even if Alex showed up with a gun - and he knew where Jessica lived, so it might have been an issue of when and not if - there was a good chance that the four of them could take him down.

Jay hoped it wouldn't come to that though.

Finally dressed, Jay realized how exhausted he was. Though he figured he had gotten some kind of sleep the night before, Jay still felt completely worn out. Though it was unsettlingly quiet in the mostly empty house, Jay thought he could sleep nearly anywhere right then.

After setting an alarm so he would be up in time to pick up Jessica from her job, he was asleep nearly as soon as he hit the mattress.