Winter Jackets

Chapter 15 - The New Normal

Dinner was... awkward, to say the least.

But that was expected, since I supposedly just returned from the dead, and was now eating dinner with my family.

Mom, bless her, tried to lighten the mood, with a 'So do you like the chicken, honey?' or 'Did you watch the latest episode of...' and then name some T.V show that I didn't know of, at which dad and Lisa would glance at me before answering, because, for obvious reasons, I had not watched it, whatever it was.

After dinner, upon looking through my rucksack, mom decided that I needed new clothes, and that we would go shopping together tomorrow.

While our parents were discussing whether I was to go to college or not, Lisa pulled me aside. Apparently, she still had questions, which was not a surprise at all.

'So when the, uh, enemy shot you and you fell, what...happened? Why are you...'

Ah, yes. The question I had subconsciously been expecting.

I could guess the rest of the question - alive, not dead, even here, and so on. But I could also tell that she didn't want to think about it.

How do I phrase this?

'Well, I had trained for this kind of stuff - as in, avoiding bullets - but when I saw the gun, I knew that he was going to keep shooting if I dodged the first one, and I would definitely not survive against him.

'So I dodged the bullet, which went just under my left arm, and fell backwards, so that it looked like I was dead.' Lisa visibly flinched at the word 'dead', so I made a mental note to try and avoid saying it out loud.

Realising I was done, she nodded thoughtfully, and then said, 'And when he went, you got up and untied Reid. Wow, Jack, I would never have thought of that!'

I would have beamed at that compliment, had it not been for me avoiding death by a centimetre.

Literally - that's how close the bullet was to my jacket.

So I settled for a small smile.

When I decided that it was time to go to bed, I wasn't sure what to do. My room exactly the way it had when I left, which I was grateful for, but the bed sheets hadn't been changed in a while, and it looked...lonely. And sad.

Luckily, Lisa saved me from having to ask her - if I could sleep in her room - by offering it herself. I gladly accepted and went to her room - again - where I changed into some of dad's old clothes to sleep in, after taking one look at my old clothes.

I definitely needed new clothes.

When I went back to Lisa's bedroom, I found her already asleep, which I was not surprised about. She was curled up in a corner of her queen sized bed, facing the center of the bed, which gave me plenty of space.

Not that I was happy about it.

I knew, from experience, that a person sleeping like that usually had their feelings bottled up, and judging from what she told me, it was true in this case.

I sighed and got into the bed, covering myself up with the blanket, and turned to face Lisa.

She looked... grown-up.

She looked like she had faced a lot of hardships, like me, but different ones. She had faced them mentally, while I faced physical hardships.

And I knew which affected a person longer.

But still, as grown-up as she looked, she looked about as innocent and peaceful as she could be - curled up in a ball, sleeping, not knowing anything of the horrors of war - just like everyone who hadn't faced it - and I felt happy that she was protected from at least those horrors.

I moved closer to her and took one of her hands, wanting to comfort her. She surprised me by also moving closer, so that she was curled up in my arms, her head tucked under mine.

*****

The next morning, I woke up feeling strangely... well rested, maybe because I had someone to keep me company. And because I knew I wouldn't have to face any threats from my captors.

Because I was free!

Though not from mom's constant fussing.

As soon as I went down for breakfast, she told me that we would go shopping after lunch, and that I had to decide what career I was going for, and if a pasta salad for lunch was fine by me, and-

'Mom, relax! Too many questions!' I said, and she shrank away.

'Sorry,' she muttered, 'I was just trying to...' and the rest was lost to the noise of the blender.

Then I noticed that Lisa had been giggling silently the entire time.

This was going to be fun.

Glaring at her dramatically, I put my palms on the table and stood up, not breaking eye contact.

Lisa stiffened slightly, but then realised what she had to do.

She ran.

And dad, also realising what was happening, picked up two wooden spoons and started to drumroll on the table.

The chase had begun.

Lisa had a head start of about three seconds, and I knew where she had gone. I ran out into the garden and saw her standing behind our pine tree, facing away from me. As soon as I got within two feet of her, she heard me and darted to the other end of the garden.

But I had predicted her move and had taken the longer route around the house, and stood against a wall, ready to pounce. Lisa, unknowing of my plans, came running around the corner, looking over her shoulder, expecting me to come out behind her.

She ran straight into me, causing her to shriek.

And then she saw that she had been captured by me, and we both laughed.

I picked her up and swung her around me in a circle, then put her down and hugged her.

'You haven't changed a bit, have you?' although I knew she had, but she still had a bit of the old Lisa in her.

Just like I kept a bit of the old Jack with me.

I turned to go back inside, but Lisa grabbed my wrist to stop me.

'But you have, Jack, you've changed.' These words shocked me. I knew that I had changed, but Lisa had realised in just one day? Was it so evident?

'How?'

'Yesterday, when you were angry, you were actually angry. And scary - really scary.' She now looked close to tears, so I went back to her, lifted her face up by her chin, looking into her sad, green eyes and asked, 'I scared you?', to which she nodded.

'I am so, so sorry, Lisa. I didn't mean to.' And she nodded, again, her eyes a little happier than they had been.

Satisfied, I took her hand and we walked inside the house.

A/N: I think my chapters are getting longer, I don't know about you.

I... am throwing away my updating schedule, I will just update when I finish a chapter.

Thanks for reading till here!

- Fox