The Smallest Coffins.

4

After a few hours Jaylenn speaks up, "You can lay beside me if you want," she says, but he shakes his head, and then grabs a remote. They end up talking and watching Two And A Half Men for a few hours. She sits up and moves to the floor beside him. He smells like pumpkins and leaves. She pulls her legs up to her chest and lays her head on his shoulder softly.

He looks over at her nothing but love filling both of their eyes. "Can I kiss you?" he asks after a moment of them looking into each other's eyes. She nods. He leans in and puts a hand on the back of her neck. They kiss softly. Jaylenn's heart beats against her chest a million times in a second. She's sure he can hear it. Or possibly feel it. Their chest is pressed against each other. Soon Ryland pulls away and smiles at her.

After another hour or so of this he looks over at her "Are you thirsty?" he asks. She nods. He walks up the stairs and out of the door.

"Awe how cute sissy! But why don't you call home and see how mommy is doing!" Juliet says from behind her. Jaylenn stands up and steps away from her sister. Juliet places her hand on Jaylenn's face.

Blood. Blood everywhere. There's a knife lying on the sink and Julianne is kneeling over into the tub. The water is pink from blood. Her thrashed wrist is placed above her head and in the bath as well as her slit neck. There's banging on the door, then Jacob walks in and sees her.

"Jaylenn!" Ryland yells running down the stairs. "It's your mom!" he says. She nods with tears in her eyes and slowly stands up. He runs over to her as her legs give out. Jaylenn gives a loud sob just thinking of the image of her mother. "She's..." he trails off. "Jackson is here."

"Can you drive me?" She asks. "I don't want to go with him," she says. She doesn't know exactly why she says it or feels it.

"Yeah, Yeah," he says with a few tears finding their way down his cheeks. He picks up his jacket and wraps it around the small framed girl. She walks up the stairs leaving her clothes behind. "You're going to be okay," is all he says the entire way to the car.

"Jay... Mom... Mom cut her throat," Jackson says. She doesn't reply to him, and just lets tears stream down her face. After Jackson says that to her Ryland basically has to carry the girl to his car.

"It's okay love..." he says to her, the words go through one ear and out the other. She just sits in complete silence as they drive to the hospital. He reaches over and takes her hand and rubs his thumb over the top of Jaylenn's hand. She doesn't pull away or make any notice of it.

If I would have gone home with them none of this would have happened. I could have stopped it. She thinks to herself. She lays her head on the window and pulls her phone out of the sweatpants. She turns on the phone and sees texts from Gage.

Gage: You ready for this? Want me to come over

10 minutes later

Gage: I'm leaving my house. I'll meet you at the cemetery.

33 minutes later

Gage: You okay?

1 hour later

Gage: You left with that weirdo Ryland?

She opens the messages and then leaves the chat. She looks over at Ryland, and stays quiet. She moves to hold onto his arm and lays her head on his shoulder. Tears seeped into his shirt sleeve, which is a long sleeved sweater with green and black stripes. The warmth of it startles his skin even though the heat in the car is on. At first he thinks he may be bleeding and then he realizes that she's still crying. He holds one hand on the steering wheel strongly and the other one is left limp for Jaylenn to hold and cry on. He tries not to think about why Jackson knows where he lives, maybe he found the address in a phone book.