Chapter 4: Consequences

Jack stood on one side of the kitchen island with his hand curled underneath the edge. His nails nervously scratched away at the fibreboard; dried blood was caked on top of his palm. His bottom lip curled into his teeth while the air of shallow breaths seeped in and out of his nostrils. Phil stood a few feet away from him with worry draped over his visage. bushy hair sagged in unison with the boy’s posture, like a weeping willow in a rainstorm.

“Mr. P. sir, before you say anything, I-I just want to point out that Blair was being a massive jerk,” Phil stumbled over his words. Jayce looked at him, silent. “and-and if you ask me, he honest to god deserved what Jack did to him,” Phil stuttered.

“Phillip,” asserted Jayce.

“Y-yes sir?” Answered Phil.

“Go home please,” Jayce’s voice was quiet, but dry and foreboding.

“Right, yes, got it,” said Phil as he picked up his backpack and walked towards the door. He took one look back at Jack as he opened it, gave him a head nod, and closed the door behind him.

“Well?” Snapped Jayce.

Jack remained staring at the ground. He clawed harder at the fibreboard underneath the countertop. Jack knew he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t make the words appear on his tongue.

“Jack.”

“Dad I know it was a stupid thing to do, but-”

“But?,” Jayce’s tone grew louder.

“Yes, but Phil was telling the truth, Blair got what he deserved,” said Jack, “I only did what I thought was right.”

“Thought was right!?” Jayce yelled, “I go through a day full of work just to find out that you decided to give my boss’s kid a bloody nose because he called you names.”

Jack picked his left hand into a fist and hit it on top of the counter. He looked up, still hiding the cut on his right hand. “He didn’t call me names,” he snapped.

“It doesn’t matter who he called what. I come home after hearing this to find my house smelling like chemicals and the cupboards flung open like we just got robbed,” Jayce’s bellowed. His voice was so loud that it rumbled a lose hinge on one of the cupboard doors behind him, “I can’t lose my job Jack.”

“He called mom a druggy,” Jack muttered. The word seemed to slap his father’s face. Jayce’s expression lost all conviction. He stood there in silence for what felt like a few minutes but was only a few seconds before regaining his composure.

“I told you, it doesn’t matter who he called what,” repeated Jayce.

“Doesn’t matter?” Jack said as he looked up and glared at his father, “mom sure as hell matters to me.” Jack’s eyes began to swell up.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“That’s not what I said Jack,” Jayce’s tone began to soften, “it’s more complicated than you think. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Wouldn’t understand!?” Jack yelled. He brought up his bandaged hand and dropped it on the counter. “I understand pretty clearly. You care more about your job than you do mom being put down by people like Blair.” Anger swelled inside of him. His extremities throbbed as he felt his heartbeat quicken. He could feel blood pumping with every pulse. Two waterfalls made of tears cascaded down his cheeks.

“No Jack, it isn’t that simple, it’s just-” Jayce paused. His eyes rotated down towards the wrapping around Jack’s arm, “what happened to your hand?”

“Why the fuck would you care?” Jack snapped. He turned to his left and sprinted towards the back door. “Jack, wait,” Jayce pleaded. Jack flung the door open and launched himself through the doorway. A loud CLANG rang out as the doorknob smacked the back of the house. Jack ran across the back lawn. Don’t go outside with your socks on, you’ll stain them as green as a goblin! The voice of his mother slipped into his mind for the first of his shoeless steps. As her voice dissolved from his thoughts, he bolted past the edge of the backyard and into the forest.

“Jack come back!” Echoed Jayce as he trailed behind him.

Jack snapped twigs and bent branches as he ran. Pine needles stuck into his arms with each stride, but he didn’t care. He wanted to break every twig and bend every branch. He wanted to feel every amount of pain the pine needles had to offer him. His head throbbed. As he sprinted faster, more twigs and fallen pine needles poked through the bottom of his sock and punctured his feet. The voice of his father was close behind him. He saw nothing but waves of green lines. He heard his pulse bang against his eardrums and felt the muscles of his legs push outwards into his skin. Jack’s breathing became heavy. His legs began to slow down. His father’s voice grew louder. He looked behind him and realized that trees he just ran through were shaking; Jayce was right behind him. Jack swung his head forward again only to be blinded by the light from the sun. The sun only began where the forest ends around Small Pine. Jack knew that the only place where the forest ended was the cliff which overlooked the Reya River. Jack seized every muscle in his legs to stop his momentum. He began to slow down, but as he was about to plant his foot into the dirt, his right foot snagged a root protruding from the ground. Jack launched into the air face forwards. His legs flipped over him, causing his head to curl upside-down and face backwards. For a split second, he saw Jayce tripping over the same root behind him. After spinning another half rotation of his body, Jack’s shoulder collided with the ground. The dirt floor of the forest was now an orange slab of rock. Jack slid along it and heard the side of his T-shirt shred below him. He felt the side of his body begin to burn but was helpless to stop himself from sliding. Suddenly, Jack felt no ground beneath his body, and a single thought exploded in his mind; the cliff. He began to scream so loud his lungs hurt. In his periphery, he saw a body falling faster than he was. Jack had only a few moments to accept not only his own fate, but also accept the fate of his father. All he could hear was his own yells, and the air whipping past his ears. Jack saw that the cliff face close to him, so he took his bandaged hand and anchored it into the rocks. Pain seized in his fingers and jolted up his arm as Jack attempted to claw into it. His arm flung away from the cliff face. Blood sprayed into the air. He looked at his hand. It was sliced open from the webbing beside his thumb, halfway down to his wrist. He looked down, searching for any sign of something that could save them. There was nothing but a ledge connected to the cliff, a few feet to his left. However, it was too far to reach for mid-freefall. He looked to his father, desperate. Jayce looked at him with a smile on his face, seemingly unbothered by the inevitability of death below. He looked into his son’s eyes, placed his hand over his heart, and mouthed the words “it’s ok Jack, I love you. Stay strong.” Jack’s screams stopped. The sound of air flying past him was no more. He was filled with a warmth that even the beaming sun could not match. A blue light began to radiate around his vision, right before it turned to black.