AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He’s been like this for hours. I think it’s someone he used to know.”
My jaw set. I’d seen Jack lost in flashbacks before, but they only lasted a few minutes at best before he shook himself back to the present from whatever hell he got stuck in.
“Hey, I’m here.” There was no point telling him I wasn’t who he thought. That would just confuse him worse. “Come to take you home, Jack.”
“Yeah? They still shooting at us? We get ‘em?” He asked hopefully. “I don’t want to take another bullet.”
His hand trembled violently in mine, though his smile held up. I knew bravado when I saw it and this man was full of it.
“They’ve stopped, Jack,” I said softly.
Andi squeezed my hand, helping me hoist the old soldier up. He wobbled between us, but he was a whole lot lighter than Brendan. That memory burned in my chest as I took the penance and helped Jack back to my truck, lifting him in and buckling my seatbelt. He huffed as I fussed about him.
Andi passed me a few paper bags that looked like aeroplane spew pockets, and a few bottles of water. “Take him home, try to keep him there.”
There was no keeping Jack anywhere he didn’t want to be, but I’d do my darndest.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She nodded her approval. “I’ll let Suzy know you’ve got him. Want me to run you back some coffees?”
I was about to decline when Jack shuddered beside me. I checked the clock and nodded. “Yes, please. It’s gonna be a long haul back to him. Let me get you some cash.” There was nothing in my jeans as Sienna took all that this morning. My heart clenched again as I reached back for my change tin.
A long fucking day indeed.
“Don’t worry about it.” Andi waved a hand. “Back in ten.”
I nodded and took the opportunity to tip my head back and close my eyes, my hand clenched on Jack’s shoulder to make sure I knew where he was, and to reassure him I wasn't going anywhere either. Ten minutes of sleep I could do.
Jack shuddered again. “I’m sorry I let you die, Sommers. I’m so sorry.” He dissolved into tears at my side, his frail body shuddering and shaking beneath my hand. I clenched him tighter, my jaw locked though no tears came for me. I’d shed my quota earlier in the day.
A long mother fucking day indeed.
****
By some miracle, Jack didn’t spew on the way back to his house. He didn’t pass out either and appeared somewhat sober–or perhaps just more sober–by the time I tucked him in his bed, making sure he had plenty of water. I toured the house, checking everything that was supposed to be locked or turned off.
The line of sepia coloured photographs that lined the hall walls drew my eye. More than one name was hand written over heads, and I finally picked out the one that matched the nameSommers.The man was thin and stood next to a much younger and hairier Jack. I wondered how long after the photo was taken that Sommers was killed.
Everywhere I walked, I couldn't help making a comparative list of the things that differed from Longside.
The clean windows, lightly dusted. Because I did them like I did Brendan’s, but here I hadn’t washed anything for a month or more. The stocked cupboards, the freezer filled with meat I brought up on my last pass. The shorter grass out front. The chopped rounds drying in the woodpile. I turned those over, checking a few though I wasn't sure for what. Just wasting my time. It wasn’t like I had anywhere to be.
Head south, maybe. I stopped on my final circuit of the house as night fell, the first stars lighting the sky like so many firebugs. My heart ache numbed nicely. All I had to do was turn my back on the mountain, forget she existed, and look after the man in the house when I should be calling the niece or whatever the fuck family he claimed who hadn’t visited in all the years I helped out.
I sat on the porch until my hands numbed too, then my nose. My mind fell silent for once, and in that silence I heard her voice, like a spirit’s call from the other side of the mountain.
On cue I rose, dusted my jeans, and headed inside, shutting out the cold and finding a sofa long enough to stretch my legs out on to find sleep.
****
The next morning I tried to talk sense into Jack, but the old man mumbled at me, still lost in his memories. I doubted he recognised the house, or me. I tapped my phone, thinking about the photos hanging along his wall, the young man with the broad grin, the name he called me yesterday.
Sommers.
Jack had family, surely, but for the life of me, I couldn't find a phone number. The old man didn't even have a phone connected to the house, let alone a cell to search through. Certainly no internet. Gritting my teeth, I found his remaining stock of alcohol and dumped the lot. Jack Stone might be determined to aid his suffering, which I completely understood, but it wasn't gonna happen on my watch.
Not that I could stay.
