"But he wasn’t home. I called him and he said he was in the hospital…"
"Wait, what do you mean he’s in the hospital?" I jerk my head up, pinning Jared with my stare.
"He said he’s been in and out for months, and he sounded really weak."
I open my mouth, stunned. How is that even possible?
"What happened, why didn’t he call me, why didn’t he tell me?"
Jared doesn’t answer.
I curse, tugging at my hair. I tried to die, I lost Bay, my world, and suddenly all of this crashes down on me? Should I even care about anything?
I’m checking out anyway.
I close my eyes.
Something just bothers me… something is not right, finally I whisper,
"I didn’t know. We had a huge fight in the spring, and since then we barely talked…"
Jared glances aside and bites his lip again.
"I don’t know anything about your problems. All I know is he told me that if I ever needed help I should come to you. He gave me your address."
My fingers itch to grab my phone, but I have to think about what I’d even say to him…
"What hospital is he in, which ward?"
"Kensington. Oncology. He said he’s been there for months, in and out."
I growl under my breath, grab the carton again, and drain it, feeling my stomach seize at the sudden fullness.
"I need to contact him…"
"Wait," Jared blurts, his lips trembling, tears clinging to his lashes, "I want to finish telling you what happened…"
Impatiently, but I manage to say, "Okay. Go on. After that you came here to me, right?"
"No…" Jared closes his eyes. "There’s this guy at my high school who’s been trying to ask me out forever, but I never gave him a chance because he has a horrible reputation. After I hung up with your dad, he suddenly called me and asked why I wasn’t in school."
I realize this is the part he really needs to tell me, the part he came here to say.
"He said his parents have a guesthouse and I could stay there if I wanted until I figured things out."
"Don’t tell me you went," I whisper.
"I went. And he was there with his two brothers…"
I curse again, pressing my hands to my temples. "Fuck."
The silence is deep, my head is buzzing, not that, not that! Why do these horrible things keep happening to the people close to me? Well, Jared is not very close, but he’s blood, which still counts. I let out a shaky breath.
He continues with a weak voice.
"They kept me there for a whole day. Finally, when they fell asleep, I managed to climb out the window. Then I came to you. You’re my only hope…"
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
