The Wheel

A circle in motion

Everyone knows the story. The tale of a boy trapped in time, forever 17. The love story between him and Winnie Foster, how Winnie lived out her life to the fullest, deciding against everlasting life and how Jesse Tuck learned to move on.. but what if that wasn't the true ending? What if Jesse was much more attached to Winnie than anyone could have ever imagined, if he never left her but rather watched as she slowly forgot about him and grew older until he couldn't take it anymore.. and what if losing her meant losing all sanity he had until he was only left with desperation and sadness.. and what if this new Jesse found another Foster, one that he was certain to never let grow up, never to leave his side. To keep your partner in crime sometimes you have to become a criminal first.

It was the day that the Tucks decided on meeting up again. Meeting up in the woods where it all began, the start of everlasting life. Jesse, although he watched Winnie as she grew, was expecting to find her there, 17. The same age as him, however what he found instead was much worse.

"Jesse I'm sorry" A voice echoed throughout the familiar woods, a voice that Jesse Tuck knew as his father - and although the voice was loud and resonated through the leaves and branches of the dense Foster woods - it was almost inaudible to the boy as his vision became clouded and the ringing in his head grew louder, louder, louder "It was for the best, you know it was!"

Something inside of the boy had snapped in that moment. The last piece of hope that he had clung onto had been chipped away and he was left with nothing but a seemingly never ending dark hole of hatred and wanting. "Did it ever occur to you that it wasn't for the best for me?! I don't care what you think, she wanted to be with me.. she needs me" Jesse exclaimed as he fell to the ground above where Winnie lay, a mere few metres away from the spring where their story began. Warm tears fell down the boys face as the memories replayed themselves in his head, as if they were mocking him, constantly reminding him of what was taken from him.  "Jesse stop, this was bound to happen. Stop being so selfish and think of everyone else. This is what she wanted-" His brother spoke

"No! Its what you wanted! She told me- she said.. she told me that she would drink it, that we would be together.. You made her leave." Jesse cried as his mother went to console him before being harshly shoved away.

"This is what the water does, it ruins your life. Ruins you. We should never have told her in the first place" Angus replied "We just told her the truth, nothing more and nothing less. She made her own decision. I know its hard for you, Jess, its hard for all of us, but if you can jus-"

"No! You told her your truth! You told her not to stay with me.. you're the reason she's dead! Don't pretend to care. Now go. Go leave me for another 10 years, but this time I'm not coming back to you. I'm never coming back."

"Jess you cant mean that"

A silence washed over the Foster woods. No sound came from the Tuck family as all eyes were fixated on the youngest child as he lay in a tight ball in the place where him and Winnie first spoke, salty tears streaming down his face as he let out quiet cries of loss.

"She's gone, Jesse. I told you this was going to happen as soon as you told her our secret, you're the one to blame for not listen-" Miles spoke before being sharply cut off by the boy. "She's not gone! She's still here, she's waiting for me like I waited for her! You're all lying so just leave me alone!" Jesse shouted to his family who glanced at each other before deciding to leave the boy be until he could gather his thoughts and become the sweet boy he used to be once more.. but after an hour, the Tucks still hadn't heard from him. 

t w o

t h

      r e e

   f

     o    u

               r

"You don't think he was serious about never coming back, do you?" Miles spoke to his parents as they restlessly waited for their son to return as normal, Mae glancing out of the windows every few seconds, each time expecting to see the young, charismatic boy climbing a tree, or jumping into the shallow end of the lake that lay still outside of their small home, smiling and waving to her before going back and laughing loudly into the woods as he always did, though after what felt like endless hours of waiting, waiting, waiting and wondering what Jesse had gotten himself into this time it seemed as the family became mentally drained as they gave up speech and glancing out of windows. 

"I never knew he cared for Winnie that much" Angus spoke up, breaking the thick syrup silence that was doused in the house. "It's almost.. worrying"

"He's infatuated" Miles replied, earning a glare from his mother. "Don't speak about him like that, Miles. You weren't exactly happy when...."

"When my family left me? I was never this bad. There's something wrong with him."

"Miles, stop." His mother scolded before the house returned back to the silent state it was in before.

Back in the woods, Jesse picked himself up and glanced around at the woods that he used to love. Without Winnie he didn't even know who he was. It was as if all of the happiness that once filled him was taken away, all of the warmth and sunshine in his life suddenly vanished. His  eyes wandered to the large tree with the everlasting 'T' carved into the base, but something was different. He stayed watching for a moment before seeing a figure walk out from besides it.

"Winnie..."

HELLO FOLKS, PROBABLY ONLY PRINGLES BECAUSE LETS BE REAL, WHO ELSE WANTS TO READ THIS JESSE THING THAT I WROTE BECAUSE IM OBSESSED WITH JESSE, AHEM ok anyways sorry.. if anyone has any ideas, pls do share also should I rewrite this but make Jesse more..um..stable and then make him gradually get worse?

also thank you Dylan for making the cover:)

~Ezra