ONLY ANGEL | JJ MAYBANK

FOUR... the dangers of puzzle solving

CHAPTER FOUR

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A piece of what made Collins herself, was her desire to help people. It was early developed, and progressively persistent in everything she did whether it be at school or at home. Collins Jacobson would not be Collins Jacobson, if not for her charitable heart.

It started when she'd watch whatever VHS tapes they had on hand, most of which were the princess movies that her dad had gotten her when he was still giving her gifts. From a young age, Collins had seen that the princesses were always shown to be such kind and caring role models for her to look up to. They held themselves with such poise and always tended to the forest animals, Collins knew she wanted to be just like them when she grew up.

But then of course, she realized that being a princess wasn't exactly a realistic occupational option for one to have.

So it was at the auto body shop that Charlie used to work at and Collins used to tag along with, did Collins discover her interest in becoming a doctor. She'd sit in the little fold-out chair next to the rusted old frames across from the little box TV that played daytime hospital dramas for hours and hours on end, and she'd just watch with child-like innocence as her dream of becoming a princess turned into a being a doctor. They helped people, they saved lives. It was more magical than fairy dust in her eyes.

And that dream had only gotten stronger with time. It was the only thing Collins had to look forward to with each passing day. She'd taken all of the science and health related classes that their little school had to offer and read medical books when she grew bored of fiction, most of which had actually come in handy when it came to Charlie and his dangerous bumps and scrapes that were inflicted from work or play.

So she'd built up a fairly good foundation on how to take care of people over the years, though very rarely did she ever really put it to any use on anyone besides Charlie and over anything really serious.

In John B's case, he had appeared to be in barely good enough condition to not have to go to the hospital for the injuries he had sustained in his fight against Topper, a fight which could've ended much worse if JJ hadn't have pulled a gun out and scared the living daylights out of everyone. Not that Collins was justifying him using a gun because it truly was a really stupid thing for him to do, especially when it came to the fact that he actually shot the freaking thing.

Even though John B had collapsed in the water after Collins had tried to help him, he wasn't totally unconscious, and he seemed to fade in and out of it pretty frequently. A bruise looked like it was going to form around his eyes but when Collins checked his pupils for responsiveness, the results were favorable to say the least. All they could do was put some ice on his face and let him rest.

When Collins and Charlie got home, neither one had the energy to talk about everything that had happened. It was like once their heads hit their pillows, sleep immediately took over.

Now Collins didn't always remember her dreams. They were always sort of a foggy memory to her when she woke up, bits and pieces of a story that never really made sense in her mind. And Collins thought in pictures, or movies. You know how some people can't really conjure up images in their heads and only think in words? Well, Collins was one of the people who could think of something and actually see it in her head, she could read a description and form a face like it had been pulled from her memory.

And that night, something truly weird was going on in her brain, because when Collins woke up, JJ Maybank's face was the only one she recalled seeing just before the pull of consciousness dragged her out of her slumber. As she opened her eyes with a groggy yawn escaping her lips, confusion immediately took over Collins's face once the realization struck, and she sank into her pillow because she realized just how embarrassed she was over something no one even saw or knew of.