LOTF: Before and After

Phase 3: Chapter 67

Ralph Langley woke up on the morning of September 6th to the surprising discovery that he was alone. He sat up on his elbow to check the clock on his dresser across the room: 0721 hours it said. The fact that the sun wasn't up yet begged an intriguing question; where the hell was Jack?

Ralph rubbed at his eye as he wandered out from the hallway into the living room. It was dead as night, the lack of sound or motion failed to suggest any sign of life. He quietly crept through the house, checking the bathroom, his parents' room (where they were both still fast asleep), and finally the basement in search of Jack. An unsuccessful search it was.

"Dad?" Ralph whispered forcefully as he hovered over his parents' king bed, shaking the sleeping figure of his father. "Dad" he whispered with added force, finally jolting the man awake.

"What? What's wrong?" Jeffery whispered in a hoarse voice, his eyes squinty with sleep. Beside him, his wife stayed still as the dead.

"I can't find Jack" Ralph whispered urgently.

"Are you sure he couldn't have just made plans with a friend and didn't tell us?" Jeffery asked several minutes later from beside the kitchen counter. Ralph, sitting across from him on a barstool on the opposite side of the counter, shook his head.

"Alright well, we don't have many options here" Jeffery regretfully sighed. "It looks like we're going to have to call Evan."

"No way! We can't get Jack in trouble" Ralph insistently resisted the idea.

"He might already be in trouble, Ralph" Jeffery declared in a wave of frustration.

"But we can't! His dad'll kill him. He probably just wanted to get away from the whole commemoration thing. He'll be back, I know he will be" Ralph pleaded with his father.

"We don't know that for sure. In case you don't remember, this isn't the first time he's run off during the night" Jeffery reminded the boy.

"But—" Ralph began, just as the front door was opened from the outside, causing both him and Jeffery to turn at the sudden sound.

Both Ralph's and Jeffery's eyes widened, one in surprise and the other in relief, as Jack came through the door, closing it behind him before noticing their presence.

"Jack!" Ralph ran at the boy before throwing himself into Jack's good arm. Jack was caught off guard but quickly adapted to catch Ralph with ease, a stunned and confused look on his beat red face.

"Jesus, what's with the ambush?" Jack asked, his voice heavy as he was in the process of catching his breath. But before Ralph could answer, Jack found Jeffery's eyes across the room to see a look of frustration and disappointment on his face; the kind that was all too familiar to the blond boy who was no stranger to trouble.

"Where the heck have you been?" Ralph pulled back a little to look Jack in the eye.

"I just went out for a run" Jack said, his eyebrows scrunched in an evidently confused manner.

"But your leg" Ralph pointed out, "you walk with a brace and a limp."

"I didn't say it was a successful run" Jack clarified.

For the first time since Jack walked in, Ralph was calm enough to notice his appearance. Jack was wearing a red soccer t-shirt stained with sweat and gym shorts that hung loose over his knee brace. His hair was sticking up in different directions, damp from perspiration. His face was bright red, his breathing was heavy and fast like a panting dog's.

"Why didn't you tell someone you were leaving the house, Jack?" Jeffery approached the boys in the doorway as he asked.

"I didn't wanna wake anyone up" Jack said as he looked back and forth from him to Ralph. "What's the big deal?"