fragile | jelix

chapter 33

we had a plan. a rather good and strategic plan if you ask me. jack had informed me earlier on that his aunt usually checks on him for the last time at around 10 pm, which ended up being true. whilst his aunt checked on him for the last time to make sure everything was alright, i hid in jack's closet until she left. after doing so we waited for about 20 minutes before deciding that she had gone to bed for good. and that is when we got ready to leave.

jack had already decided beforehand that he didn't want to take the wheelchair with him, and i didn't blame him. he seemed to be able to walk perfectly fine and i wanted him to get to he best experience he could out of this. still, i was a little worried, as i always was about jack.

when we left his room it was like nostalgia for the both of us. it reminded me of the first time we met, when i got in his house using the front door. the day when i would get in the house like normal people do. jack hadn't stepped outside of his own bedroom for months. he had probably forgotten what the rest of his house looked like.

"do you need any help getting down the stairs?" i asked, concerned. he shook his head and smiled.

"no, i'll be ok." he stuck to his word too. he got down the stairs with little to no problem, only stumbling a little when he reached the bottom. he led me to the front door as i obviously had no idea where i was going, although he did seem to have some trouble remembering where it was. when we finally got to it, he reached his hand out towards the door handle, before stopping.

"what's wrong?" he sighed and looked at me, a hint of worry in his eyes.

"i've only been outside a few times...and they were all years ago. i'm just a little bit nervous..." i rubbed his arm with my hand gently and smiled at him.

"you've got nothing to worry about when i'm here." he nodded and gave me a weak smile before taking a deep breath and twisting the door handle. soon enough the door was open and the fresh air was smacking us both in the face, taking our breaths away. i was instantly more worried than before about jack. i was more worried about things like him getting anxious, getting scared, falling over, getting hurt, getting cold, but i couldn't show him that i was scared. i had to try and make this experience as fun as possible.

i took his hand and held it in my own before finally stepping outside and closing the front door. jack stood still for a moment, processing what he was seeing and what he was doing. i looked at him and noticed a single tear roll down his cheek. i wiped it away with my thumb and was about to squeeze his hand to be reassuring, but i realised it would probably hurt him, so i stopped myself.

"you ready to go?" i asked. he looked around and took a deep breath before looking back at me and smiling.

"you bet i am."

time skip

after about a 15 minute walk me and jack had made it to the local park. if i was walking there on my own or with mark, it would have only taken 5 minutes, but since jack was with me it took longer. but i didn't mind. he was safe and that's all that mattered.

"what is this?" jack asked after we walked through the small gate.

"it's a park. you never seen one or heard of one before?" he shook his head. of course he hadn't.

"well...it's just a place with a bunch of playing equipment. most are designed for young children but...that doesn't stop me from coming here later on in the day." he nodded and pretty much immediately pointed at something.

"what's that?" i followed his finger too see what he was pointing at. it was the roundabout. i smiled and gently took his hand.

"come on, i'll show you."

"ok...just don't kill me."

"i wouldn't do anything to put you in any danger." we got to the roundabout. he looked at it with curiosity and confusion.

"sit down on it."

"what?"

"go on." i pointed at the seat that had been installed into the equipment. he hesitantly sat in said seat and waited for something to happen. he had started to look around when i grabbed onto the cold metal and cautiously spun it. immediately his eyes widened, as if he wasn't expecting it. i mean, why would he?

"what the fuck?!" he yelled, which sent me into hysterics. after a few seconds he laughed along with me, and he seemingly enjoyed being spun about. i didn't spin him too fast incase he fell and hurt himself, which was the last thing i wanted. it was really entertaining watching him having fun and laughing and smiling. i hadn't seen him that happy before. it warmed my heart.

we did that for about 10 minutes. yeah, my arm was killing me after about 2 minutes, but it was worth it just to see him smile and hear him giggle. he did eventually get dizzy though, so i stopped and helped him over to a bench where he sat down.

we killed quite a lot of time at the park, nearly two hours in fact. it was a lot of fun. jack went on the roundabout a few times as it was the only mildly safe thing he could go on, i got challenged to complete the obstacle course which i failed miserably at, i attempted the monkey bars but my noodle arms couldn't keep a firm grasp on them so i ended up falling after making my way across two, i went on the swing whilst jack sat on the one beside me, overall, we'd had a lot of fun. and he had made that very clear to me when we started walking back to his house.

"that was really nice. that's the happiest i've been in my entire life. thank you." jack said as we strolled away from the park. i smiled and put my arm around him.

"no worries. it was the least i could do."

"can we do more stuff like that?" jack asked, gazing up at me with those ocean eyes of his.

"of course we can. and we will. don't you worry about it."