Barber // Defending Jacob

Series of Unfortunate Events

Eleanor was finally getting to enjoy her day off from school. Her throat was no longer hurting and she caught up on all her missed sleep.

Cartoons on the TV were the only thing breaking the silence in the empty house. A stupid joke causes the girl to softly chuckle when she's cut off by her phone. In a matter of seconds her phone was blowing up with notifications.

Panic takes over her body when she reads that her school was in lockdown. She couldn't help but think of the worst possible scenarios. The girl had dealt with anxiety disorder her whole life and the idea of her brother in a dangerous situation triggered everything inside of her.

She had no text or calls from Jacob. She quickly found his contact in her phone and called him. Her anxiety rose as Jake's voicemail played in her ears. If her brother turned out to be okay, she was gonna kill him for not calling her.

Ellie calls him a few more times but she has no luck.

Maybe dad knows what's going on? Ellie thought to herself.

Her fingers quickly tap on his contact. In two rings she hears her dad's voice on the other end.

"Hey honey. Is everything okay?" He asks.

"Everyone is saying the school is on lockdown and Jake won't answer his phone. Has he called you? What's going on? Is there a shooter? Do you know whats going on?!" Ellie quickly asks him. Tears threaten to spill out of her eyes. The girl was officially freaked out.

"Woah, woah, woah," Andy starts, "Nelly everything's fine. There's no shooter and Jake called before his phone died."

Ellie could finally take a breath. She was still overwhelmed and processing everything.

"Take 10 good deep breaths and drink some water." Andy calmly tells his daughter through the phone. He could hear her shaky breathing through the phone.

"Okay." Ellie does what her father said.

Andy stays on the line waiting for her to finish what he said to do. When he hears her drink some water he starts to talk again.

"I can't talk about it right now, but you and Jake are safe." Andy sees Duff wave him over. As much as he would love to drop everything to hug his family right now, he has to do his job.

"I have to get back to work but I love you very much. Text me if you need anything and I'll be home later tonight." He says lovingly.

"Okay. Love you too. Bye." Ellie ends the call.

The house was completely silent as Ellie placed her phone on the coffee table. She plops herself on the couch and sighs loudly. No longer enjoying the silence, Ellie turns the TV back on and tries to focus on the cartoon.

---

The sound of the front door opening causes Ellie to jump up. As soon as she sees Jacob, she attacks him in a hug. The girl hadn't even noticed Jacobs' friend Derek standing in the room. She let go of Jacob and smacked his chest.

"That's for not having your phone charged." Ellie smacks him again, "And that's for calling dad before calling me." Ellie goes to hit him one last time.

"Ow! Jesus. Alright! You made your point Donkey Kong!" Jacob says catching her hand before impact.

Ellie finally acknowledges Derek and sends him a small smile.

"Hi Derek." Ellie says kindly.

"Hey, how are you feeling? Jacob told me you were sick today." Derek asks.

"I'm actually feeling a lot better." Ellie continues, "So why was the school on lockdown?"

Jacob and Derek send each other a look. Ellie notices this and furrows her eyebrows at them.