Rapunzel Bennett (Jackunzel)

Chapter 25

"Darling, you can't be up there forever, the train is on a schedule."
"Yes, mother." Zel shouted down as she stopped pacing.
Sophie was sitting on Zel's vanity playing with the makeup brushes like they were dolls.
"Sophie. He's not coming."
Sophie dropped the brushes and looked up, "What? Why wouldn't he come?"
"I don't know!" Zel unknowingly shouted, lowering her voice as she continued speaking, "I'm not him. I don't know what goes through his mind. But I literally can't wait any longer. Maybe we just don't like each other."
"We?"
"Sophie. It's only been a few days since I've met the guy. I don't know how I feel. I was probably just caught up in the moment."
"Then... why are you still wasting time?"
Zel sighed, "You're absolutely right." she grabbed her bag off the floor and scampered to the ladder, "I have to go now." she admitted, holding back tears.

The car ride to the train station was a long and silent one.
And in and out of the car, she hoped he would come.
She even waited until the last call before boarding.
As soon as she took a step onto the train her heart shattered.

Jack squirmed around while howling in pain.
No matter how hard he tried he couldn't reach the knife that was lodged in his gut.
The longer he spent reaching for it the bigger the tear became and the more energy he lost.
His eyes were pouring tears and the color drained from his skin.
"Z-zel..." he groaned for support.
"I can't... leave her... not again..."
He yanked his right arm until his fingertips could brush the weapon. He was finally given a sense of hope and kept reaching despite the agonizing pain.
He was able to grab hold of the weapon's blade, cutting both his thumb and index finger as he gripped it.
He winced but continued anyway.
He inched it out slowly as the blood covered his jacket.
Once he got it out he was able to move more.
He sat up and grabbed the reddened weapon and hit the blade repeatedly into the old wood that held the chains.
Eventually, he managed to break it and after freeing one arm he was able to slide out.
He clenched his gut and panicked as he looked around the room.
All that was in there was his broken staff and some stones varying in sizes.
He needed to cover the wound so he took his chances with the objects.
He grabbed a big stone with faded painting and pressed it against his abdomen.
He removed his hoodie and wrapped it tightly around his waist.
He took a minute to lean back onto the cold wall to catch his breath.
He then reverted his attention to the stick that was broken in half.
Breathing heavily he grabbed both pieces and tried to press them together.
"Come on Jack, you did this once, you can do it again."
His experiment failed the first few times until he reminded himself what he was fighting for.
His reasoning for wanting to escape so badly.
He covered his hand over his mouth and cough out blood, without realizing he used the same hand to wipe the sweat off of his forehead before continuing.
He closed his eyes, first, he thought of his family. His friends from his previous life.
It didn't work.
Then he thought of the blonde Rapunzel.
There was a blue spark, but the staff didn't repair itself.
Then he thought of Zel, her smile, her voice, her goofy little subtle jokes that barely anyone could understand, and even her jumping at every little thing that moves.
The blue light shone bright enough to fill the entire room and the staff was mended.
He coughed between his laughter.
And wiped his face. He opened the trap door and clenched his gut before flying off to Jamie's house.
He burst through the door and ran straight into Zel's room, ignoring the pain and his red jacket turned blue.
His skin was covered in goosebumps as he had been flying in the cold with no shirt on for a while.
"Zel!" he cried before going into her room and seeing no one was there.
Before seeing the clothing in the closet gone and the room almost completely bare.
"Zel?" he whispered, gasping for breath.
Sophie followed his sobs and went into the room, "Jack! What happened?" she asked horrified.
"I... I'm fine, nothing. Just... Where's Zel?" he tried to ask between breaths.
"She... she left almost two hours ago... Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." he insisted. "Where is she at?"
Sophie furrowed her brows, "Well, mom dropped her off at the Burgess train station and it's about an hour drive. She should be on the train by now."
"Am I... too late?"
"It's never too late."
Jack nodded and left out Zel's window once again.