Stranger Stalker (II)

Was it worth it?

"Hello! Jian? are you in there?" Sherry calls, ringing the door bell. After a moment we hear the door open and a, hesitant, silhouette comes into view. It's Jian and he looks the same as he did 2 years ago. "oh. Hey Sherry, what's the matter?" He answers. He looks at me and I smile, Jian gasps while he insistently jests "C-come inside! I can't believe you're here Joli! how have you been?", I force out a laugh as I mumble my greetings. I felt as though there's knives in my gut, I felt uncomfortable. But, I have to ask him, there's no one else. "Hey, Jian... Do you remember a guy that looks like him?" I continue to speak as I show him a picture of Rove, "This is Rove, from our school, two years ago. The one in Jack's group, that had bul-" I was interrupted, Jian says "I don't. But I can help you, we can check the cameras around the area he was last seen, just give me the location." I look at him with confusion, and relief. For a moment we were silent until I say "ok, let's try looking into xxx's house, there should be some cameras... You think you can do it?" Jian nods and quickly opens the laptop in front of him, he clicks on a app I've never seen before. It loads up and Jian wrote a lot of codes in intense speed, he opens a video that's from the exact location I told him. "Ok, now can you rewind in-between 2 to 3 days earlier" I ask, which he then nods. I notice Sherry looking towards us with a empathetic and anxious look. I turn away from her and ask Jian how the cameras are going.

The next hour went by as we look through all footage from different locations to different times, but nothing. It was as if he never left at all but that shouldn't be possible. I desperately ask Jian to keep looking but was stopped by Sherry tapping my shoulder, she breathes in and explains "Joli, that's enough". I stood there with disbelief until, I thought about something. I tell Sherry we must go, thanked Jian for the help and gave him my number as he insists I contact him if I need help. I had driven back to the house I've been staying at, which makes my stomach turn as I ask myself If I'm right? Or wrong.  

"Thud" I close the door, frantically searching for Jack. Wondering to myself if he's safe. I knock on the door to Jack's bedroom. I hope to hear any sound at the other end of the door. I do, a raspy overwhelming voice spoke, "What", I sigh in relief and quickly push the door open. I spot blood trails leading to the bed, where Jack is sitting. "What happened! What did you do!" I worriedly search for the lights and flicker it on and behold the sight of Jack looking away from me with his right hand holding his left wrist, which was cut. I grab any nearest cloth I could find and ran to Jack, I cover his wound tightly and afterwards I went to head out the door to find more medical equipment. Before I could reach the door I saw a big shadow loom over me and It was Jack, closing the door on me and glaring into the back of my head as I dear not look at him. I hear him sigh as he spoke "are you worried about me?", as I try to comprehend what he was saying I flinch as I notice his arms were closing in towards me. He hugged me closely but weakly, as if he was drained, well considering he was bleeding a lot I can guess why. "Y-you probably don't forgive me... and, If you are still angry..." I say and reconsider my thoughts, I felt as though all of this mess was my fault, and I feel guilty about everything I did and took away from Jack. "I, I'll tell you... everything" I jest as I take him, forcing him to sit beside me. He looks at me with suspicion and I don't blame him, I gather my courage and spoke "The Anthony case... And Rove too. Are all my fault", He gazed at me and without a thought he pushed me, face and stomach forced against the bed as I hear him cry. Cold wet droplets fell on my back as he looms over me, we stay like this for a few minutes and finally, he stopped crying and spoke with a low stern voice "You took everything... Everything from me..." I can tell that he's angry and in pain. I lay there feeling like crying myself but this isn't about me, so I slowly place my face to the side to see Jacks expression... "Ah!" I got shocked by the way he was glaring at me, his eyes almost bloodshot and his face showed all the hatred in the world. This reminds me of what happened 2 years ago... and I feel as though I'm not gonna survive this one.