The alarm wakes me up at 7 AM, as it's done every other morning for the past two weeks. Two weeks since meeting Jackson, and one week since he moved into the house.
Zee doesn't like it at all, and he's being a complete pain in my butt. Jackson makes Tessa really nervous and she doesn't like to stay in the same room with him for more than a few minutes. Sam keeps to herself anyway and I hardly ever see her. And Will, he doesn't care much for Jackson either.
As for me, I don't know. I know he's killed two people and was somehow stalking me from the across the country, but whenever I'm around him I seem to forget all of it. I try to occupy myself with other things to keep away from him, but he always seems to turn up at the most random times. The only peace I get is in my room.
I've learned how to detect him in my head, too. It wasn't easy, cause he always seems to be in there. One morning I was awake before him in the kitchen eating breakfast by myself. In the middle of my cereal I felt this fog like feeling in my mind. It was alarming, to say the least, because then I'd realized how often the fog was there, just at the corners, keeping tabs on everything I did. I've since learned how to block him from most of my thoughts, but it's not easy. He's a lot stronger than me mentally.
I sit up groggily and walk over to my desk, grab my toothbrush, and head down the hall to the bathroom. I'm surprised that I'm the first one in this morning. Sam is usually the first one. I don't think much of it and go about my morning routine, until I feel awake and refreshed.
After getting dressed I bound down the stairs and enter the kitchen, excited for breakfast. Everyone's sitting at the table, all but Sam, emotions ranging from sad to worried to bored to hungry. I look to Liz. "What's wrong?" She looks like she's been crying.
"Sam ran away last night." I raise my eyebrows.
"What? When?" Liz shakes her head.
"Sometime after I went to bed and before I got up. Did anyone hear anything?" Everyone shakes their heads, except Jackson, who does nothing. I slept like a log last night, and probably wouldn't have woken up if a hurricane had hit. I catch Jackson grin and shoot him a glare. He shrugs at me. Liz misses this exchange. "There's been a search team sent out and there won't be any testing today, as I'm going to help them soon. I just wanted to let you guys know what's going on."
She leaves soon after, letting us fend for ourselves for the day. Tessa and Will leave, going their separate directions, and I'm left in the kitchen with Zee and Jackson. Zee is the first one to speak up. "What do you think happened to her?" He speaks only to me.
"I don't know. She kept to herself, but I never pegged her for the type to run away."
"It's the quiet ones you gotta watch out for." I roll my eyes at Jackson's comment.
"Do you know anything about it?"
"Even if I did, you wouldn't believe me."
"Why not?" Jackson just shakes his head as Zee rolls his eyes. "You do know something." For all my efforts, I can't seem to get into Jackson's head.
"Doesn't matter if I do or don't, you won't believe it."
"Why?"
"Because you only see what you want to see."
"What does that mean?" Jackson stands up to leave the kitchen.
"You'll figure it out." He leaves and I watch as the door swings shut.
"That's some weird guy." I turn back to Zee and sigh.
"Don't I know it."
"Do you even know why he's here?" I shrug and finally grab a box of cereal, pouring a huge bowl of it.
"I don't know. I try not to be alone with him too often, you know."
"I've never seen him go for testing, he does whatever he wants and no one cares, he's killed people and it's like everyone ignores it. Including you." I look up at Zee.
"It's not like that. I know he's killed before."
"Sure don't act like it. You act all buddy-buddy with him. I think he's a creep and he doesn't belong here." I glare at him.
"When do I have the time to act all 'buddy-buddy'? I'm never alone with him for more than a minute or two at a time. And I know full well what you think, in case you'd forgotten." He suddenly stands up and hits the table with his fists. Jealousy and rage are just pouring off him. His brown eyes are tinged purple.
"He even knows something about Sam but isn't telling anyone! He probably killed her himself!" I stand up and hold up my hands. A cringe as a glass shatters against the wall.
"Zee, calm down, okay? I don't know what he knows, but I'm sure he didn't kill her. I would have felt it from him." It takes a few seconds, but the anger finally subsides until just the jealousy remains. He sits heavily on the chair, his eyes back to normal. I don't know if I should move, so I just stand there until he looks at me.
"I'm sorry. You can sit down, I'm not going to hurt anything." I sit back down and look at him from across the table.
"What happened?" He shakes his head.
"I don't know. I just know that I got really mad, and then I kind of blanked out for a second."
"Why are you jealous?" To my surprise, he blushes.
"Ah, I plead the fifth?" I smile a little.
"I'll get it out of you sometime, you know. You can't keep it from me forever." He smiles back, his usual calm, happy demeanour returning.
"We'll just see about that. So, what do you wanna to today?"
"First I'd like to finish my breakfast. Then I'm all yours."
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