We Who Are Jaded

Chapter Eighteen

As soon as my head hit the leather car seat I was asleep. It was a child's bedtime but I had been exhausted in a game of revelation hide and seek that I hadn't intended on playing. There was a fuzzy memory of Jessica placing a blanket over me and the offer of a sandwich but beyond that, I did not recall much of the car journey home.  

At around eleven Jessica's phone rang, waking me into a drowsy state of consciousness. I saw her check the screen and peer apprehensively at Andrea who stole a moment from looking at the road. From beneath my hooded eyelids I saw them both inspect me but they didn't offer me question, assured that I was asleep. 

Jessica's words were undistinguishable as she answered the call. She muttered away  whilst every couple of seconds shooting me a sly glance. I needed no further evidence this phone call was about me, general paranoia aside.  An aggravated scowl tormented Jessica's face an I wanted to know what it was. I hoped I might be spared of another secret to uncover but who could tell any more. 

When she ended the call I was made non the wiser to the drama as Jessica signed the conversation to Andrea. The driver too looked puzzled, biting the nail of her thumb as she processed. It didn't take a genius to figure out something wasn't right. 

However, whatever it was, I didn't pursue it. I remained silent in the back and continued to assuming my sleeping façade. If it was something important I expected I would be enlightened soon enough and if not, well it appeared much of the Indigo's business was not mine and it was not my place to pry in matters that did not concern me. 

The Land Rover pulled up outside my flat just after midnight an I allowed Jessica to think she had roused me by shaking me gently awake. I blinked a moment until my eyes Jessica became fixed on hers. 

Anything to share with the class, Jessica? 

"You're home," Jessica said. There was something definitely afoot and Jessica, it seemed, didn't own a poke face. I unbuckled myself and pretended it was my drowsiness that kept me from speaking as opposed to confusion.  "Would you like me to escort you in?" Jessica asked, standing to attention beside the car door. 

"No, no it's fine," I replied, stepping out into the summer's night. We regarded one another and though I was sure I saw something of doubt in her face as to my ignorance, she didn't raise it. "Thank you for today, I had a lovely-" 

A gust of cool air caught me by surprise as I attempted to be polite. I looked over my shoulder, inspecting the car I had just clambered out from. I swallowed. Somehow Sophia had not only managed to run all the way from Oxford to my house in record time but also had slipped straight past me and into the car.

"We need to talk," she demanded.

Something was going on and I was being kept in that dark, kept in my place. Sophia offered me a death stare, encouraging me to head promptly inside. I took the hint and began to head for the front door without offering anything of a goodbye. 

"We'll speak soon Chris," Jessica called after me. I paused on the stairs and hoped I was right in understanding her meaning - I was only to be kept in the dark for now. 

"I'd like that," I relplied nonchalantly before hurrying up the rest of the stairs. No sooner had the door shut behind me, the Land Rover went speeding off down the road, leaving me alone in the pitch darkness. 

What in the hell had happened now? 

I decided that if it was a threat towards me I would not have been left behind so briskly. And though that should have appeased me, it didn't.

What I should have been more wary of was my own drama awaiting me beyond my flat door. 

A light was flooding into the hallway from the kitchen. It was an odd sight, seeing as everyone was usually in bed at such an hour. I dropped my keys on the hall table.The likelihood of the matter was that Jackson had gotten up for a glass of water and had forgotten to turn of the light off.