Finding Jay Holmes

Part 1 {Intro}

There are two words that are commonly used to describe Jayden Isaac Holmes: elusive and reticent. Jay doesn't talk much, nor does he share anything with anyone about his personal life. He goes to school, does his work, and goes home. Sits by himself. Doesn't say much at all. Doesn't smile.

This boy is far from an outcast. In fact, he is the most "mysterious" and "peculiar" person you'll ever meet (according to half the girls in the school). He chooses to isolate himself. So, strangely enough, this one detail makes him the boy most yearned for. Anyone would be blessed to get just one smile from Jayden Holmes.

Admittedly, he is an extremely gorgeous guy. I don't blame anyone for wanting his attention, I just don't understand why people waste their time on someone who obviously has no interest in them. Jayden Holmes is the unattainable trophy, only to be reached by the yet undecided champion. If there was even chance of that.

I'm one of the few people who knew Jay before the incident. Kindergarten to seventh grade, he used to be like any other kid. Funny, sociable, and just normal. Of course, I'd always hated the thought of "normal", but that's beside the point. Jay was actually one of my close friends until middle school- then we just sort of... drifted away. Our mutual drifty-ness soon became pretty clear, and we went our separate ways. That was that.

Then the Incident.

Early in our seventh year, Jay was missing from school. He was gone a day- normal - then gone the next- still pretty normal -and then a third. Every day for two weeks Jay was gone. Now it didn't take long for people to notice something was wrong- our school was kind of small and everybody knew everybody. 'Jay Holmes is missing' became the most spoken phrase that week, and of course people were worried. Teachers sent emails, parents were contacted, and with no reply. His friends suggested visiting his house, but no one had ever been to his home before.

By the third week, the police were contacted. They looked up his name, and reported back to the school. Jay's mom had passed away. Reported brain aneurysm. No information on the current whereabouts of Jay and his father.

The school was in a panic. What had happened to their dear friend Jayden?

Two months later, almost three months after the disappearance, he returned. He walked in the door of the school, casually as if nothing had ever happened. His appearance was horrifying. Bloodshot eyes, cuts and bruises, greasy untrimmed hair. He had an obvious scar on his left palm. Everyone froze. Everyone's jaw dropped.

"Hey," He said.

The shock set in for a few minutes, then immediately the hall jumped into motion. Some students backed away in dismay, while others bombarded poor Jay with questions and hugs and tears. A teacher grabbed his hand and pulled him into the safety of the office.

He was sent away after that, to God knows where. No one saw him again until the beginning of our eighth year.

Jayden Isaac Holmes was no longer Jayden Isaac Holmes. Something happened in those three months that made him something else. So no, I don't blame him for ignoring the masses of oogling, staring, flirting girls who knew absolutely nothing about him. I don't blame him for not wanting to talk to the strangers who only knew him as the elusive and reticent 17 year old boy when there was so much more to him then that. I don't blame him for wanting to forget his childhood, when it was so strenuously taken from him. Jay had reason to be who he was.