Clinging To Hope (Jack Barakat)

Chapter Eight

A place of darkness I sat waiting. I sat waiting, unaware of anything on the outside of my mind. One moment, I was in the silence of my thoughts, then I heard a slightly unfamiliar voice singing Paper Moon by All Time Low- something from their latest album: Dirty Work. 

I opened my eyes to see Jack Freaking Barakat sitting in a chair beside my bed gently rubbing my hand that lay in his. I was shocked by the revaluation. I was even more surprised to find that I was in the hospital. The heart monitor started beating rapidly, alerting Jack I was awake.

"Juliet!" He exclaimed, tackling me in a bear hug. I was breathing heavily in a fangirl attack. Too much for my little body to deal with. 

All Time Low had always been one of my favorite bands. I had seen them their first year on Warped Tour and fell in love. Jack was always my favorite. Though, this man wasn't the Jack Barakat I knew.

Jack's hair looked different from all the pictures. His hair had a red streak in the front which in the pictures, it was portrayed just straight black. It was also shorter and still laid unstyled across his forehead. He had a beard, and he looked older. He also looked like he had seen some things. He seemed sadder; like he had been through hell and back twice. He didn't look like the Jack Barakat I had met at concerts, but something in my mind assured me that it was him.

Dark circles surrounded his eyes from lack of sleep, showing more psychical signs of his sleep deprivation. Just how he moved like his body was made of lead gave away his true level of sleep.

He realized that he was suffocating me and let me go, panicking that he hurt me more than I already was. I had no idea what he meant other than a pounding in my head. He ran out of the room shouting for a nurse. A tall blonde woman walked in the room with Jack.

"Miss. Thunder! Good to see you awake. How do you feel?" She asked me with a kind smile. My breathing was returning to normal and I was calming down.

"My head hurts like crazy. What happened?" I asked, still pretty oblivious to the severity of the situation.

"Juliet, you fell on your head a couple time pretty hard," Jack said, his voice soft as if speaking to a wounded animal that you were about to put out of its misery.

"What do you think today is?" The nurse asked, a quizzical look on her face.

"Uh, the other day was Christmas, so, I'd say maybe the twenty-sixth of December, twenty-eleven?" I said as more of a question than an answer. I had no idea. I had memories of sitting around my mother's tree in North Carolina, and that was the last ones I had. Beside me, Jack sucked in a deep breath like he was trying to regain breath after having the wind knocked out of him.

"Juliet, it's May twelfth, two-thousand seventeen." His voice was soft and cracking greatly. A stray tear streaked down his cheek, followed by many more. "Please tell me that you remember me..." His voice was absolutely shattering as he spoke. It slowly turned to a whisper. "Tell me what you know about me." 

"Jack Barakat, guitarist for All Time Low. Personally knowing you, I'm sorry." I said, remorse the most present emotion in my voice. More tears rushed down his face. He quickly wiped them away, as if I wouldn't have seen the tears if he got rid of them.

"Do you know your band? Alex Gaskarth being your friend? Cody? Meeting me at Alex's?" He asked, his voice still cracking.

"Yeah. Um, Alex is kind of a friend, he did help us get on Hopeless a few months ago. Who is Cody?" I rattled off the answers as he fired them.

"Oh, that's more than I thought." He sighed, running his free hand through his soft-looking black and red locks. He seemed to have rembered something, quickly meeting my gaze. "Jason?" He had a sad look in his beautiful chocolate orbs.

"Jack, what happened to my brother?" I asked my body leaning more toward him. He shook as if he was nervous because of me. I gently put my hand on his cheek. He put his hand over mine and held it, letting it slid down his jaw before dropping our hands to his lap. He gently laced his fingers through mine.

"Juliet, Jason is dead." He told me slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. His eyes were full of so much sadness and so apologetic. I felt closure. Closure for my brother's death. I felt as if The Empire State Building had been lifted from my shoulders- the rest of New York, however, still rested upon my back. I knew that I had missed much more in six years. I wanted to know more. 

"Okay. Thank you for being upfront with me." I thanked Jack delicately. Part of me knew Jason was dead. I just needed to accept it. "Now. I need to be filled in. Where's Abby?" I said, a bit more like myself. I knew if anybody could fill me in on my life quickly and correctly- it'd be Abby. Jack left and Abby ran in.

"Jules!" She greeted me. "Six years. Easy." She sat down on the chair Jack had vacated. "So, Alex Gaskarth fell in love with our band, and got us all signed to Hopeless. All Time Low signed to the major label, and it tanked. We, however, rocked it. We released another EP, went for an album, played Warped, you and Jack met, we made friends with a ton of people, toured for another year, then Jason left the band.

"We started writing Sanity and did a headlining tour. We released our second album- Sanity- in the fall of that year, went on tour with Set It Off, you and Cody Carson started dating. We've been on tour with them a couple times since. We also took Waterparks on tour with us later. We started writing our third album- Hidden Letters to Romeo- and we were about to put it out when Jason died. It's currently on the back burner. I'd say it'll be out by December at this rate.

"Last summer, we went on Warped Tour where we met As It Is, and Jason got much worse. Cody cheated on you, and you both screamed at each other every night. It was a terrible summer for you. That fall, Jason died. You and Cody broke up. You fell into terrible depression. You went mute for a bit. Now you're much better. You got pulled into the crowd the other night and hit your head before stumbling into the mosh pit and getting trampled and hitting your head a few more times.

"For this tour, we were with All Time Low, As It Is, and Rad Horror. Jack Barakat, who is one of your best friends, came to watch you. He was with you before you passed out. You've got a concussion and now apparently, amnesia." Abby finished. She looked to me to see how I was processing everything. I was processing everything quickly- a few things falling where they were supposed to.

"Can I have a coke?" I asked, aware of how odd my request was. I just wanted a little caffeine to help process everything. 

"Um, sure. That was out of left field, but, then again, you practically invented left field." She said before leaving. Jack walked back in a minute later.

"So, I called your mom. She wants me to look after you when you get back to New York." He informed me, acting like that was completely normal.

"New York?" I questioned. Abby hadn't mentioned anything about me living in New York. I figured that I still lived in New York. 

"Yeah. That's where you live. New York. Just outside the city." He told me. "Beautiful apartment. I like it, personally." He grinned, his brown eyes glistening. He sat back down in his chair. "Parisian style balcony, pretty big place, two bedrooms with an amazing bathtub. Big spacey living room. Nice place. Can't wait for you to see it." I laughed. He was much cuter in person.

"Me neither," Abby said, walking in with a bottle of coke. She handed it to me and I took a drink, thanking her quickly. "You get out in a few hours. The rest of the tour was canceled. We fly home in a couple hours. Just chill until then." I nodded and she sat down beside me on the uncomfortable hospital bed.

"Can you please tell me about my life?" I asked. The two smiled and happily obliged.

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A/N: Thursday updates!!! Yeehaw! Tomorrow, I probably won't remember, so. Do now and forget later!

   Stay sassy,
                    The Rutabaga

A/N Updated: AAAANd they're back.