Summer Rain

[17] Unwritten

***

      If Kaden or Devon knew what I was doing, they'd probably kill me. After killing Jared. I was meeting up with him at his hotel. I know, I know, the guy kidnapped me and did bad things that I won't mention, but he was with Hayley now, and he had a kid. People change. Hopefully.

      I walked into the lobby, pulling my hat further down when I realized it was full of people. I didn't really believe anyone would recognize- I had only been around for a month or so, and I had came out of nowhere- but I didn't want to risk. After receiving multiple weird looks as I dashed towards the elevators, I entered the elevator and waited for the doors to shut. I wasn't the only one in the elevator, so I was still receiving some questioning stares, but luckily, no one asked about it or recognized me.

      Let's see, he said 808. I got off at the eighth floor and turned to the right, where a sign said all the rooms below 810 were. His room was down near the end, by the fire escape.

      Well, at least if something happens, I'll be close to an escape.

      Immediately, I scolded myself for the thought. People change. Jared's not going to do anything.

      Hopefully.

      I sighed. I give up.

      I nervously tapped my fingers against my leg as I raised my other hand to knock. He opened the door way before I finished prepping myself. "Hey, come on in," he said, stepping back. "Thanks for coming to talk." He shut the door after I walked in. It was a little awkward since it was just a small, simple hotel room with only a bed and a desk pushed in the corner. He took a seat on the bed and gestured for me to sit down. I still didn't completely trust him so I chose to sit in the armchair by the desk instead of beside him on the bed. I pulled off my hat and sunglasses, setting them on my lap.

      "So, how's this going to work?" I asked, after a long stretch of silence and me looking around the room enough times to almost have it memorized.

      He scratched his neck awkwardly. "I don't actually really know." He sighed. "I'm sorry. I know what I did isn't forgivable, and I know it was probably scarring and that it was wrong and that sorry can't possibly make up for it." He paused. "I didn't really think about what it might do to anyone else. I was so dead set on revenge." Another pause. "I know it's not any excuse for what I did, though."

      "I get it." He raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Sort of," I added, since that was more of the truth. I kind of understood, I guess, I mean, if someone had treated me like Jared's mother had treated him, I would want revenge too. Except kidnapping was a little extreme.

      Silence. Well this is totally going somewhere.

      "Can we talk about something else? I just need to process everything," I said. I wasn't quite ready to forgive him, but I didn't want to keep him hurting by not forgiving him.

      "Yeah sure," he replied quickly.

      "How's Hayley, and your daughter, Melissa, I think you said her name was?" I asked hesitantly, not knowing anything else to talk about.

Immediately, his eyes lit up. "They're good. Hayley accepts her and Melissa loves Hayley."
     
      "Are you going to tell her?" Another hesitant question. "I mean, are you going to tell Melissa that her real mother..." I tried to clarify when he shot me a confused look. It probably didn't really help, though, since I had trailed off.

      He understood anyway and nodded. "Someday, when she's ready, I'll show her this." He reached back to the nightstand beside the bed and grabbed his wallet. He pulled out a small rectangular card-like thing and held it up for me to see. I got up and stepped a little closer to get a better look. It was a picture of a girl with reddish-blonde hair holding a small baby with bright blue eyes.

      "I thought you said she told you then left her with you. How'd you get the picture?" I asked, taking a step back, just a little freaked out. I mean, it's a bit weird to keep a picture of your ex in your wallet, even if they're with your daughter.

      "After she left for college I visited her mom, who gave me the photo." Whoa, okay, that's kind of borderline stalker-ish. "I know it's kind of creepy. But I want to have something for when I tell Melissa the truth," he said, almost as if he had read my mind.

      Weird. Then again, maybe the reason I found all these things a little scary was because I didn't fully trust Jared. I didn't think he would do anything bad, he seemed genuinely happy about his new life. It's just kind of hard to trust a guy who kidnapped you, you know? Even with how nice he was acting, I found it a little uncomfortable being in the same room as him.

      There was another awkward silence. I think this is my cue to leave. "I should get going," I said, starting towards the door. His shoulders sagged a little, reminding me of the real reason I was here. Closure. Can I, really, though? I thought about the way his eyes had lit up when I asked about his new life. I was already opening the door when I finally made my decision. I turned back slightly to look at him. "By the way, Jared, I forgive you," I choked out, then shut the door and walked down the hall before he could reply.

      Surprisingly, it did help. Even though I had been lying a little bit when I said I forgave him, it felt a bit like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I guess, maybe it was because forgiving Jared for what he did, or at least saying I forgave him, helped with getting over what had happened.

      As I waited for the elevator, I slipped on my sunglasses and hat again. Time for more weird stares. Thankfully, like on my way up, no one asked about my disguise or recognized me. I really didn't need people asking why I looked like I had stepped out of some old fashioned spy movie right now.

      As I walked out of the hotel, my phone buzzed against my hip. I pulled it out and panicked a little. The screen showed the number of Dad's cell. Usually it was mom that called to check in every now and then. Dad calling meant one of two things; one: he and mom had a fight and he found out something big I told mom through a source other than mom, or two: bad news that made mom too upset to call. The former was unlikely since I hadn't talked to mom for a while and nothing big had really happened.

      Maybe it's nothing, maybe you're just on the edge because you saw and forgave Jared or something.

      I hit the 'answer' button, but finger shaking slightly. "Hey, what's wrong?"

      "Why do you automatically assume something happened?" Dad joked, though it fell flat since he sounded more tired and wary than humorous.

      "Just a gut feeling," I lied, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

      "You remember Avril, right?" What? Avril? Yeah, I remembered her, of course, but no one had spoken of her since she... Left.

      I nodded, then realized he couldn't see me. "Yeah."

      "And her brother?"

      For a moment, my mind was blank. I hadn't really been close to Avril's brother, since he was four or so year older than me. I knew Avril really loved him though, she talked about him highly. What was his name, though? I wracked my brian, trying to remember those conversations I had only slightly paid attented to. "Owen, right?" I asked, hoping it was right, since if it wasn't it'd be just a little awkward, sicne he was my cousin.

      "He hired a private detective to find her."

      "What? Why now?" I blurted out, earning some weird looks at my loud tone. I blushed as I remembered I was in public. I sped up my walking and ducked into a quiet alley, so I could focus more on the conversation.

      "He said it's the first time he had enough money to."

      "Have they found anything?" I asked hesitantly, uncertain of whether or not I really wanted to know the answer. I had given up pretty much all hope on ever seeing Avril again.

      He must have paused for a moment, because it was silent from his end. "He said she was seen in New York City last week."

      In New York? But she had left. I mean, it wasn't like I didn't like her, or that New York was where we had lived before, it's just... When she ran away, I didn't think we would ever see her again. The first couple of months after she ran away, I had  imagined her coming back, happy, with everything she ever wanted. But when a year passed and there had been no sign of her, I had figured she was gone for good. Sometimes, I could imagine her, sitting in a group of friends, smiling mischievously while instructing them on how to play one of her endless games. I could see her being happy, being loved.

      I wanted to see her again, but I knew I probably wouldn't.

      Avril's favourite game when we had been younger had been hide and seek, mostly because she had been so good at it. She had always known the best places to hide and the best ways to stay hidden. The only times we had ever found her had been when she got bored and came out of her hiding spot, which didn't really count.

      If Avril didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be.

-READ ME-

Who remembers Avril? She was mentioned briefly in Chapter 11 of SaS. She's Raine's cousin who gave Raine the purity ring. :3
For the characters thing, theb4ndit character will be Xavier's girlfriend. Two people chose my random number (3), so I drew names out of a hat (well, box, really), and so yeah... Thank you so much to everyone who submitted a form! I don't know if I'll be able to use any later in this book, but if it ever does come to a point where I need a new character, I'll most probably select a character from the ones you guys submitted. :)
A little iffy about that chapter, but I don't really know what else to do with it.

Vote, if you understand Jared a bit better.
Comment, if you feel kind of bad for Bells, Blake or Clark.
Fan, if you want to know more about Avril.

Teaser: "You're dating, and you're locked in a room with a bed. I'm sure you can figure out something to do!"
Update: Aiming for Tuesday. Latest Friday,
Question: Would it be better if I did shorter (3 pages-ish), more frequent updates, or kept it like this (a week, long-ish updates)?

~JJ :)