reckless // jai brooks

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THE MORNING SUN FOUND AUBREY in a tear stained bed and Jai in a cold corner down in the city center. He got up, he had to paint again. Graffiti the only way he could express himself freely and no one was able to comment on his artwork. It was all he did when something was wrong, when he felt sad, lonely, angry, anything. It was his escape. But lately, he was thinking so much about Aubrey, he felt like she was becoming his escape too...

    Aubrey was a different situation. She had nothing to 'escape' to. She had never felt that way, that pain and fear in her life. She hated the feeling, and the fact that it was the first time she was experiencing it meant that she didn't know how to deal with it. She couldn't talk to her parents because she didn't have any connection with them, no trust or bond and also because she knew they'd kill her for doing what she had done. She had no one to talk to, no escape. She knew what she really needed was Jai, and she didn't know why. She craved his presence so much - it was creeping her out.

    Jai was done with his drawing. Two hands grabbing a bright red heart tightly and ripping it in half fiercely were drawn on the wall. Blood had gone all over the hands and you could see the fury with which the heart was being ripped. And at the bottom of the heart, hanging from it, he had drawn the same yellow post-it note he had found on that window. With the word "sorry" written as sloppily on it. Of course, it had his signature ( a J and a B in a box ) as well as the words on the bottom right corner of the drawing saying "for mom".
Packing his stuff, he left that place and headed towards the center of the city.

-

    The days went by and Aubrey and Jai hadn't seen each other again after the day they had gone to that abandoned house. Aubrey's grades were getting worse and worse. She found it hard to concentrate in class and also when she was trying to study at home. Sometimes, she would explode and burst out crying thinking about how she hated Jai - he was the one who had turned her into that. It was his fault. She hated him, she hated him so much yet she wanted to see him again. It was driving her insane. A day came when her maths teacher gave her back her test with a confused expression on his face. Aubrey glanced down and spotted the huge red 'C' on the corner of the paper. And that's when she knew that Jai had destroyed her.

    Walking home all she was thinking was how she'd tell her parents. As she slipped her key in the keyhole of the front door she was biting the inside of her cheek trying to calm down. She could feel tears brimming her eyes but didn't let them slip out 'fucking crybaby-" she told herself, she hated it when she cried in front of people. She would only cry alone in her bed at night. Taking in a deep breath to calm down -and also trying her hardest to ignore the fact that she had unconsciously cursed again- she walked into the house.

    "Hey sweetie" she heard her mom call out from the kitchen, as always. "Mom" she only managed to choke out. Her mother came rushing to the door, eyeing her daughter from head to toe "what's wrong? You don't seem hurt or anything, I-"
"No, I'm not hurt" Aubrey shook her head
"Then, what is it?" her mother pressed her long fingers on the sides of her head "you smoked- no, you drank!- no, no no, y- you did drugs, it's that isn't it! You're addicted to I-I-I- I don't even know what... Heroin? Cocain? Oh, spit it out-" she rambled, stuttering and not being completely sure about what she was saying.
"No mom, I'm not addicted to drugs..." Aubrey sighed,
"then what is it, did you- did you kill someone?" Her mom panicked staring at her wide-eyed.
"Mom, I got a C" Aubrey choked out, and she wasn't even sure how she managed to say that. It sounded much worse when she said it.

That's when her mother fainted.

"Well that's not really the response I was hoping for..." said Aubrey with new found confidence she didn't know where she had gotten from. As if it all had been planned, her father walked in and was immediately greeted with the sight of his daughter standing above his unconscious wife. A pretty queer sight for a tired man who had just returned from work. Aubrey couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the ridiculousness of the whole situation.

"Hey dad, I got a C in my maths test" she confidently said, wondering, in her head, how in the world she had managed to say these words so calmly - especially in front of her father.

Is eyes widened and his whole face turned red "Oh my god- y- Aubrey, I-" he stammered, not sure what to say. Actually there were so many things he wanted to say, he just couldn't fit them all in one sentence. "Young lady, I- You know I- This is-" he pressed his thumb and index finger on the bridge of his nose and sighed. "To your room right now. And don't bother coming for dinner" A week or so ago, Aubrey would cry and she'd feel horrible. She wouldn't forgive herself for getting a C, not for the next two months anyway. She'd break down and cry, apologizing and begging for forgiveness. But now, she just shrugged and went to her room. She was getting scared of how she was acting, that wasn't her, she knew it. And she knew her parents knew that too. She was certain that they were scared of her too, scared of the new Aubrey. But she didn't care.

    Aubrey opened her bedroom window and jumped out.

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