T H E O T H E R J A C K; J J *short story*

12 ♠

× "pain was all i knew, so how do you think it felt when you cheered me up, then broke my heart in front of me" ×

big girls don't cry - fergie

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jack looked at monica, a sincere smile forming upon his lips.

it felt good to smile, all the fake smiles, and lies about his well being. it felt good to be, genuinely happy.

"you know jack, i'm glad i can call you my friend" monica announced, turning her head towards him.

the moon shinning against her face, tears once again visible but never falling.

monica didn't want jack she was weak, she wanted to help him

so she had to maintain a strong image.

jack had enough of his treacherous thoughts.

"are you okay, monica?" Jack whispered, looking at his hands.

monica smiled, nodding a yes.

she didn't want to lie but sometimes a lie is more comforting than the truth.

jack knew she was lying, the tears silently screaming for help told him otherwise.

the distant cloudy look in her eyes.

"it's - it's okay to cry sometimes" jack whispered almost inaudibly

monica looked toward him, slightly confused.

"i-i read this um, quote. it said, it's ok to cry, it doesn't mean your aren't strong. it means you've been strong for too long" jack got out confidently.

monica admired jack, how he never knew what strength he withheld.

"do you know why i called you up here?" monica asked softly, her hand grazing jack's.

he flinched at the contact, but loved the warmth of her skin.

jack shook his head 'no'

"i need to tell you something about myself and why i'm just like you"

jack didn't understand, monica was nothing like him.

she seemed significantly more happy and careless.

"um, so what did you - what did you want to tell me?" jack stammered.

monica smiled, showing him her upper thigh.

he was confused until he saw the scars on her legs.

"my dad's an alcoholic, my mom died. when he drinks he gets rough and starts to blame me for my mother's death"

jack immediately felt bad, like his current situation was nothing compared to hers.

this girl was visibly strong, but was not strong mentally.

she too had the morbid thoughts, but was smitten with jack.

she felt like jack was strong, like he could overcome his troubles if he just let go of the people holding him back.

jack wanted to hug her, he wanted to protect her and keep her away from her father and shield her away from the cruel world.

"each of my scars tell a story, jack" she started.

"i don't cut because i'm unhappy, i cut because i'll never be happy" she admitted, looking away from jack.

his heart ached and he didn't know how to comfort her, so he wrapped his arms around her.

"it's okay" jack whispered.

"these" she pointed to a patch of old cuts.

"it was the day my mom died, the day i started"

"the worst thing is, when she died my dad pushed me down a flight of stairs. i hit my head and i could feel the blood gushing, oozing out quickly. i should've got up and called the ambulance, but i didn't" jack saw her quickly wipe a tear.

"it scared me because, i died that night, and i wanted to"

jack was oblivious to the tears the fell from his eyes until one fell on his hand.

"they brought me back, they brought me back into a world of misery. a world of regret, i wanted to die again" she paused and looked at jack, allowing him to see the tears on my face.

"until i found you"