Chapter 10- The Secret

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[This person up here is Dawn Motinez, aka Jake's younger sister]

>>>Recap: Chloe and Jake arrive at Jake's house and start to work on the English project but are suddenly interrupted...<<<

Chloe's POV

Who is that? What is happening?

"She...had a heart...attack...get to the emergency...room...now!" The nameless girl at the door says, frantically pointing outside. The girl seems to be struggling to get her words out...

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jake's face, deathly white before he turns to me, and says, "Chloe, I'm sorry but we need to pick another day to finish this, you can go home now."

"No! What is going on? What happened?"

"Now isn't the time! You need to go home right now." Jake looks at me with such urgency in his eyes that I almost give in.

"Jake, there is obviously something wrong, I can help you if you just tell me what is going on!" I reply, willing him to explain the situation to me.

"JAKE! We....go! Just...bring her along." says the girl that I now assume to be his sister.

He sighs before giving me an irritated look and then turning his back on me, rushing down to his car. I quickly follow along, and get into his car for the second time that day...

Jake's POV

Why, why why does Chloe have to be so stubborn? Why does she have to be so difficult?

"Jake....tell...her..." Jake's sister nudges him from behind.

I groan, but reluctantly give in and begin to talk, my eyes glued to the road.

"As you can probably tell, that is my younger sister, Dawn that you just met. She was born with autism. You do know what that is right?"

Chloe gives me an "are you serious" look , "Yes."

"But every person with autism has something to hide. Something the world fails to see when they look at people like her. Dawn may not be able to express herself very well but when she has a pen in her hand, the magic happens. But nobody knows, because the only thing they see is "the girl with autism". To make matters harder, my mother's high blood pressure has become an increasingly worse problem, and she needs to visit the hospital often to try and lower her blood pressure. Sometimes though, she gets heart attacks when it gets too much for her." I say, all in one breath, eyes still glued to the road.

I hate sympathy from others, so patronising with their "looks" and acting like I am a piece of glass. So I stopped telling anyone, put on a bad boy persona, and built up that "reputation". It worked. Sometimes, people can be really dumb.

"I'm sorry..." Chloe starts.

"Don't. Don't say that." I cut her off, silently adding her "sorry" to the list of sympathising apologies the other dozen nameless people have said as well.

"Just...remember to find the speck of light in the sea of darkness, ok? There will always be people there for you." She says softly, glancing sideways at me.

My disbelieving laugh rings through the air, "Like who? Nobody knows."

"I know." She tells me.

Before I have any time to reply, my sister nudges my shoulder, signalling that we are almost reaching the hospital. 

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