Vegas;

Chapter 28

Today was the day. I would officially not be pregnant anymore. But first, I'm sure Jack had something up his sleeve to try to make me forget about the whole thing. Which, in my opinion, was a shit idea. I'm losing my babies. Why would you want to try to cheer someone up?

I had woke up before he did, and took a shower, doing my routine. As much as I could anyway. Even though I couldn't eat or drink anything, I just shrugged it off. Not like I do anyway. I washed my hair thoroughly, and stood under the screaming hot water. It felt great to not have just warm water anymore.

When I stepped out, my body was as red as a lobster. I wrapped a towel around my hair and body as I wiped off the mirror with my hand, clearing the fog. My eyes looked pale and dead -- I had to find some way to look... alive, I guess I could say. Heading back to the bedroom, I had grabbed my clothes, fully dried off and got dressed.

"Good morning, beautiful," Jack said as I zipped up my skirt and turned it around.

"Morning. You going to shower?" Beautiful? Was he fucking blind?

"I think so. We have to leave in a little bit, and I want to get there early." He got up and tried to kiss my lips, but I turned my head so he got my cheek instead.

It wasn't that I was falling out of love with Jack, but I just was in an off part of my life. I wasn't sure who I was anymore. Last night, those screams in my ear -- it made me feel alive. Never once have I had heard such blood curdling screams turn me on so much. Maybe it was a phase. Maybe the goody-two-shoes me was shedding finally. The voice of my mother was fading quickly away, and I had not a care in the world.

Grabbing my make up bag, I sat down on the bed with a hand held mirror and put on some harsh colors on my face. Bright red lips, black eye shadow, bronzer on my skin so I didn't look like I was dying, and some long eye lashes. I knew that my make up would have to be taken off before my surgery, but I just wanted something to make me feel... normal again.

I will admit, it wasn't as bad-ass as I thought it'd look. I still had that good girl look about me. Something had to change. Maybe it was my outfit. Or hair. Maybe everything about me had to change.

Jack had came out in a towel and said nothing to me. That was unusual of him to do. I shrugged it off and went to the kitchen to wait for him.

The house was quiet. Alex was gone and as much as I enjoyed it, I kind of missed him. I missed his face. There was something about it. Not quite sure what, though. It just drew me in. Like the first time I saw him when he opened the door. Maybe it was his smile, and those dimples on his cheeks. The way he laughed?

Jack finally came to the bed and put a hand on my shoulder. "You ready, doll?"

"Yeah, I just have to get my shoes on. You about ready, princess?" Jack just gave me a nasty look as I chuckled. Someone needs to pull the panties out of their ass. I got up and slipped on my ballet shoes and walked to the car, getting in.

There was no music on the ride there. Just silence. Painful silence. At least on the outside. Inside my head was a different story. There were voices that were screaming at me. I couldn't quite understand them, because they were all screaming at once. If I could just stop them and think for a moment, I could figure out what I could do to calm these damn voices.

Not a moment too soon, we had arrived at a VFW. There were a few cars parked throughout and I sighed. "What are we doing here?"

"Just, relax. It'll be okay. Can you trust me?" Jack asked with his hand on top of mine. Did I have a choice?

"I guess," I said walking out and around the car. Jack grabbed my hand as we walked in. As the doors opened to the main floor, I saw the last thing that I thought I'd see: a handful of people, a lot of them looked quite young, some faces I've known through Jack as I looked around. Decorations were being set up; a lot of lilies and two tables. Above them were banners that said RIP Melody Rae & Aiden Christopher. My heart sank as I started to shed a tear.