The Unseen World

Chapter 10: Jackie

Chapter 10: Jackie

As I sat on my squishy bed waiting for Jared to come back, I further studied my room. There were a lot of doors. Two of which I presumed to be closets, since they were huge, one was open and led to a bathroom and another was a glass door that led to a balcony. Over by my desk, there was a full body mirror made of gold, and it had silver rose vines snaking up the sides. It was very... princess-y.

I snuggled into my soft bed and sighed. 'This is my life now,' I thought. 'The life of a princess.' I frowned and closed my eyes. What if I didn't want to be a princess? Was this the reason Jared had been acting so weird before? My thoughts slowly tried to lure me into the peacefulness of slumber.

My eyes snapped open when I heard the door open and close. I sat up as Jared sat next to me on my bed. He buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking as he choked to keep down sobs. I gently and reluctantly placed my hand on his shoulder.

"What happened?" I asked softly. "What did he say?" He looked up at me, his face red and eyes swollen as tears continued their steady stream down his cheeks.

"She's dead, Jackie. I can't believe she's dead." He sobbed, squeezing his eyes shut. It was obvious he was trying to hold back, but the tears still somehow snuck past his eyelids.

"Shh, shh, it's okay," I cooed, rubbing his back soothingly. "Who's dead Jared?"

"I can't believe it," he muttered, letting his eyes finally open. Sobs no longer racked his body, but the tears were holding firm. "I never even got to say goodbye to her."

"To who?" I asked, trying to push away the jealousy that was rising in me. I mean, was it so terrible that I wanted to be the only one who could make him cry if he lost me?

"My mother," he choked out and squeezed his eyes shut again. Okay, now I was feeling like a real jerk.

"Oh. I'm so sorry." I whispered, wrapping my arm around his shoulders and rubbed his arm on the other side. He didn't say anything, he just laid his head on my shoulder. It was probably really awkward looking from the outside, because he was so much taller than me.

When his tears had dried up, he sat up and I pulled my arm away. I turned to look at him. He still looked red and his eyes were swollen, and one tear lingered just beside his nose. I couldn't help myself.

I reached up and cupped my hand around his jaw, using my thumb to wipe away his final tear. He put his hand up so that his hand was around mine and he leaned his face into my hand, closing his eyes. I smiled slightly and he opened his eyes and offered me a sad smile.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" I asked, pulling my hand gentlly away.

"Sure," he said, standing and letting his hand fall to his side. He turned to face me. "But we need to get into proper clothing."

"What?" I asked, scooting to the edge of my bed and looking up at him. He rolled his eyes and walked over to one of my two closets. He threw it open.

"This is your every day attire," he said, gesturing at the many varying dresses in the huge closet. There was a dresser in the bottom right hand corner of the closet. I walked over to it and pulled it open, quickly closing it when I realised it held undergarments. I blushed, hoping that Jared hadn't seen. I turned back to the boatload of dresses and groaned.

"How am I supposed to choose out of all these?" I huffed. Jared laughed.

"I can pick for you." He offered, chuckling slightly. I nodded so hard I thought my head might fly to the other side of the room. Of all the dresses he saw, Jared picked out a white off-the-shoulder dress with sleeves that came to a point. The part that attatched the skirt and the bodice was a golden ribbon that came to a point in the center.