Our Sick Inheritance (editing)

Ch 111 (jake) - Whose Fault Is It Anyway?

"Who are you talking to?" Harmony asked but before she allowed Bryce to answer she grabbed his phone and started talking to Jake which irritated him.

"Is this Jake?" Harmony asked.

"Yes, it is." Jake stated.

"So, your sister Stacy is missing?" Harmony asked what she already knew. Jake didn't like the tone with which she expressed it.

"At the moment yes." Jake answered.

"Your Dad was just here. How is Anna doing?" Harmony said as if she conversed with Jake daily.

"I don't know, I haven't talked to her." Jake said sounding irritated that Harmony had interrupted his phone call with his friend. He also didn't want to upset her.

"Jake don't lie to me. I know she is on your trip with you." Harmony purred into the phone.

"She's not with me. She is following me and we are both heading back to Washington." Jake said.

"To look for your sister?" Harmony asked.

"Something like that." Jake replied sick of the conversation but he could tell Harmony wanted more from him.

"I know you partied with Anna. Did you have a good time together?" Harmony asked but Jake wasn't sure exactly what she knew so he was careful.

"Yes, but we just hung out for a little bit. We separated when I went to my girlfriend's house." Jake said trying to push away a nagging guilt. Why was it so easy to tell Harmony about Brittany but not Anna? This irritated Jake and he still wasn't willing to answer his own question. As if Harmony could hear his thoughts she continued.

"She must really like you."

"She hardly knows me. Like I said we weren't together long." Jake said trying to cut the conversation short.

"Does your girlfriend know you were together?" Harmony asked but Jake didn't respond. Harmony wasn't going to wait for a response.

"Did Anna know you had a girlfriend?"

Jake again didn't say anything else.

"Well whose fault is it then?" Harmony said and handed the phone back to Bryce.

"I'm going to get my group together to look for your sister, I'll call you when you find something." Bryce said.

"Thanks man, I owe you." Jake said.

"Nothing to it. I care about Stacy. Bryce abruptly hung up but Jake had a feeling it wasn't by his hand. It was no secret to anyone that Stacy and Harmony didn't like each other.

Jake drove irritated and sick to his stomach.

Being able to see through only slits of his eyes as if he had just smoked a huge joint, Jake felt lethargic from the lack of sleep and being stuck in a truck for way too many hours in the last few days.

After what Bryce told him about Anna Jake was full of rage to help the hours speed by while he tried with muscular strength not to let his led food rest heavier than necessary on the gas pedal for he was already over the speed limit. If pulled over, his father wouldn't even be able to dig him out of a ticket.

Jake grabbed drive-through food then found the hotel his mother had set reservations at. It was darker than normal because of the weather but Jake could see the sun setting as he pulled into the hotel and got a room near the office. He wanted his truck under the light in the parking lot and witnesses in case he needed one.

At the looks of the attendant's face, Jake apologized for the faint smell of skunk that scented off his clothing. They were quick to check him in and hand him his keys. He immediately took his bag in and took a shower. The hot water felt wonderful against his skin. He washed everything twice to help scrub off what felt like a bad memory. Jake barely made it to the bed in just his boxers as he had set the heat in the room for his comfort. No cold floors for his bare feet tonight.

As much as he needed sleep was as much as it eluded him. Cars drove by as he heard the crunch of tires on the salted parking lot of people just checking in and most likely going out to dinner. It was dark inside his room but outside his hotel door was a faux daylight with bugs flying for survival around the amber glow from the lamps.

Jake almost wanted to cry himself to sleep just so he could get some rest but he was afraid once he started it was going to turn into a bawl-fest of horror to admitting defeat. He wasn't ready to so he just stared at the rectangle light of the curtains.

He closed his eyes with the pace of a slow blink when he opened them to stare at the outline of a girl in the center of his window. She was just standing outside his window, just staring into the crack where the curtains meet. Jake couldn't see any structure of her face but the thickness of her shadow made him think she was getting ready to just walk through the wall.

He no longer heard sounds from outside. Not from any car nor walking of feet.

Jake waited afraid to move and wondered if she could see him in the dark through the crack of the curtain. He hoped he had blended with the covers on top of him. His phone remained dark as if it were hiding with him.

She just stood there and stared into his room. Jake didn't have a clue as to what she might do.

Suddenly all the lights went out in the parking lot simultaneously without an emergency backup popping on.

Her shadow was no longer an outline.