Phobia

[Chapter 6]

He and I both had faded blue jeans on with a red and black flannel over a white t shirt, although I was wearing a white tank. He was also wearing black vans whereas I had black converse on.

“That’s a lie. You don’t have your hair in a braid.” I pointed out. He shot me a non-amused look and reached towards me. I swatted his hand away in confusion of what he was doing , and he gave me a hurt look. It didn’t stop him from reaching for my braid again and undoing the rubber band holding it together, making the braid slowly fall out with some help of his fingers.

“I like your hair better down,” he shrugged at my confused expression. He took my hand and lead me to his truck. “I’ve done nothing since we last talked,” he admitted.

“Anuptaphobia,”I said once I was in the passenger seat. Jack’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “The fear of staying single,” I explained.

Dementophobia- Fear of insanity

He looked at me seriously from the driver’s seat, “You’re insane.” He began pulling out of the driveway, and I stayed silent until we were nearly five minutes from my house.

“Because I’m right?” I asked. Jack didn’t answer and I thought it was because he had forgotten what we were talking about. “You called me insane.”

“I know,” his voice was tight, but different from how it sounded over the phone. He sounded a little pissed off. I watched his grip on the steering wheel tighten. Definitely pissed off. About what? What had I said wrong? Jack began breathing heavily, and it almost made me flinch. I thought back to what I realized earlier, that I was no longer scared of Jack. Except when his rage showed through. And I felt like I had accidentally set off a repeat of the last time we were together. He became more obvious, clenching and unclenching his right hand where it lay near the center console between our seats and looking hard at the road in front of him. I could feel the fear of what he would do build up. Maybe he would lash out, maybe he would hit me, maybe his anger would cause him to lose focus on the road. Maybe he would leave for good after this.

“You’re scaring me,” I finally blurted out, unsure of where my courage came from. I didn’t look at Jack, but he turned to face me after a considerable amount of time spent calming himself down.

“Don’t be afraid.” His voice was soft, almost pleading. All I could imagine was the way his skin pulled over his knuckles and the vivid amount of control he had to use to keep the anger in his own head. I saw the way his jaw clenched up and the hardness in his features. Even the air had turned cold with his change in emotion. I was afraid of him.

“But you are scared of something.” I fought back at his ignorance to think he has no fears.

“Think of me as your fearless knight in shining armor. Or knight dressed the same as you.” He teased.

“You’re fearless.” I said doubtfully, rolling my eyes and pretending I hadn’t been seconds away from panicking because he was mad.

“I’m fearless,” he repeated. It was late and we were the only ones on the road at this time of night in a small town I didn’t recognize. Jack slowed down and came to a stop at a red light and I tried to study the town a little more, but there was nothing to see, so I let my gaze go out of focus. Until I saw movement on the pavement further down the road. A person. He was running in our direction and fast. I looked for a pursuer behind him, but I couldn’t see anyone else until I checked the opposite pavement. Another person was running. Both were dressed in all black and seemed to be running away from something.

“Jack,” I whispered. The red light was lasting a long time.

“Hmm?” Jack hadn’t seemed to notice to two fleeing people. I watched his face, relaxed and painted red from the lights and switched back to the running people few seconds more, curious to see what they would do. They had changed direction and slowed down to a lumbering walk. They were now headed at an angle that would put them marching right into Jack’s truck.

“Jack,” I said louder, my voice rising considerably. The panic that was dripping out of my words was completely obvious.

“What is it?” he asked quickly.

I pointed to the two separate black figures. “They’re coming right at us.” My voice broke. Jack squinted into the darkness, but he couldn’t see anything or anyone.

“Who is? Tell me what you see.” Jack demanded. I flinched at the harshness in his voice and looked for the two guys outside in the dark.

But they were gone. My mouth dropped open and I quickly scanned the streets again. And again. The light was still red. Why was the light still red? “I- they’re gone!” I exclaimed.

“Who’s gone?” Jack pressed.

“Two guys! Dressed in all black! They were running from further down the street. It looked like they were being chased, but then they slowed down as they got closer to us and it looked like they were coming straight at us! I swear I saw them,” my hands began to shake. I’m crazy I thought. Jack was right. I am insane. “Oh no. No, no, no, no, no.”

Jack leaned over and grabbed my hand.

“Hey, everything is alright. Calm down, calm down,” Jack said softly. I could feel his hand warm against mine, his thumb drawing circles on the back of my hand. I breathed heavily and shook my head.

My vision began to blur and I wiped at my eyes furiously. “Jack, I swear I saw someone. I swear it on my life. There was two guys. I sw-”

I didn’t have time to finish my sentence. Because my window shattered. And so did Jack’s.

Something hit my head, or maybe I hit my head on the dashboard. I don’t remember. But I remember seeing Jack’s face. And it had no trace fear whatsoever on it. Not even his eyes betrayed an emotion that wasn’t there. Jack wasn’t scared. But I was. I was terrified. I tried to fight back, but my efforts were wasted because I hit my head again and all I saw was black.