Stonebrook High School

Chapter 54

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"Uh, hey, Jesse." The awkwardness oozed out of Petra's mouth and she scratched her head. "You've, uh... been out for a while."

Olivia, sensing Petra's strained attempts at interactions, walked to the door. "I'll leave you two be."

Jesse played with his hands as he heard the click of the door closing. Where would he start or what would he say? 'Hey, it's cool you're not dead'???

"So... I've heard we've known each other for quite a while." The first sentence from Petra startled Jesse and he looked up at the redhead. "Yeah, yeah. Since elementary school."

"And how old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"How old am I?"

"Sixteen."

"... When's my birthday?"

"November 28th," he nodded.

Petra grinned. "Wow. You have great memory." Her smile fell with the unintentional joke and she sighed. "I wish I could remember something."

He glanced at her and shifted his look to her eyes. They scrunched together in worry and were glassy. "How do you feel?"

"I'm... constantly tired. Confused. Scared. But it's really calm right now."

"Do you really not remember... anything?"

She frowned. "All I can pull up is being in that... that thing. It was dark and I was alone and terrified. I thought I was, well, dead." Silence. "It was just never-ending fear. But then I heard something loud and the ground shook underneath me. Then I opened my eyes, and there I was, in the middle of a forest, aching and smelling of smoke and ash. I was trying to figure out where I was and what I was doing when that blonde guy came up to me."

Jesse's face fell. "So that must have been what it was like for Jess."

"Jess... that's your- your sister, right?"

"Mhm."

"I- I took a picture of her in the storm? Apparently?"

"Oh. Yeah." He patted his sides and remembered he was in a hospital with no pockets and only a gown on. "I don't have my phone on me but that was when we arrived at the temple and were gathering resources. I had made a call on Lukas's phone when it vibrated and I looked at the message. It was my sister inside the Storm... and it was sent by you. Oh, wait, Lukas has the picture, not me."

Petra sat down. "So I didn't forget immediately after being sucked up by this thing?"

"I guess not."

She sighed. "I wish I could remember."

"Well, maybe it's good you forgot."

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "This whole thing kind of got set off because of us. We gave Ivor that last Wither core he needed. Look what that did for us." Jesse stared out the window and sighed. "I should have convinced you not to go."

"We... we caused this?"

"Indirectly. You found the Wither cores and came back with one because you had an underground job. He promised to pay you well but after giving him the core, we were scammed."

"Wait, so, I got the core?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. "You're a badass like that."

"But... we both gave it to him?"

"You had asked me to come along. And even though I didn't think it was a good idea, you told me that it wouldn't be too much of a problem if we got caught in a jam or something. Had we known this was going to happen I'm sure we would have stayed well away."

Petra took a few moments to process it all, staring at the floor. She held her head up by resting her chin on her hand and looked as if she was contemplating what she learned. Jesse watched her with regret and guilt, wishing he could comfort her from his bed.

"Jesse... I- I still don't really understand. I've been here for three days now and even with all the details the others have told me, I still can't really take in anything. All I know for certain is that when I look at you, a warm feeling comes up. And that feeling makes me feel... better. Calmer. I can't believe the situation I'm in, but I trust you and Olivia. My head has been hurting so much that I'm glad to have at least a moment of relief."

"Petra..." he trailed off. "Petra, you mean the world to me. You're not Jess level but you're pretty damn close and that's more than enough. These past few weeks, I've been feeling so terrible about you. Knowing that you got sucked up by the Witherstorm and I wasn't there for you. Holding the burden of knowing about the Wither cores and imagining, if you remembered, what hell it would be for you. We're the only ones who really know about that other than Ivor and I don't want to be alone. I feel like I'm going crazy just keeping everything in. Maybe I already am, ha. I did blow myself up."

"Probably not the best idea."

"Nope. But now that I know you're safe, now that I know you're right here besides me - I think I'll be okay."

"Jesse, what was our relationship before the Storm?"

"Huh? We- we were just friends. I swear!"

She chuckled. "I feel like this already has been said, but it seems like you act like we're something else."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Her giggle turned into a full laugh. "Hey, I don't either."

~*Ω*~

I... am so tired.

- Crystal