Age of Demons

Chapter 35 - Jace

Detroit Safe House

Jace had been mildly awed when he discovered there was a gym. After lying around for a couple hours, waiting for Des to come to the room, he'd decided to explore the recreational buildings.

The gym was located in the building next to the cafeteria. There was a basketball court next to it. The gym was small, with only a handful of dumbbells. There were a couple bars and three machines. There was also one treadmill and one bike. A single person occupied the gym, and they ran on the treadmill.

A mirror stretched along one side, reflecting his form, standing stiffly as if he didn't belong here. He started. Red eyes stared back at him. No. He blinked. He wasn't trying to use the demon's power. The room spun, and his vision blurred—the complete opposite when he tapped into the demon's sight. The room seemed to collapse in on itself, and the scene changed like a dream.

He stood before a different mirror. Brown walls. Hair gelled and styled. A suit. The pants were a tad long on him, and a woman kneeled at his feet, hemming them. Dark brown hair covered her face, and weathered fingers worked at the cloth. She sniffed.

"It'll be okay, Mom." His tone was void of emotion. The opposite of what churned inside him.

His mom finished hemming his pants and straightened up. She only reached his chin in height. He moved forward and wrapped his arms around her.

After a couple seconds, she withdrew and wiped at her eyes. "We should get going." Her voice wavered slightly. Before she left his room, she called back, "And don't forget your meds."

The acid swirling in the pit of his stomach seared. He walked over to his dresser and grabbed the pill bottle. The words Escitalopram (Lexapro) glared up at him. He swallowed the pill.

The memory jumped, and he occupied the space facing the rows of people sitting. On his right was his mother. To his other side was the boy and girl from the other memory. His brother just reached his shoulder. Next to him was his sister, maybe about ten. She wore a black dress with a black bow in her hair. She peered up at him, and her blue eyes met his.

Right beside his mom was his father. He didn't stand up with them. Instead, he lay down inside a coffin. His receding hair was combed to the side. His skin was no longer the deep brown it used to be, but much lighter and gray, no matter how much make-up the mortician applied. Death wasn't the one responsible for that; cancer was. The cancer hadn't just eaten away at his body, but it had eaten away at the family too.

His mother had just finished her speech. Tears fell from her cheeks. The audiences' eyes glistened. His mom placed her hand on his back, urging him forward. It was his turn to say something about his father.

As he stood there in the center, words escaped him. His heart was breaking little by little and something gripped his stomach terribly tight. But his mind was ablaze with an uncontainable fire. It wanted to spill out the ugly words, the unwanted truth. That his father wasn't that great. That while he wasn't the worst, and he did take care of them, he was still messed up in the head.

Rather than screaming it to the world, he turned and left the room.

Silence followed him out as well as the echo of his mother's stifled sobs.

Jace jerked back to reality. The red in his eyes swirled madly. He shook his head and left the gym. Maybe he'd come back another day.

The sun was disappearing beneath the horizon through the windows as he walked the halls. He descended into the tunnels and made his way back to his room.