Jake

Chapter Five

A month had passed and Jake was still struggling with his abilities. He had improved a little bit, but he was still very unstable and unsure. He often spent time in the park nearby the college to practice his skills and today was no different. After he had tired himself out he set out on the walk back to his room. His phone rang and he looked down at the caller ID. Samantha.

His heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t spoken to her since she walked in on he and Jessi in his room. “H-hello?”

Silence.

“Sam?”

“Jake.”

“Yeah?”

“I uh… you have my camera.”

“Your… oh. Yeah, I do.”

“I need it.”

“Yeah, okay. Um, I can bring it by for you,” he suggested hopefully.

Silence.

“Sam?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Okay,” he said softly. “I’m on my way home now. I’ll pick it up and bring it right by.”

“Okay. I’ll see you when you get here.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“And Sam?”

Silence.

“I love you.”

Silence. *click*.

Jake’s heart sank as Samantha hung up on him. He shut his phone and slipped it back into his pocket and hurried his pace back to his room. He scared Kyle as he exploded in through the door and tossed his bag on his bed as he bolted for his desk.

“Where’s the fucking fire, man?” Kyle asked.
“Sam called!” Jake said excitedly.

“She did?” Kyle asked surprised.

“Yeah! She uh… she just wants her camera,” Jake said holding up the silver device, “but this’ll give me a chance to talk to her!”

“Yeah,” Kyle said skeptically. “Good luck.”

“Thanks!” Jake ran back out of his room and practically ran the whole way across campus to Samantha’s sorority house.

He skipped stairs on the way up to the porch and pounded his fist on the heavy door. After a moment the door creaked open. A short brunette stood in front of him dressed in sweats.

“What do you want dickwad?” she asked with venom in her voice.

“Nice to see you too Ashley. I need Sam,” Jake replied.

“And I need someone to finish this damned house project for me,” she replied as she shut the door in his face.

A small flick of his wrist and the door stuck two inches from actually shutting. “What the hell?” he heard from the other side of the door. Ashley pushed on the door to try and shut it again, but Jake held his hand in place, holding the door open without actually touching it. Ashley’s voice again from the other side of the door suggested, “There’s probably something stuck in the…”

“Yeah, probably,” Jake said as he started to push the door open, his hand on the wood this time.

“Hey! You can’t come in here!”

He shoved his way passed Ashley and started up the stairs. She followed him and latched onto the back of his shirt, trying to pull him back. “Get out!”

“God, woman, she told me to come!” Jake declared as he pulled himself up the stairs.

Ashley squeezed past him and ran down the hall to Samantha’s room. She swung the door open and defended, “I tried to stop him! I…”

“Ashley, its fine, he’s bringing something for me,” Samantha assured just as Jake’s figure appeared in the doorway.

“Oh,” Ashley said. She walked away as though nothing had happened.

“Hi,” Jake said.

Silence.

He took a step into Samantha’s room and pulled the silver camera out from an inner pocket in his jacket. “I uh… I brought it.”

“Thanks,” Samantha said quietly, reaching out for her camera.

Jake handed it to her and stood awkwardly in front of her desk where she was seated. She was still beautiful. No more beautiful, than he even remembered.

She just stared at him, unsure of what he would do.

“Sam, I…”

“Jake, I don’t want to hear it,” Samantha cut him off.

“Sam, please!” he begged.

“No, please leave. You did what you came to…”

“No, Sam, I’m not done yet. You have to at least hear me out. Please.”

Jake stood in front of her with sad desperate eyes. He was pitiful and she couldn’t deny him any longer. “Fine. You have five minutes.”

“Sam, I love you,” he started.

“That’s not helping your case,” she interrupted.

“Please, just listen. I love you. You have to know I would never ever ever do anything to hurt you. I’d sooner kill myself.”

Samantha sat expressionless.

Jake inhaled, mostly to calm his nerves. “I went to the bar with Kyle, just to get out… and… this, this chick… she sat down next to me and she knew who I was! She said she was at that lab with me when I was little!”

“That’s no reason to…”

“Sam, listen!” She had tried to cut him off but Jake wouldn’t allow it. “I got drunk. I did, but… I wasn’t retarded. After Kyle left I told her I was gonna leave too, but she wouldn’t let me. I tried to get up… but she stopped me… and it was like… like I didn’t have control over myself anymore…”

“Yeah sure, ‘it just happened’” Samantha said sarcastically.

“NO,” Jake objected so loud he made Samantha jump. “I’m sorry,” he immediately apologize. “No, that’s not what I was gonna say. It was like I literally didn’t have control. It was like she…she hijacked my mind… and I blacked out. The last thing I remember was telling her that I loved you… and then… I woke up next to her and freaked out. And it wasn’t like waking up from sleeping, it was… it was like I had been sleep walking and just suddenly came to and didn’t’ know where I was or what I was doing or why… I had no memory of what happened…”

Samantha still sat expressionless.

“Please Sam, you have to believe me!” Jake begged.

Samantha rubbed her face. “Jake, I’m sorry. I can’t. You hurt me too badly.”

“But it wasn’t me damn it!” he yelled.

“You need to leave,” Samantha said softly.

“Sam…” Jake’s voice cracked as he said her name. She could see that his eyes had glossed over.

“Please leave,” she said coldly.

Jake bit his lower lip and nodded reluctantly. “Okay,” he said. His throat was tight and he had to squeeze the word through his vocal chords. He turned and walked out of her room, gently closing the door behind him. As soon as the latch clicked he heard Samantha instantly burst into tears. Hearing that made him feel as though someone had just shoved a knife through his chest. He made his way out of her house and walked home feeling defeated once again.

When he got to his room, he relayed to Kyle what had happened. “That sucks, man,” Kyle responded.

“I know,” Jake said. “I don’t know what else to do.” Jake took the syringe he had gotten out of his desk drawer and popped off the protective cap to expose the needle. He took a small vile with the medication in it and sucked some of it into the syringe.

“I don’t really think there’s anything you can do, except move on,” Kyle suggested.

Jake held the needle upside down and flicked it to get the air to the top before squeezing the plunger slightly to expel the air. “I don’t want to move on, Kyle, I love her.”

“You’re twenty-one. You’ll find someone else to love,” Kyle stated.

“I don’t care,” Jake said just as he slipped the needle under the skin on his arm. He squeezed the plunger dispensing the life-saving liquid.

“That’s so gross,” Kyle said staring at Jake’s arm as he injected himself. Kyle had lived with this knowledge for a month, but still always watched with fascination as Jake medicated himself.

“Not as gross as me involuntarily shitting myself after I die from not doing this,” Jake retorted, grinning at his roommate.

“Touché.”