18 #2
“Fuck!” Sky cursed under his breath, and Jude flinched.
Sky took a few steps back and turned his back on him.
“You fucking wait here.”
Without another word, he headed upstairs, leaving Jude standing there, breathless.
A shaky breath escaped Jude’s lips as he gripped the back of the sofa, his trembling legs barely able to keep him upright.
He felt like his energy and strength, whatever was still left, had vanished in a snap.
Their proximity had left him weak, and his tone had ripped his heart.
Jude crawled to sit on the sofa.
It had already been ten minutes, and he prayed and hoped that the rest of the night would end well, not with him being assassinated by Sky Granger.
Despite his pathetic condition, with his awful state and fatigue, with stains of blood on his face, a broken nose, cracked lips, cut eyebrows, swollen eyes, a pungent smell, and dirty clothes, Jude was still able to roam his eyes around.
Jude turned his attention to the framed photographs on the wall.
Nearly all of them featured a younger Jasper, smiling beside the countless awards and achievements he had earned throughout his school years.
He was very cute, cheerful, and jolly. One photograph, in particular, caught his attention.
It showed Jasper at around five years old, happily eating an ice cream cone.
Chocolate smudges stained the corners of his mouth, while melted ice cream had dripped onto his white sando.
Jude could tell that the innocent young boy was Jasper because he really looked like him, and he could clearly tell by his smile.
His eyes were averted to the biggest frame amongst the pictures hanging on the wall.
His heart swelled with warmth as he saw Jasper standing before what he assumed were his parents, who were seated in front.
Jasper was smiling brightly, and the sight filled him with an unexpected sense of comfort.
Where are their parents now? Jude thought.
The house felt so empty and quiet. Judging by the photograph, it seemed to have been taken only a few years earlier. Jude guessed Jasper had been around thirteen or fourteen years old when it was captured.
Jude’s eyes jerked to the boy taller than Jasper, and the way his eyes pierced Jude, there was no doubt it was Sky.
It was like he was just being forced to join in the family picture because his expression said it all—he was frowning, his forehead creased, and his eyebrows almost met.
His hands were stuffed in his black, worn-out jeans, and his hair was styled in a messy taper cut.
Whether he liked it or not, he had to admit that Sky had been remarkably handsome even in his younger years.
Yet Jasper was way, way more attractive than Sky.
Looking back, if only Jude had seen this before, maybe he would have established a much better output of Sky back when he made him his project for the school’s exhibition. Probably, he would have carved a better picture of their parents, too.
The sound of footsteps descending the stairs instantly stole the air from his lungs, making him sit upright. He shifted his eyes to his fidgety hands on his lap, pinching his fingers and digging something from his already trimmed nails.
The sound of his heart beating erratically made him unable to breathe properly.
The tension in the air was strong, corrupting any positive energy if there was.
Sky walked around the coffee table and absentmindedly set down his silver laptop, the familiar bitten Apple logo gleaming on the back of the lid.
Jude flinched immediately when something hit his face. It felt like his soul instantly left his body, almost screaming in shock. He touched it when it fell on his lap.
It was a black shirt.
“Change,” Sky ordered.
Jude held the shirt in his hands with quiet force.
“I’m going out. You can go home once you’re done with that fucking shit,” he seethed, and Jude kept his head down more, almost kissing his lap.
There was a brief silence until he heard footsteps heading toward the door.
“Wait!” Jude softly raised his voice, mindlessly.
Jude turned to look at him. Sky paused, stopping in his tracks, though he remained with his back turned, and his hands tucked deeply into the pockets of his grey sweatpants.
“I-is your laptop having a password on it? C-can you o-open it before you l-leave?” Jude stuttered badly, struggling to form coherent words.
Jude tried to swallow, but his mouth felt dry, and nothing came out.
“P-please?” his voice cracked.
Jude almost cried in this quest. He had already come this far, and he no longer cared if Sky hit him or beat him up for having the courage to speak. There were only a few months left anyway. Soon, he would never have to see this monster again.
Jude gathered what little courage he had left for the sake of his project. It took him a couple of seconds before Sky responded.
“Don’t ever demand something from me anymore. You are already wasting my time, and you will never be worth my time.” he went to the door and held the knob to open it.
“The password’s your name.”
With that, he stormed out, slamming the door so hard that Jude jumped from where he sat.
The password’s your name.
The password’s your name.
The password’s your name.
It kept on repeating inside his head.
It took several long moments before he finally snapped back to reality. Still dazed and struggling to process everything that had just happened, Jude stared blankly at the device. When he powered it on, he entered “Yourname” as the password, only to be met with an Incorrect Password message.
Jude was not foolish enough to think that his number one bully’s password was his name. However, Jude thought maybe because he wanted to be reminded to bully him now and then. But the reason was vague, and it was not all coming together.
The second time, he tried his first name, ‘Jude’. It was only incorrect again.
What does he mean that the password’s your name? he thought. Jude’s mind kept replaying Sky’s words over and over. For the third time, he entered “JudeFinn” but the device rejected it once again.
Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he chewed anxiously on his nail. Panic tightened around his veins at the thought that one more failed attempt might lock the device for good—and Sky would surely kill him.
“Okay, last one,” he mumbled.
If it would not open again, he would not continue. He briefly closed his eyes and took a deep breath,
For the last attempt, he typed his name in all capital letters, ‘JUDEFINN’, and boom!
Jude’s face lit up the moment he gained access to the device. A triumphant shout nearly escaped his lips, until his expression froze at the sight of the familiar face staring back at him from the wallpaper.
Jude removed his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and blinked several times. He leaned forward and looked very closely at the wallpaper on his laptop.
It’s me.