Chapter 29 War Paint by. Chasing Jonah
Will
I paced the waiting room of the hospital. I couldn’t sit still knowing Jackie was here. She was here and they wouldn’t let me go back to see her.
Theo and Kai stood side by side watching me pace. They were feeling just as anxious as I was to see their sister.
Scarlett had let us know that she was found and being taken here. They had to run some tests and do a physical before they let us back to see her. That was nearly three hours ago.
I approached the receptionist's desk, again.
“Do you have any updates?” I asked.
“Dr. Bly, once again, I will let you know the second you can go back,” she responded. I hung my head in defeat.
I turned and sat next to Fai in one of the chairs. We had come to a sort of understanding the last few days while searching for Jackie.
“She’s alive, Will. That’s all that matters,” he said in comfort.
“I know…” I hesitated for a moment. “But will she be okay? She was gone for five days.”
He pondered my words for a moment before answering. “I need her to be.”
“It’s not your fault.”
He shrugged. “I know. But I shouldn’t have been so heartless towards her. I shouldn’t have fired her… it was cowardly of me.”
“You were mad. She did lie to you. It’s okay to be upset about that.”
“It’s not just that,” he began as he looked at me with worry in his eyes. “She has a weird habit of seeing all of my secrets and…”
“What?” I urged him. “What’s going on?”
He slumped forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I relapsed. I started drinking again.”
I stared at him in shock. “When?”
“A year ago.”
My eyes widened. A year ago? I knew Sarah didn’t know, and I knew Jackie didn’t know.
“Holy fuck, Fai.”
“I know. Trust me.” I saw tears begin to well in his eyes. “I know.”
We sat in silence for a moment but all thoughts of Fai breaking his sobriety were forgotten when a nurse came back to tell us we could see her. Only one person was allowed back at a time. I turned to Theo and Kai, waiting to see which one of them would be first, but they just stared back at me.
“What are you doing?” Kai asked. “Go.”
I hugged him quickly and said my thanks before following the nurse back into the hospital. She took me through winding hallways. Finally, we approached a door flanked by two police officers.
“She’s in there,” the nurse explained. “She’s really shaken and confused. Give her some time. Okay?”
I nodded and followed her into the room. Jackie wasn’t in the bed. I panicked looking for her and I stopped in my tracks when I finally saw her.
She was looking out the window, her blonde hair falling down her back. She had lost weight and her eyes had dark circles around them, yet she was still the most beautiful person I had ever seen.
“Sunshine?” I asked quietly.
She turned to me. I saw a flash of confusion and fear in her eyes initially, but the second they met mine they light I had come to rely on was back.
“Will, is that really you?”
I nodded and began walking toward her. She followed suit and quickly flung herself in my arms. I held her to me and began to cry.
I finally had her back. She was safe. She was home.
“I love you, Jackie,” I whispered to her.
“I love you too, Will,” she responded before leaning back to look at me. “You look like hell.”
I chuckled. “Right back at ya.”
She giggled.
God, I loved that sound.
“At least I have an excuse.”
I framed her face in my hand and just looked at my Jackie for a moment. She didn’t seem overly hurt. She was in one piece. Her eyes were different. Something in her changed while she was gone.
“What happened?” I asked timidly. “If you’re not ready to talk about it, you don’t need to answer,” I quickly rushed out, not wanting to pressure her.
“I want to tell everyone at once, is that okay? Are they here?”
I nodded. “Everyone is. Fai, Sarah, Oliver, Theo and Kai. Goldie is watching Violet at my house right now. We thought we should see how things were before bringing her.”
“Theo and Kai are here?” she asked, hopeful, and turned to the nurse, who I had completely forgotten about. “Can you bring them back please?”
She nodded and left for a moment. I took advantage of our time alone and immediately kissed Jackie with everything in me. I poured my love and fear into it. Jackie met me with just as much passion.
God, I missed her.
We were interrupted by a throat clearing. I turned to see a very pissed off Kai and an amused Theo.
“Can you not stick your tongue down my sister's throat?” Kai grumbled.
Jackie laughed and ran to hug her brother and sister. I watched as the siblings tearfully reunited. Theo hugged her tight before pulling back and eyeing Jackie curiously.
“You smell familiar,” said Theo.
Jackie chuckled as she sat down on the bed. “Probably bad, I don’t think I’ve showered for five days.”
“You don’t think?” Kai asked.
Jackie nodded before explaining. “I-I don’t remember anything. I was in my apartment, Griffin drugged me.” Just the mention of him had my blood boiling. “I had some wild dreams and then I was in the street where they found me.”
“Nothing in between?” Theo asked as she sat next to her.
Jackie shook her head no and took a seat on the hospital bed. “Just the dreams. I know something must have happened. The doctors said I was suffering from extreme sleep exhaustion and my feet are all cut up like I was running.”
I looked down to see her feet bandaged with gauze. I hated that she was hurt. I squatted down in front of her on the bed and took her hands in my own.
“Are you okay? Did Griffin do anything else to you?” I asked quietly.
“I-I don’t think so.”
I heard Kai exhale behind me and saw Theo visibly relax next to Jackie. “I’m glad, Sunshine.”
We all sat for a moment while Jackie chatted about nothing important. It was obvious she was still in shock and the talking helped. I hadn’t let go of her once and at one point moved to sit on the bed with her. I had no plans of letting go of her anytime soon.
She radiated beauty and strength. I felt so lucky to have her in my life. I think she was mid-sentence when I leaned down and interrupted her with a kiss.
“This is a nice change of pace for you, Will,” Theo remarked while chuckling at me.
“You should have seen him, Jack,” Kai began. “I thought my ranger team was scary. I actually thought he was going to murder Griffin when we were in New York.”
“You were in New York? So was Griffin?” Jackie asked, confused.
I nodded. “Yeah. I knew Griffin had something to do with it, so we went and… questioned him at the asylum.”
Jackie stared at me in shock.
“What?” I asked.
“How did he take me if he was in New York?”
Theo, Kai, and I were all silent.
“We’re not sure,” Kai finally said. “The police say it couldn’t have been him, but you remember him. Right?”
She nodded.
“We don’t know how connected it is, but he has ties to the Cult you have been researching,” Theo said.
“It’s real?” Jackie asked in earnest.
I nodded. “Yeah, Sunshine, we think it is.”
“Fuck.”
“There’s more,” Oliver said in the doorway, Sarah at his side. “Sorry to interrupt.”
“Don’t you dare be sorry,” Jackie smiled. “Come here.”
Oliver and Sarah exchanged hugs with Jackie, both elated to have their friend back.
“What were you saying?” Jackie asked after a moment of getting reacquainted with her friends.
“At the start of this, remember how there were four trials in the teaching of the Cult of Creatio to bring about the ‘end of times’?” I asked Jackie. She nodded. “Do you remember how with each trial an Advocate is created?” She nodded again.
“Griffin called you an Advocate,” Sarah explained to Jackie. “He said the seals were breaking and you were an Advocate.”
Jackie stared at each of us, obviously confused. “There were four, right? Four Advocates?”
“Yeah. He said you were the second,” Theo answered. “Kai is the first.”
Jackie seemed to marinate on all of the information we had dumped on her. None of it made sense. We are talking about cults and the end of times. These conversations weren’t supposed to be a part of our reality.
Finally, Jackie broke the silence. “That’s why the Cult took me? It was the trial?”
I nodded. “I think so, yes.”
“How is this real?” she whispered.
I hugged her close because I had no answer. All that mattered right then was that she was here and she was safe. I breathed her in.
She smelled different, like dust after rain.
“Are you sniffing me?” Jackie asked with a laugh.
“Yes, and I’m not ashamed.”
Everyone in the room began laughing at that when the nurse came in to let us know visiting hours were over and Jackie needed to sleep. The other said their goodbyes, promising to come back tomorrow.
“I’m not leaving,” I protested as our friends closed the door behind them.
“Sir, you have to. It’s hospital policy,” the nurse explained.
“Fuck hospital policy. I’m staying.”
Jackie sighed. “It’s okay, Will.”
I turned to her. “It’s not. You were gone, Jackie. One second I had the love of my life with me and the next you were just gone. I can’t do that again. I-I can’t go another night without you by my side. Please, Sunshine, please,” I pleaded with her as tears fell down my face.
“Fine, but do not tell them it was me who allowed it,” the nurse stated as she turned to leave.
Jackie and I looked at one another when we heard the door click shut. Once again we were alone.
“Will.”
“Jackie.”
“I’m scared.”
“So am I.”
“Now what?” she asked.
I smiled a soft smile at her as I took her face in my hand. “I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out together.” I then brought my lips to hers and kissed the love of my life again.
I could tell Jackie wanted more, she wiggled next to me almost immediately but I quickly put a stop to that.
“You need sleep, Sunshine.”
She pouted at me for a moment. “Fine.”
“Don’t look so upset. We have all the time in the world.”
I pulled her to my chest and laid down on the bed. She quickly fell asleep on top of me and I followed shortly behind.