Achieving Unbroken

-Chapter 33-

Achieving Unbroken
Chapter Thirty Three

—

"Like a spotlight, the water hits me
Ran it extra cold to shake the words from my mouth
Though I know that no one's listening,
I nervously rehearse for when you're around"
The Other | Lauv

—

Jason
[Saturday, July 16th, 2018]

"Jason..." a muffled voice courses through my head. I automatically assume it's a dream, that it could be Joey — only the image in my head is pure darkness. "Jason!" The voice gets louder and clearer, and when I listen to it the second time I determine that it isn't Joey; the voice is too high. "JASON!"

My eyes fly open, heart racing.

Carl is standing above me, right next two my bed, staring down at me like he's expecting something.

"Jesus, Bud, you can't do that," I groan, arm flinging over my face to cover my eyes from my bedroom light that he turned on. I try to bury my face back into my pillow and see if I can just automatically fall back asleep, but Carl won't allow it. I feel his finger jab the bare skin of my back once, twice, and three times before I turn over again. "Okay, okay! I'm awake. What's up?" My hand raises to my eyes and I rub the drowsiness from them with the heel of my palm.

"Come to the library with me. You said you would last week."

Searching through my memory archives, a conversation with Carl awhile ago pops into my mind:

"Hey Kiddo! What's up? Why the long face?"

"I'm so bored! I read all of my books, what do I do now?"

"Well, we can take care of that! I'll take you to the library next weekend."

Fuck.

"Yes, I did! Just gimme a few minutes to get ready and eat breakfast. Have you eaten?" My voice is still scratchy from waking up, but at least I can sit up with my arms propped behind me.

"Yep! Dad made me a sandwich before he went to work."

"God, how long have you been up?" I check my phone on my nightstand, and the time reads 9:23 AM.

"Since 7:30," he shrugs, turning around to shuffle through my dresser.

"What're you doing?" I try to ask, but he doesn't answer until I feel a soft shirt collide with my face.

"Put a shirt on and come downstairs."

With that, he turns sharply and exits my room without another word. With one hand, I un-crumple the shirt that he threw at me, and see that it is a long sleeve crew neck that I had in my dresser drawer for a reason. It's summer, why do I need it? I've been sleeping in boxers and nothing else for over a month. If I didn't, I would loose two pounds in just sweat.

Instead of putting on the shirt, I find a pair of basketball shorts to put on and decide that it's good enough. Carl gives me a disapproving look when I walk into the kitchen.