HTSAL-Shadows and Regrets

"Jennifer finds JC after he tries to kill himself. How can you save somebody's life if they don't want to live?"

One bright sunny morning, Jennifer wakes up to the screaming of her parents. She rubs her eyes and gets out of bed. Downstairs, her parents are arguing about some stupid thing like always. And like always, it gets out of hand and ends in a screaming match.
She quickly gets dressed and hurries out of the house before she is brought into the fight.
She steps out into the bright sunlight and remembers this one time her parents brought her to a pumpkin patch.
It was four years ago and was the day before Halloween.
Jennifer was sure she wouldn't be able to get a pumpkin and at the age of six, she was balling her eyes out and screaming.
They arrived at the pumpkin patch and hurried out of the car. The three of them searched the large brown field for a pumpkin, but most of them were gone. The only ones left were small rotten ones.
They continued searching as the sun beamed down on them.
Jennifer suddenly found a huge pumpkin hidden by a patch of grass and began screaming with joy and clapping her hands.
Her parents dug the pumpkin out.
"How lucky was that??" her mom cries.
That day, the three of them got so sun burnt. Which was odd considering it was Halloween.
The sun today reminded Jennifer of that day.
She sighs at the remembrance of a happier time with her parents. Her older brother wasn't with them that day, he had been out with some friends.
Jennifer had always figured he was embarrassed to be seen with their family and Jennifer didn't blame him. All day long, they would fight, bicker or argue. Jennifer couldn't wait until she was sixteen so she could be out all day just like him.
She stepped off the concrete porch and walked across the front lawn and into the woods. She followed the trail and picked up a walking stick. The stick was used for swinging at leaves and knocking them down.
Jennifer was heading for the big lake at the back of the woods. It usually took about fifteen minutes to walk there.

Once she arrived, she saw a boy standing on the small dock at the other side of the lake. She quickly recognized the boy, realizing him to be JC, a boy who goes to her school.
JC was four grades above her. Him in tenth grade, her in sixth. They had only been in the same school for this year, as JC was going to the high school the next year. The school systems had been messed up and JC was stuck in the JR High until tenth grade, leaving grades eleven and twelve for the High School.

Jennifer looked away from JC and walked along the side of the lake. For a second, she could hear her parents still arguing but made up her mind that she had imagined it to hide any embarrassment in case somebody else had heard them.

SPLASH!

Jennifer turns around and sees that JC has jumped into the lake. He floats to the top of the water--face down.
"Oh my God!" Jennifer yells. She panics for a second and then rushes over to the dock. She gets down on her hands and knees and tries to pull JC out of the water. He is too heavy for her, being four years older.
She jumps into the lake just next to his body and she rolls him over. He suddenly starts coughing and thrashing around in the water. His feet meet the ground and he stands up, towering over Jennifer who can barley stand with her feet on the ground.
"What are you doing??" JC screams angrily.
"You were drowning!" Jennifer shouts back.
"I know!" JC replies. He shakes the water from his head and then lifts himself out of the lake and hurries into the woods.
Jennifer gets out and sees three empty bottles of beer laying on the dock.

Jennifer dashes into the woods searching for the kid she had just saved who is most likely drunk.

After five minutes of searching, she finds him passed out on the ground.

About twenty minutes later, JC wakes up and looks around him. He is in a room. The door opens and Jennifer steps in, carrying a cup of coffee. She sits on the edge of the bed JC is in and hands him the coffee.
"Are you drunk?" Jennifer asks.
"Yeah and I've got the trashing headache to prove it..."
"Why were you drinking?" Jennifer asks. "And what did you mean after I pulled you out of the water?"
"I meant exactly what it sounded liked."
"So...you went to the lake, to drown yourself?"
"Yes."
"...Why?"
JC looks down at the floor and says nothing.
"Do you like, hate your life?" Jennifer asks.
"I guess you could say that," JC replies slowly.
"Why? I see you around school all the time. You have lots of friends and you seem happy."
"It's called wearing a mask. I'm hiding my life from everybody I know," JC finally gives in and gives Jennifer a little bit of information.
"Why do you hate your life? What about your parents?"
"They're basically the whole problem..."
"Do they hit you?"
JC doesn't reply.

Two Months Earlier

JC's father wasn't letting him out of the house. One day, he had a doctors appointment and would be out for most of the day. About twenty minutes after he left, JC quickly did a bunch of chores. Such as sweeping and cleaning, so it would look like JC had been doing chores all day long.
He called up one of his friends who lived down the street and asked if they wanted to hang out at the mall.
"Sure, do you need a ride?" He asks.
"Yeah, my dad's out all day," JC replies.
"He's letting you out?" JC's friend asks.
"No, haha," JC chuckles. His friend laughs too.
"Alright, well I'll be there in like ten minutes, see ya then," his friend says. The two hang up and JC gets ready quickly.

JC met a bunch of his friends he hadn't seen since school ended and finally got the chance to see them again. He was there for six or seven hours and he suddenly realizes that his dad will be home soon. He suddenly runs out of the mall as fast as he can, not stopping for any reason, he just keeps running. It takes about thirty minutes for him to finally arrive home.

He slowly sneaks around back and sees his dad through a window looking for JC.
JC panics and then realizes he can just tell his dad he was taking a walk around the neighborhood.

He quickly walks inside through the front door and wipes sweat that mats his hair to his forehead.
"Hey, dad!" JC says.
"Where were you?"
"I took a walk around the neighborhood," JC replies.
JC's dad looks at him cautiously and he slowly approaches him.
"Then why are you so sweaty?"
"I ran a little bit too..."
"You were at the mall."
"What? Ha, no I wasn't..." JC lies through his teeth, trying to keep a straight face.
JC's dad turns around and walks into the kitchen. He hits PLAY on the answering machine and a message from one of JC's friends say: "Hey JC today at the mall was fun, we should do it again tomorrow! You left your wallet so that's why I'm calling. I can drop it off if you want, bye!"
JC looks terrified as his dad approaches him again.
He tries to walk away but his dad grabs him by the wrist and throws him to the floor.
JC met his father's fist that night, over and over.

"He does, doesn't he?" Jennifer asks.
JC looks at her, deep into her eyes and a tear rolls down his cheek.
"Yeah. He did."
"Did?"
"Yeah. I don't see him anymore."
"What about your mom?"
"Gone."
Jennifer puts a hand on JC's shoulder.
"You can stay here if you want. My mom probably wouldn't care..."
"Nah, she would care. Parents don't exactly like me. I have a pretty bad reputation," JC explains.
"Well, where did you live when your parents were in your life?"
JC stays quiet for a few moments, and then explains to Jennifer where he lived.
"I used to live in your house, here. About a month and a half ago, my parents moved out and left me behind."
"That's what you meant by they're gone?"
"Yeah."

"Well, even if my mom doesn't know you're here...do you wanna stay here? You could stay in the attic, you probably remember how nice it is up there. And plus, my mom never goes up there." Jennifer says.
"I don't wanna impose--," JC starts.
"You wouldn't!"
"Well, fine. Alright. Can I go to the bathroom, beer makes you pee like crazy," JC jokes.

JC smiles and gets up. He walks into the bathroom and closes the door. Looking into the mirror, he suddenly has memories flooding his mind from when he lived in that house.
They race through his mind and he can not slow them. He puts his hands over his temples and presses down trying to slow them.
They wont.
He squeezes his eyes closed, opens them and sees the scissors.

Jennifer hears a thud from the bathroom and walks to the door.
"JC?" she calls.
"Don't come in..." JC slowly says.
"Are you okay...?" Jennifer asks and opens the door. She gasps and her eyes go wide.
JC is sitting on the floor with his wrist slit by the scissors.
"JC!" Jennifer yells. She runs into the hallway and grabs a towel. She rushes to JC and presses it down over the cut.
"Hold this!" Jennifer commands.
JC holds it down as Jennifer runs downstairs to call 911.
JC sits quietly crying that his attempt at suicide had failed...

Later, JC was taken to the hospital by paramedics.
He is now in a hospital room laying down on a bed.
Since he had no adults to stay with him, Jennifer was the only one. A group of his friends were in the waiting room, waiting to see if JC would be okay.
Jennifer enters the hospital room and walks to JC's bed.
"Why did you do this?" she asks.
"Do you even need to ask? I already explained how much of a sucky life I have."
"Well, don't worry. You're not only going to live in my house, I'm going to show you how good life CAN be."
JC smiles at Jennifer.
"You're really sweet, but you don't want me in your life."
"I think that's for me to decide," Jennifer says and smiles.
"Okay. We're really going to do this?"

End.