Meanwhile, Jake was strolling down the street when his phone began to ring. He answered.
"Hey, what's up, Jimmy?"
"Yooo, Jake my yute! You gonna be here? 'Cause it's already going down!" Jimmy yelled.
Jake sighed. "Man, what's with all the music? I thought this was just a high school reunion."
"Just reach ya ass down here, boy!" Jimmy snapped before hanging up.
Jake muttered under his breath, "I hate my life."
David and Sarah lay panting on the bed, their breaths heavy, as if they'd just run a hundred kilometers.
"Ah, ah, wasn't that amazing?" David said with a satisfied grin.
Sarah turned to him, eyes sharp. "Tell me more about Jake."
"Huh?" David blinked, caught off guard.
"Can't I ask about my stepson?" she pressed.
"But—but I've probably told you everything there is to know about him. Remember when we were in the Bahamas? You were always complaining I talked too much about my son. Don't you like him?" David asked, still baffled.
Who asks random questions like that right after a good pound time session? He thought to himself, shaking his head.
"It's not like I don't like him," Sarah said. "He just seems… somewhat different."
"Different, huh? So you noticed it too," David replied with a heavy sigh. "He hasn't been the same since the day she left."
"She? His mom, you mean? Your first wife?" she asked.
"Oh yes… Catherine."
The name sent a shiver through Sarah's spine.
"Catherine was my first love. A very lively woman. She could walk into any room and light it up—she was the sunshine in my life." He paused. "But beneath all the joy and smiles… there was something else. Something dark. Something painful. She had her secrets, and I never really pried. To this day, I blame myself for her disappearance."
"So she just suddenly left?" Sarah asked softly.
"Yes! One day she was there… the next, gone." His voice cracked. "It broke Jake's heart. She was always the better parent. I had to take down every picture of her—he would just stare at them and cry for hours."
So that's why there's no photo of her in the house, Sarah thought.
"She didn't leave a note? Or any clue at all?" she pressed.
"No," he whispered. "Nothing… Can we please not talk about this anymore?"
"I'm sorry… how inconsiderate of me. It must still be so hard for you," she said, guilt in her tone.
"Yes. Yes, it is," David muttered, wiping his tears.
Damn it! The topic shifted to his ex-wife… and I barely got anything about Jake. Looks like I'll have to do my own digging. So much for a normal life, Sarah thought, her expression unreadable.
The bass thumped through the pavement as Jake pulled up to the old high school. Lights flashed through the gym windows, laughter and chaos spilling into the evening air.
He stepped off the bus, hands buried in his pockets, hood halfway up.
Why am I back here? Hethought.
He hated crowds. Hated fake smiles. Loud noise made his head throb. But Jimmy—his best friend—wouldn't shut up about the reunion. And honestly… he needed the distraction.
As he walked down the hallway toward the gym, memories rushed in uninvited. He passed his old locker and paused. That first week of high school came crashing back—the day he met Jimmy.
It was the second week of school. Everyone already knew Jake. They called him TheSilentKiller. Not because he was dangerous—but because he hadn't spoken a word since the semester began. Never smiled either.
He was standing at his locker when Ramsey—the class bully—and his crew cornered him. They taunted him, tried to force him to speak. He wouldn't. So they started hitting. No one stepped in.
Until HIM. Jimmy—the weird kid with the uncomfortably long, thick dreads and a hippie scent—stepped forward.
"Stop it, ya," Jimmy said loudly.
Ramsey glanced around, playing dumb. "Did anyone hear something?" he laughed, still gripping Jake's collar.
"I said stop it. Put down the lil Brenden," Jimmy said again—though he was smaller than Jake himself.
They both got beat senseless until the class bell rang and saved them.
"Thanks," Jake muttered after, sitting beside Jimmy in the nurse's office.
"So you do talk, huh?" Jimmy chuckled, wiping his tears.
"Don't help someone if you're gonna cry about it," Jake replied, deadpan.