Alone

Chapter 1: Jason Lainez
He is a child, 14 years of age at best. He comes home feeling only anger and rage. Jason Lainez hates his father because he believes it was this man’s fault that his mother died. Every day it is the same routine. Rage, argument between father and son, silence… It has been one month since the death of his mother… The cause of her death was unknown. Yet, he blames his father…always. His father is Chad Lainez.
Jason went to Madison High school. School was basically an excuse to get away from his father. He really never paid any attention to the teacher or didn’t even care about what was happening around him. To him it was like a reconnaissance mission in the army; you would get in, acquire what little knowledge you wanted to, and get out as fast as possible. His best friend was Robert Matthews. Robert was a rich child that had everything a kid could ever want, however, his parents were no fools and sent him to school where he would not be spoiled and would be disciplined. Evidently, he was a very nice guy, once you got to know him.
“So how are things with your dad?” Robert asked as they walked down the campus.
“Who cares?” Jason responded.
“But isn’t he basically, the only one you got left? Kuz’ I mean after what happened with your mom-”
“Shut Up! I told you already that I DIDN’T CARE!”
“Sorry man”
“Whatever” Jason said as he walked to class.
Jason would then spend the rest of the time in class listening to music in his iPod nano. So the teacher would not notice, he would slip the headphones through his sleeves and place the head of it on the palm of his hand. He would then lean into the head on his hand so it would look as if he was just leaning on his hand. This was the last class of the day so Jason cared less about it than usual. The bus ride home was one of those long ones where you really don’t want to get home. He didn’t know why but he had a funny feeling that something wasn’t right. As if something bad was going to happen. He looked up at the sky. There were white clouds all over with no sun to shine or blue sky to please. Was it going to rain?


Chapter 2: The Fire
At night he stands on the roof of his small house. He looks up at the twilight in the sky. There is only a sphere in the distance that illuminates the way.
“All those stories you told me with happy families, happily ever afters’ ….and love are fake aren’t they mom?” Jason gently speaks as salty rivers of extreme sadness and despair begin to drip down his face. “WHY!? Why did you have to leave me mom? I-I…need you.” He then buries his face in his hands.
All of a sudden his father comes and sits next to him.
“I’m sorry son. I know you think that this is all my fault but… I miss your mother too. It wasn’t my fault. I love y-“
“No, you DON’T!” He was cut short. “Now leave me alone.”
He leaves his father and walks into the mysterious darkness that is night. Jason comes home a few hours later unaware of the time. But now he is not mad, sad, or happy. He does not know what to feel, all he can do is stare up in awe. Fiery flames of hate that he had been holding deep inside were gone now…no wait…they were right in front of his very eyes. Jason felt as if the devil had decided to make an inferno of his home. Thoughts raced across his mind, however, they were going so fast he could not even see straight. Was he going to faint? His world was spinning or was it just him? But before his sight went pitch black a familiar sound brought him back. But wait…it was a cry for help.
“Dad” he said aloud.
Jason quickly began kicking the door to the fiery inferno that once was his home. The door hinges had become loose due to the fire and he was able to break the door down. He ran to the center of the room until he realized that his oxygen supply was running low. He could not breathe. He began coughing louder and louder. He got in a crouching position and decided to move forward past the debris. By this point his head was beginning to ache again. Thoughts of losing his father were making him suffocate. Jason was beginning to lose hope until he saw his father. He was on the floor trapped by debris that had fallen from the wall. Chad could not move and the flames could burn him easily due to the fact that all of the debris was inflammable. Jason quickly scurried to his father’s side and started pulling out the debris that had fallen on top of his father.
“I’m sorry dad” Jason said as he pulled out a large piece of wood that had landed on his father’s ankle. “I know that it wasn’t your fault that mom died.” Tears began to drip down his face. “I’m sorry I blamed you…I-I… I just needed someone to blame, to let out my frustration and sorrow. Plus… I did not want anyone to know how scared I was to lose you too. I’m sorry dad... please don’t die….please… I need you!”
“Its okay (cough) son” Chad spoke with the little amount of air he had left. He then fainted on the floor.
“Dad! Dad, please wake up! Dad” Jason said with a face sodden of tears.
Just when Jason was about to go by his father’s side and hug him, the wood from the roof above him gave out and wood of all shapes and sizes covered in flames fell on top of him. Jason was trapped under the flames.
“Oh no” he thought. “That dizzy feeling again.”
The room was spinning quicker and quicker.
“Get him out of here! Move! Move!” this came from a masculine voice. However, by this point Jason was too confused and dizzy to see what was happening. Everything went dark after that.
Jason awoke in a hospital room. What had happened? He could not remember what happened after his father fainted. His father!! Where was his father!? This is when he first tried to move his body to look around. This is also when he first felt the excruciating pain that was running all through his body. Even moving his neck around seemed to hurt. To him, this would be one of those who, when, where, what, why situations, but he was in such a deep state of panic that he could not think straight. Jason looked at his body. It was scarred and burned. It reminded him of a night his dad and he watched a horror movie about zombies. The rooting flesh of the ugly undead seemed to remind him of his own flesh at its current state. However, his entire body was not burned; it was just his left arm, part of his chest and left stomach, and a bit on his left leg.
“It’s a good thing I’m a righty” Jason thought to himself, and maybe even giggled a little. “No. This was no time to be laughing; I have to find my father!”
He then notices all the needles and pads on his chest giving him oxygen and basically keeping him alive. He grabs them and uses all the strength he has on his right arm and hand to remove them. You would think that it would be painful, but no. It was like removing a bandage. Quick and painless, at least that’s what he felt in the moment. He arose from the hospital bed. Yet, he could not walk straight. He was basically limping. Was it his burned leg? Or the throbbing pain in his head?
“No! I have to-” he stops and falls on the white marble floor of the hospital recovery room in which he is being kept. “Keep going!”
People around him are scared. Frightened by what he might do. But Jason was so determined to find his father; he did not even notice the nervous bystanders. This is when the pain got into another level. The pain from the removed needles and pads didn’t help either. He knew he could not go any farther. But he had to try. One step is all it took… Jason collapsed on the floor.
“Call a nurse!” he heard someone say.
“He might go into a coma!” another one said.
“Help!--” yelled a bystander.
He could not hear the rest.

Chapter 3: Saving Grace
“Honey? Honey? Wake up, sugar.”
“M-mom? I-is that you? Said Jason still suffering from unclear vision and with a slight touch of nausea.
Eventually, his vision cleared and he was able to see that there was an African-American woman standing in front of him. She had caramel skin and eyes that looked as if they had been made like fresh golden brown chocolate. She was not fat. Yet, she was not skeleton-skinny either. She looked very healthy. She was wearing a nurse’s gown so he concluded that she was a nurse. He sat straight on the bed he was placed in, wincing at the pain in his chest. He had white bandages wrapped around his body, probably to heal his wounds.
“Who are you?” Jason asked.
“My name is Gloria” she answered.
“Oh, hello Gloria.”
“The firefighters got to you in time and it started raining right after the fire started, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were close friends with lady luck.”
This was the first time Jason noticed the room. It was all white. White walls, floors, etc., a typical hospital room. It had a big window on the wall facing the city. The view was beautiful, especially since the sun was just starting to come out. He also noticed how it was still raining outside.
“Lucky huh?” he repeated in his head. “Then why did my dad-”
It hit him again like lightning.
“H-hey! Where is my-” Jason said as he was almost jumped to his feet and winced.
“Easy! Your body is still healing from the wounds. Lay back down. You know, you were lucky that I got to you in time. Not only was your body burned but also extremely exhausted. This forced your body to shut down in the recovery room back there. You could have been really hurt! Did you get any sleep last night?”
“Never mind that! Where is my father!?”
“Your father?”
“Yes! He was trapped under a bunch of wooden debris in the fire with me!”
“Honey, are you sure he was in there? Because if he was…. his body was never found.”
These words were a shotgun shell to the heart. Jason did not know what to think, let alone say. His world was crumbling. Would he be put in an orphanage? For the first time since his mother died, he truly felt alone. But this time…he really was.
To be continued…