Chapter 18

Megan

I do not think I have ever seen anyone as upset as Jack is right now.

On the way to his house, he did not say a single word. I guess his head was full of things, while I did not say anything because I was too scared to open my mouth.

When we walked into his house, things did not change much. His body was giving off a sort of "do not come near me" signal, and God knows I was not going to.

"What were you thinking? I only asked you to stay inside." Even though he did not yell, his tone made me feel so small.

"I wanted to be responsible..."

"Do not lie to me, angel, and do not lie to yourself. What you wanted was to prove that you are not weak. You thought, I will go to school and show everyone they are exaggerating. Well, breaking news, you were wrong, and you exposed everyone in a ridiculous way."

"I know I made a mistake, but I really did not think he would dare. The school was full."

"The building I pulled you out of was too, and that did not stop him from setting it on fire. You did not just put yourself at risk; you put all those children at risk. You are hurt, and something serious could have happened to you. Do you not care about anything? Do you know how I feel?"

"I am sorry, Jack. I know you were worried, but I really did not think this would happen. I am fine, nothing happened to me."

"He was about to bite your neck! Is that nothing to you?" I do not know what to say to him; everything seems to rub him the wrong way.

"But it did not happen, Jack. Can you please calm down?"

"I see you are not taking this seriously."

"Yes, I am." I was, it is just that at the time I did not see it that way.

"No, you are not. The only thing you have done is expose yourself over and over again to a sick psychopath whose only goal is to make an attempt on your life. But when someone wants to protect you, they are the bad guy. Do you even know what worry and fear are? Those feelings have been overflowing in my life since I met you. Maybe for you this is temporary, but to me, you are not. It is not easy for me to let you go and have anything happen to you. I am so furious—with him, with you, even with myself for not realizing that you only care about yourself. You ran away and distanced yourself from your parents to be safe. Is this how you take care of yourself? Tell me, because I am trying very hard to understand you." Every word hurts, and it does because it is the truth.

"I am sorry, I did not think everything through. You are right, I am a selfish person, but I just want to get my normal life back. Jack, I do not want to live in fear, and even if I hide, he will catch me sooner or later. Running away will not work either; I already did that and he found me. What can I do? Tell me. What do you want me to do?" At this point, I am a sobbing mess, but I cannot stop the tears. I know I acted poorly, but I cannot turn back time now.

"It is not about what I want, angel, but about what is best for you right now. Everything in me wants to protect you, and I cannot do that if you constantly defy me. I cannot keep going like this. You need to figure out if you love me, and if you do, let me protect you, because if not..." He cut himself off, suddenly falling silent.

"If not what, Jack?" At this point, it is all bad news.

"If not, we will not get anywhere. I trust you, but you do not trust me. You prove that to me by not even taking a moment to evaluate what I tell you. You are in danger, angel, and if you do not let me do my job, he will catch you."

I do not know what to say to him. I know what he is saying is true, but even so, I did not expect him to be so hard on me.

I looked at him, and in his eyes, I saw disappointment. I tried to speak and apologize again, but he did not let me; he grabbed the keys and left, leaving me here, alone, and this time, locked in.