12 Gripped in Danger

The serene library made Jason be lost in thought and he was neither paying attention to Dolly nor was he jotting down anything from the things she was saying for over twenty minutes until she shouted to wake him up from his mind's journey.

"Jason!" he blinked his palpebra rapidly the second he heard her voice echo in his mind, which seemed to be an empty room while he was thinking, and her voice brought him back to the consciousness of his immediate environment.

"Sorry, what was the question you asked?" he sputtered in a hurry, thinking she had asked him a question and was waiting for him to answer it because that had been happening for more than three hours since she started teaching him.

"I do not remember asking you a question just now, so what are you thinking about and at what point did you stop listening?" She cackled and there was a question for him to answer. He bowed his head in sadness and waited until she drew near to him, leaving the white board she was initially writing on, to listen to him.

"It's Sarah, Dolly. I wish Sarah was here!" he moaned. Dolly Simple sighed the second she heard him and placed her right hand on his left shoulder as she sat sluggishly on the table he was writing on and dropped the blue marker on the table with which she was writing on the marker board.

"Hey, listen, Sarah will always be in your heart and you do not need to keep wishing she was here. You have to start doing something that would make her proud if she was to be here with you. I know it is not easy, Jason. It has never been easy on anyone who loses a loved one, but you have to be sure you do not lose her for nothing. You must be strong for your family that is no longer with you and be strong for yourself." She proclaimed with hopes to encourage him, but he was a pale shadow of his former self.

"I appreciate the fact that you are teaching me all you think I need to know, Dolly, but you and I know that he has more advantage than myself and it will take years for me to grow up and measure up to his standard." Jason complained bitterly.

"That is true, but you have an advantage over him because you are young and very able to dream big and that is something he does not have. Zod will no longer be able to learn at his age because of his pride and high-looks. He can not humble himself to know what you will know as time goes on, and that is going to be your advantage over him. Let go of your past, it is going to be futile to dwell in the pains of your past if you fail to use that pain to follow after what lies ahead of you." Her voice echoed in his ears like great streams of hope, his eyes dilated in ecstasy because he was able to see reasons why he should stop worrying over things he would not be able to change and start changing things by first changing his way of thinking.

"I see! You know what, Dolly?" he exclaimed.

"What, my dear?"

"I do not care anymore, life is a journey and I will do my best to stay alive and be a hero in my world, just like the protagonist in one of the video games I used to play when I was with my dad."

"Very good! Now that is what I expect from you. So, let us get back to our lesson before it gets dark and we call it a day." Dolly sputtered happily as she got up on her feet again to continue teaching him. She was currently teaching him all he needed to know in mathematics, statistics, business management and planning, office politics and so on. She was proud of Jason already, because he was able to grasp so much at his age.

They were both in the city of Azkaban but in a place called DC Rome where the facility for the intake of people who were not dwelling in the remote state capital was situated. That was the place Jason lived from that moment on… Dolly kept teaching him and in the evening of every day, they went home to the bungalow Billy had reserved for them because they were part of the special set of people Zod had demanded should be taken care of with hopes that he would find what to do with them later. Zod gave them a better place to ensure they were not harmed by anyone else but himself. However, as time went by, he forgot them and forgot that he had a little boy of age ten he confronted because of the issues of governance he had to focus on. That alone bought Jason time to keep learning and while he worked as a receptionist in one of the hotels in the city, Dolly helped him with funding his education in one of the best schools in DC Rome.

Jack, however, kept on looking for Sarah day and night for three consecutive days and on the fourth day, he found Sarah by the roadside. He would not have recognized her if not for the plaster on the left side of her face, and for the fact that she was in trouble again.

"Hey, thief, give me that!" a boy three years older than her ranted while chasing her in a crowded place and the people around tried to catch her because she had obviously stolen something that wasn't hers.

"Grab her!" screamed most of the people in the market place who were able to listen to the boy when he cried trying to get to her, but she was too smart and quick to dodge whoever was about to grab her.

Jack stopped his car immediately and kept observing from a distance to be sure he was correct that that was Sarah, and as she drew closer, he had no doubts because he also saw the wound on her left foot which was yet to heal and, because of her carelessness, the wound was now open.

"I will take it from here!" Jack shrilled and his rough and hoarse sounding voice made her nervous the second she noticed she was unable to run because his grip on her right arm was so tight, she could not move even when she struggled. She lifted up her face in fear and cried because she knew she would be beaten up mercilessly as before.

"Please, I wasn't going to steal it, I was hungry and had no money, so I took it. I have dropped it sir, please let go!" she cried, sputtering so fast with her eyes closed and ready to receive just the same amount of slap as she had received a day before that day from some group of teenage boys who caught her stealing.

"Yes, deal with her, she is a thief!" The boy ranted and punched her on her stomach upon arrival, before Jack could even say a word.