9 Chapter 9

Alex stood over Jason, face full of rage, kicking Jason one more good time to get him to open his eyes. Jason was confused as ever before. He tried to stand, but Alex bent over, grabbing Jason by the collar of his shirt and lifting him up onto his feet, pulling him close.

"Jason, what the fuck is this?" Alex barked.

Jason shook his head slightly, trying to regain some kind of composure in his confusion. This enraged Alex who punched Jason with every bit of his strength in the sternum, knocking the wind out of Jason. Bending to catch his breath, Jason saw them, two empty syringes next to his sleeping bag. Had he been high this whole time? He thought Fenris took care of that problem with Daphis. This didn't feel right.

"You're using this shit again? Even after what it's done to you and your fucking family?" Alex was so pissed he could hardly speak clearly.

Jason looked at Alex, still too short on breath to form a coherent sentence. Alex, in a last fit of rage, threw a savage right hook to Jason's left eye, knocking Jason back onto the floor. Alex stepped back, hand over his face, attempting to calm down.

"Jason, I am going to leave so I don't kill you, you have the rest of the night to clean yourself up, then you're packing your shit and leaving." Alex said.

Jason looked at Alex, he couldn't believe this was happening. Alex took a few deep breaths, and without another word, turned away and walked through the door. Jason sat up, his eye throbbing, he looked at the discarded needles next to him.

"Did I dream that whole thing?" He asked himself silently.

His phone lay next to him on the floor, he checked it. There were about 14 missed calls, and it was nearly midnight. Jason threw the phone at the wall, hard. His sister would be so upset, he felt like it might be better if he actually did die. Now, he had to face his mistake head on. He wanted to talk to Fenris, to see what he could do about this. What kind of magic could he learn that would turn back time? Jason didn't know what he was going to do. He looked around, hoping to find his book. Sleep just couldn't happen at this time. There was no book around, no mysterious text appearing to disappear and wait for a reply. Just Jason, his phone, his little cottage, and the empty needles he used. Jason felt horrible.

Jason stood up, shaking and weak. His whole body hurt, more so than it ever had before. He started toward his phone on the floor, praying it wasn't broken. He picked it up, looking at it to see that the case had absorbed most of the impact, but the screen was slightly cracked. Oh well, he thought, it still works. He scrolled through his recent calls and clicked on one of the numbers.

"Hey, it's Jason." He said as the other end responded.

He waited a second, listening to the voice on the other end.

"I know it's late, but I could use a place to stay." Jason said, monotone as ever.

The voice on the other end sounded aggressive, irritable. Jason listened, placing a hand on his eye and wincing slightly. He pressed on it, intentionally causing himself a little pain to distract him from his thoughts.

"Alright, sorry I bothered you." Jason hung up without waiting for the reply.

Looking defeated, Jason grabbed a pack of Marlboro reds from his pocket and stepped outside, lighting a cigarette and leaning up against the exterior wall. He looked up at the night sky, it was beautiful, but he didn't care. He felt insane, like he'd lost all of his humanity in the last day. Taking a few big drags off his cigarette, Jason closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. He tried to clear his thoughts and focus on something other than his life. Unsuccessful in this, he took another big drag of his cigarette, then threw it angrily, turning and punching a hole in the siding of his cottage.

"Damn it." He said quietly to himself, looking at his now bloody knuckles.

Swearing at himself under his breath, he walked back inside the cottage. He couldn't think of anything else to do or anywhere else to go. Isolated, he sat down on the floor and turned on the boombox, playing a heavy metal CD as he lay down, trying to sleep it off. Sleep didn't come quickly or easily. He turned over for a good hour or two before he drifted off into sleep. He hoped that he would wake up in another place, he hoped that this was the dream and he would wake up the powerful man he'd been told to believe he was. Fenris and Daphis would comfort him. But he never did, there was no dream, he woke up exactly where he fell asleep, in exactly the same condition.