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((This takes place directly after Hurts to Keep Secrets in early November.))
Jack didn’t exactly know what had happened to him. It was only after being dragged from the protective depths of his subconscious by the harpoons of his parents’ voices that the real consequences began to stab through his barrier of shock. Pain was among them, of course, but there was a new variety among the standard sort - the pain of having lost his parents’ trust.
As he lay across what he guessed must have been his family’s car with his head resting upon his mother’s lap, the exchange between her and his father encouraged him to keep his awareness a secret. They didn’t seem to have been doing much to keep their voices down. In fact, their evident agitation only served to increase volumes.
From what he gathered, they knew he was hiding something from them. This much had been undeniably obvious from the moment he’d come home with hand prints decorating his neck. What he hadn’t realized was that, despite all his efforts since then to assure them he had everything under control, despite even the recent events during which he had demonstrated his control and survived what the media had claimed was a prank spider attack, they still doubted their 16-year-old son. Specifically, and most astoundingly to Jack, they doubted his will to live.
True, when he dredged up his most recent memories prior to having woken in the car, he understood the situation must not have looked good if one had been ignorant of the context. Still, that alone shouldn’t have been reason enough for them wonder if he was suicidal. And, sure enough, as he continued to listen, the answer was revealed.
“Would he really do that, though? I thought he said he wasn’t being bullied anymore,” his dad pointed out.
“It’s not being bullied that’s affecting him like this,” his mom’s stressed soprano insisted. “I think he might be lovesick.”
“What? Jack?” Mr. Burnett scoffed. “Even if he were lovesick, why would that make him want to kill himself?”
“Not everyone enjoys being in love, Todd,” his wife scolded reproachfully, gently stroking her only child’s hair. “You already know how strongly he denies having friends. But if he developed a crush on someone, what lengths would he go to to deny that? Maybe he feels it’s wrong.”
Jack’s eyelids twitched, but he managed to refrain from reacting otherwise.
“But a crush? Really?”
Jack’s mother sighed in exasperation. “Todd, did you see how determinedly he went from door to door asking for chores to do so he could earn money for that masquerade ball costume? I’d never seen him so eager to save up for anything before. And then there’s the way he’s been so out of it for the past few months, worsening each week. Like he never misses watching his spider eat, but I had to remind him to feed it the other day.”
“Come to think of it…” the woman’s husband muttered under his breath, “I did wonder about a site I saw on his computer the other day. But do you really think it would push him far enough to want to jump into oncoming traffic?”
“Maybe he didn’t think he could tell us,” Mrs. Burnett reasoned. “It might not just be the fact that he likes someone; it might be someone he doesn’t think we would tolerate him for liking. Or - I don’t know; it could just be teenage hormones.” Her voice grew sterner. “But whatever it is, we can’t just let him do as he pleases anymore. Not if it’s causing him to get hurt like this. Next time he might not be so lucky.”
This is ludicrous, Jack thought furiously, still feigning unconsciousness. Why’d this have to happen now of all times? And I’d just gotten them to let me go out on my own again!
The fate his parents had in store for the high schooler, however, turned out to be a great deal more severe than he had anticipated. By the time they reached the hospital, the Burnett couple had concluded that Jack would be safest being admitted to a behavioral hospital to recover once he was examined and patched up by doctors regarding his physical injuries.
Needless to say, their eavesdropping son was not on board with this plan. He had never been admitted to a behavior hospital before, but he was willing to bet that the constant supervision of its patients and its probable lack of full-length mirrors would be a huge hindrance to his senshi duties. More importantly, it would be an obstruction of his freedom. While it seemed he had survived his ordeal of having been drained of his energy and tossed into the path of moving vehicles, if he was prevented from contact with Elex, the half-youma might have believed Sinope had abandoned him regardless. That was the one thing Jack found he couldn’t allow to happen - even if it meant he became a fugitive from his own parents.
Once the Burnett family was parked, the teen spared his parents the trouble of going to ask for a stretcher by making a show of being woken by their commotion. He behaved with confusion and disorientation that had long since been cleared during the car ride as he mentally wove together a plan. After finally convincing his mother that he could walk without too much pain or assistance, the three of them entered the building with Mr. Burnett’s heavy hand on his kid’s shoulder and Mrs. Burnett’s arm on Jack’s. He already felt like a prisoner being escorted to a jail cell. How was he going to get free of them when they were determined not to allow him out of their reach, let alone out of their sight?
“Mom, I need to use the restroom,” he announced weakly as they sat in the lobby. His father had gone to check them in and pick up the necessary paperwork, but Jack doubted he would be long. His mother gave him a suspicious look and her child assumed a look of puzzled ignorance as if he couldn’t imagine what reason she might possibly have had for keeping him from answering nature’s call. “...Mom?”
The woman glanced furtively her husband’s way, but he was still preoccupied. “...Can’t you wait to go with your father? He’ll only be a - “
“What? Mom, I’m not three,” he responded, already pushing himself up to stand. Ouch...wonder if I broke something. When he turned to look at her, she was gazing at him with such an expression of motherly concern that he almost wanted to assure her he would be right back. Almost...but that would have been a lie, and he didn’t tell lies. “Don’t worry.” Jack cast her a feeble smile. “I’ll be fine.”
Sticking his hands in his pockets, he fished out his wallet and phone from them onto the seat he had just gotten up from. He thought he would regret leaving behind the wallet most, if his mom didn’t think he leave without it, she was more likely to let him go. Besides, the cash he had wouldn’t have lasted him long and they would have been able to trace the cards, so those were out of the question. The one thing he couldn’t leave without remained in his pocket.
Mrs. Burnett’s eyes flashed. She knew her son well, and for a moment he thought she would accompanied him to the men’s bathroom herself or even preferred that he soil his pants if it meant she could keep him close at hand. But even though she had raised from diapers the bright-eyed youth before her; even though there were a great many things she knew about him that no one, even he, probably realized, her son had already outgrown her understanding in a myriad of other ways.
Thus, she was able to persuade herself that allowing her boy a minute or two of privacy in a restroom wouldn’t be fatal to him. Once her spouse was finished at the desk, he could go in to check on Jack and make sure he hadn’t hurt or otherwise tried to off himself. “Alright,” she finally conceded. “But come back soon. We still don’t know where you’re hurt.”
Jack didn’t dare reply. He was so relieved that he almost made the mistake of running until a sharp stab in his side reminded him to take it easy. He refused to comply with the sudden urge to look back lest it betrayed his knowledge that it would likely be his last glimpse of his parents for a while. When he reached the restrooms, he entered the large family room instead of the men’s and locked the door behind him.
While his reflection in the large restroom mirror exposed to him the cuts, scrapes, and bruises he had obtained from his accident, each movement was making it more and more evident to him that his direct confrontation with the Prius had caused internal damage as well. It was a shame he couldn’t afford the time to find out what, exactly, had happened.
The teen whipped out his henshin pen and spoke the words necessary for his transformation into Sinope. Within a few minutes, the Dark Mirror Senshi had disappeared into the bathroom’s large mirror with a heavy heart and no intention of returning.
