Summertime Haze
1.16 - The Bump in the Night
“So here’s our plan…” Ellen muttered, pacing in front of the couch where Jaxon and Regan sat. “Regan, you can pick locks, right?”
“Easily,” Regan smiled.
“Okay… so once Regan picks the lock, Jaxon, it’s your job to get in there and get one of Henry’s hairs by any means nessacary, understood?”
“Why does it have to be me?” Jaxon groaned.
“Unfortunately, little miss Regan over there has adamantly refused to bring the sympathetic friends she talked about at our last meeting unless she’s minimally involved in this one.”
“That’s right!” Regan cheered. “Just think of it this way, Jaxon. If I was to get caught, my family would suddenly be aware that I’m actually not missing. They’d realize that, oh no! I’m working to end Henry to get my brother back into the house where he belongs.”
“Okay. So, what about you, Ellen?” Jaxon asked.
“Why, me?” Ellen laughed lightly. “I’m the mastermind, Jaxon! If I got caught… the rest of the group would drift around, aimless… and don’t forget that I’m the only one who knows why exactly we’re collecting a strand of Henry’s hair.”
“You’re the most expendable, Jaxon, duh,” Regan snorted. “You’re only here because Ellen’s holding whatever the hell over your head, and I sure as hell haven’t seen any sort of special talent from you that would make you less expendable.
Jaxon sighed, but made eye contact with Ellen. “Okay. What do you want me to do?”
Later that night, at around 2 in the morning, Henry woke up to a strange clattering coming from downstairs. It sounded like someone was going through his things in the kitchen.
He shook his head, and rolled back over. He bet it was Jordan and Bennett. It’d been incredibly obvious to everyone who knew them that the two were totally into each other. Some of the group meetings they’d had were dedicated entirely to trying to get the pair to admit their feelings to each other.
He, Hope, Paolo, and… Toby. They’d all wanted to see Jordan and Bennett happy. And frankly, if the two thought the only time they could mess around was at 2 in the morning in the kitchen, Henry wasn’t going to complain. He was just glad the two were finally happy.
As Henry started to drift off again, he heard a loud thud, and someone cursing like they’d just stubbed their toe. But that voice… it definitely wasn’t Jordan. And it sure didn’t sound like Bennett.
Henry quickly threw back his covers, and stood up, on high alert. If he’d been sleepy before, he sure wasn’t now. Henry looked around his room for anything he could use as a weapon, but the only thing small enough to swing was a tissue box. So, he decided to leave without one.
He quietly pushed open his bedroom door, then walked around the landing to where Jordan and Bennett’s bedrooms were. If he didn’t have a weapon, at least he could bring along them, right?
But when he looked inside the room, he saw Bennett sleeping with Jordan in her bed. Deciding that it was more urgent to deal with whoever was downstairs then having a conversation about that situation, Henry shut their door, and walked downstairs. Alone.
The figure who greeted Henry when he walked down the stairs was both a surprise and one of the few people in the world he would have expected to break into his house.
Jaxon Kauker.
“Hey!” Henry yelled, hopefully loud enough to wake Jordan and Bennett without confronting them where they were at that moment.
Jaxon spun around, and quickly closed the cabinet he’d been rifling through with a swift kick.
“What are you doing in my house, Jaxon?” Henry asked. “This is the second time you’ve shown up here, and quite frankly, I’m not really in the right state of mind to deal with whatever you’ve been trying to do lately.”
Jaxon gasped, wordless. The Henry he’d bullied in high school would have never dared raise his voice at him.
Henry pulled out his phone, and quickly dialed 911.
“I’m going to give you five seconds to run. Then, I’m calling the cops, and I’d better never see you anywhere near my house again. Do you understand me? Next time, I’m not giving you a chance to get away.”
“W-Why would you e-even give me a chance?” Jaxon stammered.
Henry sighed. “Even though you were the terror of my high school days, I know that’s got to be because of something going on at home, or because of something you can’t accept about yourself. I realize that now, and honestly Jaxon, I’d like to see someone like you try to fix that, and actually face your issues instead of taking them out on others. And honestly? The last thing I want to do right now is deal with even more bullshit. If you get away, I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a lot less I have to deal with when the police show up.”
“H-Henry, I-“
“Get out, Jaxon.”
Jaxon hurried towards the door, then, once he got there, he quickly turned around. “I still don’t understand!”
“I’m calling the police, and I’m filing a restraining order. I don’t want you to see you again Jaxon, get out of here before I change my mind about being nice.”
“Henry?” Jordan’s voice echoed down the stairwell. “What’s going on down there?”
Henry gestured towards the doorway, and Jaxon finally took Henry’s generosity and fled.
Once the door shut behind him, Henry finally pressed the call button, and spent a few minutes talking to the operator. Jordan and Bennett eventually came down the stairs, and listened as he recounted everything. Come the end of the phone call, Jordan walked over to a light switch and flipped on the lights, ready to talk to Henry about whatever had just happened.
“Jaxon showed up again?” Bennett muttered, clearly still groggy.
Henry nodded.
“And after you built that back garden and changed the locks and everything to keep him out! I can’t believe this,” Jordan said.
“Well, I’m glad you’re filing a restraining order,” Bennett went on. “First, he shows up on your doorstep, and now inside the house? Next thing you know, he’d be in your bedroom.”
“Did he take anything?” Jordan asked. “I heard you talking to someone down here when I was at the top of the stairs, so you definitely saw him leaving.”
Henry shook his head. “He didn’t. I saw everything he had on him because I let him go.”
Jordan and Bennett fell into a stunned silence.
“Hang on, hang on,” Jordan said, her voice rising in volume with every word. “You did WHAT?”
“Let him go,” Henry shrugged.
“But, why?” Bennett asked. “It seems pretty dumb to me to let some guy who keeps showing up and antagonizing you go as he pleases. And you’re not dumb Henry, right?”
“Jaxon has always been a bully, I won’t deny that. But I’ve never believed he was actually a bad person. There’s something… deeper going on. And who knows? Maybe what I did tonight might actually help him think for a good minute.”
“You’re actually crazy, you know that Henry, right?” Jordan sighed.
“Just don’t tell the police I did that, their reactions would be even worse than yours.”
“You sure you’re okay, man?” Bennett asked. “This is pretty… unreasonable… for someone like you. Losing Toby hasn’t like… totally ruined your sanity, right?”
“Bennett!” Jordan exclaimed, hitting his shoulder. “You can’t say that!”
“I’m fine,” Henry said simply. “Sad still, but I’m fine. You guys don’t have to worry about me.”
Meanwhile, Jaxon finally stopped running after putting a good mile or two between him and Henry’s house. He sat down to catch his breath, and his thoughts.
He’d failed Ellen, first off. Regan had let him in, and then he hadn’t managed to get any of Henry’s hair, like she’d asked. Instead, he left Henry’s place with more questions then the answers he’d hoped Ellen would end up providing about the hair.
And he knew Ellen sure wasn’t going to tell him anything after he let her down so severely. Just like most everything else he’d done in his life… he’d screwed up again.
Now, next time he ran into Ellen, she was totally going to crucify him. But the only thing he’d be thinking about was why Henry had let him go. Maybe… Ellen was more on the wrong side then he’d ever imagined… but, regardless, he couldn’t leave her side. He owed too much to her. No matter what he felt about Henry… the two of them could never be on the same side.