They were back in the lobby, waiting for the elevator when Davey finally managed to speak up. “Jack? What happened back there?” he asked, tilting his head in confusion as he looked at his friend. He had never seen his friend act like that before. Normally, Jack Kelly was one of the most confident people he knew. What changed?

Jack pressed the up button and entered the elevator, seeming to ignore the question at first. But, after Davey entered and the door closed, he answered the question with one of his own. “Did you see the girl sitting there on the couch in the corner? The one in the plaid skirt?”

“The one you were staring at so intently? Yeah, I think everyone noticed the two of you staring at each other,” Davey admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. “What about her?”

Jack sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair. “She was at the cemetery when we were at...at Crutchie’s funeral.”

“Really?” Davey inquired as the door opened on their floor. The two of them strolled out of the elevator and down the brightly lit hallway towards their dorm. “I feel like I would have seen her, especially if you were looking the way you just did.”

“No, ya wouldn’t have,” Jack commented, “because you and the other guys left by the time she showed up. It was just me and Medda there.” He pulled out his key and unlocked the door when they arrived, only to find Les still hanging out on the floor, flipping through a spiral-bound notebook.

Davey was clearly a little surprised, especially considering the fact that his parents were nowhere in sight. As he entered the room, he crossed his arms and looked down at his little brother. “Les, what are you still doing here?”

“Mom said I could stay and wait for you if I didn’t leave the room,” the nine-year-old explained. “So, I sat down right here and waited.”

Jack stepped inside and closed the door behind him. It was only when he turned around that he realized what Les was holding. It was his most recently-used sketchbook He had been dumb enough to leave it on his desk, out in the open for curious people like Les to look through. “Whaddya doin’ with that? Give it here, Les,” he commanded, holding out his hand to take the book from him.

The little boy shrugged. “I saw it lying on your desk,” he started, “and I was curious. You know, you’re even better at sketching than I remember.”

Jack snatched the book back. “Thanks, but that doesn’t mean you should be snoopin’ in my stuff, okay?” He glanced down at the page the book was open to. Of course it was the picture of the mystery girl.

Les ignored Jack’s comment, mainly because he didn’t feel like acknowledging it. “So, who’s that girl you drew? Is she your girlfriend?”

“I ain’t got a girlfriend, Les, or you and the other guys woulda met her by now.” Jack’s eyes traced the lines he had sketched the night before, the ones that perfectly captured the mystery girl’s appearance. Although it was probably one of his most lifelike sketches to date, this was partially making him feel like he never wanted to sketch people again. Then again, looking at the picture, he wasn’t sure.

“Then who is she?” Les asked, with the curiosity only a child could have these days.

Davey sat down on his bed and leaned back against the wall behind him. “A girl who lives in the building. She was down in one of the common areas today.”

“How about we just drop this?” Jack snapped out of his mini trance and closed the sketchbook with a soft thud. As he sat down on his own bed, he set the book aside, but with a wordless glance at Les, he warned him not to go near it again.

“Whatever you say, Jackie.”

As soon as the words left Davey’s lips, a silence overtook the dorm room. Jack didn’t feel like talking much anymore, and both of the Jacobs boys didn’t feel like risking losing their heads by starting up a new conversation. So, instead of filling the space with words, the three of them just sat there looking at each other, silently daring each other to say something.

Jack finally broke the silence after five minutes of awkwardness. With a sigh, he picked up his book and grabbed a couple pencils, then stated, “I’m gonna go call Medda, maybe find a place to sketch. You two can do some brotherly bondin’ or somethin’, I dunno.” Without waiting for a response, he got up and walked straight out the door.

He left the building using the side staircase, purposely avoiding the places in the building where he could run into anyone. He didn’t want anybody distracting him while he, well, distracted himself.

There was a spot beside a tree right outside the residence hall. The spot had plenty of shade and was relatively secluded for being on a college campus. Jack sat down in the shade of the large oak tree and opened his sketchbook to the next blank page.

After a brief pause, the young man started to sketch. He started with a simple circle, then it developed into a face. The eyes, the nose, and the hair all came naturally as his pencil danced across the page. It was only when he drew the smile that he actually became conscious of the person he was drawing. There on the page was Crutchie’s face, smiling out at whoever was looking.

Initially, Jack was almost annoyed at himself. It was as if he couldn’t help drawing the people who were haunting his mind. First it was the mystery girl from the cemetery, and now it was Crutchie. At least the drawing of his friend made sense. He desperately missed his old friend, and now that he was never going to see him again, it was even more difficult to deal with.

Then again, that optimistic smile was something he hadn’t seen since that day. He remembered it like it was yesterday, especially that look of relief and happiness on his best friend’s face.

“Hey Jack, can we get some ice cream?”

Jack could never say no to Crutchie, no matter how hard he tried. After all, Crutchie never really asked for much, at least not usually. He never wanted to inconvenience anyone. When he made a request like this, it was clear that he truly wanted it.

So, of course Jack agreed. Since they were hanging out at Medda’s place outside of the city, it was easiest to just drive. After all, they were nowhere near a train stop, and that was hard enough to deal with with Crutchie’s mobility issues. So, they got into Medda’s car, since Medda had given Jack a set of keys when he turned seventeen, and drove off.

Crutchie flicked on the radio from his place in the passenger’s seat, filling the car with some random noise from one of the local stations. “What kind are you gonna try this time?”

Jack shrugged. “I dunno,” he replied. “Depends what they got today. Maybe if they got somethin’ really strange, I’ll try it just so I can tell Les and gross ‘im out.”

Crutchie laughed and commented, “It’ll probably work more on Davey than Les, ya know.”

“Even better.”

They came to a stop at a red light, and Jack glanced over at his friend. Crutchie was looking out the window, looking deep in thought. Jack was about to ask what was wrong, but that was when the younger boy turned around. “Hey Jack? You’re not gonna forget about us, are ya?”

“Whaddya mean?” The college-bound guy was clearly confused as he looked at his friend, waiting for the light to change. Jack hadn’t heard anything about this before.

“When you and Davey go off to that fancy college, you ain’t gonna forget about us, are ya?” From the tone Crutchie was using, it was clear to Jack that this was something he had thought about a lot.

Jack shook his head, offering his friend a smile. “C’mon, Crutchie,” he started, “how could I ever forget about ya, or any of the other guys?”

“Well, you and Dave are gonna be hanging out with tons of rich people and stuff, so…”

“You think that makes a difference?” When Crutchie shrugged, Jack continued, “I’d rather hang out with you and the other guys than any of those rich people. Ya know what? I’m gonna make sure I can hang out with you guys every weekend, since Dave is gonna force me to do my homework on the weekdays.”

Crutchie’s face lit up. “Ya really mean that?”

“Of course I do. What kinda friend would I be if I didn’t spend time with ya? You and the other guys, you’re my family, plus Medda. You always make time for family.”

“Ya always make time for family,” Crutchie echoed, just as the light turned green.

Jack nodded, then put his foot on the gas pedal and accelerated into the intersection.

The next few moments went in slow motion. Neither of them saw the car coming from the right side until it ran the red light. Before they could say anything, the car barrelled into the side of the car where Crutchie was sitting. Jack’s view was immediately filled with the white of the airbag that inflated in front of him, and he heard the glass shatter all around him.

Then, there was a deadly silence. Jack shifted in his seat, trying to get a glimpse of his friend in the passenger’s seat. “Crutchie?” Silence. “Crutchie? Crutchie, you okay?”

But Crutchie said nothing. As Jack pushed the airbag out of his face to try to get a brief look at his friend, the image was burned into his mind as he realized why he wasn’t responding.

Crutchie wasn’t moving. Crutchie wasn’t breathing. He could see that his friend’s chest wasn’t moving, and he knew it was over.

His friend’s eyes were still wide open, and he was still smiling, even in death.

Jack still had a few scars from the glass, but nothing hurt him more than that image that he was never going to forget. As he stared down at the picture in front of him, tears welled up in his eyes. For the second time in two days, Jack succumbed to his desire and cried.

*****

Jack had managed to keep that moment of “weakness” a secret from his friends. When he returned to the dorm that afternoon, Davey and Les were gone, so he was able to calm down and return to his normal state in private. He hid the tearstained sketch of Crutchie under the far corner of his mattress so nobody would find it, specifically Les.

For Jack, everything returned to a relative level of normal for the next few days. He settled into his dorm and got used to sharing it with a tidy person like Davey, which was kind of a culture shock for the messy artist. For once in his life, he was kind of looking forward to classes starting on Monday. Well, he was excited for the one art class he was taking. The rest of the classes were just part of the package that he had to deal with. Miraculously, there had been no sightings of the mystery girl, and that little detail helped to keep him sane.

At seven in the morning on Monday, Jack was still fast asleep. His first class started at eight, so his plan was to wake up a quarter to eight and dash out the door after changing into some clothes.

Apparently, that wasn’t what Davey had in mind. By that time, he had already showered down the hall, put on some nice clothes to impress his professors, and grabbed food for the two of them from the dining hall, which they were lucky enough to have attached to their residence hall. He set the two meals on his tidy desk and strolled over to his friend’s bed, where he started to shake him awake. “C’mon, Jack, time to get up.”

Jack rolled over with his hand over his face, groaning. “Ugh, what time is it?”

“Seven a.m. I brought you some breakfast from the dining hall.”

Jack rolled back over to try and hide from his friend. “I’ve got time. Go away.”

Davey wasn’t giving up, though. As he shook Jack’s shoulder again, he declared, “Jack, it’s the first day of college classes! Carpe diem! Seize the day!”

“I’m gonna seize your neck if you don’t shut up.”

Davey opened his mouth to protest, but when he couldn’t come up with a decent response, he sighed. “Alright, fine. Sleep if you want. I left you your meal on my desk. See you later.” With that, he picked up his cup of coffee and bagel and left the room.

What Jack really needed was for Davey to leave him alone so he could get up on his own. When his friend was gone, he got up and sluggishly went through a basic routine, eating the bagel Davey had left for him sporadically between steps.

As he planned, he slipped out of the residence hall with about ten minutes to get to his class. Thankfully, his class wasn’t too far away from his residence hall. Because he was able to tune everyone out, he was able to make it to the building down the street with five minutes to find the lecture hall. His first class was Intro to Psychology, a general education requirement that he wasn’t looking forward to all that much.

When he found the room, he slipped in quietly and took a seat near the back. That was where he would have wanted to sit on a regular basis, but in this class, most of the seats in the front were filled up already, much to his surprise. As he pulled out his notebook from his backpack so he could trick the professor into thinking he cared, he heard a voice over his shoulder. “Mind if I sit here?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jack replied without even thinking about it. He didn’t even look at her until she sat down, since he was busy fishing for some pencils in his bag.

“Thanks,” he heard her say, and there was a shuffle as she sat down and fumbled for her own supplies from her backpack, which she happened to set right beside his. As he sat up, his head accidentally bumped hers.

“Sorry,” Jack muttered automatically, initially keeping his eyes focused on the ground.

He heard the girl comment, “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” He decided to look up and offer her a smile, but he was surprised by whose eyes he found himself looking into.

The girl sitting beside him was none other than the girl from the cemetery.

*****

A/N Hey everyone! Sorry this update took so long. College prep and AP courses have been taking up a lot of my time, and with the holidays coming up, it's been a little stressful. But I promise I'll update this whenever I can. I've got a lot of ideas for this story, and I don't plan on letting this story go unfinished.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please vote and comment! I really appreciate feedback. See you next update!