Jason's favorite cake ^^

Chapter 2

The drive to Tony's is silent on both ends. There's too much on my mind to make small talk and Lucas refuses to talk to me. He's also trying to avoid eye contact with me as much as possible throughout the entire ride.

As soon as we arrive at the diner, I get out of the car without saying anything to Lucas. He apparently had the same plan since he immediately drives off as soon as I take a step away.

Glaring in his direction, I huff before stomping towards the diner. Tony looks up from wiping the tables and frowns as he sees me walk in. "Damn Braska, I know paying bills is challenging but I'm helping so you don't need to shower in the rain," he jokes, making me roll my eyes but it does get a small smile from me.

Tony is a middle-aged man who runs this diner. He's been the guardian technically for Jason and me since my mom's away but he lives in his own house. He just visits us every now and then and helps with the bills. I do feel slightly guilty since he has his own mentally-disabled brother to take care of besides Jason and me so I try to be as independent as possible.

"Sorry," I mumble, making my way to the bathroom. When I get inside, I take off my glasses and set them on the sink. I squeeze my hair at another sink before using the towels to wipe my face and glasses.

I tie my hair back into a bun and place my glasses back on. My eyes are puffy from crying and my face is slightly red from the cold but I don't look as bad as I thought I would. Eventually I can't stand to look at myself anymore so I make my way outside.

Tony leans against a nearby table while giving me a weird look. Why is he staring at me like that? I glare at him in return but it doesn't do anything. "I know I look bad but can you blame me? The rain-"

"Not that," he interrupts. "You look a little worse for wear, but that's not it. Something wrong?" He puts his rag down and stands in front of me with a concerned look while I stare awkwardly at the ground.

What is it with everyone suddenly thinking something's wrong with me? Have I been acting that differently? Maybe the crying and being more alert is a new thing, but can't that just be a normal change in every girl?

"I'm fine," I assure with a tight smile. I guess my frown looks more like a grimace since his frown deepens after my reply.

"I'm closing due to the heavy rain outside. Maybe you should go home and rest. You can even spend more time with your brother," he suggests, nodding at me. Well unfortunately my brother is in the hands of a stalker more dangerous than anyone in the news right now.

"My brother's...um..." I struggle with a good sentence to tell him. Now I could just tell him that my brother was kidnapped, give him the notes from the trash, and call the police to catch this sicko.

The downside is that once the criminal realizes I called the cops, he might do something to my brother. He's only eight, he's too young to go through whatever the criminal is doing to him.

God what is the creep doing to him?

I look at the time to see that I still have a bit before my shift usually ends before looking back at Tony, who's still waiting for my answer. "He's in a playdate with someone and I'm picking them up at five," I say, trying not to let my voice crack.

Surprisingly, my nonexistent lying skills came through and Tony believes my story. "Well you should still go home and take a nap until then. You really look like you need it," he says.

"But-"

"Oh yeah, you have to pick your brother up. I'm staying over at Joe's so you can take my car," he says, tossing me the keys. With my skills of balance and agility, the keys slip through my fingers and drop to the ground.

I huff slightly annoyed and pick them up. Sometimes I really wish I was more skilled in everything physical. "Thanks Tony," I say, before walking out to his car.

Walking out means getting wet from the rain again. My hair that I worked hard on in the bathroom is ruined once again. I mutter curses at the weather under my breath and get inside his truck. Immediately, I turn on the heat and close my eyes to take in the warm air.

I can't go home yet since my brother wouldn't be there, but I have nowhere else to go. After a few minutes of sitting there just contemplating, I decide to go home and wait for my brother there.

If I'm lucky, maybe I can finally see who this creep is.

**

I park the car in front of my house before taking the keys out. Tony will probably ask Joe to drive him here later and get the car back himself so I should leave the keys here.

Wait no that's dumb. Shaking my head at myself, I pocket the keys before taking in the appearance of the small house. It's a basic one-story with a small yard in front, nothing special really.

My eyes fall to the passenger seat and I notice a small black umbrella. That's weird, I thought Tony's umbrella was dark green with blue stripes. Maybe he just brought a new one.

I open the door first before I open the umbrella. Once the umbrella pops open, I quickly shut the door and lock the car before making my way to the house. Luckily the rain seems like it's close to stopping since it's only a light drizzle now.

I unlock the door and walk inside, placing the umbrella near the door and the keys on top of the counter near it. Sniffing some snot back, I frown when I notice that the air inside is unusually warm. It's a struggle for me to pay for heat so I know it can't be this warm in here.

An uneasy feeling settles in my stomach and I slowly look around the room. It feels like I'm not the only one here. Grabbing the umbrella back, I start walking around and checking every room.

When I go inside the kitchen, I notice a plate full of chocolate chip cookies in the center of the table. Next to it is a small mug of what looks like warm chocolate. After touching the mug, I realize that whoever set this up must have done it recently.

My heart starts racing at the thought of someone else being in the house. I don't bother to take a bite out of anything since there's a high chance that it's drugged. I'm not about to be trust anything that looks suspiciously delicious.

The last room I've yet to check is my bedroom. Every other room, besides the kitchen, seems untouched but I know there's something in my room. There always is.

Silently, I open the door and spot a small figure in the corner messing with my books. Relief sweeps through me and I immediately drop the umbrella and rush to hug my brother. "Jason, are you okay?" I ask, carefully checking him.

Jason turns around and gives me a toothy smile. "Braska!" he shouts excitedly, wrapping his small arms around my neck. I silently thank the heavens that my brother is now home safe and sound. I don't know what I'd do if he wasn't...

"Jason, where were you?" I ask, brushing his hair back. Unlike me, Jason is dry and looks untouched by the rain.

"Your friend took me to eat! He's nice," he says, before going back to my books.

"Did he hurt you?" I ask, picking him up.

He shakes his head. "No, he gave me a toy!"

A toy with a camera to watch over us probably.

"Jason, can I see the toy?" I ask with a sweet smile. I really hope he hands it to me willingly.

I place him down before he runs to his room. After rearranging my books, I follow after him. He digs around in his toy chest before handing me a small action figure.

I carefully inspect the batman action figure to see if there's anything unusual about it. So far it looks normal but I can't trust it yet. Looking at Jason's expression, I can tell there's no way he's letting the toy go.

Taking a deep breath, I start weighing my options.

First, I can keep the toy to make Jason happy. But doing that could give the creep easier access to my house since I don't know if there's anything in it. It may look harmless, but looks are deceiving.

I could also just throw the toy away, secure Jason and my safety in this house and hint to the stalker that getting to my brother isn't the way to get to me. But Jason might throw a big tantrum and hate me for the rest of his life.

Why can't this be easier?

Jason is still staring at the toy with admiration in his eyes. I can't let the little guy down, not this early in life.

"Jason, can I borrow the toy?" I ask, kneeling down to look him in the eye.

He frowns and opens his mouth probably to disagree before I interrupt him. "Not forever! Maybe just for a week and I'll give it back to you more better."

"Can you really make it better?" he asks, touching the toy.

Giving the toy to someone in robotics and having them check the toy is technically making it better. "Yes! When you get it back you can make Batman...talk and fly." Okay maybe I'm lying about that last part but he won't remember in a week.

"Promise?" he asks, holding out his pinky with his brown eyes sparkling hopefully.

"Promise," I say, wrapping my pink around his.

He smiles and hands me the toy before climbing to his bed. It's only six but we're both tired from the day's events, but for different reasons. I kiss his forehead and make my way out of his wrong when he stops me. "Can you read me a bedtime story?"

I walk back and sit down on one of the chairs in his room. An idea pops into my head making me smile. "How about this time, you tell me the story?" I suggest.

"But I don't know a lot of stories," he argues, furrowing his eyebrows.

"You can tell me what happened when you left school," I tell him. Getting Jason to tell me what exactly happened might help me sleep easier tonight.

He looks hesitant on the idea but slowly nods. "I was the last one in the room when he walked in. He says he's your friend and you have good friends so I went with him. He keeps saying he really likes you-"

"How did he look like?" I ask, ignoring the last part of his story. I'm definitely no expert in this field, but I know that you don't kidnap someone's brother to show affection.

"But he is your friend. You know how he looks like," he says, looking confused. Work with me Jason!

"I do, but I have a lot of friends so it's hard to keep track," I lie. I have two close friends and many acquaintances so that counts right?

"He's tall. He had a hat on and a warm jacket," he recalls, putting a finger to his chin and rubbing it. Wow that helps me...not. "He keeps asking about you and me, so I tell him all I know."

I start screaming in my head while biting my lip to hold it back. Please tell me Jason did not just say he told this creep everything he knows. C'mon surely elementary schools had assemblies on stranger danger by now?!

Trying to keep my fear at bay, I listen intently on every word coming out of Jason. "Then we go to the cake place I like. He hugs me and has an umbrella so I don't get wet. When we get inside, he gives me my favorite cake," he says with a huge smile.

"Did you happen to get a better look at how he looks like?" I ask, leaning forward to rest my chin on the palm of my hand.

"I don't know...I like his eyes," Jason that doesn't help, "his hair is all whooshy too," he says, messing up his hair in an attempt to mimic the look. I would have laughed if we weren't discussing our current topic.

"Jason-"

"After we eat, he took me to the inside jungle and let me play. Then I go home," he finishes.

I just give him a blank stare. Jason was with him for about three hours and that's all he has about the guy? Sometimes, especially now, I really wish Jason is older so he can be more descriptive.

I open my mouth to ask him something else when he yawns and pulls the covers up to his face. "I'm tired Braska, I wanna sleep," he whines.

Knowing how grumpy he gets when he's tired, I get up and turn the light off. Just as I'm about to close the door, he interrupts me again. "When can I see him again Braska? I like him, he's nice."

Poor, sweet, naive little Jason.

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Sorry if there were any mistakes, I was in a rush to put this up but I'll go back and edit this...sometime later